17 Arrested in Crackdown on Major Drug Ring

In another sign of Southern California’s dominance in the illegal production of methamphetamine, authorities announced Friday that they have dismantled a large drug ring in Los Angeles County that was supplied with raw materials by a major kingpin in Mexico.

Members of a task force of federal, state, and local narcotics agents said the operation produced hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine a day for a market that extended as far east as Texas.

Authorities have arrested 17 people who allegedly worked for the Anguiano family, a network that authorities said has specialized in the production of methamphetamine in the Los Angeles area. The suspects allegedly set up three clandestine labs in Acton, Maywood and Apple Valley in San Bernardino County that were capable of making more than 600 pounds of drugs a day.

According to law enforcement, the Anguiano organization has ties to the Amezcua-Contreras family in Mexico, a leading supplier of chemicals and equipment needed to make the powerful stimulant. Methamphetamine now rivals cocaine as a drug of choice in many parts of the United States.

“These arrests are the result of an unprecedented effort to shut down methamphetamine labs and disrupt the meth trade,” said Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in Washington. “We are sending a clear message to the meth merchants: We will find you, we will charge you, and we will shut you down.”

The eight-month investigation of the Anguiano family concluded early Thursday in Maywood with the arrest of the organization’s alleged leadership, including Rafael Anguiano Chavez, 26, and Carlos Javier Martinez, 28.

Anguiano Chavez, Javier Martinez and many of the other suspects face potential life sentences under tougher federal penalties for methamphetamine trafficking that have been enacted by Congress.

The effort to close down the Anguiano family organization is part of Operation Meta, a campaign to combat the burgeoning methamphetamine trade across the country. About 100 people have been arrested since the program started in May.

In addition to the 17 suspected members of the Anguiano operation arrested in Southern California, authorities said 40 more suspects with links to the network or its associates were arrested elsewhere in the United States on Thursday and Friday.

In Texas, authorities arrested Daniel Virgen, who allegedly heads a Dallas-based drug distribution network. According to the Justice Department, Virgen obtained methamphetamine from the Anguiano family and used it as payment to obtain cocaine from other drug traffickers.

Agents said their investigation of the Anguiano organization began earlier this year when they learned that Virgen was doing business with the family.

About 460 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $4,000 to $7,000 a pound on the wholesale market were seized from the Los Angeles-based operation, along with $52,000 in cash and a variety of firearms.

James S. Milford, a deputy administrator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, said the Anguiano case is significant because the operation had easy access to the chemicals, glassware and heaters needed to make the drug.

Sales of these “precursor chemicals” and some of the glassware are heavily restricted in the U.S.

Milford said the Anguianos have ties to the Amezcua-Contreras organization based in Mexico, which has readily obtained chemicals for manufacturers in the United States. Another DEA official called the Anguiano operation a “cell” of the Amezcua group.

At a news conference Friday in Los Angeles, law enforcement officials said the locations of the alleged operation epitomized the risks associated with methamphetamine production. The process relies on highly volatile chemicals that produce noxious and poisonous fumes. Under the wrong conditions, the batches of acids, red phosphorous and ephedrine can explode and burn furiously.

The Acton laboratory was next to a busy equestrian center. The Maywood operation was in a commercial building across the street from a Lutheran elementary school and day-care center. Each was capable of producing at least 200 pounds of methamphetamine a day.

“This is happening all over the United States. You could be living next to one of these things and not know it,” said Robert E. Bender, the special agent in charge of the DEA office in Los Angeles.

Bender estimated that 80% of the methamphetamine seized by law enforcement officials across the country is made in Southern California. “We’ve become the pharmacy for the entire United States,” he said.

At Mariscos Bahia, a wholesale seafood store that abuts the Maywood lab, workers said Friday that they noticed a strong burning smell coming from the site Wednesday afternoon. Several hours later, shortly after midnight, agents raided the operation, which they said used an auto accessory business as a front.

“They were eight months behind in their rent, but they were driving Porsche Turbos and Carreras,” said Hector Canino Jr., whose father owns the building where the suspects had set up the lab.

The elder Canino said he had been trying to evict the tenants before they were arrested. His son said the family even attempted to place liens on the expensive cars to collect overdue rent.

The breakup of the Anguiano organization coincided Friday with Mexico’s announcement that Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez, an alleged kingpin in the Amezcua family organization, had been arrested in Guadalajara at the request of the United States, which wants to extradite him to face drug charges in San Diego.

The bulletin from the Mexico City attorney general’s office said Alvarez Vazquez was wanted in the United States on suspicion of conspiracy to make and traffic in methamphetamine, possession of ephedrine with the intention of making methamphetamine and involvement in a criminal enterprise.

Times staff writer Anne Marie O’Connor in San Diego and correspondent Michael Krikorian in Los Angeles contributed to this story.