FBI Operation Nets 29 'Big Hazard' LA Gang Members

The FBI backed by 800 police officials swooped Wednesday on a violent drug-dealing gang in Los Angeles they said was linked to the Mexican mafia, arresting 29 people.

The feared "Big Hazard" gang in the east of the city had been active in the same neighborhood for seven decades and was responsible for a range of crimes including murder and extortion, police said.

"A task force investigation into the street gang that has terrorized the Ramona Gardens housing complex in Boyle Heights for decades has resulted in a federal racketeering indictment and the arrest this morning of... members and associates of the criminal enterprise," the Los Angeles attorney's office said.

Thirty-eight people were charged, suspected of taking part in the "multi-generational street gang that has brought murder, extortion, robbery and other crimes to Boyle Heights for the past 70 years," a statement said.

Though there have been killings, thefts and weapons-related crimes, the gang's main activity was dealing in illegal drugs, particularly methamphetamines.