LAPD, DEA make 13 arrests in MacArthur Park drug sweep

Los Angeles police and federal drug agents arrested 13 people in less than an hour during a sweeping narcotics operation at MacArthur Park on Thursday, the second phase of a three-stage cleanup effort authorities are racing to complete before the city hosts 2026 World Cup matches.

The "Free MacArthur Park" initiative has so far netted nearly 20 kilos of fentanyl and produced federal charges against 25 defendants, reflecting intensifying pressure by city and federal officials to dismantle open-air drug markets across the greater Los Angeles area — a crisis that has drawn growing concern from communities throughout Southern California.

Thursday's sweep was the second of three enforcement phases in the "Free MacArthur Park" initiative, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. Officers seized needles, pipes and other drug paraphernalia during the operation, while paramedics responded to multiple overdose emergencies on site.

LAPD Deputy Chief German Hurtado pointed to sustained federal partnership as the path toward restoring the park. "We're hoping that we continue working with our federal partners, both from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the DEA, so we can just bring the park back, clean it up, to get their resources to the city, to the park so we can return it back to the community," Hurtado said.

A May raid targeting the park and surrounding blocks resulted in 18 arrests, including two individuals authorities believe were the primary suppliers of fentanyl and methamphetamine in the area, according to ABC7. Federal prosecutors have charged 25 defendants in a criminal complaint for possession with intent to distribute. The overall operation has yielded nearly 20 kilos of fentanyl; law enforcement believes the drugs originate from the Sinaloa cartel.

For merchants near the park, the open-air drug trade has made the neighborhood nearly unrecognizable. "There's like zombies everywhere, there's the drug rush here where everybody is just selling drugs out of their cars," said Alicia Orduñez, a MacArthur Park business owner. She recalled a sharply different past: "When we were growing up, there would be families out there having picnics and it was like the standard."

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli offered a blunt assessment of conditions on the ground. "This is just not human," Essayli said, according to ABC7. L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman pledged aggressive follow-through: "I refuse to let MacArthur Park be a cemetery."

Los Angeles fire officials told ABC7 they now spend more time distributing the overdose-reversal drug Narcan at the park than they do fighting fires — a sign of how deeply the fentanyl crisis has taken hold in the area.

LAPD stressed that Thursday's operation was not an immigration enforcement action. Officials plan to continue regular sweeps for weeks and months ahead; a third and final phase of "Free MacArthur Park" will shift focus from arrests to drug treatment services for users.