The part about also murdering the children IMO makes the claims increasingly suspect.
It is a common Deep State/intel tactic to take legit claims about their wrongdoing and then release exaggerated claims of the same into the discussion in order to discredit the legit accusations.
Might this be the case? With Lin Wood either witting or unwitting in his role?
Yep. Either by degree or by number. Publish a Clinton Dead Body count of 2,000, and the ten or twenty or even 100 victims of the crime family are just part of an outlandish claim.
Similar here - the substance of the blackmail threat is extreme. I bet some of these dweebs would buckle to being exposed for petty larceny. No need to coerce them to commit murder. I would think drugs (alcohol is a powerful one) might be involved too.