Federal agents served arrest warrants at multiple locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties early Thursday, arresting more than two dozen alleged members or associates of the notorious Mexican Mafia prison gang.
Raids took place at locations in Lakewood, Anaheim and Santa Ana as part of what FBI Director Kash Patel called “Operation Gangster’s Paradise.”
“Alleged murderers, drug dealers and racketeers all taken down,” Patel wrote on social media. “This group is also known as `La Eme,’ the `gang of gangs,’ known to control nearly every Hispanic street gang in the California region.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 25 alleged members and associates of the gang were arrested Thursday in connection with three federal indictments charging the defendants with counts such as kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and a murder at an Anaheim motel controlled by the gang. A total of 43 defendants are named in the indictments.
Fifteen of those arrested Thursday were expected in court Thursday in Santa Ana, while 10 others were scheduled to make initial appearances in Los Angeles. Twelve defendants were already in state custody in connection with other matters and are expected to appear in court in Santa Ana in the coming weeks, prosecutors said.
In addition to the arrests, federal agents taking part in Thursday’s raids seized 8.8 pounds of fentanyl, 120 pounds of methamphetamine, two pounds of heroin, 6.6 pounds of cocaine, 25 firearms and more than $30,000 in cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The main indictment in the case alleges that defendant Luis Cardenas, 48, who was an inmate at Ironwood State Prison, oversaw Mexican Mafia operations in Orange County — including at other jails and prisons. He allegedly used an encrypted messaging application on contraband cell phones to issue orders directing the gang’s activities. Those directions included kidnappings and assaults, prosecutors said.
Among the crimes alleged in the indictments was a Feb. 3, 2025, killing at the Akua Inn, a gang-controlled motel in Anaheim. Prosecutors said Matthew Kundrat, 29, of Anaheim, and Manuel Ramos, 45, of Santa Ana, carried out the killing “for the purpose of gaining entrance to the Mexican Mafia and increasing their standing in the criminal enterprise.”
Kundrat and Ramos were charged with committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and could potentially face the death penalty, prosecutors said.
“Gang members who murder, extort, kidnap, and traffic drugs and firearms are a menace to our communities and our way of life,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement “Today’s arrests highlight the continuing cooperation between federal and local law enforcement against violent felons and our unyielding determination to crack down on organized crime in our prisons and our streets.”
Essayli was in Lakewood as one of the raids was carried out Thursday morning.