Sixty-eight defendants charged in connection with dozens of members and associates of the California White Supremacist Gang

From the US Department of Justice

Federal and local law enforcement authorities today arrested 42 members and associates of the SFV Peckerwoods, a San Fernando Valley, California-based white supremacist street gang, based on an indictment by 76 members of the federal grand jury, alleging that they were guilty had committed themselves to a years-long pattern of extortion activities. including drug trafficking – including fentanyl – illegal firearms possession, and COVID-19 benefits and loan fraud.

“The Department of Justice has delivered a decisive blow to the San Fernando Valley (SFV) Peckerwoods, a violent white supremacist gang that we believe is responsible for trafficking deadly fentanyl and other drugs, committing robberies, and committing financial fraud to finance their criminal enterprise. and that of the Aryan Brotherhood,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “With today’s indictments and arrests, the Department of Justice, along with our state, local and federal partners, has targeted the core of this gang’s operations, and we will continue to target the criminal enterprises that harm our communities. endanger.”

The indictment unsealed today charges a total of 68 defendants with approximately two dozen federal crimes: conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) 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, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, and possession of 15 or more unauthorized entry devices.

The suspects arrested today are expected to be arraigned this afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

During the investigation, police seized large amounts of illegal firearms, as well as dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, according to the complaint.

“The Peckerwoods’ violent white supremacist ideology and widespread criminal activity pose a serious threat to our community,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. “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 Peckerwoods are a destructive force. By prosecuting members of the Peckerwoods criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”

“This operation, led by our Joint Terrorism Task Force, disrupted a racially motivated violent extremist group engaged in a wide range of criminal activities,” said Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. “This case goes to the heart of our collective mission to rid our communities of the corrosive elements that fuel violence and extremism and profoundly impact our way of life. The FBI, along with our federal, state and local partners, remains strongly committed every day to ensuring the people of the Southland remain safe.

“The San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, the Aryan Brotherhood and their associates are united by one thing: hate,” said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Allen of the Los Angeles Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “However, it seems the hate speech wasn’t enough for them. Driven by greed, they engaged in other crimes, including drug distribution, putting deadly fentanyl on the streets. They operated from corners of the San Fernando Valley and committed their crimes inside and outside the 8-1-8 community. Today’s sweeping indictments and arrests reflect our continued commitment to dismantling criminal organizations that continue to harm our communities.”

According to the indictment returned by a grand jury on September 26, the Peckerwoods are a street gang based in communities throughout the San Fernando Valley, whose members engage in a wide range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, violent crime and fraud. As a white supremacist gang, the Peckerwoods sometimes take orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, the dominant white supremacist gang in California, and maintain an alliance with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which controls most of California’s Latino street gangs. The Peckerwoods use Nazi tattoos, graffiti, and iconography to signify their violent white supremacist extremist ideology. These tattoos and iconography include swastikas, the symbol “88,” used by violent white supremacist extremists as code for “Heil Hitler,” and images of Nazi airplanes.

Members and associates of the gang used social media to share information with each other about their criminal activities and gang rules, to identify gang members in good standing, and to attack people who violated the gang’s rules. The use of social media included a members-only Facebook group and private, direct messages between the gang’s members and associates.

From at least December 2016 through September, Peckerwoods members conducted and participated in the affairs of their criminal enterprise by engaging in violence and threats of violence to maintain and expand the gang’s criminal operations, which promoted a climate of fear. Members and associates of the gang illegally retained firearms and ammunition in furtherance of these objectives.

To generate income for the gang, members trafficked narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine. Prime 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, maintained and supervised drug warehouses that contained large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs were stored before distribution. Haviland and Ekelund allegedly mailed illegal drugs to customers and used applications such as Zelle and CashApp to receive money from drug buyers and send money to their drug sources.

They also generated revenue through robberies and financial fraud and participated in identity theft schemes. From at least March 2021 through July 2023, defendants Sean Craig Gluckman, 35, of Encino, California; Maria Anna James, 30, of Canyon Country, California; and others submitted false and fraudulent applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was intended to help businesses harmed by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The defendants – posing as sole proprietors – signed fraudulent PPP loan applications on behalf of individuals incarcerated in California state prisons and collected a portion of the fraudulently obtained proceeds from co-conspirators as payment for their assistance.

In April 2021, Gluckman filed falsely stating he was a self-employed “artist/writer” with a gross income of nearly $250,000. Later that month, he received a $20,833 PPP loan. In a separate scheme, Gluckman submitted fraudulent unemployment insurance (UI) claims to the California Employment Development Department (EDD) in the names of other people to fraudulently obtain jobless benefits.

“The proliferation of gang-related organized crime is deteriorating the core of our society,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi. “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.”

“When criminal organizations cross jurisdictional boundaries, conducting investigations and subsequent prosecutions becomes much more difficult,” said Sheriff Jim Fryhoff of the Ventura County, California, Sheriff’s Office. “The involvement of our federal law enforcement partners in such cases greatly enhances our ability to protect not only the citizens of our county, but also those of our region of the state.”

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The FBI, DEA, Los Angeles Police Department and Ventura County Sheriff’s Office are investigating. Simi Valley Police Department; California Highway Patrol; Glendale Police Department; Burbank Police Department; Redondo Beach Police Department; Beverly Hills Police Department; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; United States Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Department of Veterans Affairs Police; Ministry of Labor; Federal Bureau of Prisons; Los Angeles County Probation Department; Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services; Pasadena Fire Department; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and IRS Criminal Investigation assisted in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reema M. El-Amamy, Jeremiah M. Levine, and Alexander Su for the Central District of California are prosecuting this case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to bring together Department of Justice resources with government agencies to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic fraud. The Task Force strengthens efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies charged with implementing fraud prevention assistance programs, including by expanding and integrating existing coordination mechanisms, resources and identifying techniques to detect fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and leveraging information and insights gained from previous enforcement efforts. For more information about the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

On September 15, 2022, the Attorney General selected the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Central and Eastern Districts of California to jointly lead one of three national COVID-19 Fraud Strike Force teams. The Department of Justice established the Strike Force to strengthen existing efforts to combat and prevent COVID-19-related financial fraud. Combining law enforcement and prosecutorial resources, the Strike Force targets large-scale, multi-state pandemic fraud committed by criminal organizations and transnational actors, as well as those who have committed multiple instances of pandemic fraud. The Strike Force uses prosecutor-led teams and data analyst-driven teams to identify and bring to justice those who stole pandemic relief funds. Additional information about the Strike Force can be found at www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-covid-19-fraud-strike-force-teams.

Anyone with information regarding allegations of attempted fraud related to COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or via the NCDF web complaint form at www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

An indictment is just an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.