(CN) — Over five dozen members of a Southern California white supremacist street gang with ties to the state’s most prolific prison-based gangs were indicted on a slew of drug trafficking, fraud and violent crime charges on Wednesday, the Justice Department announced.
Members and associates of the SFV Peckerwoods, a San Fernando Valley-based neo-Nazi gang with ties to some of the state’s most domineering prison gangs, are accused of engaging in a years-long pattern of racketeering activity. Of the 68 who were indicted, 42 are now in custody following a coordinated effort by multiple agencies
“The San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, the Aryan Brotherhood and their associates are fused by one thing: hatred, It appears, however, that the business of hate was not enough for them,” Matthew Allen, Los Angeles-based Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, said in a statement. “Driven by greed, they engaged in other crimes, including drug distribution, pushing out deadly fentanyl onto our streets.”
Throughout the investigation, law enforcement seized large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, as well as illegal firearms.
At least three defendants are accused of operating drug stash houses where pounds of illegal drugs were stored before being distributed to customers, sometimes in the mail, according to the indictment.
In addition to drug trafficking, the gang generated revenue through financial fraud, including identity theft and fraudulent Covid-19 benefit schemes, according to the Justice Department. In one instance, one defendant falsely claimed to be a self-employed artist to swindle over $20,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program. The same defendant later used stolen identities to apply for unemployment benefits, according to the Justice Department.
“The proliferation of gang-related organized crime deteriorates the core of our society,” Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi said in a statement. The “Peckerwoods” originated as a derogatory term for white people in prison.
According to the Justice Department, the gang sometimes takes orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi prison gang. Members of SFV Peckerwood distinguished themselves with tattoos of white supremacy iconography, such as swastikas or the symbol “88” which is the numerical code for “Heil Hitler,” to broadcast their white supremacist, extremist ideology.
Some members also had tattoos of the initials “SFV” or a woodpecker symbol to indicate their status in the gang. Female gang members were referred to as “featherwoods,” according to the indictment.
The gang is also accused of having an alliance with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, also known as “La Eme,” which is the head of multiple Hispanic street gangs in southern California.
“By allegedly engaging in everything from drug trafficking to firearms offenses to identity theft to Covid fraud, and through their alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the Peckerwoods are a destructive force,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “In prosecuting the members of the Peckerwoods criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”
According to the indictment, members and associates of the Peckerwoods leveraged social media to keep tabs on each other and communicate, using private Facebook groups to identify people who broke the gang’s rule or share pictures of suspected undercover police officers.
For the last eight years, the gang used violence and threats to protect its criminal operations, retaliating against rival gang members or outsiders, according to the indictment. In 2016, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed nuisance abatement orders against some members of the gang after police recovered stolen cars, credit cards and heroin at one of the defendant’s homes.
“This case strikes at the heart of our collective mission to rid our communities of the corrosive elements that fuel violence and extremism that greatly impact our way of life,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.
If convicted, the defendants face life in prison.