Crowds of onlookers cheered as police and federal agents swarmed downtown Los Angeles’s notorious MacArthur Park Thursday to bust addicts who flock to the open-air drug market to use in broad daylight.
The California Post watched as dozens of LAPD officers and DEA agents set upon the once-proud park’s tragic turf, tackling cleanup of the eyesore that LA Mayor Karen Bass boasted about hosting viewing parties for the World Cup.
After the cleanup, LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the park has gotten so bad that local firefighters spend more time rescuing addicts from overdoses than putting out blazes.
Police and federal agents arrested rug users in MacArthur Park on Thursday afternoon. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
LAPD help a man get medical attention after struggling to get up from the ground during Operation Free MacArthur Park. Carlin Stiehl for CA PostHe vowed that law enforcement would maintain pressure on dealers and users, and would clean up the park by Labor Day.
“I’ll be bringing my family here for a picnic Labor Day weekend,” Hochman said.
“We will not allow MacArthur Park to be a cemetery any longer.”
“Drug use in the park is over,” said LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
LAPD makes an arrest during Operation Free MacArthur Park. Carlin Stiehl for CA PostHis comments came after officers targeted stupefied users openly smoking fentanyl at the park’s the litter-strewn corner near Alvarado and Seventh streets, placing several in handcuffs and hauling them away as others scurried from the scene.
A crowd of onlookers at the corner broke into applause at the sight of officers flooding the park.
“I like to see law and order,” said one observer, Chuck McSorley.
LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, said the latest push is meant to target users themselves, after successful raids took out narco-gang leadership and major suppliers of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
Nathan Hochman, the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, speaks to press during Operation Free MacArthur Park. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
United States Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli watches a man lying on the ground. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post“Drug use in the park is over,” he told The Post.
Police said they made 13 arrests and issued six citations in less than an hour.
Stella Magallanes, a homeless woman who spends her days in MacArthur, said it’s about time the authorities cracked down on drug use.
Within 40 minutes of the officers’ arrival, drug users had fled the park. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
“This whole park is out of control. This used to be my family’s park but now people are blowing some of their poison drugs in my face,” she said. “If there was a police presence here all the time it wouldn’t be that way.” Carlin Stiehl for CA Post“This whole park is out of control. This used to be my family’s park but now people are blowing some of their poison drugs in my face,” she said. “If there was a police presence here all the time it wouldn’t be that way.”
Within 40 minutes of the officers’ arrival, drug users had fled the park, leaving behind chairs, shopping carts and garbage on the ground.
Once known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles, MacArthur Park dates back to the 1880s and is bisected by Wilshire Avenue. Features include a lake, a bandshell and tennis courts.
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn
California Post SportsFacebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X
California Post Opinion
California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!
California Post App: Download here!
Home delivery: Sign up here!
Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!
The park fell on hard times in the 1980s as dealers and gangs moved in, with as many as 30 murders occurring there in 1990.
Today, it’s an epicenter for homelessness and drug use, with throngs of addicts buying fentanyl and meth there each day.
The LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division put the park’s dealers on notice in March, as officers arrested several leaders of the city’s notorious 18th Street Gang, who controlled drugs sales on one side of the park.
The LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division put the park’s dealers on notice in March, as officers arrested several leaders of the city’s notorious 18th Street Gang, which controlled drugs sales on one side of the park. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post
A man on the ground at MacArthur Park in early May. Pedro Colo for CA PostAmong those busted was suspected 18th Street Gang head of operations Keiko Gonzalez, better known as “Moms,” on racketeering and murder charges.
During the monthlong investigation leading up to the dramatic bust, agents seized more than 175 pounds of meth and fentanyl, $80,000 in cash and six firearms.
The very next day, officers and FBI agents again hit the park, this time searching storefronts on Alvardo Street allegedly operating as drug dens for the 18th Street Gang’s dealers.
That night, officers recovered a garbage bag filled with cash and fentanyl from one of the drug hot spots there.
In May, DEA agents led yet another raid of the park’s deadly drug trade, with dozens of agents carrying out a series of arrests targeting the leadership of the prison-based Mexican Mafia, which supplied dope to the park’s dealers via Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
MacArthur Park has become an epicenter for homelessness and drug use. CA Post
Throngs of addicts buying fentanyl and meth in the park each day. Ringo ChiuWednesday’s sweep heralded another chapter in the crackdown on the drug trade. Essayli said officers will now commence regular sweeps of the park to arrest addicts who use drugs there with impunity.
“We’re actually arresting people for using drugs in the park,” said Essayli. “That’s something that hasn’t happened for a long time.”
