ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Five people affiliated with a Nazi prison gang, including one who legally changed his name to Filthy Fuhrer, have been sentenced in the gruesome death of a member whose gang tattoo was cut from his rib cage with a hot knife before he was shot and his body burned, a federal jury in Alaska ruled on Monday.

Fuhrer, 45, the gang leader who legally changed his name from Timothy Lobdell, and the others were convicted of murder, racketeering, kidnapping and assault.

All face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for murder when convicted in federal court in Anchorage. Sentencing hearings are scheduled for October.

“Violent gangs, especially those based on racial hatred, are a scourge on our society,” U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska said in a statement.

“As this case shows, the crimes of organized prison gangs often reach beyond prison walls, bringing violence to our communities. Today’s sentencing is a major disruption to the functioning of the 1488 Prison Gang and holds accountable those who order or commit brutal and heinous crimes,” Tucker said.

According to federal prosecutors, Fuhrer founded the 1488 Prison Gang, which operated in prisons throughout Alaska and outside, or the “Free World,” as the members called it. Full membership is granted to those who commit acts of violence in the name of the gang, and these “created” members receive the “patch” of 1488, a tattoo of an iron cross superimposed on a swastika.

The gang’s name, 1488, refers to different tenets of white supremacy, according to court documents. The “14” refers to the 14 words of a white nationalist creed: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” »

There are two possible meanings for the last part of the gang’s name: the double eights could refer to the 88 precepts described by white supremacist David Lane, or they could mean “Heil Hitler”, since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

The gang requires all members to “be white, look white, and act white.”

Fuhrer, who is serving a 19-year sentence for the attempted murder of an Alaska state trooper, believes some members are defying the gang’s code of conduct, which includes the credo that “the only currency that we recognize is violence and unquestionable loyalty”. According to prosecutors, Fuhrer believed that the conduct of some diminished the gang’s power and influence.

From behind bars, Fuhrer sent a trusted member with a list of directives, which included kidnapping and assaulting two low-level members, then kidnapping, assaulting and murdering Staton on August 3. 2017, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said 1488 members Roy Naughton, Glen Baldwin and Colter O’Dell worked with Hells Angel Motorcycle Club member Craig King to kill Staton in retaliation for robbing both King and the 1488s.

Hands and feet tied, Staton was delivered to a duplex in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. King and his wife lived on one side. The other side was vacant but prepared for the beating with walls and floor covered in painter’s plastic, according to court documents.

Inside, Staton was beaten and tortured, and Patch 1488 was cut from his ribcage with a knife that had been heated with a propane torch.

Staton was still alive when Baldwin and O’Dell took him into the woods, where he was shot and his body burned, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Two others, Nicholas Kozorra and Dustin Clowers, previously pleaded guilty to murder charges in Staton’s death.