Aahana Swrup
The episode titled ‘Bingham’ of ‘World’s Most Evil Prisoners’ dives into the story of Tyler Davis Bingham, an inmate at a high-profile, high-security supermax prison in Colorado, who became a leader in the infamous Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. As a high-ranking member of the neo-nazi prison gang, he entertained control over the feared Brotherhood’s decisions, such as hit orders and gang wars. Thus, the show explores the criminal’s violent history, highlighting the drastic turn his reputation took behind bars in the company of fellow gang leaders and members, such as Barry “The Baron” Mills, Al Benton, and John Greschner. While the latter two ended up defecting from the gang, Bingham remains a member, inviting audiences’ intrigue.
Tyler Davis Bingham: An Aryan Brotherhood Commissioner
The Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-nazi prison gang, was formed at the San Quentin State Prison in California during the 1960s with the desegregation of prisons. With time, it expanded into an organized crime syndicate with drug trafficking and gambling operations in the prison system, as well as involvement in the criminal world outside of prisons. While members Barry Mills, Edgar Hevle, and Tommy Silverstein were on the first Council acting as leading coordinators in the 1980s, Bingham joined later — after entering the prison system as a petty criminal.
Furthermore, in the 1990s, John “Teflon Don” Gotti, the Italian-American Mafia boss, found himself entering a maximum security federal prison with a heavy AB gang presence. As a result, Gotti collaborated with the neo-nazi gang for protection. Eventually, he and AB leaders struck deals between their gangs, increasing the influence of the latter’s operations outside of the prison. Around the same time, Tyler Davis Bingham— known by his foreboding nickname The Hulk— and other prominent AB leaders, like John Greschner and Barry Mills, were put in the solitary confinement cells of the Florence ADX prison in Colorado.
The idea behind the same remained that the leaders would be less likely to communicate with others in solitary, causing a hitch in their operations. Nevertheless, Bingham and his gang figured out ways to remain in communication. During this time, Bingham allegedly passed a secret coded message in secret invisible ink that read, “War with DC from TD.” Hours after two prisoners received the same message, two African-American inmates were dead and two injured at a Pennsylvanian prison. Likewise, another reported method of communication between the leaders at the time was through drained metal toilets. Thus, the gang continued its operations through the 90s, with Bingham remaining a notable Aryan Brotherhood commissioner.
Tyler Davis Bingham Was Convicted of Numerous Crimes in the 2000s
In 2002, the authorities charged 29 Aryan Brotherhood leaders from federal prisons across the country. Tyler Davis Bingham was one of these leaders and faced federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act violation charges alongside the other members. The charges included conspiracy to commit murder, putting down the death penalty as a possible outcome for the defendants. Thus, alongside that, Bingham faced charges of conspiracy and murder of Arva Ray and William McKinney, conspiracy and attempted murder of Ismael Benitez–Mendez, the Salaam murder, the Joyner murder, the attempted murder of Byron Ball, and conspiracy to murder black inmates.
Ultimately, among the numerous accused, there were accusations of participation in or ordering 15 murders or attempted murders in the past 25 years. The prosecutors were pursuing the death penalty for 21 of the charged leaders as per their hierarchal standing in the gang. Naturally, the same included Bingham. The trial that ensued went on for five months, at the end of which convictions were handed out in 2006. For his part, Bingham was convicted of all the charges he faced — save for conspiracy and murder of McKinney, as per a special verdict. However, despite the prosecutors’ wish for a death penalty upon conviction, the jury agreed on a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Tyler Davis Bingham is Serving a Life Sentence at a Colorado Prison Today
According to reports, Tyler Davis Bingham’s sentence prior to the 2000s conviction could have allowed for a 2010 release for the man. Nevertheless, since he was convicted of numerous charges in California’s Orange County trial, he received a life sentence. As such, at 77, he is currently serving time at Colorado’s Florence ADXMAX prison. Since his sentence comes with the addition of no parole, he will likely remain imprisoned for the rest of his days. While his fellow commissioner, Mills, died in the same prison in 2018, Bingham is still alive — as per prison reports. Although the Aryan Brotherhood gang is still around in and outside of the prison system, the level of Bingham’s involvement in their operations remains unknown.
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