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The trial of Russell Quartier continues in the Multnomah County Courthouse, BBC World Service. Welcome to Assignment. Police say Russell Quartier is a member of a white supremacist prison gang.

Good morning, jurors.

Last year, an extraordinary murder trial took place in Portland, Oregon, in the United States.

I'm calling you from the 7-Eleven and Burnside, as we heard in the first part of this two part story, what started as a fight outside a convenience store ended up with a white man driving his jeep into a black teenager, Lonell Bruce.

Here is where the jeep jumped up onto the curb at this point that Bruce is running, trying to get in the car.

Absolutely. He's running and the jeep is accelerating, chasing him.

The death of Lano, Bruce revealed a disturbing sight to Portland because the Jeep driver, Russell Cathia, was a member of European kindred, believed to be one of over 20 so-called white power groups in the area.

And he went on trial not only for murder, but for a hate crime to many people.

Portland is a liberal utopia, but this case starts at a very public discussion about the region's white supremacist past and present.

And it's shown how an institution that's meant to rehabilitate offenders, the prison system has become a conduit for racist gang violence.

I'm moving as and in today's program, I'll go inside the prison system and meet the white gang members that have committed savage crimes and ask why these gangs are thriving. And I'll sit in on the concluding days of the trial as a jury answers. The question was Lano was killed because he was black. The case, it seemed clear cut, a man with a long history of violent crime and membership of a white pride gang killed the black man outside a convenience store.

Please be seated.

But the trial reached its midway point. The defense made a compelling argument that Lano Bruce was not a passive bystander.

Mr. Bruce had the show a lethal, dangerous weapon. What happened to Russell Court? To you, that was an unexpected, unprovoked, violent attack.

Indeed, CCTV footage did show Lonell holding a machete and the early stages of a fight with Quartier. The defense claimed that at one point he threw Quartier up against the shop window with so much force that it broke the glass.

Take just a moment to imagine sheer terror in Russell portieres mind at that moment. And if we owe Russell Quartier nothing else, we owe him the basic dignity of being honest with him about what happened to him that night.

The stuff about the machete, that's really shocking, actually. I think up until now it's been present and has all been about race and this being a racist attack. And so there's a discomfort in the court when we're hearing about Bruce having a machete, possibly provoking a fight.

And you can feel the energy in the room because no one wants to hear that the machete was a problem for the prosecution, shattering the image of Lonell as an innocent bystander. Why was he carrying it around that night? Llanos friend, an eyewitness, Ashton Gocha, took the stand.

Do you recall anything about, like why he was trying to sell it, that he wasn't he wasn't threatening anybody and to even consider it just anybody else?

Yeah, although I the fight started, but all of a sudden I just turned around and they both were fighting. And then that's when Marnel put the defendant through the window and he had a knife in his hand.

No, I didn't hear OK.

Indeed, Lonell is seen on CCTV with the machete wrapped in a cloth, but the position of the camera made it impossible to see who threw the first punch. And no one in court had answered the crucial question.

What was the fight about? The camera shows one thing.

It's something Cathia, who decided not to take the stand, had spoken of in his police interview on the night of his arrest.

We had something wrapped up. I said he was not here. You know, it was from you. Like she's trash seen as a glass of wine out the window book comes out with a machete. There's no checking me or my woman in that car, say, 99.

The CCTV showed what looks like the end of a fight, Cathia gets into his jeep, puts his foot on the pedal and drives hard at Lonell, swerving in the street.

As the 19 year old runs in the opposite direction, the jeep speeds up. We see it getting closer to Lonell before the moment of impact. Off camera. Remember, Cathia was wearing a hat and a tattoo bearing the insignia of a white supremacist group. He was a man who frequently referred to black people using the N-word, and he was a known offender who'd spent 10 years in prison for various assaults.

But did he drive or Bruce because Bruce was black or because he'd just lost the fight? By now, I could see that the evidence was upsetting Lano Bruce's family, his birth mother, Kristina, sometimes sat next to me and one afternoon she agreed to meet me at her apartment. This was bernholz.

This was with the mortuary people who gave me. So he was wearing this when they were going to cut it off of them and they gave it to miss.

Yeah, Christina was jittery and so scared even she showed me the sweatshirt Lorna was wearing on the night he was struck down and pictures of happier times, this was taken in my living room.

