The Region : 700 Arrested in Three-Day Vice Sweep

A citywide task force of 204 officers arrested more than 700 people on suspicion of a variety of vice-related crimes during a three-day sweep that ended early Sunday, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced. Search warrants were served on 10 pornography distributors implicated through an undercover purchasing operation set up by two of the officers, Gates said. He said that several of the distributors have links to organized crime. The pornographic videotapes and other materials seized from the distributors included “the sort of stuff you have to know somebody to buy--stuff that’s so bad that I’m unable to describe it,” Gates said. Of the arrests, 445 were for prostitution, 90 for offenses related to alcohol, 74 for lewd conduct, 26 for bookmaking, 11 for pimping and pandering, 10 for interfering with an officer in the performance of his duties, 8 for keeping a house of prostitution and 35 for other assorted offenses.