A suspected stash house tied to gang members accused of drug dealing in notoriously crime-ridden MacArthur Park was raided by federal agents Wednesday morning — with the suspects allegedly caught trying to flush deadly fentanyl down the toilet.
The Post had a front-row seat as as nearly two dozen Drug Enforcement Agency officers raided the South Los Angeles home of alleged narco queen Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and her boyfriend Jackson Tarfur Wednesday morning in the largest DEA bust in California in at least a year, authorities said.
Mallaly Moreno-Lopez (at left) was arrested Wednesday morning in a raid by the DEA in South Los Angeles. Ringo Chiu for CA Post
Moreno-Lopez is the accused ringleader of the operating. DOJAgents surrounded their apartment and called for Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur to come out. When they did not emerge, officers broke down their fortified steel door and rushed inside.
During the raid — spearheaded by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli — the suspects allegedly tried to get rid of their stash by filling the toilet with baggies of fentanyl in a desperate final act. A tote bag stuffed with drugs was found next to the toilet, authorities said.
MacArthur Park — located in councilmember Eunisses Hernandez’s district — has been spotlighted for months by The California Post as a junkie’s paradise. City programs provide the homeless addicts in the area with free needles and meals, turning a park once enjoyed by families into a danger zone.
The Post has contacted Hernandez more than 20 times about the park’s disgusting conditions, but she’s remained silent — instead touting ineffective cleanup efforts on social media.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, DEA agents carried two other simultaneous raids, including one at a Calabasas mansion where agents recovered nearly 40 pounds of fentanyl containing 190,000 doses, with a street value of roughly $10 million. In all, 25 dealers were targeted in the raids, dubbed “Operation Free MacArthur Park.” A total of 39 people were arrested.
The goal of the busts is to stem the supply of fentanyl and methamphetamine feeding addicts in MacArthur Park, which has become the locus of drug dealing in downtown LA, said Essayli.
The suspects allegedly tried to get rid of their stash by filling the toilet with baggies of fentanyl. Ben Chapman
Nearly two dozen DEA officers raided the home in South LA Wednesday morning. Ringo Chiu for CA Post“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 and meth sales and distribution downtown, prosecutors said.
The raid on the home of Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur should stop the drug from reaching the park’s notorious Alvarado Street Corridor, authorities said.
DEA agents described Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur as mid-level distributors who work as liaisons between the cartel and lower-level dealers.
The police and federal agents have repeatedly targeted the illegal drug trade in MacArthur Park this year.
Agents broke down the suspects’ fortified steel door. Ringo Chiu for CA Post
By noon on Wednesday, federal agents and police had arrested 19 of 25 targets named in a federal complaint. Ringo Chiu for CA Post
Jackson Tarfur, the boyfriend of accused drug ringleader Mallaly Moreno-Lopez. DOJThe Post was present when LAPD officers in March arrested Keiko “Moms” Gonzalez, the feared leader of the 18th Street Gang. During that raid, the mother of Moreno-Lopez was also arrested, federal agents said.
The Post also stood by last month when federal agents arrested affiliates of the Mexican Mafia, the prison-based “gang-of-gangs” that calls the shots on narcotics sales in California and beyond by controlling street gangs such as 18th Street and MS-13.
By noon on Wednesday, federal agents and police had arrested 17 of 25 targets named in a federal complaint, with two others already in custody.
Agents conducted three raids in total, including another in San Gabriel, authorities said.
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The busts were the culmination of more than 45 days of surveillance and investigation. Ringo Chiu for CA Post
In all, 25 dealers were targeted in the raids, dubbed “Operation Free MacArthur Park.” Ringo Chiu for CA PostThe busts were the culmination of more than 45 days of surveillance and investigation that included the use of drones to track the movement of suspects.
LA Mayor Karen Bass previously blasted a federal operation at MacArthur Park in July — which saw immigration agents descend on the park to root out MS-13 gangbangers and open-air drug markets —calling it “outrageous” and “un-American.”
The drug trade there has been blamed for countless deaths.
The real aim of law enforcement, one DEA agent said, is to put an end to the pain.
“That’s what we notice when we’re out the most,” the agent said. “People are really suffering from the effects of those illegal drugs. They’re in a bad state.”
