{"id":382854,"date":"2026-07-02T00:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382854\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T00:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:14:15","slug":"hoover-gang-accused-of-branding-women-and-trafficking-girls-as-young-as-14-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382854\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoover gang accused of branding women and trafficking girls as young as 14 in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles pimps used \u201chorrific\u201d acts of cruelty to keep a vicelike grip on a sleazy stretch of south LA road where perverts can buy sex with children<\/a>, and women turn tricks<\/a> for as little as $40, cops and prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Vile flesh peddlers<\/a> maintain a thriving sex business<\/a> on LA\u2019s Figueroa Corridor by branding prostitutes, recruiting girls from foster homes, forcing them to get abortions, and even biting and punching them with Rolex watches, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The sickening sex trade secrets of the infamous Hoover Criminals gang\u2019s brutal prostitution ring were revealed in a massive takedown of the Hoovers that saw the arrest of at least ten prostitution kingpins operating the in Figueroa, an area known to locals as \u201cthe Blade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoover sex traffickers branded their victims, prosecutors said. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

Alleged Hoover members. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how they accomplish the sex trafficking in Figueroa,\u201d explained LA\u2019s top prosecutor Bill Essayli after Wednesday\u2019s takedown, dubbed Operation Broken Blade<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey do it first through coercion, and then through violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s horrific,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hoovers are infamous for the EBK mindset. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

Accused Hoovers were processed beneath LA\u2019s federal Roybal building Wednesday. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

The Hoover Criminals, which originated in the late 1960s and early \u201970s, are one of the largest and most powerful street gangs in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n

After breaking away from the Crips, the gang flourished in the \u201980s during the crack epidemic and expanded into several various criminal enterprises, including narcotics and prostitution.<\/p>\n

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They are infamous for operating under an \u201ceverybody killer\u201d (EBK) mentality, which means they brawl with both the Bloods and the Crips.<\/p>\n

The Hoovers operate a massive sex ring around infamous Corridor, authorities said, controlling women and young girls they force to walk sidewalks and attract johns, and then turn them in to seedy motels, where sex is sold for a cut to the front desk.<\/p>\n

These accused sex traffickers have been arrested in Operation Broken Blade. US DIstrict Attorney<\/p>\n

A bust at a brothel early Wednesday. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the Hoover gang recruits victims who \u201chave no one left to protect them,\u201d and they do it to girls who are as young as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lure young children with promises of money, expensive clothes, affection, and a place to sleep,\u201d said McDonnell. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen they trap them through violence, intimidation, addiction, and fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many victims come from broken homes, the chief said, and Hoovers often recruit from foster homes. Pimps arrested in Wednesday\u2019s takedown trafficked in girls as young as 14, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Essayli and McDonnell vowed to clean up the Blade. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Accused pimps being processed. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Once those victims are under the control of merciless pimps, the alleged sex kingpins keep them trapped in a cycle of exploitation through relentless physical and mental abuse, authorities said.<\/p>\n

According to court papers, an alleged Hoover pimp named Cameron Lockett beat his victims and even \u201cbit of a chunk\u201d of one girl\u2019s cheek so that she required stitches.<\/p>\n

Lockett gave the girl a Percocet and sent her to the emergency room, taking a picture of the wound and texting it to a fellow Hoover gangster named Jared Evans, court papers said.<\/p>\n

Alleged Hoovers in a music video. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

An alleged sex trafficer arrested Wednesday. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

Essayli said the gash \u201cwent down to the cartilage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The flesh peddlers exercised psychological control over their victims by branding them with their names, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

One accused Hoover madame named Amaya Armstead, known on the streets as \u201cLady Duck,\u201d had her nickname tattooed on the backside of several of her victims, photos displayed by authorities showed.<\/p>\n

Alleged Hoovers show off their cash. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

The Hoovers mark their turf in the Blade. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the methods of coercion and force,\u201d said Eddy\u00a0Wang, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations\u00a0Los Angeles, who was one of the lead agents on the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re branding them as their property,\u201d said Wang. \u201cThat they are the sole individual that is able to profit from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such was the Hoovers\u2019 control of their victims that an alleged pimp named Caleed Mouton could compel one of his girls to obtain an abortion, \u201cwarning her that after the procedure she would be bleeding,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n

Accused Hoover pimps. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

An accused brothel operator is taken into custody. Carlin Stiehl for CA Post<\/p>\n

After the 16-year-old girl had the procedure, Mouton then \u201cordered her to engage in commercial sex work the same day and threatened to fire her if she did not,\u201d charging documents state. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Essayli said that 25 sex traffickers have been arrested and charged as a result of Operation Broken Blade, including Lockett, Armstead and Mouton, with more arrests to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve identified over 50 victims as part of this conspiracy, and our work keeps going,\u201d said Essayli. \u201cWe\u2019re not gonna stop.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles pimps used \u201chorrific\u201d acts of cruelty to keep a vicelike grip on a sleazy stretch of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,3622,1312,723,24650,48,52,51,47,50,49,4182,39862,26468,3586],"class_list":["post-382854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-court","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-gangs","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-metro","tag-pimps","tag-sex-trafficking","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}