Some 1,200 police officers and federal law enforcement agents launched a major assault on Los Angeles’s Avenues gang today, hoping to deal a blow to an elusive group they say is responsible for some of the area’s most notorious street crime. The Avenues came under scrutiny after last year’s slaying of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy.
Under the cover of darkness around 3 a.m., officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and several other agencies descended on dozens of homes in search of 53 alleged members or associates of the gang wanted on an array of federal charges related to extensive drug dealing, unsolved murders and other crimes.