More than 350 law enforcement officers conducted nearly two dozen coordinated raids Wednesday morning across southeastern San Diego, arresting 28 of 30 alleged West Coast Crips gang members and associates who were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly operating a large open-air drug market just east of downtown San Diego, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
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“Today marks the dismantling of what was the most prolific and profitable open-air crack cocaine market operating in San Diego County,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said during an afternoon news conference. “These weren’t drug dealers hidden in the shadows. This was a bustling crack market operating with impunity and audacity, making millions of dollars a month, just a mile or two from Petco Park, the Gaslamp Quarter, downtown businesses, luxury condos, restaurants (and) hotels.”
Authorities said the investigation targeted the entire network connected to the open-air market — which was located on Imperial Avenue near 29th Street in the Logan Heights and Grant Hill neighborhoods — including wholesale dealers and sub-distributors, as well as those making hand-to-hand sales on the street. Investigators estimated that each week, about 20 pounds of cocaine was being sold at the market.
“The individuals we targeted are not low-level offenders,” Mark Remily, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego field office, said. “They are violent subjects who have shown a consistent disregard for human life and community safety.”
The indictment and raids announced Wednesday were the second of their kind this year targeting open-air drug dealing in and near downtown San Diego. In February, the county District Attorney’s Office announced a similar takedown, dubbed Operation Street Sweeper, that focused on street-level drug sales in downtown’s East Village area. That operation, involving controlled purchases by undercover officers, resulted in indictments against 37 individuals, mostly on allegations of selling fentanyl, methamphetamine and crack cocaine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Ellison said Wednesday there was no direct connection between the two investigations, but Gordon said both demonstrated that local and federal authorities in San Diego are focused on improving downtown and the surrounding areas for residents, workers and visitors.
“These quality-of-life operations are a priority,” Gordon said.
Wednesday’s operation, in which SWAT teams and other officers executed 21 search warrants, was the culmination of an investigation that began in 2024 and relied heavily on the use of a nearby surveillance camera that allowed investigators to watch the drug dealing and other criminal activity in real time, authorities said.
Because the alleged crimes were happening out in the open in a public space, investigators did not need a warrant for the camera, Ellison said.
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In addition to the alleged drug sales, the camera captured other suspected gang activity, including a January shooting that wounded two individuals, authorities said. That shooting remains under investigation.
The camera also captured footage of alleged gang members celebrating a gang holiday in March 2025, authorities said. That incident involved a large crowd congregating in the street, shutting down traffic in the area and refusing police commands to disperse.
The FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force led the investigation, which also involved the use of confidential sources and the wiretapping of phones used by some of the suspected leaders of the market, Ellison said.
Authorities said that as the investigation progressed, they began making drug seizures. “First from customers as they were leaving the market, next from suppliers who were delivering powdered cocaine, and then from the dealers at the market themselves,” Ellison said.
As investigators began taking those enforcement actions, the dealers “largely abandoned their place at the market,” Ellison said. But investigators learned the dealing continued elsewhere in the vicinity, including at nearby Memorial Community Park in Logan Heights.
“With today’s operation, we are optimistic those deals are over as well,” Ellison said.
Between the earlier seizures and Wednesday’s operation, investigators confiscated more than 11 pounds of cocaine, two handguns and $14,000 in cash. Authorities said 22 of the 30 defendants have prior felony convictions, including a 55-year-old man who was convicted of first-degree murder in 1994 and released on parole in 2021.
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