Dozens of suspected members of the San Fernando Valley Pecker Woods, a Los Angeles-area white supremacist gang with ties to the Aryan Brotherhood, were arrested and charged Wednesday in a federal investigation with drug and weapons trafficking and fraud charges. .
A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday charges 68 members with racketeering activities including drug trafficking, including fentanyl, illegal possession of firearms, and COVID-19 benefit and loan fraud. .
Federal prosecutors have described SFV Pecker Woods as a violent street gang that sometimes takes orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, a white supremacist gang based in California's powerful prisons.
Members are known to use Nazi tattoos, graffiti, and other iconography to affirm their ideology.
Federal prosecutors allege that for nearly a decade, Pecker Woods members used violence and threats of violence to maintain and expand the gang's criminal activities and foster a climate of fear.
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To make money, members trafficked fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.
The indictment names the main defendant, Claire Patricia Haviland, 62, of Chatsworth, California, and co-defendants Brian Glenn Ekelund, 53, of Chatsworth, and Brian of North Hollywood, California. – Brewer, 38, is named.
Federal authorities say SFV Pecker Woods gang members committed fraud and robbery to increase their income. (Ministry of Justice)
According to the indictment, these individuals maintained and supervised drug storage facilities where illegal drugs were stored prior to distribution. Haviland and Ekelund allegedly mailed drugs to customers and used applications such as Zelle and CashApp to send and receive money.
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Members also made money through robbery and financial fraud, including participating in identity theft schemes. In one such scheme, some members submitted fake applications to the Paycheck Protection Program, which is meant to help businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. .
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department has dealt a “decisive blow to San Fernando Valley (SFV) Pecker Woods.”
Dozens of members of the Los Angeles white supremacist organization San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods have been charged with drug trafficking. (Ministry of Justice)
“With today's indictments and arrests, the Department of Justice, working with state, local, and federal partners, targets the core of this gang's operations and continues to focus on criminal organizations that endanger our communities. “We're going,” Garland said. statement.
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Members and associates arrested Wednesday were scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. If convicted, each could face life in prison.
