GANGLAND

by K'wan

  *

  Lou-Loc and Satin strolled down the boardwalk at Coney Island, and let the sun beam down on their faces. He pulled Satin to him and kissed her eyelids lovingly. They had been seeing each other for over a month now, and it was the happiest six weeks of both their lives. He stared down at her smiling face, and wondered why God hadn’t put them together sooner?

  “Satin,” he said softly, “can I say something, and you won’t think I’m being corny?”

  “Yea,” she said wrapping her arm around his, “what’s that?”

  “Until I met you, I thought love at first sight was just a phrase. It might sound crazy, but I think I loved you from the first time I saw you.

  “Don’t say things like that.”

  “Nah, I’m serious. I been hurting inside for a long time, maybe ever since I lost my dad. When I met you, it’s like the pain just faded. You feel me?”

  Satin nodded her head and walked up a little. Lou-Loc caught up with her, and turned her around to face him. The tears on her cheeks sparkled like diamonds in the afternoon sun. Even crying, she was still beautiful to him.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered as he kissed the tears away. “We got each other now.”

  “You make me feel so special.” She said in between sobs. “I don’t want this feeling to ever end. Promise me?”

  “Baby, you know I’m here for you. How long, depends on you, but I ain’t got no plans to go no where.”

  There little moment of tenderness was interrupted by a loud clapping. Lou-Loc spun around, and was surprised to see the same young kid he’d almost killed in front of Satin’s building. He was dressed in all red, and so were the two boys with him.

  “Bravo.” Jesus said stepping forward. “Man that shit was so touching I thought I was gonna cry.”

  “Lil nigga I gave you a pass once, but now you’re pushing your luck,” Lou-Loc snapped, moving between Satin and the kid.

  “A lot of good soldiers are dead because of you, crab. You got a lot to answer for.” Jesus spat.

  “Fuck you in yo bitch ass, sissy. I could give less than a fuck if all you dead rag niggaz curl the fuck up and die. When y’all give up who gave the order on my boy, it all stops. Other than that you can suck my dick,” Lou-Loc grabbed a handful of his crotch for emphasis.

  Jesus went for his gun, but Lou-Loc was quicker. With a flick of his wrist, a P-89 appeared in his hand. As he began to apply pressure on the trigger, the unexpected happened. Satin jumped in between them.

  “Satin, what the fuck are you doing?” Lou-Loc asked in disbelief.

  “Oh, you mean Satin hasn’t told you?” Jesus taunted him.

  “Told me what?” Lou-Loc asked turning his cold glare on Satin. “You know this chump?”

  “She should since we dropped out of the same womb,” Jesus laughed. “Man this just keeps getting better. If she didn’t tell you about me I’m sure she didn’t tell you about our older brother Michael. You might know him as El Diablo, king of LC Blood. I can see it now, me you and El Diablo sitting around the table like one happy family!”

  When Satin looked at Lou-Loc, she saw the hurt in his eyes. She intended to tell Lou-Loc, but just never got around to it. The last thing she wanted was for him to find out like this. “Lou-Loc, let me explain.”

  “You ain’t got to explain nothing to me because I see just what it is. You popped all that shit about me being honest and not hurting you, but it looks like you’re the one doing the hurting.”

  “Lou-Loc its not like that. Just let me talk to you for a minute?” She reached for his arm but Lou-Loc jerked away.

  “Baby girl, we ain’t got shit to talk about. I’m in the wind,” Lou-Loc snapped and turned to walk away. He intended on just leaving but Jesus couldn’t help stoking the fire.

  “Hey Lou-Loc,” Jesus called after him, “if it’ll make you feel any better, those were my homies who put those holes in your boy Gutter!”

  Lou-Loc’s temperature shot up three hundred degrees. When he turned around his eyes had gone so cold that even Satin took a cautionary step back. The three Bloods stared him down confidently, daring him to make a move. He was out numbered, and he already knew that at least one of them was strapped but Lou-Loc had slipped beyond the point of logic and the spirit within him called for blood. There were too many people on the beach for him to start a shoot out, but the led pipe he spotted sticking out of the trashcan to his right would do just fine. He moved so quick that the three Bloods never even saw it coming. Wielding the pipe like a sword Lou-Loc tore into his enemies.

