The Valley of the Shadow of Death

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The Valley of the Shadow of Death Page 36

by Kermit Alexander


  Alexander murders reconstructed by, 59–61

  Alexander’s arrest by, 94–95

  Alexanders interrogated by, 42–43, 46, 55–56

  Bradley and, 11, 13, 96–98, 101

  Burns’s trial and, 159, 174

  Central Division of, 142

  City Hall and, 96

  Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) Unit of, 100, 102, 109, 142

  and Cox’s childhood and adolescence, 302

  Cox’s criminal record and, 210–11, 213

  Cox’s mother and, 191, 202–3

  criticisms of, 101

  drug raids and, 100, 109–12

  Gang Enforcement Unit of, 142

  Harris and, 245

  high-profile investigations of, 40

  Kennedy interrogated by, 126–28, 131–34, 138–39

  and killer of black prostitutes, 41

  leads pursued by, 70–71

  Metropolitan Division of, 49

  and motive in Alexander murders, 62, 69, 71

  Newton Division of, 41–42, 46, 48–49

  Olympics and, 100

  relations between community and, 81, 86, 117, 311–12

  Robbery and Homicide Division (RHD) of, 40–41, 59, 126, 131, 142, 151, 226

  77th Street Division of, 41–42, 100

  Southeast Division Patrol Unit of, 210

  street gangs and, 99–100, 102

  and suspects in Alexander murders, 69–70

  and threats to Lewis, 144

  and violence in South Central, 8, 52–53, 248

  Watts Riots and, 30

  Williams interrogated by, 151–52, 226–27, 229–30, 234–36

  Williams’s trial and, 226, 230–31, 234, 236

  Ponce, Fernando, 69

  Pop Warner football, 97, 102, 184–87

  Port-au-Prince, 264, 270–71, 284, 286

  earthquake near, 291–94

  post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 293, 296–97, 299

  Preston School of Industry, 212

  prison gangs, 238–39, 241, 255, 258

  Prohibition, 108, 222

  Q

  Quisenberry, Dan, 93

  R

  Ramirez, Richard (Night Stalker), 40

  Rancho La Ballona, 77–78

  Reagan, Ronald, 11, 92, 225

  Reconstruction, 26

  Reiner, Ira, 90, 147, 236

  Retton, Mary Lou, 12

  Reynoso, Cruz, 224–25

  Robinson, Jackie, 28–29

  Rodriguez, Cesar, 231

  Rolling Sixties Crips (RSC):

  Burns and, 141–42, 147, 160–61, 164, 169–72

  Cox and, 136, 160–61, 178, 183, 197, 208–9, 213, 215, 219, 240, 254, 258, 281

  intragang wars of, 125

  Kennedy and, 112, 126–28

  and motive in Alexander murders, 147

  origins of, 208

  at San Quentin, 240–41, 254, 256

  and threats to Lewis, 144

  violence and crimes of, 126–27

  Williams and, 151–52, 169, 236, 240

  Roosevelt, Franklin, 294

  Roosevelt, Theodore, 107

  Rosenberg, Ethel, 150

  Rotstein, Joanne, 182, 215–17

  S

  St. Columbkille Roman Catholic Church, 10, 48, 74, 76

  St. Eugene’s Catholic Church, 74–75

  St. Vincent’s Hospital, 10, 179

  San Francisco, Calif., 9, 14, 32, 40, 63, 84, 98, 151, 221, 292

  San Francisco, University of (USF), 106

  San Francisco 49ers, 4, 29–30, 32, 37, 87, 97, 106–7

  San Mateo Daily Journal, 278

  San Quentin State Prison:

