One of California’s most dangerous female gangsters has been snared in a daring FBI raid, the Bureau said on Thursday.
Keiko Gonzalez, known as “Moms,” “La Señora” and “The Queen,” was taken into custody during a series of pre-dawn arrests across Los Angeles this week.
The 59-year-old is accused of running the notorious 18th Street Gang on behalf of her Mexican Mafia husband, who rots in a state prison.
Pictures taken by The Post on Thursday showed the alleged drugs boss smile and appearing to clap as she was paraded before the media.
But the grin was soon wiped off her face as she was submitted to a series of intimate searches in front of Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
“The Queen” was among 12 members and associates from 18th Street mopped up this week as part of the blockbuster “Operation Dead Horse.”
The gang, six of whom remain at large, was believed to dominate MacArthur Park and fuel the open-air drug market from tents woven into the homeless population.
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said: “For far too long, 18th Street and other criminals have been allowed to turn one of the city’s most beautiful public spaces into a crime-infested pit.
“That ends today. We are committed to eliminating violent organized crime and open-air drug markets from Los Angeles.” He added it was “one of the most violent gangs in the western hemisphere.”
“The Queen” was accused of ordering a gang hit in 2022 when a drug dealer for the operation refused to pay supposed taxes to them. Two of her associates are said to have shot her in the head.
She allegedly ran the organization’s criminal operations – collecting rent, taxes and dishing out brutal discipline – on behalf of her husband Jorge Gonzales and three other Mexican Mafia leaders in prison.
Prosecutors claim Gonzales was contacting her and other members of the gang using a secret cellphone he had stashed in his prison block.
The 70-year-old, known among gangsters as “White Horse,” has been languishing in a California state prison since 1980 for a murder he committed when he was 23.
He also slashed a fellow inmate to death in Folsom State Prison three years later. Gonzales was moved to Pelican Bay State Prison in 1990, where he sat in solitary confinement for 25 years.
He now rots in High Desert State Prison in Susanville.
The raids this week saw federal agents launch a series of pre-dawn ambushes on suspected members of 18th Street Gang across Los Angeles.
The Post joined as the FBI burst into an apartment block in the east of the city early on Thursday after a years-long investigation into the “supergang.”
Others arrested this week included Edward Escalante, 49, aka “Toro,” Edward Alvarenga, 27, aka “Tito,” George Carillo, 60, aka “Chuco,” Carlos Beltran, 48, Felipe De Los Angeles, 51, aka “Indio,” and Edwin Martinez, 32, aka “Dreamer.”
During the investigation the feds seized more than 175lbs of meth and fentanyl, $80,000 in cash and six firearms.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jena McCabe said: “The goal is to stop the violence and also stop the trafficking of dangerous drugs like fentanyl.”