How old is he? He was 18. He was one of those selfie shots.

He loves selfies. He'd stay in the bathroom forever. Forever. Very handsome boy.

There was obvious love, but also a more complicated reality. Christina didn't raise her son, his father and stepmother dead from the time he was a baby. And Christina didn't always like who he was becoming out there.

There's a lot of drug activity. There's gang activity is just pull out there. And I saw him fill in that he was my baby and then he was somebody different when he used drugs. He was engaged in a lot of negative stuff, drugs, gangs and violence.

Just like the man who struck him down L.A. Bruce was troubled. He had his first conviction for violent crime aged just 14. In the weeks after Lonell died, Christina believes members of European kindred paid her a visit.

It was on the front door. It was out in front of the on the windows. They had run it all in permanent marker. So I said free Russell Cornier and it said European Kendrew lives. And I said, your son deserved to die and then had the N word. So I went to move out of here. I want to move. And just in a new start, I want to know that justice is going to be served for my child.

European kindred is the largest white prison gang in the state of Oregon as we head in part one, its members say it was formed to protect white inmates from the dangers of life on the inside.

Indeed, it was in prison that Cathia became a member for months, had been trying to find out how the group operates behind bars, but it's cloaked in secrecy. And then I had to break through. A long standing EAC member who'd spent years in prison responded to my chasing. He agreed to meet me at a motel in an industrial estate, and I was told to call when I arrived at the given zip code. There was one condition that his identity would be concealed, been distorted, his voice a little.

And as you're about to hear, he didn't want to share his real name.

Me call you a reaper. Where does Rita come from? The background to do your background.

OK, but no one's going to know who you are. If I call you report normal, ok? OK, let's go, Meatpaper. I didn't know what exactly to expect, a new report had a history of crime and violence, and that was something he was willing to talk about.

Why did you end up in prison? What did you do? I killed somebody. You kill someone? Yes.

And after you got in and how long was it before you decided to join E.K. or Insley?

They wanted me, you know, so I did. I was lost. I felt my family trying to blackmail me because I went to prison. And at that point in time, they were family.

This was, to put it mildly, an odd situation, sitting in a bland hotel room face to face with a killer, with a pseudonym that suggests he's not exactly repentant about his crimes.

When you told me how it and his ex stripe's his chest puffed out and he became even more animated.

Well, basically, you know, I got me a sex offender. Sex offender did something that he wasn't supposed to do and called on somebody.

So he was a I guess you call it a snitch. Absolutely. And so what did you do to him or beat him?

What was wrong, brother? Doing what needed to be done and cleaning up trash. How did you feel? What happened? I was brought out. I walked in segregation, my head hotel. But he was chosen because I already heard about it. And so we did this all. And everybody just basically talking, walking in, you know, makes you proud.

I can see on your face you felt good. I did. I felt wonderful.

It was amazing. It was amazing.

Like you're hearing weepies story. There is no ambiguity. He was proud of doing X work. He'd surrendered control to the gang. They call this system blood in. To enter the Brotherhood. You must quite literally spill blood. Who's exactly the gang decides.

But that's not the end. In a tattoo studio, I met Jason. He'd come out the other side and left the White Pride Gang behind.

He'd taken part in multiple racist attacks as part of a gang called the Hooligans. He showed me some pictures from before he left the group three years earlier and had to hooligan.

Is that when you just had it done? Yeah. There is a swastika. And I'm like, this is me at the water with my braces on in my boots.

How old are you that I was? Twenty one.

Had you been in prison by that point? I just got out my first time in. What was the first time a drive by shooting, Jason told me he's sorry for what he's done, including the blood in process in this case, to earn the right to wear red laces in his boots. But here's the thing. There's also blood out.

How did you end up with the right places? I stabbed another person of another culture. What happened to them? I don't know. They're not they're not that it was a black guy now who's Mexican is a Mexican. Why did you stop him? That was me getting into the Brotherhood.

And the thing is, people are saying you spilled blood. You get into these organizations. Same thing with getting out. You know, it's blood in, blood out. OK, so that was your blood and. Yeah. So as your blood out, I have a price to pay over my head. It doesn't have to be the people I ran with. It can be any kind of white supremacist. Come out to your target. You're marked man.

