Aryan Nation and Latino Gangs Form Drug Alliance

In a tale of racial harmony that's hardly heart-warming, an Aryan Nation gang and a Latino gang put aside their differences to sling meth and heroin together in Seattle—but the DEA recently put an end to the odd union. Agents tapped the phone line of 34-year-old Todd Robert Hamilton—leader of white supremacist gang “The Hated,” who is wanted for dealing meth and heroin, burglary, forgery, “organized shoplifting” and murder. After eavesdropping on him and his girlfriend hustling drugs, the DEA discovered Hamilton purchased his supply from local Latino gangsters. After following one of the drug runners, they found $4,000, a glass meth pipe, a 9mm handgun and several ounces of meth in hidden compartments in the car. Unsurprised by the unlikely partnership, a DEA spokesperson says they see white supremacists and Mexican gangs hand-in-hand in the drug dealing business all the time—dating back to a long-standing alliance formed between the Mexican Mafia and Aryan Nation prison gangs in California in the 70's. "The color that matters is not red or blue, or black and white—it's green," says Kevin Crenshaw, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms special agent in charge of the case. "It's about money. That's what drives everything. They're buying product, they're selling product. At the end of the day what drives all of them is money."