Once Upon A Time in Compton

by Brennan, Tim; Ladd, Robert; Files, Lolita

  By the early eighties, the South Side Crips, like most Compton gangs, were getting in the rock cocaine game. Over the course of the decade, the Davis brothers and Fink established themselves as top players, moving large quantities of narcotics with the help of relatives of the Davises in the Watts-based Grape Street Crips. The Grape Street Crips were led by Wayne Day - known as “Honcho” on the streets - one of the first Los Angeles-based kingpins of rock cocaine who reportedly made millions running an empire with a national reach.

  By the early nineties, the South Side Crips reach in the narcotics trade extended to New York and Las Vegas. Then a series of events occurred that split the set into two factions. Terrence Brown, aka “T-Brown” or “Bubble Up,” had been hanging with the Davis brothers and Lee Banner on Burris Avenue in Compton when Brown and Banner robbed Fink’s business partner Charles Johnson (aka “Snake”) of twenty-thousand dollars. The retaliation was immediate, with South Side Crip member Damon Long and Snake firing several rounds from AK-47’s into Banner’s house, killing him. South Side member Michael Dorrough was in the house at the time, but survived. A short time later, T-Brown was shot seven times with an AK-47 in a drive-by that occurred as he was hanging in front of the Davis house. He survived.

  In the wake of all this, South Side Crip members Rodney “Fink” Dennis, Charles “Snake” Jackson, and Damon and Leonard Long broke away from the group on Burris Avenue. The South Side Crips from Burris Avenue - the “Burris Street Crew” - now included Kevin Davis, his brother Keefe D, Terrence Brown, Orlando Anderson, Michael Dorrough, Deandre Smith, and Corey Edwards.

  There were several South Side Crips who remained friends with both cliques - Fink and his 89 Hoover friends and the Burris Street Crew, including the Davis brothers and their Grape Street friends - choosing not to pick a side.

  In 1995, Orlando Anderson and Michael Dorrough came across Damon Long at Glencoe and Temple Avenue. Dorrough fired several shots at Long with a .45 caliber handgun, killing him.

  Tim and Bob were assigned the case.

  A witness identified Michael Dorrough as the shooter and Orlando Anderson as his accomplice. Based on this information, the D.A. issued a warrant for the arrest of Dorrough, who then fled to Las Vegas, where he was eventually caught and extradited back to Compton. The witness who had first identified him, now fearing for his life, fled the state, leaving Tim and Bob without a case. It was dismissed and Dorrough received a one-year sentence for probation violation.

  In April of 1996, Orlando Anderson and Deandre Smith would be identified by witnesses as responsible for the murder of Palmer Blocc Crip Elbert “E.B.” Webb.

  Informants interviewed by Tim and Bob months later during the time of the Tupac shooting in Las Vegas had established connections between South Side Crips and New York-based Bad Boy Records, Puffy Combs, and Biggie. South Side Crip Keefe D and others would later admit to this after the murder of Biggie.

  15

  THE MURDER OF TUPAC

  The death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur was an event that would become a benchmark in the professional lives of Tim and Bob. The incident would permeate several other investigations over the course of their careers. It has never stopped being impactful in their lives as both are experts discussing the case, its far-reaching tentacles, and the players involved; players who would, not long after the murder, continue to pop up as central or peripheral figures in other cases involving drugs, shootings, and murder.

  This was an intense and harrowing time, one both Tim and Bob vividly recalled from the events of the day of the shooting in Las Vegas and the thirteen days that immediately followed. At the time of the shooting, Tupac and Suge were two of the most prominent figures in the world of hip-hop. Tupac had signed with Death Row not even a year earlier and had been riding high on the success of his album All Eyez on Me, released in February 1996.

  ‘Pac’s death catapulted the artist into what seemed like an instant near-deification. Already wildly popular, he became an undeniable icon, debated among many as possibly the greatest hip-hop star who ever lived. The shooting got worldwide attention, and, even though it had taken place in Las Vegas, Compton would be the battleground where things would begin to play out.

