Dozens of members of a San Fernando Valley white supremacist gang have been arrested and charged in a federal indictment

LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Forty-two members of what prosecutors call a white supremacist gang based in the San Fernando Valley were arrested in connection with a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday over a years-long criminal operation that included drug trafficking, gun violations and COVID-19, as well as loan fraud.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 29 people named in the indictment were arrested Wednesday in a series of raids involving Los Angeles police and other agencies. According to the public prosecutor's office, thirteen other defendants were already in custody.

Prosecutors said the gang was allied with the Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican Mafia and that its members used “Nazi tattoos, graffiti and iconography to convey their violent extremist white supremacy ideology.”

The indictment names a total of 68 defendants, alleging crimes including 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, and possession of a firearm to commit Facilitating a drug trafficking offense and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon.

The gang's “violent white supremacist ideology and widespread criminal activities pose a serious threat to our community,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement accompanying the arraignment. “Through alleged involvement in everything from drug trafficking to firearms offenses to identity theft and COVID fraud, and through its alliance with a neo-Nazi prison gang, the (gang) is a destructive force. In prosecuting members of the… As a criminal organization, our office fulfills its mission to protect the public from the most dangerous threats.”

During the investigation, law enforcement seized “large quantities of illegal firearms as well as dozens of pounds of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin,” prosecutors said.