Here’s how federal authorities in Idaho went about targeting the leaders of Idaho’s most notorious prison gang.

The effort to cripple one of the most notorious gangs in Idaho history is going where law enforcement had hoped: a federal court. And the man in charge of Idaho’s U.S. Attorney’s office knows the case all too well.

“I was the lead prosecutor on the case before I became U.S. Attorney, and it’s been going through the system ever since,” said Josh Hurwit, U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho. “It was a complex investigation.”

Hurwit visited Morning Edition host George Prentice to discuss the case against the Aryan Knights, the notorious white supremacist gang that operates within the walls of Idaho prisons. Hurwit also updated listeners on another of his office’s high priorities: finding and convicting those who have targeted Idaho’s elderly. The most recent case exposed a plot by an Idaho couple to kick an elderly woman out of her own home.

Read the transcript below:

PRENTICE: This is Morning Edition. Good morning. I’m George Prentice. Law and order is the framework for our conversation for the next few minutes, because we’re honored to spend some time with Josh Hurwitt, the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho. United States Attorney Hurwitt, welcome back to the air.

HURWIT: Hey, George. Thank you. It’s an honor to be with you.

PRENTICE: Absolutely. Up there. I’d like to spend a little time on a rather grim subject, but we should probably talk about elder abuse in Idaho and the many forms of abuse that some of our most vulnerable neighbors can suffer. And this is something that you and your office and your colleagues have tried to raise in our consciousness. So talk to me about elder abuse and the many forms that it takes.

HURWIT: Yes. Thank you, George. And you’re absolutely right. As is the case in this country in general, the population is aging. Criminals are increasingly, more frequently, and more aggressively targeting our older Americans. And I would tell you that in terms of the forms of elder abuse that we see, it largely falls into two categories. The first category would be known actor abuse or known actor exploitation, which by definition means that a victim is being victimized by someone that they know, which could even be family members. Which is a very sad thing to say. Wow. Uh, who takes advantage of their financial resources and sometimes leaves them, you know, destitute or suffering physically, emotionally, health-wise? So that’s a very sad form of elder abuse, obviously. And that’s what we call known actor abuse. The second form is very common. I’m sure everyone has had attempts to scam them from criminals online. It happens far too often. Unfortunately, with our older population, uh, there’s a whole litany and variety of different schemes that criminals use to again take advantage of our older population, some of whom are lonely, isolated, looking for support through online resources and criminals are taking advantage of that. And in this situation, the crime is generally to exploit them financially.

PRENTICE: And I’ve heard of criminals even posing as, well, Social Security Administration officials, which can certainly get their attention pretty quickly. But that’s a scam. Yeah. I mean, if they’re trying to get their Social Security numbers or personal identification from them because of their benefits.

HURWIT: That’s exactly right. We see all sorts of what we call scams. So criminals posing as, as you said, Social Security Administration employees, law enforcement officials telling people that you have to pay a fine or that there’s a warrant that’s outstanding, that you have to pay a fine to avoid that. These are all criminal practices, law enforcement officials and federal officials are not going to just call someone up and ask them to pay a fine without going through a pretty lengthy process if there’s a problem. Another kind of red flag that you have to look out for is that these criminals often ask people to pay a fine or solve a problem by paying in cryptocurrency or gift cards. The government, state, local, federal, never tries to solve a problem through those kinds of means.

PRENTICE: Uh, about your efforts to catch these bad actors. Tell me about that. And you’ve had some success. Yeah. I know you’re going to be sentenced later this summer. Yeah.

HURWIT: So we have a very significant case before us, uh, that illustrates the first type of abuse that I mentioned, that known actor abuse. What happened in this case is a retiree, this is local to Ada County, a retired schoolteacher. Uh, was enjoying her retirement. Uh, had a very nice property, kind of a ranch in Ada County and, you know, needed some help with the upkeep and kind of friends of her family. Uh, a married couple moved in and the husband has now been convicted of, uh, participating in a scheme to essentially obtain that ranch, her property through what appeared to be her legitimate powers of attorney, estate planning documents. But he essentially stole the property from her. They evicted her from the property and now they’re going to be sentenced in August. The husband for the fraud and the wife for obstructing justice during the investigation.

PRENTICE: Wow. Before I let you go, I have to ask you about the Aryan Knights. Just because we’re reading more and more about this gang that’s operating inside the walls of prisons in Idaho. And you just recently got another conviction, or at least another defendant pleading guilty. Uh, what? What do you tell a stranger about the Aryan Knights? It’s a white supremacist gang inside prisons, right? Yeah.

HURWIT: That’s the very brief summary. Uh, it’s been active in Idaho prisons for decades. Our case that we’re wrapping up now, uh, was indicted in 2019 against ten defendants. I actually remember, I was the lead prosecutor on the case before I became U.S. Attorney, and it’s been working its way through the system since then and it’s been a long time coming, as you can see. Uh, for a variety of reasons, a complex investigation, a complex case. At this point. However, we’re pleased to report that all ten defendants that were indicted have now pleaded guilty. Two more are still facing sentencing in the coming months.

PRENTICE: And their modus operandi is intimidation and violence. Yeah.

HURWIT: Well, basically. And also drug trafficking. That’s something that people may not understand that goes on inside the prison system. It’s a major problem that the FBI and IDoc, the Idaho Department of Corrections, are working on right now, and it’s something that we’ll continue to prosecute if there are federal crimes. But basically, the Aryan Knights would gain control over other inmates through extortion, through threats of violence, through actual violence. One of the defendants in our case was indicted and pled guilty to attempted murder. And now he’s serving a life sentence in a federal prison. Um, so one of the goals of the case was to break up the gang inside the walls of the state prison and spread them across the country into federal prisons. There’s more work to be done when it comes to this gang, but we’re very proud of the work that’s been done in my office on this case with ten defendants.

PRENTICE: And there are still some convictions coming. Yeah.

HURWIT: That’s right. I believe we have one in August and then another one in October. And that will mark, uh, the conclusion of this case, which is brought under the Rico Act. But as I said, we continue to work closely and in cooperation with IDoc and the FBI to address all of the federal crimes that occur in our prison system in Idaho.

PRENTICE: How would you best describe this? Did you hurt this gang? Did you crush this gang?

HURWIT: You know, I think time will tell, to be completely blunt with you, but I certainly think that we broke up the leadership back then. I don’t think it’s as powerful and organized and strong as it was, but it certainly still exists and is a threat within the system. And there are also individuals who are working with the gang outside of prison, which is very concerning and something that we are focused on prosecuting.

PRENTICE: And just to make it clear, one of your most recent guilty pleas was with one of the leaders of the gang. So you’re going straight to the head of the monster, if you will.

HURWIT: You know, the ten individuals that we indicted were really the leadership structure. Mhm. Um, and the individual who just pleaded guilty to James Ramsey was the overall leader, um, in the time leading up to our indictment. And, um, you know, we’re pleased that justice was done for him. And in this case, in general.

PRENTICE: Congratulations on that. And thank you for what you do every day. And he’s Josh Hurwitz, the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho. And Mr. Hurwitz, thank you very much for giving me some time.

HURWIT: You’re welcome. Always great to be with you and take care of yourself.

Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren