Feds Takedown SFV Peckerwoods Gang in Los Angeles on RICO, Financial & Fentanyl Trafficking Charges

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Federal prosecutors have announced the arrests of 42 alleged members and associates of a Los Angeles-based white supremacist gang as part of a sweeping indictment that names a total of 68 defendants.

29 of the suspects were arrested Wednesday during raids by a host of federal and local law enforcement officials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and a newly unsealed 76-count indictment. Another 13 defendants were already in custody, leaving 26 who remained at large.

All the defendants are accused of being members or associated of the SFV Peckerwoods, which operates in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, DOJ representatives said in a written statement.

Operation Hate One Eight

The lengthy list of charges includes conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, 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 access devices.

"The Justice Department has dealt a decisive blow to the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, a violent white supremacist gang that we charge is responsible for trafficking deadly fentanyl and other drugs, committing robberies, and perpetrating financial fraud to fund both their criminal enterprise and that of the Aryan Brotherhood," he said.

"With today’s charges and arrests, the Justice Department, together with our state, local, and federal partners has targeted the heart of this gang’s operations, and we will continue to zero in on the criminal enterprises that endanger our communities," Garland added.

Alleged activities of the gang include trafficking in fentanyl, COVID-19 benefit fraud and loan fraud.

Investigators seized "large quantities of illegal firearms," along with "dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin, according to the DOJ statement.

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said the gang's "violent white-supremacist ideology and wide-ranging criminal activity pose a grave menace to our community."

"By allegedly engaging in everything from drug-trafficking to firearms offenses to identity theft to COVID fraud, and through their alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the Peckerwoods are a destructive force," he said. "In prosecuting the members of the Peckerwoods criminal organization, our office is carrying out its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats."

PPP Loan Fraud

They also generated revenue via robberies and financial fraud and participated in identity theft schemes. For example, from at least March 2021 to 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 aid 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.

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

Who Are the SFV Peckerwoods?

"The Peckerwoods use Nazi tattoos, graffiti, and iconography to indicate their violent white supremacy extremist ideology," according to the statement. "These tattoos and iconography include swastikas, the symbol '88,' used by violent white supremacy extremists as code for 'Heil Hitler,' and images of Nazi aircraft."

The SFV Peckerwoods make regular use of 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 that was found on social media, which 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 gang’s rules, per the release. The social media use included a members-only Facebook group and private, direct messages between the gang’s members and associates.

Over the past eight years, "Peckerwoods members conducted and participated in the affairs of their criminal enterprise by engaging in violence and threats of violence to preserve and expand the gang’s criminal operations, which promoted a climate of fear," the DOJ statement said.

In addition to extensive drug trafficking, the gang has also allegedly been linked to numerous robberies and identity theft schemes.

From at least December 2016 to September 2024, Peckerwoods members conducted and participated in the affairs of their criminal enterprise by engaging in violence and threats of violence to preserve and expand the gang’s criminal operations, which promoted a climate of fear. Members and associates of the gang illegally maintained firearms and ammunition in furtherance of these aims.

Drug Stash Houses

To generate revenue for the gang, its members trafficked narcotics, including fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. Specifically, lead 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 oversaw drug stash houses where large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and other drugs were stored prior to 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.

Prosecutors said the gang has been allied with the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican Mafia, and its members use "Nazi tattoos, graffiti and iconography to indicate their violent white supremacy extremist ideology."

Collecting a “tax,” or cut of the proceeds, prosecutors allege, were members of the Aryan Brotherhood, the dominant white gang in the California prison system. Two alleged Aryan Brotherhood members were charged in the indictment: Paul John Pichie, a.k.a. “Sinister,” and Michael “Suspect” Vitanza, who are both accused of conspiring to traffic drugs.

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

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

Prosecutors this year convinced a jury 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 more restrictive federal prisons has stalled following the federal Bureau of Prisons’ refusal to accept the California inmates.

One Aryan Brotherhood member who pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering in that case is now trying to withdraw his plea, saying he signed it only because he’d been assured he’d spend the rest of his life in a federal, not California, prison.

Sources DOJ, ABC7, Desert Sun, LA Times