Times' coverage: A gang feud's fallout
The Times' Scott Gold has been reporting on gangs in South L.A. since June. His latest piece takes a look at a deadly dispute between the Main Street Crips and the Hoover Criminals that has led to at least six shootings and the deaths of three black males: Drayvon James, 29, Robert Nelson, 16 and Daquawn Allen, 13.
It began, as mortal disputes sometimes do in South Los Angeles, over a girl.
On one side were the Main Street Crips, one of the more muscular gangs in the neighborhood. Main Streeters commanded respect, if only because they had a bit of money to throw around, even their own small record label. On the other side were the Hoover Criminals. The Hoovers were big, with turf that stretched from Vernon Avenue down past Century Boulevard and into "the hundreds," as the streets are known locally. The Hoovers were belligerent too; they seemed to have a hard time getting along with anybody -- except the Main Street Crips.
Over the years, the two gangs had carved up one patch of South L.A., settling on Broadway as their loose border -- Main Street Crips to the east, Hoovers to the west. Partly because of old friendships, partly because their alliance was good for business, they had coexisted that way for as long as anyone could remember.
Then, one balmy night in August, Main Street threw a party. The Hoovers were invited. The details are murky -- something about a girlfriend and a racy remark -- but it doesn't matter now. Guns were pulled. Shots were fired. And an old-fashioned beef, the likes of which this part of South L.A. hadn't seen in several years, was underway.
Read more: A gang feud's fallout
The series: Promise and Peril in South L.A.
Photo: Sgt. Dan Horan of the 77th Street Division looks at the memorial set up for 13-year-old Daquawn Allen, who was shot and killed on Broadway after he'd gone to a swap meet to buy balloons, according to his grandmother. Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times
I love LA. It's such a nice, peaceful place to raise kids.
Maybe my sons can grow up & become Crips too!!!
Posted by: jwzalesky | September 21, 2009 at 06:42 AM
WE LOVE U TO"SHAY U MAY BE GONE BUT TRUST UR NEVA 4GOTTON BABIE!!!!U ARE ALWAYS AND FOREVER IN OUR HEART
Posted by: 4SMILEZ1 | September 21, 2009 at 10:29 AM
WE LOVE AND MISS U TO"SHAY U MAY BE GONE BUT UR NEVA 4GOTTON BABIE U ARE ALWAYS AND 4EVA IN OUR HEART MAN WE MISS THAT GORGEOUS SMILE AND GIVEN U ALL TEH DOLLARS U WANTED LOL!!!!!
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Posted by: 4SMILEZ1 | September 21, 2009 at 10:31 AM
4SMILEZ1, what the heck are you trying to say?
Posted by: c/o | September 22, 2009 at 06:13 AM
What a waste and a shame that we have so many killed for nothing really. Fighting for a piece of space that none owns, or a look a bump? really what can come of a lost generation?
Posted by: DR | September 22, 2009 at 08:59 AM
ima Let u know Likee thiss ! i aint wiFF aLL tht gang bang'n stuFF , ! ppL need to get a Lifee && grow tha heckk up ! who kiLLs chiLdren ??!! u a Low-Lifee to b think'n tht's sum10 to be proud oF && to thinkk is gud ! i dnt havee but onee LiL brother now , bcaz sumbody decided to takee out there anger on mah brother !! over sum dumb broad ! ugh ! Da'Quawn To'Shay Allen 07-03-96 ___ 08 16-09 .... ima aLwayss miss u , && Lovee u to tha end ,&& as Long as GOD letss meeeh Livee , i want u to watch dwn over tha famiLy , && ima b up theree wen itss mah timeee , so savee meeeeh a spot on yo bed , okayy iLovee u
Posted by: to'shay bigg sister | December 13, 2009 at 04:40 PM