SANTA MONICA, CA - A parade of former prison gang members who testified in the government's showcase trial against the Aryan Brotherhood were paid by the prosecutors, promised sentence reductions and in some cases released, a federal agent testified this week as the defense opened its case.

Michael Halualani, the case agent from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said one inmate received $150,000 when he was released and placed into a witness-protection program.

Others who were being held at the high-security Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, were given amounts ranging from $50 to a few hundred dollars at a time, and in some cases he paid for eyeglasses or shoes upon request.

The agent was subpoenaed by the defense as a hostile witness after the government presented weeks of testimony in one of the largest capital murder cases in U.S. history.

Outside court, Dean Steward, attorney for defendant Barry "The Baron" Mills, who is alleged to be the ringleader, said the focus of the defense case is to prove that "the testimony was manufactured, bought and paid for."

The trial of Mills, 57, and co-defendants' T.D. "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson stemmed from a six-year investigation that culminated with arrests of 40 alleged Aryan Brotherhood members in 2002.

Nineteen struck plea bargains and one died. Other trials are pending. The government alleges the defendants currently on trial ordered or committed many of the 32 murders and attempted murders contained in the indictment.