Dangerous drug dens disguised as sleepy storefronts no longer plague the surrounding area of Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park after a series of gang-busting raids.
The Post had a front-row seat for “Operation Dead Horse” — designed to take down the 18th Street gang— as officers from the LAPD and FBI took some of the most dangerous criminals off the street, splitting their operations open from the inside out.
Officers targeted key street-level operations in some of the city’s most blighted areas, starting with MacArthur Park, in an operation Wednesday night.
In a matter of seconds, officers secured three adjacent storefronts on Alvarado Street along the Northeast corner of the park, used as drug spots by 18th Street, the biggest gang in the city. The gang has more than 100,000 members worldwide.
Among the storefronts: a shoddy electronics store and a bodega. The locations operated as fronts for 18th Street, where dealers actually sold meth, fentanyl and paraphernalia, even though their shelves were also stocked with regular medications and toiletries, cops said.
A third storefront was used for inventory where officers found a black garbage bag filled with bundles of cash and baggies of fentanyl. In all, six people were detained in the storefronts and two arrested.
Operation Dead Horse has seized enough drugs to kill 50,000 people, according to cops.
LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division or GND, a specialized unit within the Detective Bureau, focuses on violent street gangs and the trafficking of illicit drugs and firearms.
Led by Captain Ahmad Zarekani, GND frequently collaborates with the FBI to bring federal indictments.
“LA has become a center for the transport and distribution of narcotics across the country and internationally,” Zarekani told The Post.
“We’re working to disrupt it by bringing together all our resources with our federal partners.”
The day before the Alvarado Street busts, cops had collared 18th Street’s leader, Keiko “Moms” Gonzalez, who ran the drug gang’s operations with a brutal hand.
She was indicted on charges including murder conspiracy for ordering the death a dealer who refused to pay tribute. Cops called it the “most significant” gang takedown in LA since a 2023 bust of MS-13.
“We’re putting away some significant dealers,” said an FBI agent working Wednesday night’s raid. “This is a good day for us.”