Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member

MONSTER.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN L.A. GANG MEMBER.

SANYIKA SHAKUR, AKA MONSTER KODY SCOTT.

To my dearest mother, Birdie M. Scott, who had the courage to push me out in a world of which we control so little.

To my children, Keonda, Justin, and Sanyika, who have been an endless light at the end of my tunnels, and my indomitable wife, Tamu Naima Shakur, for patiently waiting for my change.

WE CARRY ON.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Acknowledgments are in order for those who have stood up against the tumultuous blaring of the pied pipers' propaganda and who in spite of unpopularity have gone a separate way; those who have taught me the right way to resist.

Bullet-prooflove is extended to Muhammad Abdullah and the Islamic Liberation Army, the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, the Spear and s.h.i.+eld Collective, and all the forces involved in the New Afrikan independence movement to free the land.

Bullet-proof unity is extended to Ice Cube and Da Lench Mob, Public Enemy, X-Clan, Blackwatch, KRS-One, BDP, Paris, Operation from the Bottom, Digable Planets, Tupac Shakur, Ice-T, Kris Kross, and Bone from Athens Park Bloods.

Bullet-proof appreciation is extended to Bill Broyles and Karen Jensen-Germaine from ABC Productions for their invaluable help and inspiration with my project; Leon Bing for writing about us when it was unpopular to do so; Thomas Lee Wright for his incredible eye for detail and all-around friends.h.i.+p; and my agent, Lydia Wills, for her never-ending determination to go forward. Teflon bullets are sent to the sellouts.

PREFACE.

Helicopters hover heavily above, often no higher than the tree-tops that dot the battlefield. Staccato vibrations of automatic gunfire crack throughout the night, drowned out only by explosions and sirens. People hustle quickly past, in a dangerous attempt to get anywhere the fighting happens to be heaviest. There is troop movement throughout the city, and in some areas the fighting is intense. The soldiers are engaged in a "civil war." A war without terms. A war fought by any means necessary, with anything at their disposal. This conflict has lasted nine years longer than Vietnam. Though the setting is not jungle per se, its atmosphere is as dangerous and mysterious as any jungle in the world.

Neither side receives funding from any government, nor does either side claim any allegiance to any particular religion or socioeconomic system of government. There are no representatives from either faction in the United Nations, nor does either side recognize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recruitment, or conscription, begins at eleven years of age.

Squads of five usually make raids into neighboring territories for preemptive strikes or retaliatory hits on enemies and targets useful to the opposition. Although both armies are predominantly made up of males, there are many females involved in the fighting. These infrastructures were built initially on robberies and extortions. Today, however, they are maintained by proceeds from major narcotics deals and distribution throughout America. Each army has a distinct territory-the boundaries of some very large areas are broken by enemy cl.u.s.ter camps. Each army has a flag, to which total allegiance is pledged. Each army has its own language, customs, and philosophy, and each has its own GNP.

The war has been raging on for twenty-two years. The death toll is in the thousands-wounded, uncountable, missing-in-action unthinkable. No one is keeping a tally. No one has noticed, except for those recently involved in the fighting and those indirectly drawn in by geographical location, economic status, or family a.s.sociation.

Other than this, the war has been kept from the world, hidden like an ugly scar across the belly of an otherwise beautiful woman. Under the guise of being a showpiece for the world where prosperity is as easily found as water in a stream, America, for all her ostensible beauty, has an ugly scar across her belly that she has tried repeatedly to suppress and keep hidden from curious onlookers. More than a few times she has almost been exposed, and this ugliness brought to light, but always another garment would quickly be thrown over the rough spot and all the turmoil and ugliness again blanketed. But not this time.

On April 29, 1992, the world witnessed the eruption of South Central Los Angeles, the concrete jungle-battlefield of the Crips and Bloods. The scar of over twenty years that had been tucked out of sight and pa.s.sed off as "just another ghetto problem" burst its suture and spewed blood all across the stomach of America. People watched in amazement as "gang members," soldiers of the Crip army, pelted cars with rocks, sticks, and bottles, eventually pulling civilians from their vehicles and beating them. This was hours after they had routed a contingent of LAPD officers. Troop movement escalated, and Los Angeles was set ablaze. All this began on Florence and Normandie in South Central, the latest Third World battlefield.

