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YG brings truce to Compton gang factions with peace walk

Rapper YG.

COMPTON (MNS)—Sunday was an effectual day of peace here, as rap icon YG spearheaded a peace walk marking the end to a 10-year rivalry between the Treetop Pirus and Fruit Town Pirus gangs.

Held at Gonzales Park, the event signified healing and unity for a community rife with riveting mayhem for five-and-a-half decades.

YG, along with gang leaders, The Game, Wallie The Sensei, and hundreds of local residents, participated in a peaceful procession to foster solidarity, ending in a gathering between many who had for years been unrepentant adversaries.

The peace walk coincides with the release of YG’s highly anticipated album, “Just Re’d Up 3.” This event not only highlights YG’s ability to bridge divides, but also showcases his commitment to social justice and community empowerment.

YG's social leadership follows his 2020 Black rights march, which drew more 50,000 participants.

Gang members get 50 years for cop's murder

The defendants opted to plead guilty in 2023 rather than risk a mandatory

life sentence for a conviction of a violent crime in aid of racketeering.

By EDVARD PETTERSSON, Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (CN) — Three members of the South Los Angeles street gang Florencia 13 received sentences of as long as 50 years in federal prison for the killing of off-duty LA Police Officer Fernando Arroyos when he was house hunting with his fiancée in January 2022.

The three pleaded guilty July 2023, shortly before they were to go on trial, to conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act.

The killing of Arroyos — a native of South Central LA who had graduated from UC Berkeley and was considered one of the brightest prospects on the police force — caused an uproar in LA where concerns about rising crime had already prompted an ultimately unsuccessful effort to recall liberal leaning District Attorney George Gascón.

"The senseless loss of life is all too frequent in our community," US District Judge Percy Anderson said at the separate sentencing hearings Friday afternoon. "It is literally ripping apart the fabric of our society. The sentence imposed must send a message, not only to this defendant but to everyone, that if you choose to endanger our community by murdering, robbing and trafficking in narcotics, there will be significant consequences.”

Luis Alfredo de la Rosa Rios, 30, and Ernesto Cisneros, 25, were each sentenced to 50 years. They were the ones who robbed Arroyos at gunpoint before killing him. The third man, Jesse Contreras, 36, was sentenced to 35 years. He gave a loaded gun to Rios but stayed behind in the truck they were driving when the other got out to rob Arroyos and his girlfriend.

Earlier that same day, at 2 a.m., Rios and Contreras had already robbed two musicians outside a bar where they had been performing. They had been waiting outside the bar expecting that band members who had been performing there for hours would have a lot of cash on them, according to the prosecution in their sentencing memorandum. They took about $2,000 from the two victims at gunpoint.

Later that day, they picked up Cisneros and cruised around in Rios's truck looking for people to rob. They noticed Arroyos and his fiancée and decided to target him because he was wearing gold chains around his neck.

"With his elite education, Fernando could have pursued any number of professions that would have been more financially rewarding than a career in law enforcement," now-retired LAPD Chief Michel Moore said in a letter to the judge last year. "However, Fernando wanted to give back to his community and pursued his childhood dream of becoming a police officer."

The three men, as well as Rios's girlfriend, were arrested shortly after the Jan. 10, 2022 murder of Arroyos. They were initially charged with violent crime in aid of racketeering, which would have put them behind bars for life if they had been convicted.

In July 2023, prosecutors with the US attorney's office in Los Angeles offered them a plea deal, which all three of them had to accept or none would get it, to admit to racketeering conspiracy with the understanding that the government would seek sentences of 35 to 50 years.

Contreras and Cisneros tried to withdraw their guilty pleas, claiming that they hadn't understood what they were pleading guilty to, but the judge rejected their request in May, noting that during the change-of-plea hearings he had repeatedly asked them if they understood the terms of the agreement and whether they needed more time to confer with their attorneys.

Categories / CRIMINAL, REGIONAL

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REPARATIONS: 40 ACRES?

