Dozens of suspected members of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, a Los Angeles-area White supremacist gang linked to the Aryan Brotherhood, had been arrested and indicted Wednesday in a federal investigation charging them with drug and weapons trafficking and committing fraud.Â
A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday prices 68 members with racketeering exercise that included drug trafficking – together with fentanyl – unlawful firearm possession, and COVID-19 advantages and mortgage fraud.Â
Federal prosecutors described the SFV Peckerwoods as a violent road gang that sometimes takes orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, California’s dominant prison-based White supremacist gang.
Members are identified to make use of Nazi tattoos, graffiti and different iconography to affirm their ideology.Â
Federal prosecutors allege Peckerwoods members have for practically a decade used violence and the specter of violence to protect and increase the gang’s prison operations and promote a local weather of worry.Â
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To generate income, members trafficked fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to generate income.Â
The indictment names lead defendant Claire Patricia Haviland, 62, of Chatsworth, California, and co-defendants Brian Glenn Ekelund, 53, of Chatsworth, and Brianne Brewer, 38, of North Hollywood, California.Â
Federal authorities say SFV Peckerwoods gang members engaged in fraud and theft to extend income. (DOJ)
The indictment alleges these people maintained and oversaw drug stash homes the place unlawful narcotics had been saved earlier than distribution. Haviland and Ekelund allegedly mailed the medication to clients and used functions corresponding to Zelle and CashApp to ship and obtain cash.
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Members additionally generated income through robberies and monetary fraud, together with by collaborating in id theft schemes. In a single such scheme, some members submitted phony functions for the Paycheck Safety Program, which was designed to assist struggling companies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.Â
Legal professional Normal Merrick Garland stated the Justice Division had dealt a “decisive blow to the San Fernando Valley (SFV) Peckerwoods.”
Dozens of members of the Los Angeles White supremacist gang San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods are dealing with drug trafficking prices. (DOJ)
“With right now’s prices and arrests, the Justice Division, along with our state, native, and federal companions has focused the guts of this gang’s operations, and we’ll proceed to zero in on the prison enterprises that endanger our communities,” Garland stated in a press release.Â
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The members and associates arrested Wednesday had been anticipated to be arraigned within the U.S. District Courtroom in downtown Los Angeles. Every faces as much as life in jail if convicted.
