WATCH: Feds Storm Skid Row with a 100-Vehicle Convoy to Take Down Drug Network Operating in Tents and Storefronts

Federal agents and Los Angeles police raided Skid Row before dawn Thursday, serving dozens of warrants in a takedown of dealers supplying fentanyl, meth, cocaine, and PCP to the blocks of homeless encampments that plague downtown Los Angeles.

Authorities called the raid Operation Skid Row, and targeted more than two dozen suspected street dealers and suppliers after a three-month investigation.

The FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the LAPD used phone taps, undercover officers, and drones to build the cases.

WATCH:

#Developing #SkidRow drug enforcement operation. DEA executing ‘Operation Save Skid Row.’ David Olesky, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA L.A. Division to join federal and local parters at the podium for a 1:00 pmpress conference announced by @usao_cdca. Details of operation to follow. #HSTF @HSTaskForce @deahq @TheJusticeDept @DEATerryCole @USAO_LosAngeles @LAPDHQ @FBILosAngeles @LosAngelesATF @LADAOffice @IRS_CI

— DEALosAngeles (@DEALOSANGELES) 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

By morning, agents had arrested 28 people.

A convoy of roughly 100 law enforcement vehicles cordoned off blocks and parks around Fifth and Crocker streets, trapping dealers who had been working the sidewalks.

Investigators said the dealers were not standing on corners in the open. Some sold from a Mercedes. Some posed as homeless men living in tents that were in fact drug dens. Others used storefronts or posed as social workers and homeless-services providers.

Drugs were also stashed in single-room-occupancy units and low-income housing.

Agents seized narcotics, guns, and luxury cars.

Officials said homeless people were not the target. The warrants were for dealers, and multiple gang members are among those facing charges.

WATCH:

🚨 BREAKING: Hundreds of federal agents — FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and LAPD — are SWARMING Skid Row right now in a massive drug bust

28 arrests expected. 44 search warrants. Large wads of cash, firearms, and fentanyI being seized on scene.

Drug dealers are also being accused of specifically targeting people on the days their government checks arrive (of course)

LONG overdue! Skid Row has been like a third world country for YEARS.

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 8, 2026

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

The New York Post reported that the morning began with raids on alleged distributors at their homes, then moved to a sweep of the street trade.

In Pasadena, an FBI convoy hit the Summit Avenue home of alleged cocaine dealer Manuel Vaughns. Agents used flash-bang grenades before demanding that the suspect come outside.

Other alleged dealers included Rodney Thomas, 55, known as “Jamaica”; Charles McIntyre, 65; Dwayne Richards, 62; Larry Pitre, 70, known as “Kat Daddy”; Malcolm Dehughes, 32; Lionel Nelson, 57, known as “Popeye”; Irigia Bowman, 58; and Kevin Fountain, 38.

Skid Row covers roughly 50 blocks of downtown Los Angeles, according to The Post. It includes a stretch of warehouses, cheap restaurants, and sidewalk encampments where as many as 6,000 homeless people live on the street or in shelters.

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

It has been the city’s open-air drug market for decades.

Thursday’s sweep followed a similar federal operation at MacArthur Park earlier this year, where officials said they arrested 24 people.