Yellow Tape: Murder in Los Angeles

By Ronald Chatman AKA Madd Ronald (ronr20s@yahoo.com ) , Staffwriter Streetgangs.com Magazine
December 31, 2002

Los Angeles - If we were to measure all of the used LAPD crime scene tape from end to end we could probably circle the Earth twice. My city is under siege and there is a never-ending trail of yellow tape. It could be in the Rollin 20's this morning and back into the 30's by this afternoon, the Jungles this evening and back in to the 60's by tonight. Yellow tape and red flares are always a sign of death in Los Angeles. The smog is so thick that you practically gag on every breath of air that you take. The burning flares are adding to the air pollution problem also. Halloween 2002 there was a lot of yellow tape in my hood (on 24th street and Congress Ave). Three people were gunned down execution style in broad daylight. Six months earlier two people were gunned down on the same block. On lookers and witnesses are forbidden to cross the tape (for fear of the crime scene being tainted by the public).

Family members cry from disbelief and sorrow but no one can cross the tape. Crime scene investigators research the entire murder scene, from chalking the body and shell casings to photographing entrance and exit wounds as the body is further turned over and examined. There are so many homicides that a body may be left laying in the street for six hours or longer. Los Angeles is the murder capital for 2002, leading the nation with 640 murders so far (my bad) there's just been breaking news (on channel 7) someone was just murdered on Western Avenue and Vernon Ave. The coroner here in L.A. has got to be putting in a lot of overtime. I was talking to a friend of mine (Remisi) and she had told me that last month her aunt had been shot near 47th Street and Vermont Ave (an innocent bystander). She was hoping and praying for her aunt's recovery as she spoke over the phone. A few days later she was saddened by the loss of her aunt. I most recently determined that in the ghettos of L.A. people have more guns than problems.

The new police chief (Bratton) came into office talking about a crackdown on gangs. He.s on the news with the mayor shaking hands and painting graffiti (talking about that.s going to reduce the number of killings). How can you import a foreign police chief to handle a homegrown domestic situation? In a couple of shootings last week the police were the gunmen (are we back to the days of Daryl Gates?). No one is immune to the violence that I am speaking of, week before last the same yellow tape surrounded the body of (actor) Merlin Santana (in the Crenshaw District), he was also gunned down in the mean streets of LA there is still talk about the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. (at the Peterson Museum) in the Wilshire area. There are even 2002 theories and allegations, based on a newspaper article and two different theories.

He.d made albums like "Life After Death" and "Ready to Die," I wonder was he really ready to die on that night. I.ve been a member of the Rollin. 20.s Neighborhood Blood Gang since the 1970.s, as a youngster I truly believed that I wasn.t scared to die. I always hear people say, "I'm not scared to die," I always hear rappers, "I'm not scared to die (in their songs)." Who knows what it is like to have to contemplate life with a smoking gun pressed against your head and who knows what hot lead feels like ? Well I do. Being O/G/B Madd Ronald from the Rollin. 20.s Blood Gang, I.ve been on both sides of the barrel. I.ve made contributions to gang violence and I've also been a victim of gang violence. Everyone claims that they aren't scared to die. The big question that I am asking is, who's not scared to live? There is no future in dying. Divine intervention provides us with second leases on our lives. The primary foundation of human beings is love but we are conditioned to hate. Love is a natural emotion. A good example is all of the cell phone calls that were made on September 11, 2001 from the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center. In every recording the people knew they were going to die, their last words to their loved ones was. I love you." I've heard life's destiny is already mapped out. I've always thought that I'd die a violent death at a young age. I guess I was wrong but no matter what , one day we will all lay inside the red flares and yellow tape.

O/G/B
Madd Ronald,(ron20s@yahoo.com)
N/H/B R-20.s

Madd Ronald can be contacted via email

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