Gang in L.A., affiliates targeted

Los Angeles prosecutors stepped up efforts to combat open-air drug bazaars downtown, filing a court injunction that would bar gang members as well as a potentially broad category of unnamed “surrogates and associates” from congregating on streets in the central city.

The move marks a significant expansion of existing gang injunctions. It is expected to be controversial because it includes not only members of the 5th & Hill gang -- for decades the prime heroin supplier downtown -- but also anyone who has been arrested at least twice for possession for sale of the drug in the proposed enforcement area, an area of 20 square blocks.

The injunction, which must be approved by a judge, lists the unnamed individuals as “sales surrogates and associates,” and authorities say scores would be affected by the order.

Prosecutors said they took the action because the gang tends to use homeless people, teens and women to peddle drugs, allowing the gang to reap profits from a distance while evading arrest.

Skid row accounts for about 20% of all drug sales in the city, and officials have been cracking down as the area gentrifies.The LAPD over the last year has made about 2,000 drug-related arrests downtown, part of a major crackdown that included the addition of 50 officers patrolling the streets.

LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon said that as many as a third of the drug arrests involve heroin dealing, which is dominated by the 5th & Hill gang. Authorities estimate the gang has 150 members.

“They have pretty much had a monopoly on the heroin trade in the downtown area,” Vernon said. “They are organized and disciplined, running their operation like a business, complete with shifts and a payment system based on flat rates and commissions.”

Despite the increased police presence, some residents and merchants said they still see rampant drug use and dealing.

“Every day, through my car window, my office window and on the sidewalk as I walk these streets, I see people lying there from the effects of drugs. I see them not attending to their healthcare needs because of the drugs,” said Estela Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Assn.

Lopez said she strongly supported the move.

But along skid row, there was also concern Wednesday about the injunction’s fairness.

Lilian Jimenes, 22, who sells jewelry in a small store near the corner of 5th and Los Angeles streets, wonders how police would enforce the new initiative and whether it would violate people’s civil rights.

andrew.blankstein @latimes.com

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com