White Supremacist members face grand jury indictment
Arrested by federal and local law on Oct. 2, 42 members of the San Fernando Valley [SFV] based white supremacist street gang, SFV Peckerwoods, face a 76-count federal grand jury indictment. This group has been allegedly engaged in racketeering activity for years, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they have been allegedly associated with trafficking of drugs, illegal firearm possession, loan fraud and COVID-19 benefits.
A total of 68 defendants were charged by federal authorities with hopes of ending the organization. The indictment charges include a conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon and possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Department of Justice has stated in the indictment that the Peckerwoods often take orders from a California dominant prison-based white supremacist gang, the Aryan Brotherhood. They are also said to have maintained an alliance with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which takes control of many Latino street gangs in California.
Through trafficking narcotics, the Peckerwoods would generate revenue for support of the gang. Allegedly, Zelle and CashApp were used to receive and send money from drug buyers and drug sources. In addition to this, robberies, financial fraud and identity theft schemes were other ways they generated revenue. When it came to the COVID-19 benefits, gang members created fake applications for Paycheck Protection Program funds, which were made to help businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The indictment states that many of the defendants were using contraband cell phones to communicate with prisoners. Social media was also used to share information between members and associates of the gang to report and share their criminal activities and gang rules, as well as identifying gang members that they were to have good standings with and those who they would target that broke the gang’s rules.
Members of the Peckerwood group used tattoos and iconography, as well as graffiti, to represent their ideology. This includes swastikas, images of Nazi aircraft and the symbol 88, code for “Heil Hitler,” the U.S Department of Justice says.
The indictment alleges that the criminal activity dates back to at least December 2016. If convicted, the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison, according to the U.S Department of Justice.
