• The train thefts have also reignited concerns about organized crime linked to smash-and-grab rings.
• Union Pacific officials have complained that prosecutors aren’t doing enough to punish the thieves.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom this week said he’d devote more resources to fighting the organized crime rings.

LOS ANGELES – Blue surgical masks and cotton balls. Car parts, pieces of tools and dozens of new toner cartridges for laser jet printers. Boxes from Macy’s, Bath and Body Works and Amazon – all empty with postmarks to addresses across the country.

The railroad tracks in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Lincoln Heights look as though a twister swept through, with thousands of boxes, bags and trash littering the rails for blocks. For months, residents in the area say they’ve watched the chaos unfold at all