I have lived in South Central Los Angeles all my life. I grew up on Florence and Normandie. That is part of my territory. I was recruited into the Crips at the ripe old age of eleven. Today I am twenty-nine years old. I am a gang expert-period. There are no other gang experts except partic.i.p.ants. Our lives, mores, customs, and philosophies remain as mysterious and untouched as those of any "uncivilized" tribe in Afrika. I have come full circle in my twenty-nine years on this planet, sixteen of those with the Crips. I have pushed people violently out of this existence and have fathered three children. I have felt completely free and have sat in total solitary confinement in San Quentin state prison. I have shot numerous people and have been shot seven times myself. I have been in gunfights in South Central and knife fights in Folsom state prison. Today, I languish at the bottom of one of the strictest maximum-security state prisons in this country.

I propose to take my reader through the life and times of my own chilling involvement as a gang member with the Crips. I propose to open my mind as wide as possible to allow my readers the first ever glimpse at South Central from my side of the gun, street, fence, and wall. From my initial attraction and recruitment to my first shooting and my rise to Ghetto Star (ghetto celebrity) status, right up to the South Central rebellion and the truce between the warring factions-the Crips and Bloods. Although no longer aligned with gang or criminal activity, I still draw a great deal of support from this quarter.

Come with me then, if you will, down a side street lined with stolen cars and youngsters armed with shotguns and.38 revolvers, lying in wait for the enemy, all members of a small gang. Then return with me five years later as the street is lined with luxury cars, dope dealers, and troops with AK-47 a.s.sault weapons, the gang now an army.

Let me tell you of funerals that have been overrun by enemy forces and the body stolen and "killed again" for reasons of psychological warfare. Think not that this war is some pa.s.sing phase to be ironed out with a truce in five days-impossible! Sophistication has not, by any means, pa.s.sed the gangs of Los Angeles. Surveillance, communication, and technology have now found their way into the military buildup of these two army factions.

It is not for glory that I write this. It is out of desperation for the survival of the youths and civilians who are directly and indirectly involved in the fighting. I will attempt to draw serious a.n.a.lytical conclusions designed to bring about a better, more in-depth overstanding of this malady, so as to help reach workable solutions for all concerned. As with my life, I propose to bring the reader full circle to show the reality of a city gone mad in an attempt to rank as the nation's murder capital longer than the District of Columbia and more consistently than Detroit.

Look then, if you dare, at South Central through the eyes of one of its most notorious Ghetto Stars and the architect of its most ghastly gang army-the Crips.

1.

INITIATION.

June 15, 1975. I proudly strolled across the waxed hardwood stage of the auditorium at the Fifty-fourth Street elementary school under the beaming stares of my mother, aunt, and Uncle Clarence. Taking my a.s.signed place next to Joe Johnson, as we had rehea.r.s.ed for a week, I felt very different, older, more "attached" than any of my fellow cla.s.smates. This feeling made me stand more erect, made me seem more important than any of my peers on stage-even Joe Johnson, who was the "king of the school."

Looking back now it's quite amusing to remember how proud I was and how superior I felt next to Joe Johnson. I first sensed my radical departure from childhood when I was suspended a month before graduation, driven home by Mr. Smotherman, the princ.i.p.al, and not allowed to go on the grad-cla.s.s outing for flas.h.i.+ng a gang sign on the school panorama picture.

Mr. Smotherman was appalled and accused me of destroying a perfectly good picture, not to mention that I was "starting to show signs of moral decay." Actually, half of the things Mr. Smotherman told me I didn't catch, because I wasn't listening, and besides, my mind had been made up weeks prior to my having gotten caught flas.h.i.+ng the sign on the panorama picture. How I expected to get away with flas.h.i.+ng on a photograph is beyond me! But, too, it points up my serious intent even then. For I was completely sold on becoming a gang member.

As our graduation activities bore on, my disinterest and

"What's your d.a.m.n problem, boy?" bellowed Moms from the hallway. "I know you don't think you going out anywhere until you have cleaned up that funky room, taken out this trash and..."

