A licensed hot dog vendor says an illegal competitor threatened his life Saturday night in the Rainbow District — and that a second man connected to the unlicensed vending operation was arrested the same night on a separate threat.
Reed Deugenio, owner of Big Dix Hotdogs, told WEHOonline he has held a valid permit and complied with all City, state, and local requirements. He said one of the unlicensed vendors positioned himself ten feet from his spot Saturday night. Words were exchanged. He crossed the street three times to flag down officers.
“I went to the officer and said that this guy is threatening my life,” Deugenio said. “He’s gonna be at my house at 3:30 in the morning. He knows where I live.”
Officers arrested the man. Deugenio said he believes the same group previously flattened his tires.
He said a second man, whom he described as the operation’s enforcer, was arrested nearby the same night after confronting an employee of Roosterfish who had called the sheriffs. Deugenio said he understood a threat charge was involved. WEHOonline reached out to LASD West Hollywood Station Sergeant Chapman for comment and confirmation of arrest details. This story will be updated as information becomes available.
We’ve previously reported on the enforcer figure in the Rainbow District.
Deugenio said the unlicensed operation is run by a four-person hierarchy. He declined to identify the top figure or name the network’s affiliation, saying it was too dangerous to do so.
He said the unlicensed vendors have cut his income roughly in half over the past year.
“They’ve taken my half my income for over a year,” he said. “I’m struggling, I can’t make it. This can no longer be ignored.”
He said he has witnessed vendors relieve themselves in alleys behind Rainbow District businesses and return to their carts without washing their hands. He said he has seen the health department seize hot dogs and vendors pull the product from the trash and resell it. He said vendors who refuse to pay the operation’s cut are beaten and chased off. WEHOonline published video earlier this year of a vendor urinating in an alley before returning to a food cart without washing his hands.
Deugenio said he has proposed two solutions to the City. The first is restoring a no-vending enforcement zone on the strip, with additional public safety officers working Friday and Saturday nights between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. to interrupt unlicensed vendors at regular intervals. The second is a six-week course at the West Hollywood Library to walk unlicensed vendors through the business license process, with the City providing one or two carts at the end for rotating licensed use.
“The City doesn’t care about their status, nor do I,” he said. “I want a fair playing field.”
He said City Council members will be held personally responsible if and when something happens to him.
“If they can’t control a two-block radius, they shouldn’t be in office,” he said.
West Hollywood’s unlicensed vendor problem has been stalled legislatively for more than a year. Councilmember Danny Hang introduced a motion to establish a no-vending enforcement zone along the corridor and pulled it before a vote. Danny Rivas, the City’s director of community safety, has told the City Council and the Public Safety Commission that enforcement tools are severely limited under a 2019 state law protecting sidewalk vendors. County health enforcement of unlicensed food sellers has been suspended since last September.
“Until there is some change that occurs at the state level,” Rivas said at a Public Safety Commission meeting, “it’s just gonna continue to be very, very difficult.”
Asked if he was afraid for his safety, Deugenio said yes — but not of the vendors.
“The only thing I’m scared of is going to jail after the repercussions,” he said.
Asked if he wanted to say anything else.
“Truth speaks for itself,” Deugenio said.
Related Coverage
‘The Enforcer’ Returns in WeHo as Hot Dog Vendors Swarm Sidewalks
Hot Dog ‘Gangs’ Swarm Rainbow District Businesses — and Hang Pulls His Bill
‘They’re Right Back Out There’: Why West Hollywood Can’t Stop Illegal Street Vendors
WeHo Sidewalk Vending Fight Has a Warning Sign in L.A.
West Hollywood Resident Demands Street Vending Crisis Be Added to Safety Report
The little criminal that threatened that he was gonna come to my house made Good on his threat because he popped my tire again last night. This is the second time they slashed my tires. He told me he knew where I lived and he certainly does because at 3:30 in the morning Aaa fixed my tire again for the second time. 6/26/26
This is what happens when our politicians are in the pockets of the Cartel. They cartel has been running Los Angeles for decades. They’re now running weho.
Not all of them just two (2) on our council and everybody knows who they are
Get a new job because nothing will happen.
