Swat cops with guns drawn swarmed the grimy Stadium Inn and Spa in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridorbefore dawn Wednesday, searching for accused brothel kingpin Ahir Mukeshkumar.
“Come out with your hands up,” called an LAPD swat officer over his bullhorn, as the hulking man filed out of the motel wearing a T-shit and shorts.
Accused of renting rooms where men pay for sex with kids as young as 14, prosecutors say Mukeshkumar is the motel’s onsite manager, and 90% of the rooms he rented were for prostitution. He got to keep half of the proceeds.
Mukeshkumar’s arrest was part of a sweeping federal takedown of the sex trafficking industry in LA that targeted pimps and human traffickers in an effort to thwart the illegal sex industry besieging Figueroa Corridor.
Six members and associates of the infamous LA Hoover Gang – and Mukeshkumar – were among 10 defendants targeted in a federal indictment charging them with a series of crimes, including sex trafficking children.
By 5 am, six suspects, including the accused brothel owner, had already been arrested in up to a dozen simultaneous raids conducted across LA and Orange County.
Dubbed Operation Broken Blade, prosecutors say the takedown is the first gang case to primarily target human trafficking in the Figueroa Corridor, an ancient hive of prostitution in LA known to locals as the Blade.
LA’s top prosecutor Bill Essayli told The Post the operation actually began 11 months ago, when a federal grand jury indicted 11 Hoover members on sex trafficking charges.
Cops who work in the Blade say the Hoover ring targets runaways and foster children, forcing them into prostitution through violence, threats, and branding with gang tattoos.
Essayli said they’re the worst there is.
“This is a scourge on Los Angeles, and particularly the Figueroa Corridor, and historically not enough has been done to arrest these criminal actors and to rescue these young women,” said Essayli.
According to the 65-count superseding indictment unsealed Wednesday, the Hoovers largely controlled sex trafficking and prostitution in the Figueroa Corridor from 2021 to the present, acted as pimps to promote and manage sex trafficking.
The indictment lists 51 victims impacted by these alleged crimes.
Prosecutors say the Hoovers worked together to recruit new victims via social media or in person, focusing on vulnerable girls and young women with financial or emotional struggles or who had run away from home or were in foster care.
Hoover pimps made false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, but delivered only violence and abuse, plying their drugs to create addictions they could exploit.
The Hoover pimps committed crimes against the girls including, biting a piece of one girl’s the cheek off, down to the cartilage, beating another with a Rolex watch wrapped around the pimp’s hand, forcing another to do sex work on the day of an invasive abortion procedure, and throwing another out of a car and stealing the vehicle, with children in the back seat.
Essayli said the feds and the LAPD are putting the fearsome gang on notice.
“This case demonstrates the power of working collaboratively with our local and state law enforcement partners,” he said. “When we work together, we can accomplish much more to protect our communities.”
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn California Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X California Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here! California Post App: Download here! Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!
The post Feds smash kingpins of prostitution and horrific human trafficking in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridor appeared first on New York Post.
