New theory, just briefly and open to discussion. I'm not going to go into details about the accomplices of RJ but I have a simple yet pretty much possible theory.

I think there are 2 RJs here. If Heller is solid about his statement that one of those 7 guys is really RJ, then here's my theory:

After PJ left his father, Alex was so frustrated and his grudge led him to train another wonder boy in order to seek a remote vengeance against Patrick. He trained and brainwashed him so well and equipped him with deepest elements of mentalism and hypnosis but as Patrick has a natural talent in this field, the new bot could not be left alone. Therefore, the new boy was going to take care of operational stuff, and the complex brain behind the whole scenario would be Alex Jane himself as a mentor and analyst.

Of course, this plan and the new boy was needed to be tested before taking place in real action. This was the reason of killings earlier than PJ's family. To see if they can manage not to be caught or traced. And this boy was already originally into mental enhancement, so he was a disciple in Visualize at an early age (Red Barn) but only after he was recruited by Alex Jane (who's also a close friend of Bret Stiles that time) from Visualize and equipped with the doctrine of being Red John, only then he drew that smily face on the barn in order to seal the idea that the Barn is the place where it all began.

I also think that the TV show manager is also involved in RJ's plan because they needed a reason to kill Jane's family and to do that, the simplest thing to do was to make him insult Red John publicly. Only then the trial period of RJ has ended ad it started to serve its real purpose. Making Jane's life a nightmare.

Wondering what the name of that boy is? Brett Partridge of course. But he's the operational part. The master behind him (2nd Red John) is Alex Jane. Pretty fantastic I admit... But still very much possible. And this way you can both make Partridge fans and the rest of the people happy about the story.