The Rabbit Hole: Meet the Peckerwoods

Editor’s Note: Described by a federal prosecutor as “one of the largest takedowns in the history of the Department of Justice against a Neo-Nazi white supremacist violent extremism organization”, Operation Hate One Eight netted 68 arrests across the country focused on a violent prison gang – The Peckerwoods. The takedown involved hundreds of law enforcement officers, LAPD armored vehicles, and crime scene analysts working in concert against an organization that had its tentacles in all manner of crime. In this week’s The Rabbit Hole, reporter Peter Beck looks at the history of the Peckerwoods and other similar criminal gangs that advance antisemitic and racist ideologies. -Seamus

Some criminal syndicates are more sophisticated than others. The Italian mafia is known for its intricate ties, bribery, backroom deals, and shady influence. The cartels are notorious for their ruthlessness and zeal for perpetrating violence to secure territory and other resources, usually related to the illicit drug trade. And street-level gangs, including the Bloods and the Crips, are more locally-centered while loosely connected to a national network. 

Then there are the biker gangs. The Hell’s Angels-type groups, which rely on their pride and violent reputations to engage with other organizations in the criminal underworld. Biker gang members, perhaps more than any of the other groups’ members, publicly advertise their respective club affiliations, whether it be through tattoos, motorcycles, or patches. The identifiers serve the same purpose as the members proudly voicing their roles in a gang: The solidarity and self-pride create a sense of brotherhood, that the members will back each other up when push, literally, comes to shove.

So, on December 13, 2016, when KTLA, a Los Angeles news outlet, published an article about efforts by federal prosecutors to target the local San Fernando Valley chapter of a gang known as the “Peckerwoods,” the bikers took notice. A day later, a Peckerwood screenshotted the article and posted it to a group page for the gang on Facebook.

One Peckerwood commented underneath the screenshot, “Literally laughed out loud. Catch me if u can motherfuckers I stay riding dirty, stay with a warrent, this is RISKY and im a proud fucking member of SFV PWG! Cant stop me if you cant catch me. Fuck em its only a gang if your not in it! Its my family and I fucking laugh at this cuz we arent stopping shit and theyve got a hell of a loss coming if they think they can stop us…”

It turns out, law enforcement was thinking exactly that. Three months later, another Peckerwood member allegedly posted to the group Facebook page, “Ok so I know we are all SFV and always will be no matter where we go but let’s do a roll call I am curious to where everyone has ended up!!! I am in Lancaster Ca these days but still rep SFV every chance I get.” The San Fernando Valley members then proceeded to list out each of their neighborhoods, usually posting under personal Facebook accounts displaying their actual names. 

Today, those Facebook posts are an essential part of the government’s case against 68 Peckerwoods. With dozens awaiting trial and several already sentenced in the Central District of California, the Peckerwoods’ San Fernando Valley chapter offers a window into how gangs operate and the tools that authorities use to dismantle criminal enterprises.