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Michael Wayne "Big Mike" Yost, 53, of Pahrump, was arrested last Thursday at approximately 6 a.m. for his alleged involvement with the "Aryan Warriors" prison gang.

Yost was one of five targeted members known to reside in the Pahrump and Las Vegas area; four other members were arrested the same day in Las Vegas.

The Nye County Scorpion Task Force, as well as members of the Street Crimes Unit, assisted an FBI SWAT team in serving the arrest warrant at Yost's residence.

The Aryan Warriors is an established white gang that operates from within the Nevada prison system.

Incarcerated members use violence and other means to extort other prisoners for money or commissary items, run illegal gambling operations, and distribute drugs both inside and out of prisons.

Recently, the gang has established a "street program" in which members (generally released from prison) engage in a wide array of illegal activity in order to raise money for the gang and its members. (Further details about the gang will be published in a second article this Friday.)

Sheriff Tony DeMeo said Yost was a "foot soldier" within the gang's street program.

In the federal indictment, Yost is listed as a "soldier and prospect" and faces an array of charges, ranging from gambling schemes and drug trafficking to corruption of public officials and "unauthorized use of access devices."

The U.S. Department of Justice defines a "prospect" as someone specifically identified within the gang as a potential member.

Yost has been arrested numerous times while living in Pahrump. He is incarcerated in a federal detention facility.

The five arrests on June 12 were actually only a small part of a much more expansive federal indictment against 14 alleged gang members; the remaining members are incarcerated within the Nevada prison system.

All 14 face the charge of conspiracy to engage in a racketeer influenced corrupt organization, more commonly known as a RICO charge.

Three are additionally charged separately with acts of violence in aid of racketeering, specifically conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon.

For the sheriff's office, however, the path to Yost's arrest and the Aryan Warriors began over two years ago when a Nye County detective was contacted by other federal and state agencies involved with the RICO investigation.

According to the sheriff's office press release, the detective was contacted due to the large number of gang members either living in or put behind bars from Pahrump.

In fact, the sheriff's office said in a written press release, "It should be noted, that currently incarcerated in Nevada's prison system, Pahrump lays claim to some of the more ruthless members of this organization."

Numerous cases against Aryan Warriors and associates in Pahrump have been developed over the last two years.

The charges against gang members range from attempted murder and hate crimes to identity theft and grand larceny.

In 2005, an Aryan Warrior from Pahrump, Jeffrey Dean Martindale, was shot and killed during a shootout with Boulder City police. The gang member was on the run from an attempted murder warrant out of Pahrump.

"We were very aware of their presence here," DeMeo said of the Aryan Warriors.

If convicted, Yost and the other defendants facing the RICO charge could be sentenced to up to life in prison and $250,000 fines.