WATERBURY, Conn. -- Authorities arrested more than 80 people in Waterbury on Friday in connection to a long-term drug investigation.

The raid, which was the result of a long-term investigation, involved 250 officers from multiple departments.

Police said the 80 arrested were out of a group of 105 people officers were searching for.

Waterbury officials called the raid Operation Royal Flush and said it was the largest single sweep in the city's history.

Waterbury Police Chief Neil O'Leary said the search netted top-level members of the Latin Kings, some of whom police believe are responsible for violence that shook the city in the early 1990s.

"The impact of this investigation will be strong because we feel we've gotten the worst of the worst," said O'Leary. "And we also feel we've dealt a devastating blow to the Latin Kings organization in the city of Waterbury."

Police said the operation began in January and that since then, undercover agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Waterbury police officers have purchased 33 guns from illegal gun sellers.

O'Leary said the majority of the weapons sold to officers were semi-automatic guns.

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