LOS ANGELES, CA — Police and federal agents conducted a series of drug enforcement raids Thursday in and around the Skid Row section of downtown Los Angeles and other parts of the county, arresting 21 out of 28 suspects who've been accused either federally or by county prosecutors with preying upon vulnerable populations.
Los Angeles Police Department officers assisted agents with the FBI and DEA in "a joint narcotics-focused public safety operation in downtown L.A., in the area of Fifth and Crocker streets, as well as several other locations throughout the city, according to a department statement. "The operation is focused on drug-related criminal activity."
At a news conference at LAPD headquarters Thursday attended by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Main Street Crips and other criminal gangs were involved in drug distribution operations that have continued for years.
Drugs, guns and luxury cars were seized, McDonnell said, adding that the busts extended to Simi Valley in Ventura County as well as San Bernardino County.
McDonnell described a sophisticated criminal enterprise that in some instances was "generational", with parents raising their own children to eventually distribute drugs to some of the city's most vulnerable residents, many of them unhoused and addicted,
Drugs seized Thursday included methamphetamine, fentanyl, crack cocaine, PCP and heroin.
Investigators raided 29 locations, 15 in the city in the area of Fifth and Crocker streets and others inside and outside Los Angeles County.
"Today's operation is about more than arrests," McDonnell said of the drug users targeted by dealers. "Never forget they are Angelinos, just like all of us."
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who also attended the news conference, said the area surrounding the 15 block of Skid Row has existed in its current state for decades.
"The fact that I can say there is a Skid Row in Los Angeles, as there are in other cities, is embarrassing," he said.
He called Thursday's operation an exercise in harm reduction, but not the kind where needles are given to addicts.
"We are getting rid of the drug suppliers," Hochman said.
City News Service
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