The Bad Shepherd Page 23

  “Rolles ain’t like that,” Fremont said. “He brings you in himself and interviews you. You only get into the organization if he say so. Some people he actually tries to reform, but the pick of the litter, they sling for him.”

  “How come we haven’t heard about this before? No one else has turned.”

  “You ain’t threatening to drop anyone else in the middle of the fucking Jungles!” Sterling’s eyes went to the streets, searching the buildings for new lights, the sidewalks for new walkers. “Look, I know because of Renzo. Before, when it was just coke, he wasn’t as careful because he knew nobody would believe that a Crip would be running blow into Hollywood. It’s different now.”

  “Does Rolles know that you know?”

  “Shit, he knows everything.”

  Mitch dropped Fremont out on a quiet, dark side street not far from where he’d picked the gangster up at the 7-Eleven. Mitch guided Fremont out of the car and told him to tell no one of this conversation. Mitch watched Fremont turn and run into the night, never once looking back.

  Mitch had to find a phone. He needed to call Bo immediately. He still was not sure what to make of Fremont’s information, but one thing was clear: Sterling Fremont was genuinely terrified of Marlon Rolles.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  They raided the gunmen’s houses Friday morning just after dawn.

  SWAT took the lead with Southwest CRASH to make the arrests and secure anything of intelligence value. The department had begun using SWAT to serve high-risk drug warrants over the last few years, and Mitch also knew the department wanted the gangs to know that they were coming in force.

  When the team was first conceived in the 1970s, SWAT had a reputation of being a ragtag outfit, cobbling together their weapons and gear from whatever source they could find. Initially, the city wouldn’t fund them. They feared its mere existence would create a perception that the LAPD was militarizing. Even though weapons were literally pouring onto the streets, many of which were Soviet or Chinese-made assault rifles from the wrong side of the Vietnam War, the police were expected the use the tools they had and a soft touch. The nuance of a Smith and Wesson revolver against an AK-47 seemed to escape the Police Commission. Then came Munich. The threat metastasized. When Los Angeles won the bid to host the 1984 Games, it was clear this was a threat the Police Commission could no longer wish away. SWAT was trained and equipped to deal with threats ranging from gangbangers with automatic weapons to international terrorists. When they were used, they were used to send a message.

  The three men Sterling Freemont fingered for the Courtyard Massacre, Quincy Russell, Ivory Watkins, and Shawn Dermott, all lived separately inside the set’s territory. Watkins and Dermott didn’t have permanent addresses, but Fremont said they usually stayed with their girlfriends. Mitch was glad he wasn’t on either of those teams. Gang girlfriends were bad news. They often attacked arresting officers without warning and with much more vigor than their men, but the officers were usually reluctant to use force to subdue them. A fact both sides were acutely aware of.

  Q-Tip lived in a faded yellow shit shack on Second Avenue just south of Jefferson. The lawn was a mosaic of yellow grass, dirt, and crab grass because apparently Crips weren’t into lawn care. Twin strips of cracked and broken concrete tracked up to the backyard, where Mitch could see a stand-alone garage. The air was dry and dusty, like it was an extension of the brittle, dead grass that crunched under his feet. The other thing that struck him was the quiet, the utter lack of a discernable natural sound. Insects even seemed to avoid this place.

  The SWAT team pressed against the house, each man in a low crouch, indigo wraiths floating in the half-light before daybreak. There were eight total. Four would storm through the front door, two through the back door, and two more would remain outside near the suspect’s bedroom window in case he tried to escape. Mitch and Dave were in plain clothes, but wore tactical vests and LAPD ball caps. They crouched behind an unmarked unit in front of Q-Tip’s house. Steedham was overseeing the Watkins raid. Watkins was supposed to be the leader of the three. Dellacourt was the on-scene commander for this raid. Ellison argued, mostly for face, that CRASH should have the lead since it was their tip that got them here, but Steedham wasn’t hearing it. Ellison said the lieutenant was still simmering over their earlier dust up, but Mitch knew Steedham wasn’t about to waste an opportunity like this.

