LOS ANGELES, CA – Federal agents and the Los Angeles Police Department arrested 23 people Thursday in a multi-agency takedown of alleged gang-linked drug dealing in and around Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.
The operation, called Operation Save Skid Row, took place Thursday, Oct. 8, and centered on the area near Fifth and Crocker streets. Federal prosecutors charged 28 people in criminal complaints with distributing drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, and 23 of them were in custody by Thursday afternoon, according to a news release from IRS Criminal Investigation.
The takedown was carried out as part of a Homeland Security Task Force effort. Participating agencies included the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, IRS Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service and the LAPD.
The IRS release says the action mirrors takedowns earlier this year at MacArthur Park, which it describes as another area of Los Angeles long known for street crime, gang activity, homelessness and drug addiction. In those takedowns, prosecutors arrested 24 people.
Warrants served inside and outside Skid Row
Authorities said they served 28 arrest warrants and 44 search warrants. The searches were not limited to Skid Row, and officials said they reached residences in other parts of Los Angeles County as well as Simi Valley in Ventura County and locations in San Bernardino County.
According to the release, law enforcement searched 20 residences, most of them outside Skid Row, and several tents. Agents seized firearms, drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, cocaine base and pills, bulk currency and luxury vehicles.
Swarms of officers took part in the operation, which produced the arrests within a matter of hours. The defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, the release says.
Allegations against named defendants
The IRS release names nine of the arrested defendants, each charged with distribution of a controlled substance: Rodney Thomas, also known as “Jamaica”; Charles McIntyre; Dwayne Richards; Tyzarioun Grimsley; Eric Goring; Michael Taylor; Manuel Vaughns of West Covina; Larry Pitre, also known as “Kat Daddy,” of Studio City; and Lionel Nelson, also known as “Popeye,” of Watts.
Prosecutors allege Thomas, 55, lived in a downtown high-rise near the Los Angeles Convention Center but traveled to a tent at Fifth and Crocker to sell drugs. They allege he drove to the location in luxury vehicles, including a Bentley and a Mercedes-Benz.
Prosecutors allege Vaughns, 52, an identified Raymond Avenue Crip gang member, regularly sold drugs in Gladys Park. They allege Taylor, 39, disguised himself as an unhoused person by wearing dirty clothing and enlisted people living on the streets as lookouts, paying them with drugs.
Prosecutors also allege members of the Pueblo Bishops Bloods gang distributed drugs from makeshift tents and tables near Fifth and San Pedro streets. Other defendants named in the case are McIntyre, 65; Richards, 62; Grimsley, 28; Goring, 38; Pitre, 70; and Nelson, 57.
An arrest is not a conviction, and the allegations remain subject to the criminal court process.
Officials describe a gang-linked network
Federal court documents allege that dealers used tents and makeshift structures to conceal narcotics sales, sometimes dressing as unhoused residents or social workers to avoid detection. Authorities said dealers also stored drugs in vehicles, single-room occupancy units and nearby residences, often using properties and vehicles registered to other people.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the operation the culmination of more than six months of joint investigative work with the FBI, DEA and U.S. Attorney’s Office. He said members of the Main Street Crips and other gangs had run drug distribution in the area for years, and he described some of the alleged enterprises as “generational.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the dismantling of the drug trafficking organizations controlling Skid Row had begun. He said more operations would follow, as at MacArthur Park, and that the area would be a “zero tolerance zone.”
DEA Special Agent in Charge David Olesky said the traffickers bet that law enforcement would drive by and the public would look away. “They bet on our apathy. Today, that bet failed,” he said.
Officials say unhoused residents are not the target
Oleg Pobereyko, acting assistant special agent in charge at IRS Criminal Investigation, said the operation was not aimed at people living on the street. “We are not targeting the homeless people, we are targeting the drug dealers who take advantage of them,” he said.
Mayor Karen Bass said at a news conference at LAPD headquarters that the operation was about removing people who prey on vulnerable Angelenos, including those who are unhoused and struggling with addiction or mental health crises. “Today we got people who are responsible for circulating these drugs in our communities off the street and they will be held accountable,” she said.
Bass also stressed a distinction between the people who prey on the unhoused and the unhoused themselves, who need more drug treatment services. She said some dealers pose as unhoused and use tents as their offices.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, “It is the largest operation targeting Skid Row and these drug dealers in Los Angeles history.” He also said it was not an immigration enforcement operation.
Councilmember raises concern over tents
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado said in a public statement Friday that reports of Skid Row residents being prevented from returning to their tents and belongings were deeply concerning. She said people must be able to access medication, medical equipment and care.
Essayli responded Friday that authorities were proud of the operation, which charged 28 people and served more than 40 search warrants. He said that if the councilwoman disliked it, “she will be very displeased in the months ahead.”
Overdose deaths in Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported in June that there were 2,298 accidental drug overdose and poisoning deaths in the county in 2025, down from the all-time high of 3,220 in 2022. Overdose deaths fell 6% from 2024 to 2025, and fentanyl-related deaths fell 10% over the same period.
Since 2022, overdose deaths have decreased by nearly 30%, with a more than 40% reduction in fentanyl-related deaths and a 25% reduction in methamphetamine-related deaths, the department said.
Five suspects remain fugitives
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department.
Federal officials said five of the 28 defendants charged in the complaints were still fugitives as of Thursday afternoon. The 23 people in custody face federal charges, and authorities have said further operations in Skid Row are planned.
