Part 19 (1/2)
In January 1985 this thin line of love and hate evaporated in the face of unfolding developments in the street The first major eruption of violence occurred on a slow day, a day that looked and felt like any other day I was in Denver-8 and my cellmates were Oldman from Nine-Deuce Hoover, Kenny Mitchel fro the Commodores), and Joe Dee fro a batch of pruno-jail-et drunk e heard a voice
”Cuz, who is that down there from East Coast?”
”Marstien,” the voice replied I had seen Marstien at the street races on Florence and Main before the shoot-out with Li'l Fee and his crew
”Eh, Marstien, what up, nigga? This Li'l Sad, cuz I'onna coht, cuz”
Li'l Sad was on Denver row and Marstien was on Baker row below us I was going to sendkilled days before, supposedly by East Coasts as he drove through his 'hood So when Marstien ca with Va Lajoy Marstien now had twoa Swan
There were at least eighteen Hoovers in 4800 at that time, and equally as many East Coasts There were four tiers in thesixteen cells Those on Able and Baker were six-man cells, while those on Charlie and Denver roere four-man cells We were not allowed in the chow hall any more as a result of the rebellion, so we ate in the dayroom Each tier had its own dayroom, and the inhabitants ate there respectfully Of course, every cell was full
When Able roas let out to chow, the East Coasts fell into a tight circle around Marstien and Vaency of Hoovers in the module was also housed on Able row, so no sooner did everyone get into the dayroom than the violence erupted
”HOOVA!” soe
Crudely constructed knives were drawn and the Hoovers proceeded to stab and beat the East Coasts The Coasts resisted, but were no ression From my cell I could see the battle So dives into the crowd of retreating East Coasts, who looked more terrified than hurt Other Hoovers had whole bars of county soap in socks and were swinging them into the heads and bodies of the reachable East Coasts One East Coast-Snake, from Seven-Six-was armed with an ice pick, but in his atte Hoovers he slipped and stabbed his homie Vas rode down, the Hoovers stood on one side of the dayrooant, so weapons The East Coasts were crumpled in the opposite corner, wrecked, beaten, and shamed Six were stabbed and all sustained bruises The other Crips in the dayroom stepped back to let the inevitable take place
OSS's response was a devastating blow to the Crip Module and gave solimpse at the type of control they really exercised Marstien and Vah Power 1750 module The Hoovers went to the Hole But the real tas that all West Side Crips were moved to Able and Charlie row and all East Side Crips were put on Baker and Denver row Although the conflict did involve the West Side Hoovers and the East Side East Coasts, it was not an issue of East vs West, but rather that these two sets-mere chapters of their respective sides-were at war Their conflict entailed nothing else But when OSS split up the Crips, it gave the Hoovers and the East Coasts the opportunity to agitate each side into a war between East and West And that's exactly what happened
At night the chanting began, with everyone fro
”EAST SIDE!” Baker and Denver roould chant, repeating it three ti with a set roll call
”East Coasts, Avalon, Main Streets, Grape Street, Eight-Seven, PJ Watts, Fo' Tray, Five Tray”
And in response the West Side would chant, ”west side! Hoova, Eight Tray, Sixties, Shot Gun, Raymond, Playboy, West Boulevard”
The threat of the East Side became real So real, in fact, that East and West Side sets that had never clashed began to do so under these conditions All the while OSS was conducting ”interviews”-actually interrogations-to find out as trying to bring about the long-lost unity of old
In these times, many disappeared froather up our personal property and go into the huge co place We all crowded into the shoith our er property We waited for hours to find out our fate Looking around at one another, at friends we had iven in the light of a new ”ene torn asunder Eventually, a pig caan to call off na shouted into the shower
”Yeah,” I replied, wondering why I was being called first ”What'cha callto Charlie-10 Get your shi+t and hed no more than 150 pounds I would have slapped the shi+t out of any other A tohad the arathered up my property and moved down the tier to C-IO This didn't make much sense to me, because I was in C-8 before they rolled us up into the shower It felt strange to walk past cell after empty cell, striped bare to the concrete and steel I felt like the only Crip on earth I got to the cell, it was electronically opened and I stepped in
”Davis?” I heard the little pig say
”Yeah, here” That was Fat Rat from Five-Deuce Hoover
”Charlie-10”
shi+t, that was s had inheavily under his crushi+ng weight Fat Rat was huge, with muscular arms and chest and a fat belly that, coupled with his dark complexion, made him resemble a potbellied stove He and I were friends fro? I mean why they movin' us all around?” I asked Fat Rat as he plopped down on the bunk across from mine
”shi+t, cuz, I think they fin' to mix us up I pity the Cheese Toast”-disrespectful for East Coast-”that come in my cell”
”You think that's what they up to, huh?”
”Yeah, 'cause I heard one cop tell another”
Another naht here”
”Charlie-10”
Fat Rat and I looked at each other, and Fat Rat sot one,” Fat Rat said as he began to make his bed
I didn't know BT, but since he had come to the module I had seen him around He stood in front of the cell and waited to be let in BT was six foot one, muscular, and dark-almost like a fit Fat Rat, but taller He had been in the dayroom when the Hoovers vamped on the Coasts, but he'd hit the hen it ju he was under paperwork (Crip constitution) and couldn't participate in Crip-on-Crip violence He was one of the tho didn't get stabbed
”What up, cuz?” BT said toup on the bunk above mine
”Ain't nothin', just trippin' off these canines”
”Yeah, these devils is on one,” he said, then turned to Fat Rat ”What up, cuz?”
”HOOVA,” shot Fat Rat in a hard-core confrontational voice, ”and I'a, I ain't likin' you or yo' homeboys”
”Yeah, well I ain't on no set trips and I ain't into no tribalism I'm hooked up and therefore forbidden to involve ot no beef with you, just like I ain't got no beef with Master Kody”
”Monster Kody, not Master,” I said, annoyed
”Yeah, yeah, that's right, I'oin' fo' that old bullshi+t you talkin' 'bout, nigga fuck that This is Hoova,” Fat Rat said stubbornly
”I ain't even trippin' that” And BT went onup his bed I knew that a confrontation between the tas inevitable
I had heard about the Crip constitution, but that was the extent of e The constitution was the latest topic on the wire It was said thatdown to 4800 froether in the Crip Nation By this ti toward thathard and could not expect to continue to do so and live orof the constitutionalists had the ring of truth to them When people spoke of ”thereat respect ”They” see to redeem the lost souls of Cripdom
Some felt nervous I could see it in their eyes when ”they” were spoken of Perhaps they had done wrong or feared the responsibility of having to handle soer for the constitutionalists' arrival-those ere under everyday attack by vultures preying on setless individuals and shallow sets
What the pigs had done was mix everyone up As much as they could, they put oneto force us back together after they had intentionally torn us apart, creating conditions forfrom 107 Hoover was a tier tender and went up and down the tiers trying to get those assigned to cells with oppositional members to refrain from any tribalistic violence Most complied, but Fat Rat could not be deterred He wanted to find out more about BT's affiliation He wanted to see who he was really connected to The re East Coasts in the module had severed ties with BT because of his failure to act in their defense when they were attacked by the Hoovers I had learned that day that the Coasts had put a ”blue light”-a hit-on BT for his inactivity Fat Rat knew that the Coast Car would not defend BT, so he had little to worry about on that front