More On The SFV Peckerwoods RICO Indictment
YouTuber Ernest “Badger” Hill is named in 21 Overt Acts.
On October 2, 2024, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced the indictment of 68 persons allegedly affiliated with the SFV Peckerwoods. The 254-page is a lengthy read, in part due to the more than 800 Overt Acts listed. Here are some of the more interesting items associated with it.
2016 Nuisance Cases
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer filed separate nuisance abatement lawsuits against two San Fernando Valley single-family residential properties in December 2016. The lawsuits alleged the properties were used by the SFV Peckerwoods and sought to evict the residents. One property was in Granada Hills and the other was in Canoga Park.
The Granada Hills Index Street residence was where Johnny “Johnny Boi” Reed resided. Reed is the third-named defendant in the SFV Peckerwood RICO Indictment. The property was owned by Monica Lewis; her two sons, Norman and Robert, lived at the residence. None of the Lewis family members were named in the SFV Peckerwood RICO Indictment.
Authorities raided the Index Street residence in October 2016 and seized drugs. The Lewis Brothers were arrested during the raid. The LA nuisance lawsuit alleged that the residence was the scene of criminal activity, including drug sales, identity theft, and burglary.
The Canoga Park Loma Verde Avenue residence was where the Cutshaw Brothers resided. Erik Cutshaw allegedly placed a pipe bomb under a car near the home of a rival in 2013. The pipe bomb exploded; however, no one was injured. Erik Cutshaw received an 18-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is not a named defendant in the SFV Peckerwood RICO Indictment.
Media coverage of the nuisance abatement lawsuits predictably emphasized the terms “White Supremacist” and “Neo-Nazi.” In a rare act of investigative journalism by the mainstream media, the Daily News of Los Angeles dug a bit deeper into this topic. In a December 14, 2016, article, the Daily News quoted LAPD Detective John Dunlop as follows:
“Peckerwoods will espouse white supremacist beliefs and leanings, but many don’t follow what I would describe as the belief system of a true white supremacist,” said Detective John Dunlop with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Topanga area division.
Dunlop defines a “true” white supremacist as someone who actively promotes or campaigns for the creation of a “white-only nation,” the “preservation of the white race through their children” and other similar ideas, such as through marches or by maintaining websites promulgating their beliefs. […]
It is conceivable for SFV Peckerwoods gang members to veer into committing hate-based crimes, but thus far they have primarily gone after “a rival or someone in their own circle,” he said.
The nuisance lawsuits appear to have been successful, as before-and-after Google Street View images show that both the Granada Hills and Canoga Park properties were substantially upgraded in the years after 2016.
The Low Bar For Overt Acts
To establish a criminal conspiracy, prosecutors must list the Overt Acts that underpin it. Overt Acts can encompass both criminal and noncriminal conduct. The jury need only find one Overt Act to be true. Moreover, the 12 jurors may each individually find only one Overt Act to be true but may not be in agreement on any of them. The drug portion of the SFV Peckerwoods RICO Indictment lists 832 Over Acts, while the COVID relief fraud portion lists 44 Overt Acts.
Highlighting how low the bar is for Overt Acts, the first two listed in the SFV Peckerwoods RICO Indictment allegedly consisted of Facebook messages about media coverage of the nuisance lawsuit. The first message (Overt Act No. 1) posted by named defendant Brianne Brewer on December 14, 2016, simply read “Ugh oh.”
The second message (Overt Act No. 2) posted by Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 48 in response to Brewer’s post read as follows:
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...
Illustrating the sweeping nature of a RICO indictment, simply posting “Ugh oh” on Facebook is enough to qualify as an Overt Act. In fact, the first nine Overt Acts of the drug conspiracy are simply Facebook posts from 2016 and 2017, some as benign as Kenneth “Spinner” Criswell’s alleged March 28, 2017, post that read “Center of the universe sfv” (Overt Act No. 4).
Perhaps the Overt Acts that seem to be the most questionable are the Cash App transactions that do not have any apparent connections to illegal activity.