  Adjustment Center (AC) at, 223–25, 241, 254–58, 280–81, 308

  Condemned Unit at, 224, 238–42, 245, 247, 252, 254–56, 281, 308

  Cox’s imprisonment at, 220, 223–25, 238, 240–42, 247, 254–58, 280–82, 308

  Cox’s transfer to, 221–23

  executions at, 216, 222, 244–47, 252–53, 276, 278, 289, 296

  physical appearance of, 221–22

  prisoners’ takeover attempt at, 256–58

  Williams’s imprisonment at, 238, 240, 252, 254, 277

  Williams’s lawsuit against, 252

  Santos, Alfredo, 222

  Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act (SAFE), 309

  Sayers, Gale, 87, 266

  Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 278

  Scott, “Monster” Kody, 122

  Shea, Joe, 75–77

  Shelley v. Kraemer, 159, 189

  Sherry, William, 58

  Simpson, O. J., 12, 136, 184

  Singletary, Mike, 266

  Slauson, J. S., 14

  Slauson Avenue, 14–15, 38, 77, 82, 166

  Slausons, 116, 119

  slaves, slavery, 26–27, 66, 302

  Haiti and, 264, 273

  Snoop Dogg, 276

  Soledad State Prison, 238

  South Central Los Angeles, Calif., 310–11

  Alexander murder investigations and, 72, 80–88, 186, 287

  and Alexander’s childhood and adolescence, 23, 97–98

  Alexander’s education in, 28

  Alexander’s family’s settling in, 23

  Alexander’s mother’s house in, 3, 7–8

  Alexander’s volunteer and charitable work in, 97, 184

  blacks in, 8, 14–15, 41, 51, 82–83, 86, 120

  Bradley and, 11, 13, 96–98, 248

  Cox and, 135–36, 197, 209, 213, 218, 297

  departure of industry from, 82–83

  drug raids and, 109

  employment in, 14, 82–83, 86

  fear in, 49–52, 90

  in history, 14

  housing in, 52, 82, 116

  Olympics and, 13, 82

  physical appearance of, 82

  poverty in, 8

  riots in, 82, 247–48

  senior citizens in, 50–51

  size and population of, 53

  street gangs and, 24–25, 30, 41, 54, 83–85, 97–99, 102, 116, 119, 248

  violence and crime in, 1, 8, 13, 38, 41–42, 49–53, 63, 83–84, 86, 94, 99, 248

  Southern California, University of (USC), 12, 29, 93

  South Side Slayer, 41

  Soviet Union, 12, 92

  Stevens, John Paul, 245–46

  Stiner, George, 119

  Stingley, Darryl, 105–6

  street gangs, 176, 297, 307

  Alexander murder investigations and, 47, 49, 71, 84–85, 98, 102

  and Alexander’s childhood and adolescence, 24–25

  Alexander’s speeches on, 92

  attraction of, 122–23

  of blacks, 111, 115–25, 168

  Burns and, 141–42, 147, 160–61, 164, 168–72, 174

  Cox and, 136, 161, 178, 183, 197–98, 208–9, 211–13, 215, 219, 240, 244, 254, 258, 281, 302

  crack cocaine and, 100, 111, 127

  and decline in crime, 312

  finances of, 122–24

  gaining entry into, 123–24

  history of, 115–25

  in Hyde Park, 110, 112, 125, 164

  Kennedy and, 112, 125–28, 134

  in L.A., 115, 117–18, 120–26, 174

  language of, 123

  rivalries between, 123–25

  rules of, 123–24

  San Quentin and, 222, 239–41, 254–56, 258

  South Central and, 24–25, 30, 41, 54, 83–85, 97–99, 102, 116, 119, 248

  uniforms of, 123–24

  violence of, 102, 108, 116–18, 121–22, 124–25

  Watts Riots and, 117–18

  Williams and, 151–52, 169, 236, 240, 276–78

  Strode, Woody, 29

  Supreme Court, Calif.:

