"We're here today because California policy has failed. MacArthur Park should be for families, should be for residents of Los Angeles, not for drug dealers and gangsters. 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 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."
"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."
Federal authorities conducted raids in Los Angeles, arresting 18 individuals on charges related to selling illicit drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine around MacArthur Park, a densely populated immigrant neighborhood west of downtown LA. The operation resulted in the seizure of 40 pounds of fentanyl from a single residence. Two suspects from South Los Angeles, identified as Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and Jackson Tarfur, are believed to be primary drug sources operating on behalf of the 18th Street Gang. The drugs were allegedly stored in a storefront and distributed to street-level dealers. MacArthur Park has become a site of open-air drug use and homeless encampments, though portions remain used by families. Federal officials emphasized that California policy has failed to address the situation.
Read at www.npr.org
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