Gadianton was a Nephite expert in words and in the craft of secret murder and robbery who, around 50 B.C., took over the band founded by Kishkumen. He told the band that if they placed him in the judgment-seat, he would grant his followers power and authority among the people (Helaman 2:4-5).
After Kishkumen was killed in his attempt to assassinate the chief judge Helaman, Gadianton learned that Kishkumen had not returned, and led his band by a secret way into the wilderness before Helaman’s men could take them (Helaman 2:11). His followers became known as Gadianton’s robbers and murderers, a band that spread among the Nephites and was more numerous among the wicked Lamanites (Helaman 6:18). They used secret signs and secret words to identify fellow members of the covenant, so that one member would not be harmed by another whatever wickedness he committed (Helaman 6:22). They murdered the chief judge Cezoram and his son in the judgment-seat (Helaman 6:19).
The band’s secret oaths and covenants did not come from the records delivered to Helaman; the record states they were put into Gadianton’s heart by the same being who enticed Adam and Eve and who plotted with Cain (Helaman 6:26).
At the close of the book of Helaman the record states that Gadianton did prove “the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi” (Helaman 2:13). Moroni, compiling the book of Ether, extends the warning beyond Nephite history: “whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people” (Ether 8:25). He addresses this warning directly to latter-day readers, urging them to “awake to a sense of your awful situation” should such a secret combination arise among them (Ether 8:24).