{"id":875152,"date":"2026-06-18T05:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875152\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T05:18:20","slug":"cops-rush-drug-addled-zombies-in-new-blitz-on-las-notorious-macarthur-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875152\/","title":{"rendered":"Cops rush drug-addled zombies in new blitz on LA\u2019s notorious MacArthur Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal agents and police in tactical vehicles swarmed drug users<\/a> and dealers in one of California\u2019s most notorious public parks on Wednesday night as part of an ongoing blitz to rid the area of crime.<\/p>\n

Executed by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency in partnership with the Los Angeles police, \u201cOperation Free MacArthur Park\u201d aims to eradicate the open-air drug markets that have befouled downtown LA\u2019s once-proud greenspace.<\/p>\n

Federal agents and police in tactical vehicles swarmed MacArthur Park.<\/p>\n

Roughly 100 agents and police officers stormed the park<\/a> Wednesday in the third such sweep since the operation began earlier this month, targeting stupefied users\u00a0 openly smoking fentanyl<\/a>\u00a0at the park\u2019s the litter-strewn corners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anthony Chrysanthis, head of the DEA\u2019s Los Angeles\u00a0office, told The Post that the nighttime sweep was part of an ongoing effort to maintain pressure on dealers and users.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the criminals to know that it doesn\u2019t matter when you go, we can show up and we can control the park whenever need be,\u201d Chrysanthis said.<\/p>\n

The nighttime sweep was part of an ongoing effort to maintain pressure on dealers and users.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the commitment that we\u2019ve promised to the people of LA,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Chrysanthis said latest push is meant to target users themselves, after successful raids took out\u00a0narco-gang leadership<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0major suppliers of fentanyl and methamphetamine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Operation Free MacArthur Park began with an initial sweep on June 4, police made 13 arrests and issued six citations in less than an hour.<\/p>\n

In a subsequent visit to the park, DEA agents and police made six felony arrests, and issued two misdemeanor charges and nine citations.<\/p>\n

Wednesday night\u2019s sweep was the third and latest effort in the ongoing project.<\/p>\n

The push is already yielding results, Chrysanthis said. In some cases, undercover agents have been unable to purchase drugs in the park since the sweeps began, he said.<\/p>\n

More than a century old and originally conceived as LA\u2019s Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es, MacArthur Park fell park fell on hard times in the 1980\u2019s as dealers and gangs moved in, with as many as 30 murders occurring there in 1990.<\/p>\n

Wednesday night\u2019s sweep was the third and latest effort in the ongoing project.<\/p>\n

Today, it\u2019s teeming with homelessness and drug use, with throngs of addicts buying fentanyl and meth there each day. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Police Department put the park\u2019s dealers on notice in March, as officers arrested several leaders of the\u00a0city\u2019s notorious 18th Street Gang<\/a>, who controlled the dealing on one side of the park. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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In May, DEA agents led another raid of the park\u2019s deadly drug trade, targeting the leadership of the prison-based Mexican Mafia, which supplied dope to the park\u2019s dealers via Mexico\u2019s Sinaloa cartel.<\/p>\n

The sweeps begun this month heralded another chapter in the crackdown on the drug trade.<\/p>\n

LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman\u00a0has vowed to clean up the park by Labor Day, saying he would bring his family there for a holiday picnic.<\/p>\n

Chrysanthis said officers will continue with regular sweeps of the park to arrest addicts and dealers who once used and sold drugs there with impunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be ongoing until we have full control of MacArthur back to the people of Los Angeles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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