Overt Act No. 48 comprises an alleged April 7, 2021, $500 Cash App transaction from Zachary “Boogie” Winters to Ashlee Swink that was said to be on behalf of Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 2, who is believed to be incarcerated Aryan Brotherhood member Waylon Pitchford. Yet none of the Overt Acts before or after it establish that it was payment for drugs or other illegal items.
Same with Overt Act No. 113, which consists of an alleged October 29, 2023, $550 Cash App transaction from Robert “Berzerker” Slayton to Kevin Francis. Again, none of the other Overt Acts establish that this was payment for something illegal. There is an alleged January 3, 2024, recorded telephone call (Overt Acts Nos. 126 and 127) between Slayton and Francis in which fentanyl and payment via CashApp are discussed, but that is more than 2 months after the alleged October 29, 2023, transaction.
Same thing again with Overt Act 440, which comprises an alleged March 3, 2023, $230 Cash App transaction from Ernest “Badger” Hill to Scott Vennum. Again, no other Overt Acts establish that this transaction was for something illegal.
OG Badger Named In Indictment
YouTuber Ernest “Badger” Hill is one of the named defendants in the SFV Peckerwoods RICO Indictment. Hill has a YouTube Channel called “OG Badger’s Heavy Hitters” that began circa 2018 and is still active. Badger developed a cult following from his colorful prison stories (e.g., The Lawn Mower Blade Story) and his candor at revealing his struggles with substance abuse and adapting to life out of prison.
Hill first earned notoriety circa 2018 when he appeared for a series of interviews on Marcus “Big Herc” Timms’ YouTube Channel “Fresh Out.” Big Herc is an African American body builder who had done federal time for a bank robbery. Badger and Big Herc had engaging and humorous discussions of prison-related issues, including race relations.
Hill’s name comes up in 21 Overt Acts. The first allegedly occurred in December 2020 and regarded a Facebook message concerning fentanyl. The next Overt Act allegedly occurred in March 2023 and concerned the aforementioned CashApp transaction. The 19 other Overt Acts allegedly occurred between January 2024 and March 2024.
Interestingly, the Government cited the same alleged January 4, 2024, recorded phone call between Hill and Robert Slayton in three separate Overt Acts: 128, 701, and 702. (Slayton allegedly supplied Hill and others with fentanyl).
Perhaps the most interesting Overt Acts involved alleged recorded phone conversations Hill had in March 2024 concerning Brand Business. These calls coincided with the big Aryan Brotherhood RICO Trial in Sacramento.
Overt Act No. 788: On March 13, 2024, Hill allegedly told Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 21 that he had told Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 1 (presumably an incarcerated AB member) that Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 21 was not AB “secretary material.” Hence, Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 1 would be calling Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 21 less frequently using his contraband cell phone.
Overt Act No. 790: On March 13, 2024, Hill allegedly told Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 25 that Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 40 had been arrested for drug distribution. Hill allegedly characterized Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 40 as one of Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 1’s “top guys.”
Overt Act No. 791: On March 13, 2024, Hill allegedly told Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 25 that Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 1 had “huge, huge problems” because Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 40 was delivering drugs on his behalf and had recently “disappeared.”
Overt Act No. 807: On March 14, 2024, Hill allegedly told Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 25 that Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 1 was “shitting his pants” due to recent law enforcement activity (presumably the arrest of Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 40) and would be changing his contraband cell phone number.
If proven, it would suggest Ernest “Badger” Hill was indeed rubbing elbows with the Heavy Hitters.
Undercover Buys
The most recent investigation into the SFV Peckerwoods began in December 2019 when a male undercover law enforcement officer communicated with a female who said, “she knew the right people in the Valley.” She told the undercover narc that she could supply large quantities of drugs. The female is referred to as Unindicted Co-Conspirator No. 47. This is Overt Act No. 104.
The female sold the undercover cop an ounce of meth on for $130 on January 9, 2020. This is Overt Act No. 106. Hence, there was at least one undercover cop conducting buys from SFV Peckerwood affiliated persons.
The Facebook messages involving drugs begin in March 2020 and extended until April 2024. The recorded telephone calls began in July 2023 and extended to May 2024. Text messages between defendants were also cited as Overt Acts, suggesting the authorities may have conducted Cellebrite extractions on seized phones.