Exclusive | Feds smash kingpins of prostitution and horrific human trafficking in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridor
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Skip to main content Metro exclusiveFeds smash kingpins of prostitution and horrific human trafficking in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridor
By Ben Chapman Published July 1, 2026, 9:30 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The California Post on GoogleSwat cops with guns drawn swarmed the grimy Stadium Inn and Spa in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridor before 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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.”
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