  The pipe came down across the face of the closest Blood to him, breaking his cheek bone and jaw. The second Blood reached for the gun under his shirt but he was too slow. Lou-Loc brought the pipe down across his wrist, fracturing it and causing the gun to go off accidentally. The bullet tore through the boy’s thigh and sent him spilling to the ground, wallowing in his own blood. Lou-Loc bashed him in the head twice for good measure, knocking him unconscious. With his hands and clothes covered with blood he turned his attention to Jesus.

  Seeing what Lou-Loc had done to his friends Jesus wanted no parts of it so he bolted. He had made it several yards before Lou-Loc hurled the pipe after him like a boomerang, connecting with the back of his head. Jesus hit the floor dazed and in a world of pain, but Lou-Loc was hardly done with him. He picked Jesus up by the back of his hoodie and held him suspended in mid air. Jesus tried to offer an apology but Lou-Loc was too far gone to hear it. Swinging with all his might he punched Jesus in the face, breaking his nose. Infusing his hands with the hate he carried in his heart Lou-Loc wrapped his hands around Jesus’ throat and began squeezing.

  “I’m gonna kill you real slow.” Lou-Loc whispered to Jesus, who was gasping for air.

  “Lou-Loc, please, don’t kill my brother,” Satin pleaded.

  “Bitch, you ain’t really in the position to make no requests so I advise you to shut the fuck up!” Lou-Loc snapped. Satin grabbed Lou-Loc’s arm and tried to pull him off Jesus, but his grip was like steel. With a swipe of his hand he sent Satin crashing to the floor. Seeing her sitting on her ass in the sand, holding her cheek jogged Lou-Loc out of his rage and he dropped Jesus to the ground. Even though she had crossed him he still loved her. He knelt down beside Jesus and said, “This is the second time your sister has stopped me from killing you and no matter how much I love her I doubt they’ll be a third. It’s a wrap for all you LC niggaz, you hear me?” Lou-Loc slapped Jesus to make sure he was paying attention. “Tell you’re brother that when I catch him, its lights out.” Lou-Loc punched Jesus in the face and knocked him out.

  Lou-Loc dusted himself off and walked over to help Satin to her feet. “Listen, I’m sorry for hurting you but I’m not sorry for what I done to them niggaz here today. By right I should be pissed at you too for lying to me, but I can’t find it in my heart to be mad at you Satin.”

  “Lou-Loc you’ve got to believe that I was going to tell you, I was just trying to wait for the right time. I know how you feel about the Bloods and I was afraid that when I told you who my brother was that you wouldn’t want anything to do with me,” Satin explained.

  “Satin let me tell you something and I don’t want you to ever forget it, it doesn’t matter to me who your family is because I’m not in love with them, I’m in love with YOU. If we’re going to be together then we have to be honest with each other, good or bad. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Yes, I swear I will.”

  “Good, now let’s get outta here before the police come,” Lou-Loc grabbed her by the arm and led her away, leaving the three unconscious men in their wake.

  *

  In a different borough several people, dressed in various red garments, sat huddled around a table sipping Remy and conspiring. These people represented several Blood sets throughout the five boroughs. Each of them were powerful and each of them extremely dangerous.

  The man who sat at the head of the table was known on the streets as Hawk because of h
is striking resemblance to the winged predator. Hawk wasn’t a large man, but he was very will built. This came from years spent on the yard lifting weights in various New York State Prisons. He was a brown skinned dude who stood around five-nine on a good day, with cunning eyes and wavy hair that he wore cut low with a half-moon part on the right side. He was what you would call a “throwback,” who survived prison and the crack era while still managing to hold on to his little piece of the rock, but like everyone else sitting at the table, what he built was now in jeopardy because of Lou-Loc.

  “I would like to thank you all for coming,” Hawk addressed the people at the table. “Before we conduct our business here, I would like to welcome home one of our most outspoken brothers. El Diablo,” he nodded respectfully to the man sitting to his right.

  “Thank you.” El Diablo said receiving applause from the crowd. El Diablo was draped in a black suit with a blood red tie, and black shirt. “It’s good to be home.”