The tattooists got to work on Jason's knuckles, covering up his gang tattoos by speaking to me and denouncing the gang. Jason made himself a target, but he wanted to tell his story. I think he was trying to undo some of the damage. I could feel the regret. And I think he was sincere.

Watching him in the tattooists chair, he was covering up the final physical remnants of his white supremacist past.

The purging that mindset is a whole lot more difficult. The gang provided a family unit complete with protection and hierarchy.

Jason ended up trapped. It left me wondering how many other men are stuck in that place. You can raise your right hand under the penalty of perjury. You solemnly swear or affirm that the next witness at courthouse trial was on day release from custody. Yeah. All right. Alec Belgard was a friend of Lonell Bruce. He's white and would be going back to a prison cell after his testimony.

I've been told time and time again that speaking to police or testifying in court was to gangs.

The cardinal sin, perceived snitching could have major consequences. No surprise, then, that Alex didn't want to say very much earlier.

He you totally together the you want to be here today.

I don't want to be here. No. You want to testify in this afternoon's trial? No, I would not like to. But I have to ask what happened that night that caused you to know that lengthy silence.

Belgard was seriously uncomfortable. Someone down.

OK, but the guy who's Duse, that's BHEL, God's name for Lonell Bruce.

And do you remember how you say there's been a long time? I was using drugs at the time, so I don't really.

OK, Alec Belgard could provide key evidence for the prosecution's case against his girlfriend, Colleen Hunt. Belgard had previously told cops he'd heard Colleen encouraging a boyfriend to run over Lano and police recordings from the scene prove that he had at this time, the state would like to play courts.

Exhibit number one, I am the courtroom for Bulger from that night.

Obsequies, very sorry. My interview at 159 AM you state your name.

I would go to the cops interview on the night clearly caught Belgard implicating Colleen in the crime.

The girl goes, Hey, I'm over. So she said, Run him over. Yeah, I'm over in here.

Do you think if she was potentially trying to run, it's over here. If Lori. This program is that you are part of this in Africa, that recollection.

I don't remember a lot of it, in spite of what some might call these will fill gaps in memory.

Colin Hunt had a strong case stacked against her.

She did, after all, flee a crime scene with her boyfriend. So here's another twist. With the jury off sites and with Quartier out of the room, the judge resumed proceedings.

So a statement signed by Colin could be read out in a certain way to get it by now. After the fight ended, aided and abetted Mr. Portieres attempt to speak was Colin Hunt had given up the fight.

She pled guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Have you considered the them for manslaughter? All right. I will accept what she's effectively done by taking the guilty plea for manslaughter. She's potentially avoided life in prison and now she'll serve, you know, perhaps a minimum of 10 years, something like that, by significantly less.

I just miss her and her counsel will no longer be present for the remainder of this trial.

Russell Corsia was now on his own facing charges of murder and hate crime. If found guilty, he'd return to the system that nurtured his entry into the world of white supremacy.

By this point, I knew that even those entering the prison system for relatively minor misdemeanors were vulnerable to the advances of gangs.

Most prisons in America fail to challenge this in any meaningful way, but there are exceptions.

Good. Once we go through that slider, there will be within what we consider the secure perimeter we got here.

I travel north to neighboring Washington state and here I was able to see the work going on in Airway Heights.

One of the few prisons that is taking on the gangs. Airway Heights is part of an experiment.

You can only stay here if you remove yourself from gang life. That means no racial segregation and no violence.

On the day I visited, 10 former gang members were being transferred. What you're about to hear is the welcome speech.

How are you doing today, man? I'm ready for my night. My three big rules. No politics, no violence, no doubt. Pretty simple. There's a lot of cats here doing the same kind of time. It's all guys that are just here walking away from the game and looking to do good time. Good with that. All right. You got any questions for me? I just told them I'd drop over. OK, so you decided to walk away.

Yeah. OK, so that's good.

I appreciate that that dropping out refers to quitting the gang. And I quickly learned it's not just white inmates that form protection gangs built on the racial divide.

Did he tell you what he said? He was brown pride. Brown pride. It's one of the Sarino s gang sets. Mexican, correct. So brown eyes and Brown brown sky could join vampires.

Well, I suppose these prisoners feel that they are not going to have to watch over their shoulder every second. And there are in Macy's, there's black and white and Mexican people sitting together in the world, the prisons. That's a big deal.

