LAPD Announces 5th/Hill Arrests

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Back in January Captain Smith came to a DLANC meeting and said that LAPD had recently seized 80 pounds of heroin. They just now got things to the press conference point, announcing today that a ten-month investigation has resulted in thirty-one arrests and the seizure of $250,000 in cash along with the heroin.

This effort was particularly directed at the 5th and Hill gang and the NBC piece gives a little history I didn’t know:

The gang was formed in the 1970s from a group of day laborers and transients who began robbing pedestrians near 5th and Hill streets in downtown Los Angeles, police said.

The gang transitioned to heroin sales in the 1980s and has been the major supplier of heroin in Skid Row and the surrounding blocks since then, police said.

Captain Smith was particularly upset with 5th and Hill back in January after they had tagged his station. I’d say at this point he’s got the upper hand.

Update (Thursday): The Times has a much longer piece on the arrests.