‘New Front’ Against Gangs Targets White Supremacist Criminal Group in San Fernando Valley: City Attorney
POSTED 1:57 PM, DECEMBER 13, 2016, BY MELISSA PAMER, UPDATED AT 03:49PM, DECEMBER 13, 2016


A white supremacist gang in the San Fernando Valley is the focus of a pair of civil lawsuits and legal actions taken by the Los Angeles city attorney, who on Tuesday said the actions marked a new direction in targeting illegal gangs that comes in a time of "heightened tension" nationally.

The actions are related to three homes — two in Canoga Park and one in Granada Hills — that are connected to the SFV Peckerwoods, which City Attorney Mike Feuer described as a notorious white supremacist criminal street gang. The homes are close to schools and a city library.

They have been the site of illegal gun and drug sales, where pipe bombs have been made and stolen property stored, and locations for the recruitment and training of gang members, Feuer said.

At a news conference, Feuer called the actions part of a "new front" in the battle against gangs.

"We're now fighting to prevent white supremacist gangs from infesting neighborhoods. They bring with them, of course, this toxic mix of violence and crime and hate," he said.

"It's enough ... to deal with violence, with guns, with drugs ... but when you add the element of white supremacy, it underscores the significance of work we're engaged in today," Feuer added.

The cases connected to the SFV Peckerwoods do not relate to any possible hate crimes committed by the gang, Feuer said. But their "ideology" leaves potential for "extremely bad acts," he said.

"These cases are not related to hate crimes in particular, but the theme is particularly important now," Feuer said. "There is no question that we're living in a nation that is experiencing heightened tension. ... The fear is palpable. The sense of being divided from others is palpable."

Feuer’s office is working with the Los Angeles Police Department on a "commitment to weeding out groups that profess hate,” LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Green said.

City prosecutors have targeted three homes:

At the Index Street home, which Feuer’s office said was known to police as a hub of methamphetamine and heroin distribution, four people were sued by the city. Johnny Reed, described as a member of the SFV Peckerwoods and a shot caller for the prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood, lives there, Feuer’s office said. Reed has been sued by the city. The property owner, Monica Lewis, and her two adult sons, Norman and Robert Lewis, were also sued.

Since June, police have responded to the home at least three times to make arrests, all of alleged gang members. Officers found meth and heroin, stolen guns, stolen cars and credit cards, a check-scanning machine and other tools related to identity theft, Feuer said.

At the Loma Verde Avenue home, the city sued resident Erik Cutshaw, described as a known associate of the SFV Peckerwoods gang, and his brother, Kenneth Cutshaw, the owner of the property. This property is 500 feet away from the Canoga Park Branch Library.

Since 2012, Erik Cutshaw has been arrested at least three times in connection with criminal activity at the property, Feuer’s office said. Last month, he was arrested during an undercover operation involving LAPD and federal officers investigating alleged drug and gun crimes. Officers also found 36 stolen radiators from cars.

The home at 7756 Farralone Ave. was the subject of a city abatement action after a pipe bomb exploded outside the residence when a rival gang member was targeted, Feuer’s office said. No one was injured in the explosion, he said.

All of the occupants of the home have been evicted and the property is for sale.

"Three separate properties, each of them alleged to be associated with white supremacist gang activity," Feuer said. "Each of them focused on narcotics, guns, stolen property, identity theft -- the fuel to enable a white supremacist gang to function."

In the cases against the first two homes, prosecutors are seeking gang and criminal activity injunctions, as well as removal of structures that inhibit police searches. Members of the SFV Peckerwoods would be prohibited from going to the homes, under the injunctions being sought.

Task force arrests 38 in connection with killings in South L.A. gang war
L.A. sheriff
Los Angeles Sheriff Jim McDonnell discusses a task force — made up of L.A. police, sheriff's officials, prosecutors and the U.S. Marshals Service — focused on quelling gang violence in the Vermont Corridor. Thirty-eight people have been arrested in connection with the case. (Michael Owen Baker / For the Times)
Kate Mather and Nicole Santa CruzContact Reporters

Authorities have arrested more than three dozen people linked to a trio of feuding gangs in South L.A. whose violence led to at least nine killings and other retaliatory attacks, officials said Monday.

For more than a year, a task force of local and federal investigators has focused on quelling what authorities described as a violent gang war in the Vermont Corridor, a four-mile stretch that runs along Vermont Avenue. The violence stemmed from an alliance between two gangs targeting a third, authorities said.

