LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A massive raid by federal agents and Los Angeles police officers targeted members of one of the city's most notorious gangs early Tuesday.
The roundup aimed at breaking up the Avenues gang began at 3 a.m., the Los Angeles Times reported. It involved 1,200 city police, agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies.
A federal racketeering indictment names 88 alleged members of the gang, The New York Times said. Deputy Police Chief Charles Beck said 45 were arrested Tuesday in "a significant blow to the hierarchy of the gang," 33 were already in jail and 10 had not been captured.
The gang gets its name from its base neighborhood near Dodger Stadium, where the avenues have numbers.
"They have inflicted a reign of terror on that neighborhood for many years, killing innocent people and targeting officers," Beck said.
The investigation began after Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Abel Escalante, 27, was gunned down in August 2008 as he left for work. Three reputed members of the gang have been charged and a fourth is a fugitive.
