Federal authorities on Friday arrested 12 alleged members and associates of the 18th Street Gang and are charging two more in a sweeping racketeering case that prosecutors say targeted a drug-trafficking and extortion network centered in MacArthur Park and stretching into other parts of Los Angeles.
In addition to those arrested in the operation, six fugitives remain at large. One is believed to be in Mexico and the other in Guatemala, according to charging documents and authorities.
"My office is unsealing seven indictments charging 14 defendants with racketeering and drug trafficking offenses stemming from their membership in one of the largest and most violent gangs in the Western Hemisphere," Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said at a press briefing.
The main indictment alleges that the gang controlled MacArthur Park as a drug marketplace, with dealers using tents to conceal sales of illicit substances and avoid police detection, while also exerting influence over trafficking on Skid Row and in other areas.
"The 18th Street Gang is a transnational criminal organization that controls the rampant drug trafficking in multiple areas of Los Angeles, including MacArthur Park, parts of Hollywood, downtown, and the San Fernando Valley," Essayli said.
Authorities said the takedown followed a long-running joint investigation by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Los Angeles Police Department, with help from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Marshals Service.
In the inquiry, law enforcement seized more than 175 pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl, and on Thursday alone confiscated about $80,000 in cash, 10 pounds of fentanyl, 5 pounds of methamphetamine, and six gun, according to prosecutors.
Among the most serious allegations is a 2022 killing of a woman identified in court papers as "M.Z.," who prosecutors say was killed for not paying the gang's extortion demands tied to drug trafficking in its territory.
Two defendants are charged with murder in aid of racketeering in that case.
"Since January of 2023, the LAPD's Gang and Narcotics Division, working with the FBI Gang Task Force, conducted a comprehensive investigation into the gang's leadership and narcotics distribution network," Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said.
"Evidence was collected highlighting the free flow of narcotics between distributors in the areas of MacArthur Park and Skid Row," said Robert Molvar, acting assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
"These drugs were being taxed through extortion payments known as rents by high-ranking members of the gang for continued permission to operate in their territory,” he added.
The case is the latest in a long line of federal prosecutions aimed at 18th Street, a gang authorities have described for years as one of the largest and most entrenched street gangs in Los Angeles.
A 2017 federal takedown in the city netted 10 members and associates on drug and weapons charges, while an earlier racketeering case tied to the MacArthur Park area led to life sentences after the fatal shooting of a 23-day-old infant in 2007.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.