  Over the next ten days alone, there would be three murders and eleven attempted murders, all directly related to the shooting. The public would demand to know who’d done what - questions still treated as unanswered, even though Tim and Bob were able to connect a clear line of dots that, to them, led directly to identifying Tupac’s killer.

  ***

  DAY ONE: Saturday, September 7, 1996

  It was a big (albeit brief) night for fans of boxing. Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who’d been on a comeback trail since being released from prison in March 1995, had faced then-WBA champion Bruce Seldon in Las Vegas in a bout for the title. Tyson soundly defeated Seldon in a fight many fans of the sport considered rigged to clear the path for Tyson’s long-awaited first match-up with Evander Holyfield.[25]

  Ticket to Tyson-Seldon Fight recovered from Suge’s during raid after Tupac’s death.

  Seldon went down in the first round and the whole thing was over in a minute and forty-nine seconds, one of the shortest in boxing history.

  It had been a day off for Tim and Bob, who were each at home when they received calls from their boss, Reggie Wright, Sr. (Remember, his son, Reggie Wright, Jr. was the head of security for Death Row Records.)

  Hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, in Vegas for the fight, had been shot around at 11:15 p.m. in a drive-by at the intersection of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. Within minutes of the incident, Reggie Sr., back in Compton, received a call about it. He relayed what he learned to Tim and Bob.

  Tupac was in critical condition, he’d told them, and the suspects were believed to be South Side Crips.

  “Get ready,” Reggie Sr. had ominously said. “It’s on. It’s coming back to Compton.”

  ***

  The Las Vegas Police Department quickly learned that, not long before the shooting that night, a Compton gang member named Orlando had been jumped at the MGM Grand by Tupac, Suge Knight, and some MOB Piru members, but they held on to this information and didn’t share it with the Compton P.D.

  They were confused by the situation with the two Reggie Wrights. There was Reggie Sr. back in Compton running the police department’s gang unit, and there was Reggie Jr., in Vegas at the time of the shooting, the security chief for the label under which Tupac was signed. In the eyes of Vegas P.D., this was a very complicated connection, one fraught with blurred lines and murkiness. They feared any information shared with the Compton P.D. would be compromised.

  Considering how things must have looked from their perspective regarding this father-son complication, it wasn’t unreasonable on their part to be apprehensive about communicating with the Compton police.

  ***

  DAY TWO: Sunday, September 8, 1996

  Reports of the shooting in Las Vegas were now worldwide. Every news channel - local, national, and international - covered what happened the night before. If people didn’t realize just how big of a star Tupac Shakur was prior to this shooting, they certainly did now from the perpetual loop of news anchors recounting the incident.

  Tim and Bob stayed in touch with Reggie Sr. He told them he had tried to contact detectives in Las Vegas and he was none too happy about how they’d treated him.

  “They dissed me,” he said. “They won’t tell me anything because of my son.”

  Reggie Sr. got in touch his boss, Hourie Taylor, Compton’s Chief of Police. Unknown at that moment to Reggie Sr., Tim, or Bob, Chief Taylor had already contacted Vegas P.D. and explained that, in order to avoid any semblance of conflict, Reggie Sr. would be taken off the case.

  “If you need any assistance,” Taylor told Vegas P.D., “gang unit detectives Tim Brennan and Robert Ladd will be your contacts.”

  South Side Crips, left to right: “Goon,” Darnell Brim, “J-Bone” (squatting), and “Sp
anky.”

  Vegas P.D., now given assurance they would no longer be dealing with Reggie Sr., still didn’t inform the Compton P.D. about the fight at the MGM Grand. Had they done so as soon as they learned about it, they could have exchanged suspect information with Tim and Bob, allowing the California Highway Patrol and the Compton P.D. to get in front of the situation and possibly catch the suspects as they fled Vegas. It was already known that the shooter and his accomplices had been in a white Cadillac. Highway 15, which cut through the desert, was the main thoroughfare between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. That early information would have allowed police departments at both ends and in between to be on watch for the car and the suspects.

  ***

  DAY THREE: Monday, September 9, 1996

  Reggie Sr.’s ominous heads-up to Tim and Bob on Saturday night had been accurate. It was, indeed, “on” in the city of Compton. The drama had quickly made its way from Las Vegas as the first of a series of retaliatory attacks occurred on the streets.