  “We’re in position,” Mitch heard the team leader say over the radio.

  “Copy, standby.” Dellacourt looked at his watch. They were to move at exactly 0600, the nadir of the gangbanger sleep cycle. “Go!”

  The SWAT team leader shouted, “Police officer! Search warrant!” into the door, while one of the others knocked it off its hinges with a battering ram. SWAT poured into the house. Tense seconds passed. The mechanical rip of a machine pistol cut the silence sounding like someone tearing a phonebook in half. The deeper cough of the AR-15s followed immediately.

  The officers outside drew their service pistols and readied themselves for the signal to move in. Mitch heard Dellacourt calling for the backup units, and four separate sets of sirens pierced the air as they went Code Three. The deployment plan called for a patrol car at each end of the block, one in the alley behind Russell’s house, and the fourth to block the driveway. Mitch looked over as the fourth car raced down the street right for them. The driver braked hard, pulled across a stub of lawn and onto the driveway. The officers inside popped their doors and emerged, weapons drawn. One covered the front corner of the house, the other the windows along the side and the gap between the back of the house and the garage.

  Mitch heard the all-clear come over the radio. Dellacourt replied and stood from his crouch. Mitch and Dave did the same, and the three walked up to the front door. Dellacourt barked at the patrolmen to secure the scene. They’d radio the other cars and have them roll in to establish a perimeter.

  They entered the dark house and found two members of the SWAT team standing in the living room, weapons at ease. They each had a corner of the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Dellacourt breezed past them. Mitch and Ellison followed.

  “Here’s your boy,” the team leader said when they reached the back bedroom.

  The bed sat in the center of the room. The far side of it was covered in blood. More was splattered across the far wall with pulpy bits of skull and brain. Q-Tip’s body was piled on the floor, a torn mess. His upper body and what was left of his head were shredded with bullet holes. From his positioning, it looked like he’d used the bed as cover. The team had hit him in two groups, one high and one low. Q-Tip had died instantly of a headshot.

  “Anyone else in the house?”

  The team leader shook a negative. “Nope, he was alone.”

  “Anyone hurt?”

  “No. He must’ve had that MAC-10 within reach and grabbed it when we broke down the front door. Kid was probably still half-asleep and had no idea what was going on. Panic fire sprayed all over the wall. Bullets were getting closer when we got him.” The team leader pointed at the wall next to them with a handful of holes, still smoking.

  “Good work,” Dellacourt said.

  The team leader didn’t say anything and just flashed a slightly perplexed look, unsure why he was getting a compliment.

  Ellison said they were going to start their search of the house while Dellacourt called it in. Ellison took the back bedroom. Mitch did a first pass through the living room and kitchen for anything out in the open and walked through the kicked down back door to investigate the nagging itch he had about the garage. He paused when he reached the door and cocked his head back toward the interior. “Dave, you got things in here? I want to go check out the garage.”

  “Yeah,” Ellison said from the bedroom.

  Mitch stepped into the cool morning. The sun wouldn’t be up for another half hour or so, but the sky was beginning to brighten with the first rays of pre-dawn. He walked across a cracked concrete patio to the garage and pulled the latex gl
oves out of his tactical vest. He put them on and tried the handle. It was unlocked. He lifted the garage door.

  Inside was a metallic brown, mid-‘70’s Dodge van.

  Part Three

  July - August 1984

  KNBC TRANSCRIPT

  Aired June 29, 1984—5:02 PT

  (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

  TRICIA CRUZ, KNBC ANCHOR: Tonight we begin with a stunning turn of events in the brutal mass shooting that’s gripped Los Angeles for the last month. A daring raid earlier today ended with one dead and two in custody when police apprehended the men they believe were responsible for the Courtyard Massacre. The Massacre claimed the lives of ten inner-city youths, most of them children. KNBC’s Kaitlin Everett is on the scene tonight with the exclusive. Kaitlin?