The Rainbow District cannot be marketed as a premier destination while basic rules are treated as optional. If these allegations are true, a licensed vendor who followed the rules is competing against an organized unlicensed operation that allegedly uses intimidation and threats. That’s not entrepreneurship; that’s a failure of enforcement. More troubling, this is a direct result of City Hall’s misplaced priorities. Councilmember John Erickson has publicly acknowledged that his daytime employment limits his ability to advocate for stronger enforcement and public safety measures related to street vending. That admission should raise serious conflict-of-interest concerns. If a councilmember’s daytime employment… Read more »
Sacramento essentially has placed street vendors under State protection under the guise of opposing ICE. By his statement, Council member Erickson has disqualified himself to be part of any future deliberations; he said that his employment with a Latino advocacy group precluded him for voting to enforce any measures against street vendors. The City Attorney should ensure that Council member Erickson recuse himself from further discussions as he has in fact admitted a bias arising out of his employment, (and potential loss thereof), if he participates in any future vote on this issue. As Erickson raised the issue of his… Read more »
The city attorney will insist that it is not her responsibility to police recusals, that instead that responsibility lies with officeholder and/or colleagues to call them out. That’s a huge ethical lapse in this city. There are no ethics programs. It is ethical anarchy in West Hollywood.
It would appear as though insurance of high ethical standards would create a more accurate and efficient method of operations throughout West Hollywood city government and its affiliates. Practice illustrates its effectiveness in most any business.
Beautifully said thank you so much!
So the city and police know exactly who the illegal vendors are, but refuse to remove them. Allowing them to sell tainted food to idiots on our streets and harass residents.
West Hollywood is in LA County, so the sheriff’s department should conduct undercover operations over several weekends. Let’s see what these “enforcers” do to undercover cops.
Just to clarify, West Hollywood is an independent municipality that chooses to contract with the county for sheriff department service under the direction of West Hollywood. Our vendor problem is a city issue, not a county issue. It falls squarely on West Hollywood City Hall under the City Council to enforce.
Who actually eats this street food?! Gross!
For sure I agree. Icky poo
Exactly! Absolutely disgusting.
Are we living in a third world country? How the *efff are local citizens afraid to report illegal operations and afraid of “enforcers”? This should not be happening in America especially in West Hollywood! These people should be charged under the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act). The city council’s hands are not tied. There are options. I say vote out the entire city council and put one in that protects Weho residents not gangs, mobsters, cartels, etc.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Our beautiful Mayor John Heilman and Miss Miester love our city, they can’t do it on their own. Please support the best Mayor we’ve ever had don’t blame him
The mayor is typically in charge of the local police and the fact no one, and I mean no one, seems to know what to do about this means Mayor John Heilman is a terrible mayor! Plain and simple. Actions speak louder than any comment or political ad. Why the *eff is he the mayor if he can’t do anything? Let’s elect people that can actually get things done and are not out there protecting criminals and mobsters!
In West Hollywood, which is a General Law City, our “Mayor” is a honorary title to the person who simply chairs the City Council meetings. The position rotates between Council members and has no special powers; the Sheriff does NOT answer to the Mayor in West Hollywood, unlike Los Angeles, which is a Charter City. Mayor Heilman can only lead by example and hope that his colleagues have some respect for his long experience and accomplishments.
The City wants to spend more money promoting “the Rainbow District”. We should be spending more time keeping the unlicensed vendors in line and limiting the hours unlicensed vendors can operate. We also need to be lobbying regain some of the control we lost due to meddling from Sacramento politicians who somehow feel they know best for our community. This situation continues to fester until we start having serious problems in our most lucrative business districts.
We are already are having serious problems they take in over a million a year, threatened several merchants and flatten tires…what next unaliving someone?
Omar
That’s frightening. That’s not vending, that’s terrorism. Can they REALLY do this & get away with it? We still have law enforcement, yes? And the so called “Security Ambassadors”. What a joke. And what an expensive joke at that. Are the sheriffs & the “Security Ambassadors” in fear of these thugs too?
The lowlifes slashed my tire again 6/26/26 3:30am
What ever happened to the concept of a “Rainbow City” (or something like that) on the site of the former Studio One? There was considerable excitement about it, but like all good ideas & calls for improvement, it died on the vine.