Conviction New religious movements Messianic / communal movement Miami, FL, USA · 1992

Yahweh ben Yahweh: 18-year sentence for a RICO conspiracy involving murder and arson

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Disposition and response

Material that narrows or disputes the record

Appellate history

1996-01-05

The court affirmed all seven appellants' RICO-conspiracy convictions in every respect.

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

founder and religious leader, self-proclaimed son of God

Organization

Nation of Yahweh

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The cited record identifies violent apocalyptic and racial doctrine, kill-or-die pledges, family separation, temple isolation, public humiliation and beatings, and leader-directed violence as the material spiritual doctrine, practice, authority, or pretext connected to the documented harm. The relevant authority role is founder and religious leader and self-proclaimed son of God.

Religious marriage or family control
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

1992-09-04 · jury verdict and sentence

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. After a five-month trial, a jury convicted Yahweh ben Yahweh and six appellants of RICO conspiracy. The court sentenced Yahweh to eighteen years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

Documented coercion mechanisms

violent apocalyptic and racial doctrine
kill-or-die pledges
family separation
temple isolation
public humiliation and beatings
leader-directed violence

Cited record

Sources

appellate court published appellate opinion United States v. Beasley, 72 F.3d 1518 (11th Cir. 1996).: The published appellate opinion records the RICO-conspiracy verdicts and sentences, Yahweh ben Yahweh's religious leadership and claimed divinity, the coercive temple structure, teachings used to justify violence and the distinction between convicted conspirators and members who were not implicated.
contemporaneous reporting sentencing report Washington Post, 'Religious Sect Leader Sentenced to 18 Years' (Sept. 5, 1992).: Contemporaneous reporting records the September 4 sentence, eighteen-year term and $20,000 fine after the federal conspiracy conviction.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F3/072/72.F3d.1518.92-4773.html Corpus classification: appellate-court; evidentiary role: published-appellate-opinion. SHA-256 1a90bb4bfc16d863891c89ebc5ddbc5449e5382041d084483e0e41b8572efaad
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/09/05/religious-sect-leader-sentenced-to-18-years/d7fc1d84-c6b1-4ede-aa15-9f8671b89513/ Corpus classification: contemporaneous-reporting; evidentiary role: sentencing-report.
Retrieval: 2026-07-27 · Retrieval failed; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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