Federal authorities arrest 18 for alleged drug distribution around Los Angeles park

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities said they arrested 18 people Wednesday on charges related to selling illicit drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine around a Los Angeles park. The area, called MacArthur Park, is a densely populated immigrant neighborhood west of downtown LA where federal immigration authorities and the National Guard made a brief but mighty show of force last summer. In this week's raids, authorities seized 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of fentanyl from a single home, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Two of the people arrested, a couple from South Los Angeles, are believed to be the main sources of those drugs sold in the park, which were stashed in a storefront and distributed to street-level dealers, authorities said. "We're here today because California policy has failed," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference announcing the arrests. "MacArthur Park should be for families, should be for residents of Los Angeles, not for drug dealers and gangsters." Essayli announced the arrests alongside officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles Police Department in the park. It has drawn numerous homeless encampments and has been the site of open-air drug use in recent years. While one portion of MacArthur Park is often busy with families picnicking, kids playing soccer and vendors hawking food and toys, another side regularly features people lighting up pipes and outreach teams treating people with drug addiction. The park and its surrounding areas are part of heavily contested gang territory, federal officials say. According to a criminal complaint, South LA couple Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and Jackson Tarfur serve as one of the main sources of drugs distributed in the area, generally on behalf of the 18th Street Gang. The two allegedly hand-delivered narcotics to a storefront on the Alvarado corridor, a street that serves as the eastern border of the park where many drug transactions would take place. The other defendants in the complaint were surveilled and caught selling drugs to undercover federal agents. Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur have not been assigned attorneys in court yet and could not be reached for comment. Aerial TV news footage showed agents gathered outside a strip of businesses across from the park, with one appearing to use a chain saw to cut through a business's wall. Essayli posted video on the social platform X of LAPD officers assisting with the effort and a home in a residential neighborhood being raided. Essayli, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said the area's struggles are a result of failed California policies including lax consequences for drug users and programs that involve handing out clean needles and Narcan, a life-saving emergency medication for fentanyl overdose. Wednesday's operation involved more than 200 personnel from the DEA, said Anthony Chrysanthis, special agent in charge of the department in Los Angeles. Essayli said the operation began Tuesday night, with three warrants executed in the morning at residences in other locations in Southern California. Six warrants were served at businesses found to be selling narcotics in MacArthur Park. Investigators have targeted the Sinaloa Cartel as the suppliers for fentanyl and methamphetamine in the area, Chrysanthis said. The defendants are set to appear in court Thursday. Seven others remain fugitives, Essayli's office said. The city of LA recently announced a project to capture rainstorm runoff into the lake, as well as put in new landscaping, walking paths and other features to improve the park.