The FBI investigation led to the indictment of Cudahy Mayor David Silva, Councilman Osvaldo Conde and city employee Angel Perales, who heads code enforcement for the city but was the acting city manager.
Silva and Perales were taken into custody at their homes without incident, but Conde kept agents at bay outside his business, located at a Cudahy strip mall. After a five-hour standoff, Conde came out of his shop with his hands up at about 11:20 a.m.
The small city of Cudahy is about 10 miles south of L.A. and borders Bell, which recently had its own corruption scandal.
The FBI said the three met with the confidential informant to talk him into moving his marijuana business to Cudahy - for a price.
"Mr. Conde implied to the informant through a coded analogy, I would say, that it would go to the highest bidder. And suggested that he might offer a percentage of the dispensary's profits," said assistant U.S. attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis.
According to a federal complaint, Conde, Silva and Perales met with an FBI informant on the afternoon of Feb. 28 at the El Potrero nightclub in Cudahy and accepted $15,000 cash, and then later that night, Conde met the informant to receive an additional $2,000 cash as a bribe.
