Federal Task Force Arrests 28 in Skid Row Drug Trafficking Sweep

Hundreds of federal agents and Los Angeles Police Department officers conducted a county-wide operation this week targeting drug trafficking in and around Skid Row, resulting in 28 arrest warrants and 44 search warrants executed across Los Angeles County.

The operation, dubbed “Operation Save Skid Row,” was carried out by a multi-agency task force including the FBI, DEA, IRS, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and the LAPD. Agents seized fentanyl, methamphetamine, PCP and cocaine, along with firearms and drug paraphernalia. Tents in the area were marked with notices stating they were “subject to seizure and forfeiture for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act.”

Before agents moved into Skid Row itself, authorities raided homes of alleged distributors elsewhere in the county, including the Pasadena residence of a man identified as alleged cocaine dealer Manuel Vaughns.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said investigators are also seizing vehicles connected to the alleged drug trade, including what he described as luxury cars some dealers drove to Skid Row on the days residents receive public assistance payments.

“Not only are we arresting the Skid Row drug dealers, but we are also taking their cars. Anything purchased with drug money is subject to forfeiture,” Essayli said.

Investigators said the dealers’ operations were timed to coincide with benefits disbursements. “They know when the homeless get their public assistance benefits payments; they get them on the 1st and the 15th, and they’re there like clockwork,” Essayli said. “They’re there in their fancy cars, selling the drugs and collecting the cash. Some of it we saw in today’s operation.”

Essayli said some of those targeted allegedly posed as social workers or homeless services providers, using low-income housing and single-room occupancy units as stash houses.

Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said the operation involved partners from the Homeland Security Task Force and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Initiative, and thanked agencies for their work “to combat violent crime affecting some of the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Because the arrests involve federal drug trafficking charges rather than state charges, those detained face potentially lengthy prison sentences.

The operation follows comments Essayli made in late September, when he was asked by Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich whether it was time for federal authorities to intervene in Skid Row. “I’m not going to preview anything, but we are definitely working with our partners, federal and local, and it’s something we’re looking at,” Essayli said at the time. “I’m not gonna preview anything today, but if the locals don’t act, we will.”

Joey Tuccio, who runs a nonprofit animal rescue organization, has documented widespread abuse and killing of dogs on Skid Row linked to drug activity in the area and said he went to the site to assist with animal rescue once the operation began.

Federal agents have previously conducted enforcement actions in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park targeting narcotics activity.