Taxpayer-Funded Gang Murderer Hired as ‘Peace Ambassador’ in DSA-Run MacArthur Park

Los Angeles taxpayers are once again footing the bill for a convicted gang murderer’s lifestyle, this time as a city-hired “Peace Ambassador” embedded in the very neighborhood his gang has turned into an open-air drug market.

This morning, FBI agents arrested Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, a.k.a. “Diablo,” an active member of the violent 18th Street gang and a first-degree murderer who was released early from a 50-years-to-life sentence. Under Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration and the California Board of Parole Hearings, he was paroled after serving just 24 years–a release enabled by state Democrats.

Alvarez was taken into federal custody on charges of possession of body armor by a violent felon, which carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison.

MacArthur Park Update

This morning, @FBILosAngeles arrested Michael Angel Alvarez, 41, a.k.a. “Diablo,” an active 18th Street gang member, convicted murderer, and Los Angeles “Peace Ambassador” who is being paid with L.A. city taxpayer dollars.

According to Councilwoman… pic.twitter.com/zXMMoItNIq

— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) May 29, 2026

According to a federal criminal complaint and affidavit, LAPD Rampart Division officers searched Alvarez’s car near MacArthur Park on May 18 and discovered two high-end body armor plates in the trunk–plates marketed as offering “the highest protection level available on the civilian market.” Alvarez had been paid more than $58,000 last year by Healing Urban Barrios, a nonprofit contracted with the City of Los Angeles to run the Peace Ambassador program in Council District 1 , the district that includes the now-notorious MacArthur Park and represented by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez.

Healing Urban Barrios (HUB), founded in 2017 by Executive Director Christina Navarro, has exploded in size through government funding directed by DSA Councilwoman Hernandez and the LA City Council. 

According to IRS Form 990 filings, the organization’s revenue grew from $401K in 2021 to $3.25 million in 2024, almost entirely from public contributions and grants. Navarro’s compensation rose to $96,738 in 2024, while total salaries and wages exceeded $1.53 million. Yet, the group carries significant liabilities and reported a small net loss in its latest filing despite the surge in funding. (The significant liabilities and loss deserves further scrutiny by this outlet and the federal government).

HUB’s rapid growth is directly tied to its close partnership with DSA Councilwoman Hernandez. Hernandez launched the Peace Ambassadors program in January 2025, contracting HUB (along with Homies Unidos) to deploy full-time unarmed intervention workers in MacArthur Park, Pico Union, and Westlake. HUB and Homies Unidos are the two primary contractors for the Peace Ambassadors program.

The initiative, funded through Hernandez’s discretionary funds as part of broader “reimagining public safety” efforts, runs for 2.5 years and aligns with LA County violence prevention grants, including Care First Community Investment (CFCI) allocations. Navarro and Hernandez have jointly promoted the program through events, resource fairs, and public statements emphasizing “care-based prevention” over traditional policing.

The program’s champion, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, has long defended it as a humane alternative to traditional policing. In a statement highlighting the very philosophy now under fire, Hernandez said: “Peace Ambassadors are embedded in the communities they serve. Their presence strengthens safety networks and ensures families have someone to turn to outside of law enforcement when facing non-emergency conflict or community stress.”

In 2024, at yet another Macarthur Park “safety and cleaning overhaul” event, Navarro stated: ”Together, we aim to empower local residents by providing essential resources and support to meet the unique needs of the community. Our mission is to foster positive change, promote growth, and ensure that everyone has the tools they need to thrive.”

Alvarez, a man convicted of murder in 2002 and has shown zero indication of leaving the 18th Street gang, obviously needed body armor to thrive in Hernandez’s district.

Jailhouse telephone recordings played in the affidavit reveal Alvarez discussing assaults on individuals for breaking gang rules long after his early release by California authorities. Federal prosecutors say there is “no indication Alvarez has ever stopped associating with the 18th Street gang.”

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli did not mince words. “The hardworking taxpayers of Los Angeles deserve better than to see their money shelled out to a convicted gang murderer,” Essayli stated. “This is not the first instance of an active criminal being funded by Los Angeles taxpayers.”

Essayli pointed to the March 2025 federal indictment of Eugene Henley Jr., a.k.a. “Big U,” whose anti-gang charity, Developing Options, received $2.352 million from the Mayor’s Office through the Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) program between 2018 and 2023. Henley stands accused of using the nonprofit as a front for fraud, robbery, extortion, tax evasion, embezzlement of donations, and a racketeering conspiracy that allegedly included murder. 

MacArthur Park has become the poster child for California’s collapsing “care-first” experiment. Just weeks ago, federal agents and LAPD executed “Operation Free MacArthur Park,” arresting 18 defendants, including two alleged primary suppliers of fentanyl and methamphetamine tied to the 18th Street Gang, and seizing approximately 40 pounds of fentanyl at a Calabasas residence. 

In announcing the takedown, Essayli declared: “Today, we begin reclaiming MacArthur Park from criminals and drug addicts to return this public space to the citizens of Los Angeles.” DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony Chrysanthis added that the park had been “plagued by drug addiction, crime, and despair” for far too long, while LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell praised the partnership aimed at keeping deadly fentanyl off the streets. 

The park’s descent is no surprise to readers of the California Globe. In October 2025, contributor Hector Barajas documented how federal sweeps had briefly cleared encampments, drug activity, and violence from MacArthur Park, only for “city leaders,” including those in Hernandez’s orbit, to denounce the operations as “cruel” and a “clown show.” 

Barajas witnessed open drug use, a man robbed while unconscious on the sidewalk, and a neighborhood plagued with chaos. Months later, the same problems persist despite millions poured into “revitalization” and “harm-reduction” programs. 

Hernandez, a large advocate of defunding and “reimagining” police, has repeatedly touted mobile overdose response teams, drug diversion efforts, and community ambassadors as superior to law enforcement. She has poured tens of millions into the park and surrounding Westlake area while insisting mental health outreach and “lived experience” workers outperform traditional policing. 

Reality proves otherwise.

The 18th Street Gang still controls swaths of the northern park, with MS-13 and other factions nearby, while fentanyl deaths and open dealing continue. Yet, the same district that employs a gang assassin as a “peace” worker now watches federal agents do the heavy lifting that Socialist Hernandez refers to as “cruel” and a “clown show.” 

Essayli’s office has made clear this is a pattern, not an anomaly: progressive nonprofits and city contracts have become pipelines for public money into the hands of the very criminals preying on the community.

Los Angeles families living near MacArthur Park, immigrant neighborhoods packed with children and working parents living in apartments, deserve parks free of needles, gang enforcers, and body-armor-wearing felons on the payroll. Instead, under DSA leadership and “compassionate” governance, they get taxpayer-funded predators and hollow press releases from a DSA slum lord.

The federal government is once again forced to step in where local politicians have failed. As Essayli made clear, the era of pretending criminals are community assets is over. The question now is whether Los Angeles voters and the city council will finally demand accountability, or continue writing checks to the next “Diablo.”

Based on our extensive reporting of fraudulent NGO’s and dangerous Democratic policies, we can safely predict California Democrats and their socialist comrades will choose the latter. 

Editor’s Note: We did not reach out to DSA Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez for comment, as our prior attempts have been ignored –much like the residents of her district.