Most prisons don't even attempt to give that kind of care. It's no surprise then that when most gang members are released, their indoctrination defines their view of the world that can have deadly consequences.

The trial of Russell Quartier was almost over. All the evidence had been presented.

Jurors, at this point in time, you're free to go back to the jury room to begin your deliberations. Again, we're in recess.

Cartland is holding its breath, waiting for the jury to reach a decision in the trial of Russell Quartier waiting for the verdict.

I could feel that this would spill out of the courthouse across Portland, the state of Oregon, and indeed the rest of the country.

It's all eyes on the trial of Russell Quartier. Today, the jury will have to make up its mind on whether Russell Quartier is guilty of murder and a hate crime.

And then on the third day of deliberations, everyone was called back to court.

Please be seated. Good morning, jurors. I understand that you have a verdict if you go ahead and give the verdict form to Erika. All right, the verdict reads as follows, we, the jury, find the defendant as to count one murder guilty. On count two, we, the jury, find the defendant as to count two guilty. And we, the jury, find the defendant as to count three. Ebersole Quartier committed the offense because of his perception of Larnell Burris's race or color.

Guilty.

Guilty on all charges. I saw here express emotion for the first time all these weeks, he decided not to take the stand. On this day, he cried as the weight of the verdict crashed down behind me. Lonell Bruce's family wept with relief over recent weeks. That all told me they needed an acknowledgement that race was a motivating factor in the teenager's death. So perhaps this would be the start of some closure in law. This was not just a murder.

It was a racist murder. How are you feeling? I feel warm outside the court, a crowd had gathered the press pack to and then Llanos birth mother Christina gave a speech today.

Justice was served. Murder was the case today because of each and every one of you guys in the community. Thank each and every one of you guys for coming. Thank you guys for being a voice, for believing that things can change, that things happen because black lives do matter to.

More meat, it was Russell, his mother. She left court via the back door.

Is that what you were expecting?

No, really, I wasn't. You know, I thought maybe manslaughter would be at, you know. So I was kind of shocked, I think I still am. So, you know, there was a hate crime charge. He was found guilty on that as well. Do you think that was fair? No, because he is. And you don't think he's a racist? He is not racist. Not at all. No way.

The following night, as I was packing my suitcase and preparing to leave the U.S., I got a phone call from an unfamiliar number. The automated message asked if I'd accept a call from a correctional facility, I took a deep breath and pressed one to accept the caller was none other than Russell.

Cathia, you know, I really appreciate you calling me, but I guess I just want to understand where you're coming from. Do you know what I mean? Because you didn't speak in court. It's easy for them to just see you as just a monster.

I know I should have gone up there and told my son a story because there's a whole other story that because of my past and because of what's gone on in my life, it just added up to this story that they wanted to tell me. And in a way through you don't like that people you don't like, you know, what would you have said if you were up there?

Well, then I'm not a racist. I wouldn't tell the family I'm sorry for what happened that night. My intention wasn't to bring him over or kill him. It was to scare him like he scared me, you know?

You know, the fact that you were wearing a cap and the fact that you remember that weekend you had the tattoo. Can you see why that makes you look? Even if you say you're not a racist, can you see why most people would perceive you as a racist, you part of a white supremacist gang?

I can see that. Yeah, but the ideology that they say goes with it is not that. I mean, it's grown out of that. It's sticking to their own, you know.

But to be honest, also in court, it was shocking to he used the N-word in the police cell in here.

I hear that we're least 3000 times a day is a white person says it's oh, my God, that's what I don't get. I don't like that word, you know, because it's got me in trouble.

Thank you for using Securus. Goodbye that. Russell is 40 something now, he'll be an old man if he ever comes out of prison, the system as it stands, means that he is many days ahead of him in which he could fall further into the darkness of white supremacy.

More worryingly, he'll be sharing his days with younger men, perhaps those who've just entered the prison system and could look to him for protection.

As we know that protection comes with a price, it spills out of prisons onto the streets of America. Arguably, it's what cost Lano Bruce his life. That should be a concern for every one of us. That's all from this edition of Assignment and Me, Mobeen Azhar, to hear more stories, just type BBC assignment into your Web browser, or you can subscribe to the documentary podcast from the BBC World Service.