A Tarrant County judge in Fort Worth, Texas, sentenced a member of the Aryan Circle racist prison gang to four years in prison for his role in a 2007 shooting.

The March 20, 2009, sentence follows the guilty plea by Bryan "Bone" Aiken, 38, to the charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.  Prior to entering into the plea arrangement, Aiken had been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity

According to authorities, in August 2007 Aiken and four other Aryan Circle members were assigned to kill a fellow member whom they believed was going to leave the gang.  The group went to a house in North Richland Hills to find their target.  Once there, a shootout began, leaving two people injured. 

Aiken has numerous previous convictions for theft and burglary.

The Aryan Circle is a large and dangerous white supremacist prison gang that originated in the Texas prison system in 1985.  In the past quarter century, it has expanded to a number of other prison systems, including the federal prison system.  The gang has about 1,400 members, making it one of the larger white supremacist groups in the country.

The group is active not just in the prisons but also on the streets, especially in Texas.  Members have run major drug and theft rings and committed a number of murders, including the murder of two police officers in Bastrop, Louisiana, in 2007.