LOS ANGELES
Federal authorities on Thursday arrested 12 members and associates of the 18th Street gang on charges including racketeering, murder, extortion and drug trafficking tied to Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park area.
Prosecutors allege the gang ran the park as an open-air drug market, using tents to blend with homeless encampments and evade police. The indictment accuses members of murdering a dealer who failed to pay gang “taxes.”
During the operation, agents seized about $80,000 in cash, 10 pounds of fentanyl, five pounds of methamphetamine and six firearms. In the broader probe, authorities confiscated more than 175 pounds of meth and fentanyl.
Seven alleged members face racketeering conspiracy charges: Keiko Marie Gonzalez, 59, also known as “Moms,” “La Señora” and “La Reina”; Edward Escalante, 49; Edward Alvarenga, 27; George Carillo, 60; Carlos Beltran, 48; Felipe De Los Angeles, 51; and Edwin Martinez, 32.
All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Five defendants were expected to appear Thursday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Six fugitives remain at large, with one believed to be in Mexico and another in Guatemala.
From at least July 2020 to March 2026, Gonzalez — the alleged second-in-command and street boss of the 18th Street gang — directly communicated with a co-conspirator identified in court documents as Co-Conspirator 1. Authorities say Gonzalez exercised decision-making authority, oversaw the gang’s criminal operations, disciplined members, collected rent, “taxes” and fines from members and associates, and ordered killings of gang members, rivals and drug traffickers.
Prosecutors allege Gonzalez and others also directed drug trafficking, violent acts and other criminal activity.
According to the indictment, on July 27, 2022, Gonzalez ordered the killing of a drug trafficker who failed to pay the gang’s extortion “taxes” for operating in its territory. The victim, identified in the indictment as “M.Z.,” was shot to death. Carillo and Beltran are each charged with one count of murder in aid of racketeering for their alleged roles in the killing.
Gonzalez, Escalante, Alvarenga and De Los Angeles are also charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion, a violation of the Hobbs Act. Escalante additionally faces three counts of attempted Hobbs Act extortion and one count of distributing nearly two pounds of methamphetamine.
