The US charges 68 people with a California white supremacist gang

Federal authorities have charged 68 members of a California-based white supremacist street gang with crimes in an attempt to dismantle the organization.

So far, at least 42 members of the SFV Peckerwoods, which is based in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, have been arrested.

The 76 counts include racketeering charges, drug trafficking – including fentanyl – and possession of illegal firearms, as well as fraudulent Covid-19 benefits and loan fraud.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Peckerwoods gang at times takes orders from the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi gang based in California prisons, and has an alliance with the Mexican Mafia prison gang, which controls most Latino street gangs in California .

The Peckerwoods are accused of trafficking fentanyl and other drugs in the area, as well as committing robberies and financial fraud to finance their activities and aid the Aryan Brotherhood, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday.

Members used iconography and tattoos, including swastikas, the symbol 88, which stands for “Heil Hitler,” and images of Nazi aircraft to mark their ideology, the Justice Department said.

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the group was a “grave threat to our community” and a “destructive force.”

According to federal prosecutors, the group primarily trafficked in narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine. Members in the Hollywood area are accused of maintaining so-called stash houses where drugs were stored.

Several members are also accused of submitting false applications for the Payment Protection Program, a Covid-19 initiative that gave out loans – many of them forgivable – to keep small businesses afloat.

An applicant received a loan of nearly $21,000 after claiming he was an “artist/author” with an annual income of $250,000, federal prosecutors said.

The same defendant also filed unemployment claims on behalf of other people to obtain additional funds, prosecutors allege.

According to the Justice Department, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.