I never heard the rest. I was out the window and in the wind-steaming toward my destiny and the only thing in this life that has ever held my attention for any serious length of time-the streets.

Stopping once I'd gotten around the block, to collect my coolness, I met up with Tray Ball, who had accepted my members.h.i.+p and agreed to sponsor me in.

"What's up, cuz?" Tray Ball extends his very dark, muscular, veined hand.

"Ain't nothin'," I respond, trying to hide my utter admiration for this cat who is quickly becoming a Ghetto Star. A Ghetto Star is a neighborhood celebrity known for g.a.n.g.b.a.n.ging, drug dealing, and so on.

"So, what's up for tonight, am I still on or what?"

"Yeah, you on."

As we walked to "the shack" in silence, I took full advantage of the stares we were getting from onlookers who couldn't seem to make the connection between me and Tray Ball, the neighborhood hoodlum. I took their looks as stares of recognition and respect.

At the shack, which was actually a backhouse behind Tray Ball's house, I met Huckabuck, who was dark, athletic, very physical, and an awesome fighter. He came to California from New York-accent included. For the most part he was quiet. Leprechaun, who we called "Lep," was there. I had known him prior to this, as he went to school with my older brother. Lep had a missing front tooth and a slight build. Fiercely loyal to Tray Ball, Lep stood to be second in command. Then there was Fly, who dressed cool and with an air of style. Light-complexioned and handsome, he was a ladies' man, not necessarily vicious, but was gaining a reputation by the company he kept. Next was G.C., which stood for Gangster Cool. G.C. was possibly the most well-off member present, meaning he "had things." Things our parents could not afford to give us. He g.a.n.g.b.a.n.ged in Stacy Adams shoes.

"What's your name, homeboy?" Huckabuck asked from across the room, through a cloud of marijuana smoke.

"Kody, my name is Kody."

"Kody? There's already somebody name Kody from the Nineties."

I already knew this from hearing his name. "Yeah, but my real name is Kody, my mother named me that."

Everyone looked at me hard and I squirmed under their stares-but I held my ground. To flinch now would possibly mean expulsion.

"What?" Huck said with disbelief. "Your mother named you Kody?"

"Yeah, no s.h.i.+t," I replied.

"Righteous, f.u.c.k it, then we'll back you with it. But you gotta put work in"-"put in work" means a military mission-"to hold it 'cause that's a h.e.l.luva name."

Fly piped up from his relaxed posture in an armchair. "I'm gonna put some work in tonight for the set."

"We know," Lep replied, "we know."

G.C., who was dressed like a gas-station attendant in blue khakis with a matching s.h.i.+rt, and I started out to steal a car. All eyes were on me tonight, but I felt no nervousness, and there was no hesitation in any of my actions. This was my "rite of pa.s.sage" to manhood, and I took each order as seriously as any Afrikan would in any initiation ritual from childhood to manhood.

G.C. was the "expert" car thief among the set. "Gone in Sixty Seconds" could have very well been patterned after him. He had learned his technique from Marilyn, our older homegirl who always keeps at least two stolen cars on hand. Tonight we were out to get an ordinary car, possibly a '65 Mustang or '68 Cougar-these, I learned, could be hot-wired from the engine with as little as a clothes hanger touched on the alternator and then the battery. The only drawbacks here were that the gas gauge, radio, and horn would not work and the car would only run until the alternator burned out.

Nevertheless, we found a Mustang-blue and very st.u.r.dy. G.C worked to get the hood up and I kept point with a.38 revolver. I was instructed to fire on any light in the house and anyone attempting to stop us from getting this car. I paced in a tight to-and-fro motion, watching closely for any sign of movement from either the house, the yard, or the shrubbery flanking the house. I was the perfect sentry, for had any movement occurred or any light flashed on, I would have emptied six rounds into the area, if not the person. Actually, I had only fired a real gun once, and that was into the air.

Under the cloak of darkness I heard G.C grunt once and then lift the hood. It took him longer to unlatch the hood than to start the car. The engine turned once, then twice, and finally it caught and roared to life.

