Arsenal of Weapons Seized in Simi Raid : Law enforcement: Four people are arrested as the guns, ammunition, cash and custom-made vehicles are confiscated.

Law enforcement officials arrested four people and seized an arsenal of automatic weapons and ammunition, some believed to be destined for street gangs, during an early morning raid Tuesday in Simi Valley, authorities said.

A special Los Angeles County sheriff’s task force, backed by a SWAT team, made the arrests shortly after 7 a.m. in the Indian Hills subdivision.

Steven Robert Breitel, 46, one of the largest gun show promoters in the state, and an unidentified man were arrested as they tried to drive away from Breitel’s house in the 5500 block of Maricopa Drive, authorities said.

Two people in the house, including Breitel’s 20-year-old daughter, Rebecca, and another unidentified man, surrendered to officers after a member of a Los Angeles County undercover team lobbed a concussion grenade into the back yard, creating a boom that shook neighbors out of their beds, authorities said.

Inside the two-story Spanish-style house, officers found a cache of 48 weapons, including machine guns, military assault rifles, laser-guided pistols and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Also seized were night-vision goggles, walkie-talkies, silencers, an undetermined amount of cash and more than a dozen custom-made vehicles, including a speedboat, authorities said. No drugs were found.

Breitel, his daughter and the other two men were booked into the Los Angeles County sheriff’s station in Santa Clarita, where they were being held for questioning late Tuesday before being transferred to the County Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

Breitel is expected to be charged with conspiracy to sell machine guns and unlawful possession of machine guns, authorities said. The other three are expected to be charged with unlawful possession of machine guns.

Tuesday’s arrests culminated a two-week investigation that began when Breitel offered to sell six machine guns for $6,000 to an undercover sheriff’s deputy in Santa Clarita, said Lt. Roger Clark, who was in charge of the undercover operation. Clark said Breitel had contacted the deputy through Breitel’s own sources.

“We didn’t entice him in any way,” Clark said. “He was looking for business.”

Although the undercover officer made it clear to Breitel that the guns were going to be used for criminal activity, “it didn’t concern him,” Clark said.

He said the deal later fell through because Breitel “had gotten a better offer from the Crips,” one of the largest street gangs in Los Angeles.

Clark declined to give details about Breitel’s alleged deal with the gang. But he did say that Breitel’s telephone had been tapped.

After learning about the deal with the gang, Clark said, the Sheriff’s Department immediately obtained a search warrant and converged on Breitel’s house early Tuesday. He said his officers, about a dozen men along with the sheriff’s SWAT team, were assisted by Ventura County sheriff’s deputies and the Simi Valley Police Department.

Clark’s men later placed the seized weapons and ammunition on blankets on the front lawn for reporters and neighbors to see.

“It’s scary to think this is right in the middle of suburbia,” neighbor Ann McLaughlin said. “If the house ever got bombed, it would have gone off like the Fourth of July.”

McLaughlin said neighbors had long been suspicious of Breitel, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly 12 years.

“He had people in and out, all night and all day, all the time,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said Breitel told residents that he was a gun dealer and that he sold weapons at swap meets and gun shows.

“Recently he said the gun business was slow and he was getting into car racing,” McLaughlin said.