  “Yea, what the fuck ever,” Ruby cut him off. She was the only woman at the table and one of the most dangerous of the captains. Her skin was the color of autumn leaves with eyes to match. She sported her hair in fishbone braids that were died crimson red. “Hawk, you wanna tell us why we’re here?”

  Hawk gave her an irritated look. “Always the outspoken one aren’t you, Ruby? “Well, being that you asked so nicely let’s get to it. I’m sure no one here has missed out on the latest turn of events concerning the Harlem Crips?”

  “Missed out? Shit they dropped five of my boys, and that was just last week.” Bullet spoke up. He was the wiry leader of a small pack of Bloods that operated out of Hell’s Kitchen. Bullet was quick to shoot off his mouth as well as his gun, hence the name.

  “You’re not the only one who has been losing soldiers behind all this,” Hawk assured him. “Until now they’ve been little more than a nuisance to us, but over the last few months or so they’ve turned the city into a slaughter house. Something or someone seems to have agitated them,” he cut his eyes at El Diablo.

  “Fuck them and they mamas. I say we roll on them bitches and put them in the dirt once and for all,” Ruby snapped.

  “We’ve tried that approach, but it seems like for every one of their troops we kill they drop two of ours. There are people uptown who I’ve been doing business with for years that can’t open up shop anymore without somebody in blue shooting it up,” Hawk confessed. “Now the FEDS and the police are all over the place shutting shit down because of all of the killing and it’s just a fucking mess. I, as well as our friends out west, would like to put an end to this as quickly as possible. Now we’d like to have a sit down with their leader Gutter, but do to unforeseen circumstances he’s unavailable,” he cut his eyes at El Diablo again. “Would someone like to fill in the blanks as to what the hell is going on so we can get this shit resolved?”

  “Oh, I’ll fill in the blanks” Bullet said sarcastically. “It’s that fucking nut job, Lou-Loc, that’s whose running the show now and he ain’t big on talking.” Bullet told them.

  There was a twitch in Hawk’s eye when he heard the name of Harlem’s new general. He knew of Lou-Loc’s reputation and was not pleased to hear that he was now calling the shots. “This is bad business,” Hawk began pacing. “With Gutter we could’ve at least negotiated a cease fire because of all the money getting fucked up by this way, but money don’t mean shit to Lou-Loc. To him this is a blood debt and can only be settled in blood.”

  Ruby shrugged. “Then let’s make the nigga bleed and be done with it.”

  “Apparently you’ve never dealt with Lou-Loc,” a young dark skinned brother named Cano spoke up. He was originally from San Diego but had recently located to New York City. “Over the years there’s been exaggerated stories about some bad ass Crips, but Lou-Loc is the real deal. Plenty of squads have been sent to hit him but it seems like he just refuses to die. Some of the older heads from our hoods in SD used to joke that he made a pact with the devil and can’t be killed.”

  “Fuck Lou-Loc!” Cisco spoke up for the first time. “This crab is a man just like all of us here but you’re speaking about him like he’s some kind of God. He can die; you fuckers just haven’t tried hard enough.”

  “Big talk from the Latin Infection,” Ruby sneered at Cisco. “Gutter and Lou-Loc have been a pain in LC’s ass since they came here from Cali and y’all ain’t did shit about them yet, but talk about what you’re gonna do. You talk real big Cisco, but your follow through is way suspect.”

  “Who the fuck do you think ordered the hit on Gutter?” Cisco said with a smile.

  “And you fucked that up.” Ruby shot back.

  “I met Lou-Loc back when they signed the treaty in ninety-two,” Hawk cut in. “He’s an efficient killer, true, but he’s not a violent man. Even though we were both two little bad assess from opposite sides of the track, he still treated me with courtesy. He was provoked, and that’s what opened this faucet of blood. Now the question is, how do we shut it off?”

  “Fuck it,” El Diablo started, “I say we pool our resources and put him down.”

  “You crazier than a shit house rat,” Bullet said. “That boy is protected from on high. He gets his props from both sides of the coin.”