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Cal reparations advances forward with three bills

'Debt that's owed': One bill would pay families who had their property seized due to 'race-based' eminent domain

COMPTON—California lawmakers’ efforts to establish reparations for Black residents took a leap forward this week after a package of proposals cleared the state Senate, according to the Associated Press, Compton Herald has learned.

The three bills would create agencies and funding sources to begin compensating Black Californians after decades of racism and discrimination, coming off a two-year-long task force effort to develop reparation proposals.

Democratic State Sen. Steven Bradford authored the three pieces of legislation. In comments to lawmakers Tuesday, he said California "bears great responsibility" in addressing injustices toward Black residents, including enslavement, segregation, stigmatization and discrimination, he said.

"These are not a handout or charity by any measure," Bradford said. "It is what was promised. It is what is owed and what is 160 years overdue."

"For over 400 years, we have sanitized and white-washed history," said Bradford, who pre- sented the ethnic studies legislation authored by then San Diego Assemblymember Shirley Weber, currently the California Secretary of State.

The legislation package would establish a fund for reparation programs, compensate Black families and individuals whose property was seized via eminent domain and create an agency to help residents research their family lineage to apply for such restitution. They are among the most critical and ambitious proposals of the 14 reparation bills championed by California's Legislative Black Caucus.

The three bills are part of a package of more than a dozen proposals introduced by the California Legislative Black Caucus earlier this year, after California's Reparations Task Force last year sent a report to lawmakers with recommendations after spending two years studying how the state could atone for its legacy of racism and discrimination against Black Americans.

Here's what the bills propose:

The creation of the Fund for Reparations and Restorative Justice: This fund would use 6% of the state budget reserves to support future policies and programs designed to compensate descendants of enslaved Black individuals or descendants of a free Black person who was living in the United States before the end of the 19th century.
Compensation for land taken by eminent domain: This would provide a process for individuals to apply for compensation from the state if their land was seized by racially motivated reasons. The state's Office of Legal Affairs would be given the ability to review, investigate and decide upon these applications.
Establishment of an overseeing agency: The proposed California American Freedmen Affairs Agency would be tasked with overseeing all departments, offices and other bodies tasked with reparations. The bill mandates the inclusion of a Genealogy Office and an Office of Legal Affairs.

Lawmakers ALSO voted to offer an official apology for the state’s role in supporting slavery.

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, authored AB 3089, the apology bill, after serving on a nine-member state task force that studied harms committed against Black residents.

“We were people’s properties in this state. And it was defended by the State Supreme Court and other courts,” Jones-Sawyer told the Assembly ahead of the vote.

Four Democrats and 12 Republicans did not vote on the apology bill. The Assembly approved the bill 62–0, including six Republicans who voted for it. Now it heads to the state Senate and, if approved, to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

State lawmakers embraced and applauded as soon as the bill passed. Jones-Sawyer said Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia have all enacted some form of apology for their role in slavery.

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LASD K-9 in recovery after being shot during Compton suspect search

METROPOLIS NEWS SERVICE

COMPTON—A bullet proof vest worn by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department K-9 unit may have saved the canine deputy's life, as he continues to recover after being shot in Compton on Wednesday.

Deputies say that the K9 named Kjeld, a search

Kjeld being treated for injuries at an animal hos- pital after being shot in Compton. Screenshot

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dog for the Special Enforcement Bureau, was shot by an assailant around 6:30 p.m., whom deputies were searching for following an assault with a deadly weapon—a handgun, in the 100 block of E. Spruce Street.

Deputies said the suspect emerged from hiding and shot the Kjeld, who was rushed to a local animal hospital after the shooting, where he was treated for his injury and was released.

"The heroic actions by K9-Kjeld were crucial in saving the lives of our deputies and even the suspect who shot him, demonstrating extra- ordinary bravery and dedication," the LASD said in a statement.

Deputies, who did not return fire in the incident, incident, said the suspect was arrested following the incident.