The Aryan Brotherhood are one of the main antagonists of American History X and are based on a real-life prison gang and White Supremacist movement, at first they sought to befriend Derek Vinyard after they saw he had Aryan tattoos and he joined them for about a year. However Derek grow disillusioned with the gang after witnessing how they befriended Mexican gangs (despite claiming to be White Supremacists) and their involvement in narcotics - this ultimately leads him to go against them, as vengeance the gang corner Derek in the prison showers, beat him and then rape him as "punishment".