Feds Take Down SFV Peckerwoods Gang in Los Angeles on RICO, Financial and Fentanyl Trafficking Charges ~ Borderland Beat

Operation Hate One Eight

The long list of charges includes 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 human trafficking, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon, and possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices.

The gang’s alleged activities include fentanyl trafficking, COVID-19 benefits fraud and loan fraud.

PPP loan fraud

They also generated revenue through robberies and financial fraud and participated in identity theft schemes. For example, from at least March 2021 through July 2023, defendants Sean Craig Gluckman, 35, of Encino, Maria Anna James, 30, of Canyon Country, and others submitted false and fraudulent applications for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to protect businesses to help those harmed by the economic consequences of 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.

Gluckman filed in April 2021 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.

Who are the SFV Peckerwoods?

“The Peckerwoods use Nazi tattoos, graffiti and iconography to signify their violent white supremacist extremist ideology,” the statement said. “These tattoos and iconography include swastikas, the symbol ’88,’ used by violent white supremacist extremists as code for ‘Heil Hitler,’ and images of Nazi aircraft.”

The SFV Peckerwoods regularly use social media to communicate among members, including a members-only Facebook group, prosecutors said.

Justice officials described a digital record of the alleged criminal conspiracy found on social media that the gang used to share information with each other about their criminal activities and gang rules, to identify gang members in good standing and to target people who broke the rules. rules of the gang, according to the release. The use of social media included a members-only Facebook group and private, direct messages between the gang’s members and associates.

For the past eight years, “Peckerwoods members have directed 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 activities, creating a climate of promoted fear,” the DOJ statement said.

In addition to large-scale drug trafficking, the gang is also said to have been linked to numerous robberies and identity theft.

From at least December 2016 until September 2024, Peckerwoods members engaged in 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 activities, which promoted a climate of fear. Members and associates of the gang illegally retained firearms and ammunition in furtherance of these objectives.

Drug warehouses

To generate income for the gang, members trafficked narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine. Prime defendant Claire Patricia Haviland, 62, of Chatsworth, and co-defendants Brian Glenn Ekelund, 53, of Chatsworth, and Brianne Brewer, 38, of North Hollywood, maintained and supervised drug warehouses where large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs were distribution saved.

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.

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.”

Prosecutors allege that members of the Aryan Brotherhood, the dominant white gang in California’s prison system, collected a “tax,” or a cut of proceeds. Two alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood were charged in the indictment: Paul John Pichie, aka “Sinister,” and Michael “Suspect” Vitanza, both of whom are charged with conspiracy to traffic in drugs.

Vitanza once shared a prison cell with Danny Troxell, who was described during a recent racketeering trial as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood’s three-member ruling “committee.” A witness at the trial testified that Vitanza was “Danny T’s right hand man.”

In a phone conversation secretly recorded by authorities, Vitanza allegedly told a female associate that he was the “youngest member of the Aryan Brotherhood.”

Prosecutors convinced a jury this year to convict Troxell and two co-defendants of murder in aid of racketeering. But their stated goal of transferring the defendants, who were already serving life sentences in state custody, to tougher federal prisons has stalled after the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ refusal to accept the California inmates.

An Aryan Brotherhood member who pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering in that case is now seeking to withdraw his plea, saying he only signed it because he was assured he would spend the rest of his life in a federal organization would spend, and not in California. , prison.