  Cox’s appeal and, 243–44

  death penalty and, 145, 153, 224–25, 243–44, 253–54

  Williams’s appeal and, 243, 253–54

  Supreme Court, U.S., 29, 99, 189


  Cox’s appeal and, 307

  on death penalty, 152–53, 245–46, 307

  T

  Tate, Sharon, 90

  Taylor, Preston, 210, 219

  Taylor, Valarie, 1, 228, 231, 237, 311

  Tenth Avenue, 109–10, 168–69, 200, 205

  Kennedy and, 112, 125, 141

  Lewis and, 141, 144, 146

  Texas, 21–22, 188, 190, 265, 273, 308

  Alexander’s business venture in, 66–67

  Third World, 71

  Thorpe, Jim, 97

  Titanyen, 271–72, 282, 288

  Toler, Burl, 106

  Toussaint-Louverture, François-Dominique, 273, 292

  Trahin, Jimmy, 128–29

  Trujillo, Rafael, 273

  Tsarpkin, S., 92

  Tuilaepa, Paul “Roscoe,” 256–57

  U

  Ueberroth, Peter, 12

  Uniroyal, 82–83

  United Slaves (U.S.), 117–19

  V

  Vasquez, Daniel, 246–47

  Vermont Avenue, 1, 76, 169, 200, 227, 311

  Vicary, William, 232

  Vietnam War, 108, 121, 297

  W

  Warren, Earl, 99

  Washington, Booker T., 27

  Washington, Kenny, 29

  Washington, Raymond, 120–21

  Watts, Calif., 54, 271, 275, 287

  and Alexander’s childhood and adolescence, 23–25, 185

  Alexander’s mother’s move from, 33

  Alexander’s Pop Warner team and, 184–86

  damages and casualties in, 32

  and leads pursued by police, 71

  police–community efforts in, 312

  riots in, 9, 30–33, 38, 41, 82, 86–87, 117–18, 247, 294

  Watts family, 23

  Webb, Venus, 58, 199, 205

  Western Avenue, 14, 82, 166, 211

  Western Avenue School, 193

  West Fifty-Ninth Street, 3, 7, 15, 33, 39, 48, 70–71, 132, 231, 262

  Burns’s trial and, 166–68, 171

  police’s response to events at, 43–45

  West Seventy-Seventh Street, 140, 192

  West Side Crips, 208, 240

  white regulators, 115–16

  Williams, Darren Charles (CW), 237, 273, 302, 311

  appeal of, 243, 253–54

  arrest of, 157, 226–27

  Burns’s jailhouse kite and, 161–64, 169

  Burns’s trial and, 160–61, 165–69, 171–73, 175

  community service of, 234–35

  conviction of, 235–36, 253

  Cox’s trial and, 181, 200, 205, 216–18

  crack cocaine and, 151, 230, 232, 234, 236, 310

  death penalty and, 151–52, 175, 227, 234–35, 242, 253–54, 310

  finances of, 231, 233, 235

  imprisonment of, 163, 227, 238, 240, 242, 252, 254, 277, 310

  Jack’s Vermont Club and, 200, 227, 229–31

  lawsuit of, 252

  life sentence of, 310

  physical appearance of, 200, 216–17

  police interrogation of, 151–52, 226–27, 229–30, 234–36

  street gangs and, 151–52, 169, 236, 240, 276–78

  trial of, 151, 157–59, 220, 226, 230–36

  weapons of, 167, 171, 200

  Williams, David Michael, 176–77

  Williams, John, 12

  Williams, Stanley “Tookie”:

  alleged redemption of, 276–79

  clemency sought by, 276–78

  execution of, 276, 278

  gang affiliation of, 121, 208, 240, 276–78

  stabbing of, 240–41, 309

  Wilson, Pete, 247, 308

  Windmill, Operation, 279

  World War II, 22–23, 108, 115, 128, 222

  Alexander’s father’s military career in, 17, 19–20

  Y

  Young, Jettie, 231

  Youth Authority, Calif. (CYA), 137, 190, 209, 211–13, 297

  An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Copyright © 2015 by Kermit Alexander, Alexander Gerould, and Jeffrey Snipes

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  First Atria Books hardcover edition September 2015

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  Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe

  Jacket Design by Foltz Design

  Jacket Images © Kristen Geraci/Getty Images (Palm Trees); © Julia Peck/Millennium Images, Uk (Sun Beam)

  Author Photograph by Josh Williams

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 978-1-4767-6576-1

  ISBN 978-1-4767-6578-5 (ebook)

 

 

 


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