  KAITLIN EVERETT, KNBC REPORTER: In the hour just before dawn, police conducted three simultaneous raids on the homes of Quincy Russell, Ivory Watkins, and Shawn Dermott, men they believe were behind the June 5th shooting that left ten dead. The three were known members of the Rollin’ 30s Crip gang, and sources tell me the shooting was intended to be a territorial statement.

  CRUZ: I understand one of the suspects opened fire when the police tried to arrest him.

  EVERETT: That’s correct, Tricia. Quincy Russell lived in the Second Avenue house you see behind me. Sources close to the investigation tell me the police decided to use SWAT teams to serve the arrest warrants because of the automatic weapons used in the Massacre. They had to assume these men were heavily armed. It was at that SWAT team that Russell opened fire using a MAC-10 machine pistol. Police returned fire, and after that brief exchange, Russell was dead. No police officers were harmed.

  CRUZ: Kaitlin, did your sources tell you anything about what they found there?

  EVERETT: This is still an ongoing investigation, Tricia, so they aren’t providing many details at this point, but they have told me they found conclusive evidence that ties Russell and the members of his gang to the Courtyard. My sources also said these three were the focus of the investigation for some time and were under constant surveillance.

  CRUZ: Is that because the police were concerned there might be another shooting?

  EVERETT: That’s right, Tricia. Police tell me they would have moved in immediately to prevent another shooting, but they needed to wait until they had enough evidence for the arrest warrants.

  CRUZ: That’s certainly a relief. Have the police commented on how this impacts security for the Olympics?

  EVERETT: Only that they believe this sends a clear and distinct message to gang members that acts of violence will not be tolerated. That’s part of the reason they used SWAT teams to conduct the raids this morning.

  CRUZ: What do we know about the investigation, Kaitlin, and what led police to these three suspects?

  EVERETT: Tricia, this crime was so heinous that the LAPD created a special task force that was working around the clock to bring these men to justice, but it was really the efforts of Detective Mitchell Gaffney who broke the case. Detective Gaffney, you may remember, was decorated three years ago for valor when he brought down a major South LA drug dealer. He is now working as a narcotics investigator assigned to the elite anti-gang unit, CRASH. Gaffney was detailed to the task force to provide gang-related intelligence to the investigation. He was the one who first developed the leads and built the case against the three suspects who were brought to justice today. Reporting live from South Los Angeles, I’m Kaitlin Everett. Back to you in the studio, Tricia.

  FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES METRO SECTION

  July 1, 984

  “Courtyard Massacre” Solved but Violence Remains

  By Jill Baker

  With the arrest of two men believed to be responsible for the brutal mass slaying of ten residents of the Imperial Gardens housing project, dubbed the “Courtyard Massacre,” South Angelinos hoped to close yet another violent chapter in their history. But the shootings, now believed to be gang related, only served to spark more tension.

  Two of the ten victims were members of the Black P-Stone Bloods gang, which claims Imperial Gardens as its territory.

  The alleged shooters were identified as Ivory Watkins, 22, and Shawn Dermott, 21. A third, Quincy Russell, 24, was killed in a gun battle during the June 27 arrest. All three have been identified as members of the Rollin’ 30s Harlem Crips gang, and since their arrest, incursions into their territory and drive-by shooting attempts by rival gangs have increased “significantly” according to police.

  “We’re seeing a marked increase in offensive activity in the area, which we believe is in retaliation to the Courtyard Massacre,” said LAPD Lieutenant Thomas Zarcone, who oversees the Southwest Division’s Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit. “Because of this, we’ve increased our deployments in the division area and are coordinating with other CRASH and patrol units in the South Bureau. Our goal is to make sure that the violence stops and the streets are safe for our citizens.”