  “Bullet’s got a point.” Hawk added. “I made a few long distance phone calls to get the 411 on our friend Lou-Loc. The word is, he and Gutter, are operating independently. The thugs he called in are putting in work out of love for him and Gutter, not their gang. This shit LC done started is personal.”

  “What the fuck, he’s ordered the assassinations of more than two dozen of our number, and we’re supposed to not do anything? I say fuck that nigger!” El Diablo snapped.

  “Watch your mouth, spic.” Bullet shot back.

  “Gentlemen,” Hawk interrupted, “slinging racial insults amongst each other isn’t going to solve our problem. This mass killing is going to fuck us. We need to come up with a reasonable solution before the law shuts us all down.”

  “I say we toss him Crisco or somebody from LC to put an end to this shit. They started this petty ass war so I say let them roast for it so we can get back to this money,” Ruby suggested.

  “Fuck you,” Cisco hissed.

  “The both of you need to shut the fuck up,” El Diablo looked at Cisco and Ruby. “Listen, if we stand our ground maybe we can wait them out and end this without taking any more losses. I have no love for the Crips uptown, but I am with Hawk in the thinking that continuing this feud is only going to hurt our pockets.”

  Cisco looked at El Diablo in disbelief as he knew it was because of him that the war was started in the first place. He decided to take a dig at El Diablo. “I would expect you to be slightly more sensitive over this than the rest of us considering your little sister and Lou-Loc are involved.”

  El Diablo’s eyes widened in shock as did the rest of the eyes of the council. “What did you say?” El Diablo snarled.

  “Please forgive me for bringing it up at such a venue,” Cisco said sarcastically, “I wanted to wait until I was sure before I brought it up. Lou-Loc has taken quite an interest in little Satin.”

  “Why do you mock me at a time like this, Cisco? This is not the time or the place for rumors.”

  “I assure you, Michael, it’s all true. If you don’t believe me ask Jesus.”

  El Diablo collapsed in his chair as if all the strength was drained from his body. Never in his life would he have even considered his sister to go over to the other side. She wasn’t gang affiliated, but she knew who her peoples were, and she was loyal to her family.

  “Hey Mikey, does that mean you’ve got a little blue in your blood now?” Ruby mocked him.

  “Now, now,” Cisco said standing, “it isn’t his fault. El Diablo had no idea that his sister was seeing Lou-Loc. This however, has brought me to our solution. A friend of a friend has provided me with the means to get at mister untouchable. Lou-Loc is a dead man.”

  “Cisco, even though Lou-Lo
c is out there raising all types of hell, he’s still an OG, which means he’s a made man. If he happens to end up dead, and any one can trace it back to you, there’s going to be some really unhappy campers out west.”

  “I’m not worried. All I need is the support of my brothers on the matter.”

  “I ain’t touching that one.” Ruby said flat out. “That kid is connected to some heavy weights. I heard a rumor that the big boys were talking about putting the hurt on whoever hit Gutter. The worst part about that is our superiors don’t have a problem letting it happen. They too feel like someone should’ve been consulted before an attempt was made on Gutter’s life. To make a long story short, the shit LC pulled was fucking dumb. We’ve kept the peace with them boys for a while, and you fuck it up cause LC wanna be greedy.”

  “Whatever. LC will handle it.”

  “You’re right.” Hawk said standing. “LC started this shit, so it’s up to LC to finish it. No disrespect to you, El Diablo, but I feel that if we went with you on this, we would be dragging the Bloods as a whole into this feud. It ain’t worth the headaches or the casualties. I’m sure my fellow council members will agree with me on this one.” Everyone nodded their head in agreement. “Now that that’s settled, I have a message from our friends of the U.B.N. I was told to deliver it to whoever was responsible for causing all this. The gist of it is; this thing will be settled quickly and quietly. If we can’t settle it, then they will send someone who can. In short gentlemen and lady, when this is all said and done, some of us will find ourselves out of a job and on a slab.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Lou-Loc sat on the passenger side of Satin’s jeep fuming. In his rage he’d almost forgotten that they’d rode her whip to Brooklyn. If he had actually stormed off during their fallout instead of listening, he’d probably had to hop in a taxi, if he was lucky enough to stop one.