"It's on," G.C. said, with as much pride as any brand-new father looking for the first time at his newborn child. We slapped hands in a gesture of success and jumped in. Pulling out of the driveway I noticed a light turn on in what I believed to be the kitchen. I reached for the door handle with every intent of shooting into the house, but G.C. grabbed my arm and said, "Don't sweat it, we got the car now."

On the way back to the shack, I practiced my "mad dog" stares on the occupants of the cars beside us at stoplights. I guess I wasn't too convincing, because on more than a few occasions I was laughed at, and I also got a couple of smiles in return. This was definitely an area to be worked on.

At the shack we smoked pot and drank beer and geared up for the mission-which still had not been disclosed to me. But I was confident in my ability to pull it off. I have never, ever felt as secure as I did then in the presence of these cats who were growing fonder of me, it seemed, with each successive level of drunkenness they reached.

"Cuz, you gonna be down, watch," Lep p.r.o.nounced, as if telling a son in law school he would be a great lawyer. He stood over me and continued. "I remember your li'l a.s.s used to ride dirt bikes and skateboards, actin' crazy an' s.h.i.+t. Now you want to be a gangster, huh? You wanna hang with real m.u.t.h.af.u.c.kas and tear s.h.i.+t up, huh?"

His tone was probing, but approving. He was talking with heated pa.s.sion and the power of a general-father.

"Stand up, get your li'l a.s.s up. How old is you now anyway?"

"Eleven, but I'll be twelve in November." d.a.m.n, I'd never thought about being too young.

At this time I stood up in front of Lep and never saw the blow to my head come from Huck. Bam! And I was on all fours, struggling for equilibrium. Kicked in the stomach, I was on my back counting stars in the blackness. Grabbed by the collar, I was made to stand again. A solid blow to my chest exploded pain in bold red letters on the blank screen that had now become my mind. Bam! Another, then another. Blows rained on me from every direction. I felt like a pinball. I knew now that if I went down again, I'd be kicked. And from the way that last kick felt I was almost certain that G.C had kicked me with his pointed Stacy Adams.

Up until this point not a word had been spoken. I had heard about being "courted in" ("courted in" means to be accepted through a barrage of tests, usually physical, though this can include shooting people) or "jumped in," but somehow in my still-childish mind I had envisioned it to be a n.o.ble gathering, paperwork and arguments about my worth and my ability in regard to valor. In the heat of desperation I struck out, hitting Fly full in the chest, knocking him back. Then I just started swinging, with no style or finesse, just anger and the instinct to survive.

Of course, this did little to help my physical situation, but it showed the others that I had a will to live. And this in turn reflected my ability to represent the set in hand-to-hand combat. The blows stopped abruptly and the sound of breathing filled the air. My ear was bleeding, and my neck and face were deep red, but I was still standing. When I think about it now, I realize that it wasn't necessarily my strength that kept me on my feet, but the ways in which I was..h.i.t. Before I could sag or slump I was..h.i.t and lifted back up to standing.

Tray Ball came in and immediately recognized what had taken place. Looking hard at me, then at the others, he said, "It's time to handle this s.h.i.+t, they out there."

In a flash Lep was under the couch retrieving weapons-guns I never knew were there. Two 12-gauge shotguns, both sawed off-one a pump-action, the other a single-shot; a.410 shotgun, also a single-shot; and a.44 magnum that had no trigger guard and broke open to load. G.C was now in possession of the.38 I had held earlier.

"Give Kody the pump." Tray Ball's voice echoed over the clanging of steel chambers opening and closing, cylinders turning, and the low hum of music in the background. "Check this out." Tray Ball spoke with the calm of a football coach. "Kody, you got eight shots, you don't come back to the car unless they all are gone."

"Righteous," I said, eager to show my worth.

"These fools have been hangin' out for four days now. Hittin' people up"-"hittin' people up" means asking where they are from, i.e., which gang are they down with-"flaggin' and disrespectin' every Crip in the world."

I sat straight-backed and hung on every word Tray Ball said.

"Tonight we gonna rock they world."

Hand slaps were pa.s.sed around the room and then Lep spoke up.

"If anybody get caught for this, ride the beef, 'cause ain't no snitchin' here."

Head nods and looks of firmness were exchanged, and then the moment of truth.

