L.A. hardware store was a front for $4.5-million cargo theft ring

They may have looked like innocuous hardware stores from the outside, but inside these two L.A. County storefronts was an estimated $4.5 million worth of goods stolen from trains, trucks and cargo ships, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

On Wednesday, Police Chief Jim McDonnell announced that the department had busted a massive cargo theft ring operating out of DJ General Tool &…