  Zarcone would not confirm the actual number of violent acts that have been reported. There were four homicides and fifteen assaults reported in the four-week period immediately after the Massacre. One homicide and ten assaults were reported in the first three days following the arrest of Watkins and Dermott. In addition, there have been seventeen reports of shots fired, according to police.

  The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said it was also pursuing special injunctions against gang-controlled areas in an effort to restrict their operations in the weeks leading up to the Olympics.

  The Chief of Police’s office did not immediately respond to specific inquires but did say that Chief Gates would address the situation in the coming days.

  FROM HIT PARADER

  LA CLUB BAND MAKING A STATEMENT IN THE MIDWEST

  By Nigel Stone

  Early Warning burst onto the hard rock scene two years ago with their debut album Under the Rader and since then has undertaken a relentless touring schedule promoting their record. This work finally paid off this spring when none other than Van Halen tapped them to open for the rock juggernaut’s third and fourth legs of the band’s mammoth 1984 tour.

  Led by the soaring vocals of Mick Michaels and the blistering guitar solos of J.J. Denham, Early Warning quickly became a force to be reckoned with, playing the Sunset Strip clubs alongside the likes of Quiet Riot and Ratt. Early Warning first came onto Van Halen’s radar two years ago when they appeared at the US Festival along with VH and heavy metal stalwarts Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Triumph, and Judas Priest.

  Their six-song set includes the singles “Little Black Book” and “Shot Across the Bow,” which topped at fourteen and eighteen, respectively, on the Billboard chart and are a perfect ramp-up to the ultra-high energy 1984. If their performance on this tour is any indication, the sky is the limit for Early Warning.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Talk about the Courtyard Massacre withered quickly and died quickly after the arrests.

  With Russell dead, Watkins and Dermott immediately flipped on him and hung the entire thing around his neck. Watkins went so far as to claim he wasn’t even in the van but walked it back when detectives informed him they’d found the van in Russell’s garage and that Watkins’ prints were all over it. Watkins and Dermott also attempted to finger Russell as the shooter, but the math didn’t play out. In time, they turned on each other, and from there detectives could determine that Dermott drove and Watkins was the shotgun man. They both turned on the other before they had a thought about getting a lawyer or getting any immunity promises in writing. Normally, gang bangers were savvier than that, leading to further speculation that these three were hung out to dry. Neither Watkins nor Dermott could or would identify who gave the order.

  The State charged Watkins with five counts of first-degree murder, the number of kids who’d been found with shotgun wounds. He was also charged with ten counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Dermott got ten counts each of conspiracy to commit murder and aiding and abetti
ng. The State was pushing for the death penalty with Watkins, and the talk was they’d get it on a walk. Dermott would get twenty-five years, but no one had any expectation he’d live to see it through. Prison had a strange code of ethics regarding violence against children.

  Mitch was present at their arraignment on July 2nd.

  “This is going to be the fastest murder trial in history,” he told Bo and Kaitlin. They’d met up at Bo’s house to discuss what to do next and to celebrate completing the first phase of their plan, closing the Courtyard Massacre. Bo grilled three of the biggest New York strips his butcher could cut, and Mitch brought over an elegant Napa cabernet. He’d gotten into wine in a big way in the last couple of years and made every effort to show it.

  Mitch was again the hero. They already been told he’d be decorated for this. Steedham, as the task force leader, would get a commendation as well, but the glory was Gaffney’s, and everyone knew it. Even Mitch’s father actually told him that he was proud of his son for the first the Mitchell could remember—though it was fleeting. In time, as it always did, their discussion turned toward why Mitchell was wasting his career in the LAPD and why couldn’t this be what would finally convince him to seek out the FBI.

  Mitch lifted his glass ever the disappointment to his father, drew deep on the nose, and sipped, tasting black cherry and a slight wash of vanilla. He’d led the night off with an impromptu lecture on the wine he brought and savored it like he’d picked the ground it grew from himself with a divining rod. “Prosecutor tells me even the public defenders want them to swing. None of the celebrity defense attorneys will touch it. Not even for the publicity.”