LOS ANGELES
An investigation led by the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department Tuesday and Wednesday resulted in the arrest of 14 defendants linked to the Hoover Criminal Gang, officials stated.
The defendants were charged with the distribution of narcotics, some of which were sold to customers out of two South Los Angeles storefronts, according to officials.
The investigation – dubbed Operation Hoover Dam – resulted in three indictments being returned over the past few weeks by a federal grand jury.
The indictments allege that the defendants – all members or associates of the street gang, or alleged drug dealers who operated in gang territory – sold methamphetamine, crack cocaine, cocaine, and phencyclidine (PCP).
One indictment also alleges weapons violations, including carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime.
The main indictment charges 10 defendants, including two senior gang members who operated stores where narcotics allegedly were peddled.
Bobby Lorenzo Reed, a.k.a. “Zo,” 56, the owner of the H&E Smoke and Snack Shop, and Andrew Tate, a.k.a. “Batman,” 52, the owner of the TNN Market, each sold methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine from their respective South Los Angeles stores, referred customers to one another, supplied one another, and directed their employees to engage in drug sales and referrals, according to the indictment.
It details dozens of narcotics transactions in 2017 and 2018.
The 32-count indictment further charges Tate and a second person with conspiring to distribute heroin inside Solano State Prison in Vacaville.
In this conspiracy, Tate allegedly supplied heroin to Lashina Lacy, 33, of Fresno, who allegedly attempted to smuggle the contraband into the prison for an incarcerated gang member, who, in turn, intended to sell the heroin to other inmates.
As a result of this part of the investigation, which included the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the heroin was intercepted before entering the prison, officials stated.
The second indictment unsealed today charges, three defendants, with participating in a series of narcotics transactions in 2018, some involving sales of approximately one and two ounces of methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
The third indictment unsealed today charges two people with distributing street-level quantities of PCP and crack cocaine.
The three indictments charge a total of 15 defendants.
After 14 arrests, authorities are continuing to search for one defendant, Ricky Blue, 51.
The defendants were taken into custody primarily in South Los Angeles, but arrests were also made in South Gate and Fresno.