Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Page 1
Former Prison Guard Convicted of Aiding White Supremacist Gang
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A former correctional officer who worked at the California Institute for Men in Chino was convicted yesterday on federal racketeering charges for assisting the Nazi Low Riders prison gang by helping members distribute narcotics and assault inmates.
Shayne Allyn Ziska, 44, of Fontana, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, commission of a violent crime in aid of racketeering, and deprivation of rights under color of law after a two-week bench trial before Senior U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. of the Central District of California.
Prosecutors described the NLR as a white supremacist organization with a philosophy centered on “racial pride,” and said the group controls a significant portion of the illegal activities committed by white inmates in California prisons.
Witnesses said Ziska assisted the NLR by engaging in a series of acts that include conspiring to distribute drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin, and that he allowed an NLR member to assault an inmate by stabbing him underneath his eye.
Ziska, who prosecutors said was placed on administrative leave by the California Department of Corrections in 2000, is scheduled to be sentenced by Hatter on May 8. Prosecutors said he faces a maximum possible sentence of 50 years in federal prison.
The Department of Justice said the investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the state Office of the Inspector General.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam D. Kamenstein and Kevin Lally.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company