22 arrested in L.A. gang crackdown

A two-year probe of a violent South Los Angeles street gang culminated Thursday with 22 arrests and seizures of drugs and guns in a series of raids. One neighborhood was evacuated while police used tear gas to drive a suspect out of a home.

Those arrested were reputed members and associates of the Neighborhood Crips, authorities said.

"They are a very violent street gang," said Susan Raichel of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "They have been involved in numerous murders, numerous drive-by shootings."

"Here you have armed drug dealers," she said. "They're just intimidating the neighborhood to maintain control of their turf."

About 500 federal, state and local law enforcement agents served search and arrest warrants, mostly in South Los Angeles. Most of the arrests were trouble free, although one man sought for federal firearms violations refused leave, Raichel said.

In that case, residents, some in their pajamas, were evacuated from a one-block area in buses and a SWAT team was called in, she said. The standoff continued for nearly 2 1/2 hours until tear gas was fired into the home and the man came out.

In all, 12 people were arrested for investigation of federal firearms and narcotics crimes and 10 were held on state drug and weapons allegations, Raichel said. Eleven more were still being sought.