  Around 3:00 p.m., OG South Side gangster Darnell Brim, aka “Brim,” was shot several times in the back as he walked out of a location at 2430 East Alondra Boulevard. It was possible the shooting happening so soon after Tupac and Suge were attacked in Vegas was an uncanny coincidence. That was unlikely, though, considering the man who was shot. Brim was well-known as a drug dealer and a leader among the SSCC.

  He was a badass, someone Tim and Bob considered very dangerous. They had arrested him many times over the years for drugs, possession of firearms, and several attempted murders. Killing someone of his stature would have been top-level retaliation.

  Brim didn’t die, but the message was clear: payback was coming, and nobody was off-limits.

  The place across the street from where Brim was gunned down was a known hangout for Crips. Easy pickings for Pirus with vengeance on their minds. Tim and Bob had been to this Crip hangout many times, making arrests for drugs and firearm possession. A business called Performance Sounds, owned by a known drug dealer, was there.

  Whoever came looking to take out Brim and opened fire on him didn’t care about collateral damage. Lakezia McNeese, a ten-year-old girl, was shot as well and was in critical condition.

  This had all taken place in Crip territory. The hit appeared to be MOB Piru and Lueders Park Piru’s response to what had happened to Tupac and Suge in Vegas.

  ***

  When Brim was shot, Tim and Bob, as was the custom, received phone calls at home. So did Eddie Aguirre and Ray Richardson.

  “Come in to work,” their boss Reggie said. “It’s started already.”

  Tim and Bob came in and began to patrol the South Side Crip and the MOB Piru/Lueders Park Piru territories. The areas were on the east side, just a mile apart.

  The streets were empty, like a ghost town. Tim and Bob had seen them this way before, usually when a gang war had erupted. Word had already gotten out about Brim being shot. The respective gangs were all laying low, strategizing, girding up for battle.

  Nothing else happened that night, but the silence was palpable as Tim and Bob patrolled the streets. The air teemed with the electric inevitably of what would be coming soon, very soon. Tim and Bob made sure they were visible, poised and ready for some shit to jump off.

  ***

  DAY FOUR: Tuesday, September 10, 1996

  Tim and Bob came in to work around 11:00 a.m. As soon they arrived, they were called into a meeting with Chief Taylor, Reggie Wright, Sr, and Sergeant Baker, then head of the narcotics division. Baker’s reputation in law enforcement was impeccable. Taylor led the meeting with an announcement that caught them all off-guard.

  “Effective immediately, Reggie, I’m making you the Detective Division Lieutenant. Baker, you’re now the supervisor in charge of the gang unit.”

  Tim and Bob both noticed Reggie’s face. He wasn’t happy. But he understood why it was necessary for him to step down. The Reggie Sr./Reggie Jr. thing raised too many questions. It cast too much doubt about how things would be handled. The last thing Chief Taylor needed was the appearance of collusion and corruption in the department regarding something as high-profile as the investigation of the shooting of a major hip-hop star.

  Aside from Tim and Bob, there was no one on the force who knew more about Suge Knight and Death Row than Reggie Wright, Sr. Reggie knew more about them than anyone in law enforcement, so being removed from working on the case was quite unfortunate. He had a wealth of information about Suge and Death Row that, to this day and for the safety of his son, Reggie Jr., he has only talked about with Tim and Bob.

  Reggie’s intimate knowledge notwithstanding, appearances, as the saying went, were still everything, and in this situation the appearances looked pretty shitty. His reassignment was a public measure that had to occur. Tim and Bob knew they would continue to work with him behind the scenes, but for cosmetic purposes, he would not be involved with any investigation involving Tupac’s shooting, Suge Knight, and Death Row.

  Tim and Bob were directed by Chief Taylor to look into the Darnell Brim and LaKezia McNeese shootings in Compton.

  “You’ll also be our liaison with Vegas P.D.,” he said. “Help them with whatever they need.”

  Vegas P.D. had already lost two days. Two whole days where they could have been receiving valuable information in regards to the shooting that happened in their city.

