Federal authorities arrest 18 for alleged drug distribution around Los
Angeles park
[May 07, 2026]
By JAIMIE DING
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities said they arrested 18 people
Wednesday on charges related to selling illicit drugs including fentanyl
and methamphetamine around a Los Angeles park.
The area, called MacArthur Park, is a densely populated immigrant
neighborhood west of downtown LA where federal immigration authorities
and the National Guard made a brief but mighty show of force last
summer.
In this week's raids, authorities seized 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of
fentanyl from a single home, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Two of the
people arrested, a couple from South Los Angeles, are believed to be the
main sources of those drugs sold in the park, which were stashed in a
storefront and distributed to street-level dealers, authorities said.
“We're here today because California policy has failed,” First Assistant
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference announcing the
arrests. “MacArthur Park should be for families, should be for residents
of Los Angeles, not for drug dealers and gangsters.”
Essayli announced the arrests alongside officials from the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the Los Angeles Police Department in the
park. It has drawn numerous homeless encampments and has been the site
of open-air drug use in recent years.
While one portion of MacArthur Park is often busy with families
picnicking, kids playing soccer and vendors hawking food and toys,
another side regularly features people lighting up pipes and outreach
teams treating people with drug addiction. The park and its surrounding
areas are part of heavily contested gang territory, federal officials
say.
According to a criminal complaint, South LA couple Mallaly Moreno-Lopez
and Jackson Tarfur serve as one of the main sources of drugs distributed
in the area, generally on behalf of the 18th Street Gang. The two
allegedly hand-delivered narcotics to a storefront on the Alvarado
corridor, a street that serves as the eastern border of the park where
many drug transactions would take place.
The other defendants in the complaint were surveilled and caught selling
drugs to undercover federal agents.
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Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents alongside other law
enforcement officers work the scene near MacArthur Park after
federal authorities made arrests on charges related to selling
illicit drugs on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP
Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Moreno-Lopez and Tarfur have not been assigned attorneys in court
yet and could not be reached for comment.
Aerial TV news footage showed agents gathered outside a strip of
businesses across from the park, with one appearing to use a chain
saw to cut through a business’s wall. Essayli posted video on the
social platform X of LAPD officers assisting with the effort and a
home in a residential neighborhood being raided.
Essayli, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said the area's
struggles are a result of failed California policies including lax
consequences for drug users and programs that involve handing out
clean needles and Narcan, a life-saving emergency medication for
fentanyl overdose.
Wednesday’s operation involved more than 200 personnel from the DEA,
said Anthony Chrysanthis, special agent in charge of the department
in Los Angeles.
Essayli said the operation began Tuesday night, with three warrants
executed in the morning at residences in other locations in Southern
California. Six warrants were served at businesses found to be
selling narcotics in MacArthur Park.
Investigators have targeted the Sinaloa Cartel as the suppliers for
fentanyl and methamphetamine in the area, Chrysanthis said.
The defendants are set to appear in court Thursday. Seven others
remain fugitives, Essayli's office said.
The city of LA recently announced a project to capture rainstorm
runoff into the lake, as well as put in new landscaping, walking
paths and other features to improve the park.
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