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42 people have been arrested in a “historic” raid against a California-based white supremacist gang

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California (C) announces a 76-count indictment on Wednesday, October 2, against 68 alleged members and associates of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods, a white supremacist gang. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California/Facebook

Oct. 2 (UPI) — Forty-two suspected members and associates of the San Fernando Valley Peckerwoods were arrested Wednesday in an operation that authorities described as one of the largest raids against a neo-Nazi white supremacist gang in Justice Department history.

Many of the suspects were arrested Wednesday morning throughout the San Fernando Valley and surrounding areas as local and federal officers, including members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, executed 29 arrest warrants and conducted multiple searches.

The operation came as a 76-count federal indictment was unsealed Wednesday, indicting 68 people who belonged to or were connected to the white supremacist gang.

Authorities told reporters in a news conference that they were continuing to hunt the remaining 26 suspects, whom they described as fugitives.

FBI Los Angeles Field Office Assistant Director Akil Davis said this investigation is expected to “significantly weaken” the domestic extremist organization.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the sheer scale of this operation is historic,” said FBI Los Angeles Field Office Assistant Director Akil Davis. “This is a historic event to bring so many members of a hate group to federal charges.”

The SFV Peckerwoods is a mix of street, prison and racist skinhead gangs, according to the Jewish nonprofit Anti-Defamation League, which stated on its website that “white supremacy is more crude than sophisticated and that “It is strongly associated with criminal activities such as drugs.”

The indictment includes 60 separate counts detailing 60 individual instances in which a Peckerwoods member or associate was caught dealing drugs in large quantities.

The gang members are also accused of generating proceeds from robberies and financial fraud, including by stealing from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to support businesses hurt economically by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Peckerwoods are involved in a variety of criminal activities ranging from drug trafficking to fraud, firearms crimes, violence and identity theft. “But what really sets her apart, what defines her, is her hatred and hostility toward racial, ethnic and religious minorities,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California.

The gang is known for waving neo-Nazi symbols and other white supremacist iconography, from swastikas to the Confederate flag.

When asked to provide details on bias crimes, Estrada pointed to the April arrest of Ryan Bradford, a suspected gang member. Police discovered that in addition to allegedly selling drugs, he also manufactured explosive devices and firearms.

He allegedly had a “treasure trove of white supremacist paraphernalia, including replicas of Nazi uniforms and posters of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, as well as a planner in which his New Year's resolution was written to “bake every single Jew.”

“We do not take these threats lightly. We cannot take these threats lightly. It is important that we take action to neutralize these threats before they become the next tragedy,” he said.

Because of their affiliation with the Aryan Brotherhood, Davis called the Peckerwoods “a chapter” of what the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as the oldest major white supremacist prison gang and a national crime syndicate.

“This group is truly the paradigm of domestic extremism and one that we sought to address with this investigation,” Estrada said.

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