Crip gang member monster kody full interview ☆ 1993

now he subdued the literary world with a memoir that some have compared to the autobiography of malcolm x in Eldridge Cleaver's soul on ice he is handsome bright and articulate but he won't be making the rounds of the talk shows or book parties face wall he is presently occupied at the Pelican Bay State Prison the devil's island of the California penal system where he's serving a seven-year sentence for robbery and assault indisposed - all but carefully screened guests he spends twenty two and a half hours a day in solitary confinement where he wrote his autobiography with a prison-issue pencil according to the showbusiness Daily Variety his New York literary agents Janklow and Nesbitt sold it for a quarter of a million dollars and now a Hollywood mogul Michael Ovitz his agency is peddling a movie rights this book is 383 pages of killing stabbings beatings drive-by shootings revenge killings at one point you amputate the arms of a rival gang member explain that to me this book is 383 pages of reality I'm uniquely qualified to write 383 pages of life for this generation and that's what I've done so it's 383 pages of gore no doubt about that but it's reality it happens every day in monsters case it was everything from carjacking to robbery to murder with names dates and places altered slightly in the book to protect the guilty the Los Angeles Times called him a walking stalking incarcerated end product of America's assault on the black psyche the New York Times praised the book is a raw and frightening portrait of gang life where I lived we grew and dying dog is actually some dogs outlived us where I live stepping on someone's shoe was a capital offense punishable by death the underlying fact that they usually got you killed was the principle the principle is respect a linchpin critical to relations between all people but magnified by 30 in the ghettos and slums across America are you proud of these words I'm probably the words yes not necessarily deeds but I'm proud of the words what was your reaction when you saw the New York Times review I kind of jumped around us a little bit you know first time I've ever been recognized by a civilian for something other than aggression naked aggression is that important to you to be recognized by civilians this is not for recognition this is the truth you know somebody has to speak about it somebody has to say something this was the center of monster Cody's existence one small violent part of Los Angeles the corner of Florence and Normandie where last year's riots broke out he grew up just a few blocks from here and this is the neighborhood where he made his reputation with the eight-trey gangsters a violent predatory faction of the Crips one battalion in the Los Angeles gang wars he joined the Crips at age 11 on the day he graduated from the sixth grade that night he says he was given a shotgun and for his initiation he pumped eight rounds into the ranks of a rival gang why would an eleven-year-old want to carry a gun and go out and kill people it was necessary it was either I got with the power or I was a victim maybe you get with it or you don't it's pressure peer pressure it's normal and this is normality if there's no measuring stick for normality where we live and so whatever it happens to be the trend at that particular time which was shooting people was the normal thing to do it didn't matter that I was 11 you know I could've been 9 I want to read you something that you wrote my participation in the gangs game is second nature to be in a gang in south-central when I joined and it's still the case today is the equivalent of growing up in Grosse Pointe Michigan and going to college everyone does it everyone does and those who don't are considered weak because now we have a measuring stick and the measuring stick is to be in to be a gunfighter to be a fighter you know that that's the measuring stick demanded in our community now as was the case then what did you like about the people that were in the Crips neighborhood the power they seem to well they had this thistle or they were free see you had two classes you had the victims and you had the assailants and the sailors always seemed to be my heroes because they seemed to come away victorious every time it would become his career his calling as he wrote in the book not some awkward stage of his life but a job at fifteen he was arrested for assault a year later he was shot six times in an ambush he survived to become a general with a title Oh G original gangster a full-fledged ghetto star do you have any idea how many people you've killed no no I know everything no I won't have any people Oliver North kill Oh Lord Norman scorch calm he's a really I don't know Oh No but you remember doing it yeah no doubt about it I was engaged in the war and the rules of engagement would kill or be killed you know you say it's a war who are the sides who's fighting who over what it's a war actually for nothing of the destruction of human beings the end result is to create funerals as many soldiers as you can drop on other side is considered success and with with the dropping of bodies the pushing out of people you um you get a reputation which is like the pinnacle and you climb the ladder just as any is in any other organization or corporation or army or anything that's you climb a ladder and that's becomes your goal to win respect to win respect why respect because there's no objective respect coming from holding quote Society so when you don't feel respect you create whatwhat is respect to you he had a lot more going for him than most of his peers he was raised by his mother Verdie Scott in a modest but comfortable section of South Central Los Angeles doesn't fit the stereotype I mean it's nice lawn people take care of their houses looks like a working-class neighborhood yes no drive-by shootings no his biological father according to birdie is dick bass the former NFL running back for the Los Angeles Rams his Godfather was Ray Charles a family friend I'd like to think that had I not had to work three jobs two jobs I could have spent a little more time and maybe he would not have me I'm a monster to try and stop him of course I've tried everything Cub Scouts I went child Guardians everything that I could reach out and try and get ahold of just to get some help some kind of help it just couldn't come fast enough because there were too many of the children that were having the same kind of problem parents having the same kind of problem and there were too many people ahead of my little guy and as time was moving on he was moving on so that