Feds Seize 40 Pounds of Fentanyl in Los Angeles Raid

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🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

40 pounds of fentanyl were seized and 18 people arrested, as federal agents and local authorities in Los Angeles raided MacArthur Park on Wednesday in what First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli is calling "Operation Free MacArthur Park." Following the raid, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on X that the DEA and LAPD had "taken back MacArthur Park." Meanwhile, what started as a transit dream in 1962 is finally becoming a reality in Los Angeles. After nearly 65 years of roadblocks, the first phase of Metro's long-awaited D Line extension opens on Friday. It'll add nearly four miles of track under Wilshire Boulevard from Koreatown to Beverly Hills with three stations along the way, and Metro says the D Line could dramatically cut commute times. Read more at https://www.latimes.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an L.A. Times Studios podcast.
0:09.6	40 pounds of fentanyl seized, 18 people arrested as federal agents and local authorities in Los Angeles rated MacArthur Park on Wednesday.
0:19.2	The scenes of what first assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Assaly is calling Operation Free MacArthur Park were striking.
0:26.6	Patrons inside the businesses along the Outerrata Street Corridor.
0:31.6	This is the Drug Enforcement Administration.
0:33.6	Be advised.
0:34.6	We have federal surgery.
0:35.6	Here is Assaili describing his goal with the DEA operation in one of LA's poorer areas.
0:41.3	This is a continuation of a prior operation from my office where we arrested members of the 18th Street gang who claims this as their territory.
0:52.3	The 18th Street gang thinks this is their property.
0:56.0	It's not their property. It's our property. And we're here today because in March, we arrested
1:01.6	their leadership. Today, we're arresting the street dealers and the suppliers who've been
1:07.9	selling drugs openly here at MacArthur Park.
1:11.3	Celebrity doctor, Mehmet Oz, is now the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under RFK Jr.
1:19.2	Oz was at the raid and said this.
1:21.4	We saved lives out here today.
1:23.6	We've also sent a very clear message to Sacramento that you cannot play with this anymore because you're playing with fire.
1:29.5	And you're not doing so well.
1:31.7	And so the kinds of things that I believe we can address by going into the visible addiction that was faced on this street and the worsening conditions for policies that just have not worked.
1:43.9	Authorities branded MacArthur Park, an open-air drug market and colleagues at the LA Times reported
1:49.6	that LAPD officers also raided nearby storefronts along with dozens of federal
1:55.3	armed agents.
	...

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