On Monday, officials said 38 people have been arrested in connection with the killings and other assaults. The arrests dealt the gangs a “severe blow,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell said.

“The recklessness of these brazen murders and assaults shook the community to the core,” he said. “Residents did not feel safe enough to leave their own homes.”

One of the homicides linked to the feud was last summer’s killing of Kenneth Peevy, gunned down in a yard along West 109th Street. The 27-year-old’s death and a string of shootings that followed stirred fear in South Los Angeles as rumors spread that a gang had vowed 100 days of violence in retaliation. Alarming hashtags, including #100days100nights and #PrayforLA, circulated social media.

LAPD Deputy Chief Bill Scott cautioned Monday that investigators never found proof of a pledge of 100 days of violence, saying the rumors became “somewhat of an urban legend.”

Instead, he said, the shootings that people saw on the street stemmed from traditional, retaliatory gang violence that was already happening.

“The actual murder of Kenneth Peevy was a part of our investigation in terms of trying to link everything together and really paint a bigger picture of what was going on,” Scott said. “The violence was very real, don’t get me wrong. It was very real. But the 100 days thing is something that took on a life of its own.”

McDonnell said the crimes linked to the gangs targeted by the task force included the March 2015 killing of a man working on his car in an AutoZone parking lot, a shooting last summer that killed a 24-year-old man and wounded three others, and another shooting that injured a victim who wasn’t affiliated with any gangs but lived in an area claimed by one.

Prosecutors have charged 29 people in connection with the investigation, according to the district attorney’s office. Those charges include murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and shooting at an occupied vehicle.

The investigation is ongoing, McDonnell said.

Gang-intervention workers said gangs weren’t the only source of crime in the Vermont Corridor. To curb overall crime in the area, they said, the city should better invest in the people who live there by bringing in more youth programs, job opportunities or chances to talk to the police at town hall meetings.

“It’s kind of a hot area altogether,” said Ben “Taco” Owens, who heads a team of gang-intervention workers in the neighborhood. “The perception of the community is nothing has changed much.”

Obviously your overlooking the fact 9 killings are tied to these " not so active" gangs.

Obviously your overlooking the fact 9 killings are tied to these " not so active" gangs.

"
Authorities have arrested more than three dozen people linked to a trio of feuding gangs in South L.A. whose violence led to at least NINE KILLINGS and other RETALIATORY ATTACKS, officials said Monday.

For more than a year, a task force of local and federal investigators has focused on quelling what authorities described as a violent GANG WAR in the Vermont Corridor, a four-mile stretch that runs along Vermont Avenue. The violence stemmed from an alliance between two gangs targeting a third, authorities said."

So you don't see this at all? Capitalize it for your eyes. Don't mistake less active for no active and it differs for each gang.

What's funny is that LA files gang injunctions against practically every gang that makes the news, but they're not filing one against this white gang. The more things change in LA, the more they stay the same.

whoever wrote this contradicted themselves.first,tehy say 9 killings due to a "gang war" but a few paragraphs later go on to say that no one retaliated after the shooting in 2015. if there's 9 dead,then find their names and what gang they are from and post it here. the evidence seems clear,100 days 100 nights was an urban legend and the rumors of gang violence never materialized.check the stats,LA has the lowest murder rate in the entire U.S. there's no pitchef battles between the bloods,crips,etc anymore. gangs are dying out,and the violence has largelycome to an end

100 days 100 nights never happened.it was an internet rumor that turned into media hype.no one was killed behind it. those gangs are not active anymorer,compared to how it was years ago

LA has the lowest murder rate in the entire U.S. there's no pitchef battles between the bloods,crips,etc anymore. gangs are dying out,and the violence has largelycome to an end

SoCalGangs

Thanks for your input. Been waiting on your .2 on the beef between the Rollin 100s and whoever they into at this time.

taht's because pecekrwoods are not a gang. if you're white,and not ashamed or afraid to stand up for your race in jail/prison,you're classified as a wood.taht's all it means.it's not a gang.

In prison, Hollander. Surenos don't give two shits about whites on the street. White gangs survive on the streets because the police let them. White gangs have to invade Poland before the police will even recognize them as a gang.

Understood. Are there any Mexican Crip/Bloods sets? Or any Sure no cliques with Blacks?