A suspected stash house in South Los Angeles run by gang members accused ofdeadly drug dealing at notoriously MacArthur Parkwas swarmed Wednesday morning by federal agents — who caught their targets allegedly trying to flush fentanyl down the toilet.
The Post had a front-row seat as as nearly two dozen Drug Enforcement Agency officers raided the home of alleged narco queen Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and an accomplice in the largest DEA bust in California in at least a year, authorities said.
Agents surrounded their South LA apartment and called for Moreno-Lopez and accused partner in crime Tafur Jackson-Lora to come out. When they did not, agents broke down their fortified steel door and rushed inside.
During the raid, the suspects allegedly tried to get rid of their stash by filling the toilet with baggies of fentanyl in a desperate final act.
Meanwhile, DEA agents carried two other simultaneous raids, including one at Calabasas mansion, where agents recovered nearly 40 pounds of fentanyl. In all, 25 dealers were targeted in the raids, dubbed “Operation Free MacArthur Park.”
The goal of the busts is to stem the supply of deadly fentanyl feeding addicts in MacArthur Park, which has become the locus of drug dealing in downtown Los Angeles, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
“We’re targeting the open-air drug market that has terrorized downtown Los Angeles,” he said. “Today’s operation is focused on the street-level suppliers and dealers.”
The DEA’s raid targeted the 18th Street Gang, MS-13 and the Crazy Riders, which together oversee fentanyl sales and distribution downtown, authorities said.
The raid on the home of Moreno-Lopez and Jackson-Lora should stop fentanyl from reaching the park’s notorious Alvarado Street corridor, authorities said.
DEA agents described Moreno-Lopez and Jackson-Lora as mid-level distributors who work as liaisons between the cartel and lower-level dealers.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
