在一次行动中，超过24人被指控，这次行动的目标是联邦检察官所说的洛杉矶公园的“露天毒品市场”。
据负责起诉此案的美国第一助理检察官比尔·艾塞利(Bill Essayli)说，当局正在执行25份逮捕令和8份搜查令，包括麦克阿瑟公园周围企业的6份逮捕令。
洛杉矶美国检察官办公室周三表示，到目前为止，已有18名被告因与此次行动有关的联邦贩毒被捕，其中两名被认为是问题公园中芬太尼和甲基苯丙胺的主要来源。
“今天，我们开始从罪犯和吸毒者手中夺回麦克阿瑟公园，把这个公共空间还给洛杉矶市民，”艾塞利在一份声明中说声明.
检察官说，起诉书指控所有25名被告意图在位于洛杉矶市中心以西的公园内和周围分发受控物质。
Essayli在周三的新闻发布会上说，被指控的人包括“在麦克阿瑟公园公开出售毒品的街头毒贩和供应商”。
起诉书称，从3月9日到4月15日，公园内外发生了20多起芬太尼和冰毒交易。
检察官说，在一名被告的家中，执法部门缴获了大约40磅芬太尼。
美国检察官办公室表示，公园和周边地区是“帮派争夺激烈的地区”
根据诉状，指控的两名被告据称是代表第18街帮派在公园分发芬太尼粉末和冰毒的主要来源之一。检察官说，这对夫妇还被指控在公园附近的商店储存和藏匿毒品，供街头毒贩分销。
官员们说，执法部门周二晚上开始抓人，周三开始执行对住宅和企业的搜查令。
这次行动发生在18街黑帮的领导被逮捕今年3月，联邦指控该团伙控制麦克阿瑟公园，将其作为露天毒品市场，利用帐篷躲避警察的侦查，并混入无家可归的人群中。
“这不是一劳永逸的行动，”Essayli在周三的新闻发布会上说。“我们有300名执法人员参与这次行动，他们哪儿也不会去。我们有比歹徒更大的枪，所以我们哪儿也不去。”
Over 2 dozen charged in federal drug operation at Los Angeles' MacArthur Park: DOJ
Over two dozen people have been charged in an operation targeting what federal prosecutors called an "open-air drug market" at a Los Angeles park.
Authorities are executing 25 arrest warrants and eight search warrants, including six for businesses around MacArthur Park, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office is prosecuting the case.
So far, 18 of the defendants have been arrested for federal drug trafficking in connection with the operation, including two believed to be the main sources of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the troubled park, the Los Angeles U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday.
"Today, we begin reclaiming MacArthur Park from criminals and drug addicts to return this public space to the citizens of Los Angeles," Essayli said in astatement.
The complaint charges all 25 defendants with the intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance in and around the park, located west of downtown Los Angeles, prosecutors said.
Those charged include the "street dealers and the suppliers who've been selling drugs openly here at MacArthur Park," Essayli said during a press briefing Wednesday.
The complaint affidavit alleges more than two dozen fentanyl and meth drug deals occurred in and around the park from March 9 to April 15.
At the home of one defendant, law enforcement seized approximately 40 pounds of fentanyl, prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney's office said the park and surrounding area are "heavily contested gang territory."
Two of the defendants charged in the complaint allegedly served as one of the main sources of fentanyl powder and meth distributed in the park on behalf of the 18th Street Gang, according to the complaint. The couple are also accused of storing and stashing the drugs at businesses near the park for distribution by street-level drug dealers, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement began arresting people Tuesday night, with search warrants at homes and businesses being executed on Wednesday, officials said.
The operation comes after leadership of the 18th Street Gang wasarrestedin March on federal charges alleging that the gang controlled MacArthur Park as an open-air drug marketplace, using tents to avoid detection by police and blend in with the homeless population.
"This is not a one-and-done operation," Essayli said during Wednesday's press briefing. "We have 300 law enforcement personnel on this operation, and they're not going anywhere. And we've got bigger guns than the gangsters, so we're not going anywhere."
