Essayli said the operation and other recent takedowns tied to the park show that the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security \u201care determined to fight drug traffickers poisoning our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMacArthur Park should be for families, it should be for residents of Los Angeles \u2014 not for drug dealers and gangsters,\u201d Essayli said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. \u201cWe\u2019re here to liberate it. … This is not a one-and-done operation. We are here and we are not leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to an affidavit filed with the federal charges, Mallaly Moreno-Lopez, 31, and her boyfriend, Jackson Tarfur, 28, both of South L.A., allegedly \u201cserve as the, if not one of the main sources of supply of fentanyl powder and methamphetamine distributed in the Alvarado Corridor and MacArthur Park, generally on behalf of the 18th Street Gang.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur allegedly hand-delivered narcotics to the Alvarado corridor to stash in storefronts and later distribute to street-level drug dealers. <\/p>\n
Yolanda Iriarte-Avila, 40, of Calabasas is accused of being a source of supply of methamphetamine for Moreno-Lopez, via Iriarte-Avila\u2019s boyfriend, Jesus Morales-Landel, 33, of the Exposition Park area of South Los Angeles, who is allegedly a street-level drug dealer in the area, according to the charging documents.<\/p>\n
Dozens of armed federal agents and LAPD officers were seeing raiding several storefronts near the Alvarado corridor on Wednesday afternoon. As agents moved in and out of the location, LAPD officers cordoned off the northeast corner of the park with yellow crime scene tape.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou on the rooftop, go back to your residence,\u201d a voice on the loudspeaker said.<\/p>\n
Anthony Chrysanthis, the head of the DEA\u2019s office in Los Angeles, said six warrants were served at businesses selling narcotics on the Alvarado corridor.<\/p>\n
Minutes before the raid, LAPD squads slowly circled the park. Then around 2:08 p.m., a caravan of additional police and federal vehicles pulled up to 6th and Alvarado and scores of officers spilled out.<\/p>\n
![\"LAPD](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778146649_432_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
LAPD officers and DEA agents converged along Alvarado Avenue near MacArthur Park targeting what authorities described as an open-air drug market.<\/p>\n
(Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
They were joined soon after a large, command-post-style vehicle, which was followed by several other armored tactical vehicles.<\/p>\n
Officers began fanning through the park and pushing back people they encountered.<\/p>\n
The operation drew the attention of several dozen onlookers, who were standing in line as part of a food giveaway by a local nonprofit called the Dream Center Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re gonna round us all up in one spot that\u2019s where you want us,\u201d one man said as he brushed past the line.<\/p>\n
At one point, a black-and-white LAPD helicopter flew overhead. Authorities made several announcements over a loudspeaker that it was a Drug Enforcement Administration operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a federal narcotics warrant in the area,\u201d one announcement said, instructing people to comply with law enforcement commands and walk down the street with their hands on their heads.<\/p>\n
Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche posted on X saying DEA agents and LAPD officers \u201chave taken back MacArthur Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the drug dealers poisoning the streets of Los Angeles: your safe haven is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n