A multi-agency task force in the U.S. metropolis of Los Angeles on Tuesday launched a crackdown on the so-called Avenues gang, which is allegedly responsible for some of the most notorious street crimes in the city.

Hundreds of police officers and federal law enforcement agents took part in the crackdown, which led to the arrests of 49 people, authorities said.

Authorities served warrants which implicate members and associates of the Avenues gang in such felonies as narcotics and gun trafficking, carjacking, home invasion robberies, witness intimidation and murder, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

Agencies involved in the crackdown along with the LAPD included the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force; and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, according to the LAPD.

LAPD Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said most of those named in the warrants had been arrested, and that the operation targeted locations in Los Angeles and nearby counties like San Bernardino, Kern and Merced.

"Our goal is to occupy this community, move these people out ...and support the law-abiding people that deserve to live in dignity here," Diaz said.

The operation was aimed to bring new charges against 88 Avenues members or associates, a significant share of a gang that is believed to have about 400 members, police said.

Some suspects were sought elsewhere in the city, but the sweep focused on Glassell Park and other neighborhoods in the northeastern reaches of Los Angeles -- the center of Avenues territory since the gang first surfaced in the 1950s.

Source: Xinhua