Fourteen people were taken into custody Friday morning during a multi-agency raid on a Hialeah cafeteria that police say was selling narcotics and alcohol without a license and operating illegal gaming machines.
The operation targeted La Lunita Café, which is located in a warehouse zone in west Hialeah. CBS News Miami had been investigating allegations about the company for weeks, following a shooting in the parking lot approximately a month ago.
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Hialeah police and five other agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted the early-morning raid as part of “Operation Luna Caída,” also known as “Operation Fallen Moon.”
Before 8 a.m., CBS News Miami cameras captured officers handcuffing a lady and placing her in a Hialeah police cruiser. She was one of more than a dozen people apprehended during the operation.
Nearby business owners reported that the location had been causing problems for months.
“For people like me whose business is in the area, I can tell you weekends were tough,” one neighboring business owner said in Spanish. “The crowd would take my parking spaces, and they would urinate in front of our places.”
In a statement, Hialeah police claimed officers discovered alcohol being sold without a license and identified a security guard who was reportedly trafficking narcotics.
“Alcohol was being sold without a proper license. An on-site security guard was positively identified by undercover special agents as actively engaged in narcotics distribution and was arrested for possession and distribution of a controlled substance,” the statement read.
Police reported that during the operation, they arrested 14 people, including the manager, deputy manager, and two waitresses known as “B-girls.”
The raid came after months of complaints from neighbors of the café
Last month, CBS News Miami requested police call data from the café’s address. The department submitted a two-page document with reports of stolen vehicles, assault, larceny, drug investigations, vandalism, and even a fire.
Officers from various agencies stormed the institution at 6 a.m. on Friday. The Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco has seized three gaming machines.
Police also reported that they found individuals with outstanding warrants and others who were in possession of illegal narcotics. ICE authorities detained three people in federal custody.
A woman identifying herself as Nelly revealed her connection to one of the ICE detained individuals.
“I know of two,” she said, adding that one man told her he was in federal custody and asked her to retrieve his truck because he fears he may be deported to El Salvador.
According to authorities, a man named Dainel Odio got into a dispute with another man and shot him three times. Investigators claimed the man boarded an American Airlines flight to Havana but was apprehended before it took off. He remains in jail.
For several local business owners, the café’s closing provides relief.
“Without a doubt, it was a place that brought nothing but problems,” said Ander Leon Spanish. He is a business owner in the area glad to see he will no longer have to deal with La Lunita clients.
The operation has been halted awaiting administrative and criminal actions. Police stated a notice of closure was placed, stating that the establishment is no longer permitted to operate in any manner.
