White supremacist gang members arrested in California

LOS ANGELES — 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 Wednesday alleging a yearslong criminal operation that included drug trafficking, gun violations and COVID-19. loan fraud.

Twenty-nine people named in the indictment were arrested Wednesday in a series of raids involving Los Angeles police and other agencies, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 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, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime 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 announcing the charges.

“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 is a destructive force. By prosecuting members of the … criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”

During the investigation, police 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. It alleges that “to generate revenue for the gang, its members trafficked narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine,” according to prosecutors.

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

“The proliferation of gang-related organized crime is deteriorating the core of our society,” Dominic Choi, interim chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, 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 deterioration.

Today is another example of how local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, with equal dedication, work together to investigate, apprehend and prosecute criminals.” (CNS)

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