Earlier this week, both California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass completely freaked out over their willful misinterpretation of President Donald Trump's words during a rally in Nebraska, in which he said that temporarily paying higher gas prices was a small price to pay contrasted against the risk of Iran having the ability to bomb U.S. cities like Los Angeles or San Diego. Newsom, Bass, and the California Democrat Party loudly proclaimed that Trump was okay with the destruction of these great cities, but they would protect them despite Trump's supposed abandonment.
Of course, folks pushed right back, showing photos of the destruction Democrat policies have already wrought in Los Angeles (particularly Skid Row and Pacific Palisades) and San Diego (where Democrat Mayor Todd Gloria and his enablers on the City Council have set a record-breaking pace of destruction).
And today the federal government is doing what neither Newsom nor Bass would: Cleaning up Los Angeles' Skid Row by arresting the drug traffickers operating out of many of those tents, who enable the carnage.
BREAKING: Hundreds of federal agents & LAPD officers conducting a county-wide drug bust in LA right now. Fentanyl, meth, PCP, coke. This focuses on Skid Row. Targeting 28 alleged drug dealers. The Feds say some 'drive their luxury cars to Skid Row' to sell narcotics to violent drug users who receive federal benefits. Full story and lots of video on @foxnews.
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) October 8, 2026
As part of Operation Save Skid Row, a multi-agency task force including the FBI, DEA, IRS, ATF, U.S. Marshals, and the LAPD executed 28 arrest warrants and 44 search warrants for federal drug trafficking offenses involving fentanyl, PCP, and other narcotics in and around Skid Row. Guns, drugs and paraphernalia were seized as evidence, and notices placed on the tents that they are "subject to seizure and forfeiture for violations of the Federal Controlled Substances Act."
Out where Feds and local authorities hit tents on Skid Row as part of a drug trafficking takedown. Here are some of the signs left behind on tents https://t.co/nIhlAFkyUU
— Brittny Mejia (@brittny_mejia) October 8, 2026
DEA just pulled a gun out of a tent on Skid Row -- part of major drug bust happening right now. https://t.co/k4MJd7Dtut
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) October 8, 2026
Prior to hitting Skid Row, authorities carried out raids targeting alleged distributors of fentanyl, meth, cocaine and PCP at their homes, including the Pasadena home of alleged cocaine dealer Manuel Vaughns. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said officials are also seizing vehicles, some of them the luxury vehicles dealers allegedly drove to Skid Row on the days people receive benefits checks, so the addicts could spend their cash on more drugs.
Not only are we arresting the Skid Row drug dealers, but we are also taking their cars. Anything purchased with drug money is subject to forfeiture. https://t.co/TNvdBPp6ex
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 8, 2026
According to investigators, some dealers posed as social workers or homeless services providers, using low-income housing and/or SRO's (Single-Room Occupancy unit) as stash houses.
In addition to the people beaten, raped, and killed by other addicts on Skid Row, an increasing number of dogs have been abused and tortured to death. Joey Tuccio, who runs a nonprofit rescue organization, has been not only the leading voice bringing awareness to this issue, but the person doing the actual work to save dogs and get authorities to do something about it. These sweet animals were murdered by drug addicts; Joey has photos posted of how the dogs were found, but I'm not posting them here.
Both these dogs were murdered on the same day because of drug addicts on the streets of Los Angeles. These two dogs (and countless others) would be alive if Los Angeles didn’t let drug usage run freely on the streets. https://t.co/5WrpiIbchK
— JoeyTuccio (@joey_tuccio) October 8, 2026
The scale of what Tuccio has witnessed is almost too much to believe. While sharing a video of a puppy killed by a violent homeless drug addict, Tuccio wrote:
Two weeks ago this puppy was so happy. He didn’t know his monster owner only wanted to breed him. He didn’t know his monster owner was going to kill him. He didn’t know in two weeks he would be buried alive. He didn’t know his monster owner killed two dogs before him. When my friend went and asked if they knew about the dog that was buried, somebody referenced a completely [sic] dog found in a garbage bag.
There are dead dogs buried all over Skid Row. It’s a massacre. On this same street, somebody was murdered the same day Ocean was buried alive. Two days before another person was killed. A week before that a dog was set on fire. Three days before that three people were shot. One day before that a dog was dragging his body down the street until he died. Two days before that another dog was handed to us that was run over by a car and was now paralyzed. Two days before that 4 dogs were abandoned in an SRO for a week covered in feces and drugs. The list goes on and on.
Tuccio was thrilled to hear about Operation Save Skid Row and headed there to help with rescuing dogs. (To learn more about Tuccio's efforts and contribute, click here.)
https://t.co/1nD9wkKXzd
— JoeyTuccio (@joey_tuccio) October 8, 2026
The only way for this to be cleaned up, since Los Angeles politicians have decreed that homeless encampments aren't to be cleaned up and that laws aren't to be enforced there, is for the feds to come in and do just what they're doing. The LAPD basically has to take part in the operation because of the federal funding they receive to (allegedly) go after drug dealers. And while the rank and file officers there want nothing more than to go after these people, and likely a significant portion of the command staff, the reality is that command staff have to answer to Karen Bass, the City Council, and the Police Commission, which frankly should be disbanded since it does more to decrease public safety than anything else.
In late September, when Katie Pavlich asked Essayli, "Is it time for the federal government...to go in and raid Skid Row to stop these people who are living there from committing crimes against other people and also engaging in animal abuse," Essayli replied:
"I'm not going to preview anything, but we are definitely working with our partners, federal and local, and it's something we're looking at. I'm not gonna preview anything today, but if the locals don't act, we will."
"It's something we're looking at... if the locals don't act, we will." WATCH: @USAttyEssayli joins @KatiePavlich as his office tackles fraud and other crime in California - and weighs in on what can be done to restore order and safety in places like L.A.'s Skid Row. https://t.co/mCZn1CSa3C
— Katie Pavlich Tonight (@KatiePavlichNN) September 23, 2026
Given the timeline, it's apparent now that the investigations leading up to today's raids were already underway when Essayli made those statements. It's a good reminder that sometimes when it doesn't seem like anything is happening, there's lots of movement under the surface.
.@USAttyEssayli on today's Operation in Skid Row: "Individuals that we targeted in today's operations are selling drugs to homeless people. They’re keeping the homeless addicted to hard drugs—we're talking fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and PCP…The drug dealers are very sophisticated. They know when the homeless get their public assistance benefits payments; they get them on the 1st and the 15th, and they’re there like clockwork. They're there in their fancy cars, selling the drugs and collecting the cash. Some of it we saw in today’s operation."
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) October 8, 2026
Patrick Grandy, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, discussed this morning's law enforcement operations targeting narcotics trafficking and sales in the #SkidRow area of Los Angeles. Grandy thanked partners with the FBI, DEA, IRS, ATF, LAPD, U.S. Marshals and many others that are part of the Homeland Security Task Force and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Initiative for their continued efforts to combat violent crime affecting some of the most vulnerable members of our community. #SaveSkidRow
— FBI Los Angeles (@FBILosAngeles) October 8, 2026
And since these are federal drug trafficking charges, not state, those arrested are facing significant time behind bars.
There's a lot of work to do to clean up Los Angeles. Federal agents have raided MacArthur Park a few times, and now Skid Row and dealers supplying it. I wouldn't be surprised if raids in Santa Monica and Venice are next.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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