42 accused members of San Fernando Valley white supremacist gang arrested – Daily News

Forty-two members of what prosecutors call a San Fernando Valley-based white supremacist gang have been arrested in connection with a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday, Oct. 2, alleging a yearslong criminal operation that included drug trafficking, gun violations and loan fraud. fraud.

Twenty-nine people named in the indictment were arrested Wednesday in raids involving Los Angeles police and other agencies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The thirteen other suspects were already in custody, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the gang has ties to the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia, and that its members “use Nazi tattoos, graffiti and iconography to signify their violent, white supremacist extremist ideology.”

A total of 68 defendants are named in the 76 indictments, which allege crimes including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, distribution of a controlled substance, bank fraud, identity theft, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon.

The gang’s “violent white supremacist ideology and broad criminal activities pose a serious threat to our community,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “By allegedly involved in everything from drug trafficking to gun crimes, identity theft and COVID fraud, and through their alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the gang members are a destructive force.”

Law enforcement seized “large quantities of illegal firearms and dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin,” prosecutors said.

The indictment alleges criminal activity dating back to at least December 2016, saying the gang used social media – including a members-only Facebook group – to share information and target people who violated the gang’s rules. violated.

Gang members generated revenue through robberies, identity theft and financial fraud, including false applications for Paycheck Protection Program funds, which were available to help businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The proliferation of gang-related organized crime is deteriorating the core of our society,” LAPD Interim Chief Dominic Choi said in a statement. “Taking guns out of the hands of gang members and drugs out of our streets is just one step toward reversing this decline.”