  Tim made a phone call reaching out to Vegas P.D. Detectives Brent Becker and Mike Franks. He introduced himself and explained that he and Bob would be their contacts. Tim was eager to learn whatever Becker and Franks knew. They told him about the fight at the MGM Grand where Tupac, Suge Knight, and MOB Piru members had beaten up a Black male. They also told him there was a videotape of the fight and that they’d appreciate his help identifying the participants. They had already received tips saying that the Black male who’d been beaten up was named Orlando. The tips also mentioned the South Side Crips and the names Darnell Brim, T-Brown, Davion Brooks, Corey Edwards, and Orlando Anderson.

  Of course, Tim and Bob knew the name Orlando Anderson. This was the same guy who’d tried to make his bones in the late eighties by trying to kill them at the McDonald’s on Long Beach Boulevard as a part of his initiation into the South Side Crips when he was just fifteen years old. He was a member of a clique within the gang known as the Burris Street Crew.

  Tim and Bob were familiar with all the names Becker and Franks had received tips about, many of whom they’d be dealing with since the mid-eighties.

  ***

  At two o’clock that afternoon, while Tim and Bob were still trying to assist Becker and Franks, the next round of retaliatory shootings occurred.

  Two Pirus were shot in front of 713 N. Bradfield Avenue, a known hangout for Lueders Park Piru. The suspects were identified as two Black men in a blue Chevy Blazer. This had to be the South Side Crips’ get-back for Darnell Brim. Reggie Wright, Sr. monitored the radio call of the shooting, then immediately went to the South Side Crips’ territory to look for the suspects.

  South Park, a neighborhood park between Bennett and Caldwell Streets near Pearl Avenue, was a known hangout for the South Side Crips. Reggie went there and came upon a burgundy Chevy Blazer filled with South Side Crips. The vehicle had Nevada license plates and the driver was a man named David Keith whose address came up in his driver’s history as 2109 Haveling Street in Las Vegas.

  It was already known that the South Side Crips had ties to Vegas. Several had moved there, and Tim and Bob had traveled to Vegas in the past to extradite suspects wanted for murder back in Compton. The history between the South Side Crips and Las Vegas - something that existed long before the night of September 7, 1996 - provided a strong foundation for how Tim and Bob would be able to connect Tupac’s shooting with familiar players in Compton.

  Knowing gang mentality was their business, and they knew that if a South Side Crip had been “rat-packed” (beaten) by Tupac, Suge, and his bodyguards, it would be easy to retaliate because there were already Sou
th Side Crips based in Vegas. Local SSCC meant fast and easy access to firearms. They could strap up quick and hit the streets for payback.

  ***

  Another drive-by happened just three hours later, around 5:00 p.m., at Pine and Bradfield, another known hangout for MOB Pirus and Lueders Park Pirus. A man named Gary Williams was shot. Gary was the brother of George Williams, a known enforcer for Suge Knight and one of the most treacherous people Tim and Bob had ever met. The suspects in the shooting were South Side Crips.

  This would absolutely be retaliated against. There was no way someone could shoot the brother of a man as ruthless as George Williams and not expect a response. George would be swift to act.

  Sure enough, just twenty minutes later, MOB Pirus and Lueders Park Pirus were at Alondra Boulevard and Poinsettia Avenue, in the heart of South Side Crip turf, chasing down a vehicle and shooting it full of holes. Astonishingly, even though the car was riddled with bullets, no one was hurt.

  AK-47 projectiles and casings were recovered as the insanity of these quick retaliations had Tim and Bob going from scene to scene, trying to get a handle on things. They were outnumbered and overloaded and the South Side Crips, MOB Pirus, and Lueders Park Pirus knew it. There was no way they could deal with crime scenes, do interviews, and still have time to patrol so their visibility would keep the violence at bay. Being busy working on crime scenes meant they couldn’t make their presence known among the gangs, which, in turn, meant conditions were favorable for things to pop off.

  ***

  At 6:45 p.m., they got a call from an informant who’d been very reliable in the past. Per the informant, a Latino male had brought a duffel bag filled with weapons to a known South Side Crip hangout at 1315/1317 East Glencoe Street.