The FBI, Los Angeles Police Department, and local law enforcement agencies’ Operation Coast to Coast has seen over 130 people detained at illegal gambling dens or “casitas” across the Los Angeles area.
massive amount of drugs.”
Along with the Feds and the LAPD, LA County and San Bernardino Sheriff’s Departments joined forces for 36 operations resulting in more than 200 arrests and, according to the FBI on Monday, the “seizure of a massive amount of drugs.”
According to reports, the illegal gambling venues were run by LA-area gangs to sell drugs while prostitution and gun-trafficking were also conducted.
The FBI’s LA office on Monday stated the operation, which is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative under executive order by President Donald Trump, “added more resources” to the casitas sting over December.
The HSTF initiative aims to eliminate “criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and human smuggling and trafficking rings” active in the US and beyond.
According to the FBI, “92 criminal complaints were filed after 223 people were arrested” in the LA area over Operation Coast to Coast. NBC Los Angeles reported that upon executing multiple search warrants, including in Mexico, enforcers seized over 102kgs of fentanyl, 470kgs of methamphetamine, 1.5kgs of cocaine, 29 firearms, and $3,000 cash.
The detention of over 130 at casitas came from raids in the Montclair and San Bernardino areas of LA. According to reports, agents also arrested alleged members of street gangs “including Florencia-13, Tortilla Flags, East Side Longos” in Long Beach for drug trafficking and firearms violations. The Feds added “at least one man was arrested for distributing child sexual abuse material.”
