The neo-Nazi group to which 20-year-old accused killer Samuel Woodward has been linked by an investigative news agency tends to target angry, affluent, white men eager to commit violent acts, says a Southern California expert on hate groups and violent extremism.

A report by ProPublica on Friday said Woodward belonged to Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group linked to four slayings over the past eight months.

Atomwaffen Division bills itself as a neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, anti-government, fascist organization is a numerically insignificant hate group, comprising perhaps some 100 members nationwide, which was started in late 2015, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.

“But, even though they are small, a combination of social media, white nationalism and developments before and after the Charlottesville march have made this group dangerous,” he said in an interview with The Register on Saturday. “This is a group that glorifies violence. Their hero is Charles Manson and they want to start a race war.”

Woodward was arrested Jan. 12 on suspicion of killing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein of Lake Forest and was charged with murder. Prosecutors say Woodward stabbed the teenager during a late-night meeting Jan. 3. Bernstein’s body was found a week later, on Jan. 10, in Borrego Park in Lake Forest. Woodward is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

Levin said the group has drawn the attention of those who research extremism because they have gone out and committed violent acts. The group’s members have been tied to four other murders and an elaborate bomb plot over the past eight months.

According to news reports, Devon Arthurs, an 18-year-old Tampa man, and member of the Atomwaffen Division, was accused in May 2017 of killing his roommates, ages 22 and 18 who he said ridiculed his conversion to Salafist Islam.

After Arthurs’ arrest, his third roommate and fellow group member, 21-year-old Brandon Russell, was arrested by the FBI and the Tampa Police Department, who found chemicals in the man’s garage that are used to make bombs.

In December, a 17-year-old teen believed to be linked to the group was accused of killing his girlfriends’ parents in Reston, Va.

Newer hate groups such as Atomwaffen Division, which has been kicked off Twitter, according to Levin, are known to target all types of recruits, particularly wealthy young men.

“Upscale, young, angry, white youth are the exact demographic these newer hate groups want. We’re in an era where bigots are more likely to wear collared shirts than hoods.”

The ProPublica report says Woodward joined the organization in early 2016 and later traveled to Texas to attend Atomwaffen meetings and a three-day training camp. ProPublica says it obtained photographs of him there.

Atomwaffen Division’s website posts “strict requirements” for those who wish to join the group. They must be white, no mixed race allowed. They must not be dating or married to a member of any other race.They must be physically fit or be willing to improve their fitness. And they must complete a required reading list at the top of which is Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

Bernstein was Jewish and gay.

Investigators are determining whether the stabbing was a hate crime. Documents show that Woodward told police that Bernstein tried to kiss him, and that he wished he’d used a gay slur to describe Bernstein after that happened.