More than 1,100 FBI agents and police officers spread out through South Los Angeles, banging on doors before dawn Thursday in a crackdown against a gang implicated in drug dealing and violent crime, authorities said.
"They have a vice grip on the neighbourhood, and we are going to release that grip this morning," Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said, referring to the Rolling 40s street gang.
30 indicted
Agents and officers went to 47 locations, serving arrest warrants for 74 people charged with federal or state crimes, mostly involving drugs or weapons. More than 30 have been indicted on federal charges that could carry sentences ranging from 20 years to life, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
The sweep, the culmination of an 18-month investigation, netted several gun seizures and 34 arrests, authorities said. An additional 13 suspects were arrested prior to Thursday's operation.
"Families get to raise their children, send the kids to school, without as much fear involving this particular street gang. ... The communities are held hostage, in a sense," Albanese said.
Eimiller said well over 500 people have been arrested since May in 10 Southern California anti-gang sweeps involving federal and local officials.
Thursday's operation also took place in the midst of a nationwide series of raids against a Mexico-based drug cartel.
300 arrested
Over the past two days, more than 300 people have been arrested in more than a dozen states, including California. The arrests are aimed at the US operations of the La Familia Mexican drug cartel.
The Los Angeles gang sweep was unrelated, Eimiller said.
"This is a local ... violent street gang. They were targeted in this investigation based on the level of violence," Eimiller said.
In recent years, federal, state and local officials have staged a series of crackdowns against street gangs they accuse of running drugs and terrorising neighbourhoods with drug sales, robberies and killings.
Last week, federal immigration announced nearly 300 people had been arrested in the Los Angeles area during a six-month national anti-gang operation that ended September 30.