Inside the ruthless crime wave targeting LA’s vulnerable street food vendors

LOS ANGELES — It was nearly midnight, and Saul Martinez was cleaning up Tacos Los Chemas’ kitchen, a cramped space fragrant with the scent of pork roasted on the trompo.

Just as Martinez, who owns the food truck, was about to put away a salsa container, he saw two men in hooded sweatshirts approach. He didn’t give them a second thought, assuming they were hungry customers looking for a last-minute bite.

Then, Martinez later recalled, a commotion erupted on the sidewalk.

He saw one of the men jab a handgun into the back of a taquero’s head.

“Give me all your money or I’ll kill your friend,” the gunman told Martinez.

Martinez emptied his apron, handing over the day’s earnings. It was hundreds of dollars. But the robber wasn’t satisfied.

“Toda la feria,” he kept repeating in stilted Spanish — all the money.

In late May and early June, Tacos Los Chemas and four nearby food stands in South L.A. were targeted by armed robbers. On July 9, four more vendors in the area were struck in less than an hour. A third string of attacks occurred Aug. 16, when six mobile