Crack, Gangs, Violence
The eighties were the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles and throughout the country. With it came skyrocketing violent crime rates and unmatched death tolls.
Category: True Crime
The Unsolved Murder of Suzanna Mages
Texas 1977 A hot ball of glowing gasses steadily climbed in the eastern sky, threatening to drive temperatures into the triple digits in defiance of the onset of fall. It was the 25th day of September and the start of a typical Sunday in the small town of Denton: Texans moseyed into diners for breakfast…
Leota Street Shooting
Two LAPD cars drove into our jurisdiction, slowly following a van. Their lights were flashing but the driver of the van seemed oblivious to them. It was the during the late hours of our shift on a slow night in the Florence, Firestone, and Walnut Park Districts of Los Angeles County, districts patrolled by deputies…
Compton Pursuit
It was a rare occasion when Floyd would drive. Somehow, it always seemed to be my turn, or so he would argue. Fine. But one afternoon we were traveling through Compton, en route back to Century Station, and Floyd was actually behind the wheel for a change.
Paying Your Dues: An LASD Tradition
Not Unlike the Marine Corps Many law enforcement agencies are structured in a paramilitary fashion in the ways of rank, discipline, and even training. It begins in the academy where stress is introduced as a manner of testing one’s fortitude and ability to withstand the pressures of the job. If you can’t tolerate a drill…
Heroism in the Homeland: Off-duty Cops take Action
Crimes are often deterred by only to the watchful eyes of off-duty cops. An officer’s demeanor, command presence, can at times, make a crook think twice. Most departments don’t require off-duty officers to take action when crimes occur in their presence. Generally, the cop is only encouraged to be a good witnesses rather than physically interceding…
Grape Street and The War on Drugs
Grape Street is one of infamy in South Los Angeles. The 9500 block sits north of the Jordan Downs housing projects, and both are home to the Grape Street Crips. When I worked at Firestone, it was considered a cherry patch for drug and gun arrests, and it probably still is. It is also in…
Guilty as Charged!
The (semi-) Honorable J. Spencer Letts, who closely resembled the judge in the hit comedy My Cousin Vinny, sat high upon his throne in all of his black robeness, and glared at the four cop defendants who stood before him. Yours truly was one of the four.
The Unsolved Murder of Angie Dodge
Twenty-two years ago today, 18-year-old Angie Raye Dodge was killed as she slept in her upstairs apartment in the sleepy town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. At the time of Angie’s murder, DNA had become a household term thanks to the spectacle that was the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles. Simpson’s 1995 acquittal should…
Gunrunning in Gangland
“She’s going to kill us both.” The big man at the other end of my gun glanced over to see my partner pointing her gun at him—at us—the barrel bouncing in her shaking hands. He said, “I’m cool, man.”