Part 1 (1/2)
MONSTER
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN LA GANG MEMBER
SANYIKA SHAKUR, AKA MONSTER KODY SCOTT
To e 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, andfor e
WE CARRY ON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgainst the tuanda and who in spite of unpopularity have gone a separate way; those who have taught ht 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 shi+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 froable 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 withabout us when it was unpopular to do so; Thoht for his incredible eye for detail and all-around friendshi+p; and o 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 autoht, drowned out only by explosions and sirens People hustle quickly past, in a dangerous atte happens to be heaviest There is troopis intense The soldiers are engaged in a ”civil war” A ithout ter at their disposal This conflict has lasted nine years longer than Vietnale per se, its atle in the world
Neither side receives funding froiance to any particular religion or socioeconoovernment There are no representatives from either faction in the United Nations, nor does either side recognize the Universal Declaration of Huins at eleven years of age
Squads of five usuallyterritories for preeets useful to the opposition Although both armies are predominantly hting These infrastructures were built initially on robberies and extortions Today, however, they are maintained by proceeds frohout America Each are areas are broken by ene, to which total allegiance is pledged Each are, 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,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 association
Other than this, the war has been kept froly scar across the belly of an otherwise beautiful wo a showpiece for the world where prosperity is as easily found as water in a strealy scar across her belly that she has tried repeatedly to suppress and keep hidden from curious onlookers More than a few tiht to light, but always another garh spot and all the turain 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 passed off as ”just another ghetto problem” burst its suture and spewed blood all across the sto members,” soldiers of the Crip army, pelted cars with rocks, sticks, and bottles, eventually pulling civilians fro theent of LAPD officers Troop eles 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 rew 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 a expert-period There are no other gang experts except participants 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 tihts in South Central and knife fights in Folsouish at the bottom of one of the strictest maximum-security state prisons in this country
I propose to takeinvolve member with the Crips I propose to open my liun, street, fence, and wall Fro and ht up to the South Central rebellion and the truce between the warring factions-the Crips and Bloods Although no longer aligned with gang or crireat deal of support from this quarter
Come with me then, if you will, down a side street lined with stolen cars and youngsters ar in wait for the ene Then return with me five years later as the street is lined with luxury cars, dope dealers, and troops with AK-47 assault weapons, the gang now an army
Let me tell you of funerals that have been overrun by eneain” for reasons of psychological warfare Think not that this war is so phase to be ironed out with a truce in five days-impossible! Sophistication has not, by any eles Surveillance, coy have now found their way into the military buildup of these two arlory 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 attened to bring about a better,of this malady, so as to help reach workable solutions for all concerned As withthe reader full circle to show the reality of a city gone er 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 hastly 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 ele stares of ned place next to Joe Johnson, as we had rehearsed for a week, I felt very different, older, more ”attached” than any ofmade me stand more erect, e-even Joe Johnson, as the ”king of the school”
Looking back now it's quite a to remember how proud I was and how superior I felt next to Joe Johnson I first sensed my radical departure froraduation, driven hoo on the grad-class outing for flashi+ng a gang sign on the school panorama picture
Mr S a perfectly good picture, not to ns of s Mr S, and besides, ht flashi+ng the sign on the panora on a photograph is beyond me! But, too, it points up my serious intent even then For I was coraduation activities bore on, my disinterest and annoyance at its silliness escalated I was eager to get hoation” to my new set of friends, who raduation ratulated est in a faan with a K: est; Ki and I couldn't overstand why heho out into the streets but not seeing anything in particular, just wishi+ng ht was to be ht, and I didn't want to be late orthe corner onto our block in my uncle's Monte Carlo, I sunk down in the back seat to avoid being seen into make sure the coast was clear, I bolted past Moms into the house, down the hall, and into e
”What's your damn problem, boy?” bellowed Mo out anywhere until you have cleaned up that funky room, taken out this trash and”
I never heard the rest I was out theand in the wind-stea in this life that has ever held th of tiotten around the block, to collect my coolness, I met up with Tray Ball, who had accepted reed to sponsor me in
”What's up, cuz?” Tray Ball extends his very dark, muscular, veined hand
”Ain't nothin',” I respond, trying to hidea Ghetto Star A Ghetto Star is a neighborhood celebrity known for gangbanging, drug dealing, and so on
”So, what's up for tonight, am I still on or what?”
”Yeah, you on”
As alked to ”the shack” in silence, I took full advantage of the stares ere getting from onlookers who couldn't seehborhood hoodlunition and respect
At the shack, which was actually a backhouse behind Tray Ball's house, I met Huckabuck, as dark, athletic, very physical, and an awesohter He came to California from New York-accent included For the most part he was quiet Leprechaun, e called ”Lep,” was there I had known him prior to this, as he went to school with ht 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 handsoaining a reputation by the coster Cool GC was possibly the s our parents could not afford to give us He gangbanged in Stacy Adams shoes
”What's your nah a cloud of marijuana smoke
”Kody, my name is Kody”
”Kody? There's already somebody name Kody fro his name ”Yeah, but my real name is Kody, my mother named me that”