We piled into the Mustang, Tray Ball driving-and without a gun. Lep sat next to Tray Ball with the old, ugly.44. Huck, directly behind Lep, held the.410 between his legs. Fly, next to him, had the sawed-off single-shot 12 gauge. I sat next to him with the pump, and G.C was on my left with his.38. In silence we drove block after block, north into enemy territory.

"There they go!" Lep said, spotting the gathering of about fifteen people. "d.a.m.n, they deep too, look at them fools!"

I looked at my enemy and thought, "Tonight is the night and I'll never stop until I've killed them all."

After driving down another block, we stopped and got out. Each checking his weapon (mine being the most complicated), we started out on foot. To rid the world of Bloods, Brims in particular, stealthily we crept up to where the gathering had a.s.sembled to promote their set's ideology. Tray Ball sat idle in the car and was to meet us halfway after we had worked over the enemy. Hanging close to buildings, houses, and bushes, we made our way, one after the other, to within spitting distance of the Bloods. Our strategy was to just jump out and shoot, but on the way Lep made the point that the single-shots should go first. Then I would follow suit with eight shots, Lep with five shots in the.44, and G.C. with six in the.38.

Huck and Fly stepped from the shadows simultaneously and were never noticed until it was too late. Boom! Boom! Heavy bodies..h.i.tting the ground, confusion, yells of dismay, running, and then the second wave of gunfire. By my sixth shot I had advanced past the first fallen bodies and into the street in pursuit of those who had sought refuge behind cars and trees. Forgetting everything, I completely threw myself into battle.

A Blood who had seemingly gotten away tried to make one last dash from the safe area of a car to, I think, a porch. I remember raising my weapon and him looking back-for a split second it was as if we communicated on another level and I overstood who he was-then I pulled the trigger and laid him down. With one shot left I jogged back to the initial site of contact. Knowing fully that I had explicit orders not to return with any rounds in my weapon, I turned and fired on the house before which they had originally stood. Not twenty paces later, Tray Ball sped to a stop and we all piled in, frightfully amped from the climax of battle.

Back in the shack we smoked more pot and drank more beer. I was the center of attention for my acts of aggression.

"Man, did you see this little m.u.t.h.af.u.c.ka out there?" Fly said to Huck with an air of disbelief.

"Yeah, I saw him, I knew he was gonna be down, I knew it and-"

"Shut up, man, just shut the f.u.c.k up, 'cause he can still tell on all of us." Silence rang heavy in my ears, and I knew I had to respond to Lep's reaction.

"If I get caught, I'll ride the beef, I ain't no snitch."

Although my little statement lessened the tension, Lep's words had a most sobering effect. Tray Ball announced my full members.h.i.+p and congratulations were given from all. It was the proudest moment in my life. Tray Ball told me to stay after the others had left. I milled around, still high from battle, and thought of nothing else but putting in work for the set.

"Check this out," Tray Ball said. "You got potential, 'cause you eager to learn. Bangin' ain't no part-time thang, it's full-time, it's a career. It's bein' down when ain't n.o.body else down with you. It's gettin' caught and not tellin'. Killin' and not caring, and dyin' without fear. It's love for your set and hate for the enemy. You hear what I'm sayin'?"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," I said. And I had heard him and never forgot nothing he said from that point on.

Also from that point on Tray Ball became my mentor, friend, confidant, and closest comrade. He allowed me acts of aggression that made my name soar with alarming effects.

The seriousness of what I had done that evening did not dawn on me until I was alone at home that night. My heart had slowed to its normal pace and the alcohol and pot had worn off. I was left then with just myself and the awesome flashes of light that lit up my mind to reveal bodies in abnormal positions and grotesque shapes, twisting and bending in arcs that defied bone structure. The actual impact was on my return back past the bodies of the first fallen, my first real look at bodies torn to shreds. It did little to me then, because it was all about survival. But as I lay wide awake in my bed, safe, alive, I felt guilty and ashamed of myself. Upon further contemplation, I felt that they were too easy to kill. Why had they been out there? I tried every conceivable alibi within the realm of reason to justify my actions. There was none. I slept very little that night.