was just no help I want to read you something from the book I enjoyed being monster kody I live for the power surge of playing God having the power of life and death in my hands Wow he obviously liked it he did and he was good at it it was the kind of person whatever he decided to do he was going to do it well he always wanted to do better than anyone else always you don't have most of the usual excuses you didn't grow up in the projects you had a very strong mother your biological father is absent absent and an election an NFL football player but yeah I hear your Godfather's are Ray Charles yeah but while my mother's at work being a working-class woman while my father was on the football field while Ray was in the recording studio I was in the street you know I mean I was being influenced by social forces that they couldn't even touch couldn't even understand and my mother couldn't protect me from there ray couldn't come get me all the time and and they couldn't never came but you know I mean so do you resent that until great extent no doubt about it I hate him you know I mean I hate him because uh-uh I think about where I could have been you know you know I can't dig that man running all your kids you know you know father theme huh yeah that's just heavy to me now you know this is happy would it have made a difference do you think yeah because uh I wouldn't have to go to the street to find the street people you know to find out you know people in the street you know he says he's put that life behind him he's adopted the African names Anika secure unifier of people and now through his writing wants to help put an end to gang violence I like the pain better than the weapon and actually now because I can reach more people I'm not into destruction for Destruction sake not everyone buys it certainly not Bambi Moyer the prosecutor in Riverside County California who last foot monster away how would you describe Cody Scott I would almost say that he was chameleon like because of the fact that when he was in court he was extremely calm extremely respectful he's a bright guy he's not dumb extremely intelligent and I think extremely entrenched in the gang lifestyle that is his life a hardcore killer mm-hmm I think Cody Scott would would kill you just as soon as he would shake your hand one of the prosecutors who put you here yeah told us that you were the perfect sociopath somebody who was able to use their brains and their charms to manipulate people and society hmm sounds like Robert dole doesn't it um sociopath that's heavy no I don't think so I'm I'm a regular cat I mean we're radio person you're not a regular person to most people you shot people you killed people I've had an eventful life do you feel any respect to allegiance for the city of Los Angeles the state of California the United States of America not one iota I'm not even a citizen of America I'm a citizen of the People's Republic of new Africa and no I don't American no he says he's renounced gang violence but now he's embraced a radical black separatist cause that some consider even more dangerous according to monster that's why he's in Pelican Bay I'm what they call an organizer agitator and when I transform from being a [ __ ] to being a revolutionary I became a threat are you a threat apparently I'm in solitary confinement sitting here in Chains apparently someone thinks I'm a threat with two armed guards right actually this is is a college to me I'm training in revolutionary science I'm locked in my cage and using what I have to get what I want so when I get out I may be a upstanding quote-unquote citizen being I won't commit crime because I'm not a criminal but every day of my life we'll be working towards the independence of my people so I won't rob nobody I won't sell crack I won't shoot nobody that doesn't deserve to be shot I won't come into a police we have to come looking for me because it's not that type of thing with me anymore it's not just me but a generation of people who have lost their way there's a multitude of monsters out there I just happen to be the one to come and articulate the position monsters book is out now monster himself will be out in 1995 related shootings one gang-related homicide this car was found with nine bullet holes this teenager who didn't want to be identified says she's scared I could go outside and if I wear the wrong colors I'm shot in dead what's all that gunpowder smell in California they're now saying that auto accident deaths are becoming second to gun killings and gun killings are feature of gang activity in fact in Los Angeles home to the notorious Crips and bloods almost half of all homicides are gang-related more than a dozen dead every week neighborhood battles about drugs turf loyalty among 100,000 Crips and bloods to the outside untrained eye it looks like just chaos crazy but to us we know how we got to this point the death of a brother is enough to motivate the keel bone is a blood a general in the war many with his status are jailed or dead the graffiti tracks the vicious cycle of murder and retaliation and babyface was a a K in a car and the violence is spreading to more neighborhoods the number of gang-related killings in Los Angeles is expected to break a record for the fifth straight year some say the average life expectancy for any gang member is just 19 but 19 was considered almost old by gang standards when I'm home one of my homeboys would feed me and when I die no my homeboys would take a collection and bury me when I'm hungry one of my homeboys would feed me and when I die no my homeboys would take a collection and bury me we all about symbolizes our love for one another this is it right here and they make special colors blue or red or some other colors now developing the blue color goes with Crips is red color goes with lots if you see a red bandana you're probably looking at submitted that sense of belonging through an rich set of rituals secret signs and symbols known only to fellow gang members actually fly join the gang I used to go home and and draw the symbols you know I'm a little piece you know pieces of paper that stuff like that because entity is very important to gang members they develop symbols for themselves and those may be tattoos they use hand signals this is what we all about you don't say this symbolizes our love for one another this is it right here and they make special colors blue or red or some other colors now developing the blue color goes with Crips is red color goes like nuts if you see a red bandana you're probably looking at a blood

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Published: Tue Aug 29 2017