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A Gang Leader

Running head: GANG LEADER

A Legendary Gang Leader

   

Abstract

Stanley Tookie Williams was one of the co-founders of a nationwide gang the Crips. He was convicted of two separate robbery/murders in 1979. While serving time in prison, he spent 61/2 years in solitary confinement. Afterwards, he became an anti-gang activist. Moreover, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize each year from 2001 to 2005.

    Stanley "Tookie" Williams III (Dec. 29, 1953 – Dec. 13, 2005), was an early leader of the Crips, a notorious American street gang which had its roots in South Central Los Angeles in 1969. In December 2005 he was executed for the 1979 murders of Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin (CNN, 2005).   While in prison, Williams refused to aid police investigators with any information against his gang, and was implicated in attacks on guards and other inmates as well as multiple escapes plots (CNN, 2000). In 1993, Williams began making changes in his behavior, and became an anti-gang activist while on Death Row in California (Tookie, 2005). Although he continued to refuse to assist police in their gang investigations, he renounced his gang affiliation and apologized for the Crips' founding, while maintaining his innocence of the crimes for which he was convicted (Tookie, 2005). He co-wrote children's books and participated in efforts intended to prevent youths from joining gangs (Black news, 2005). On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection amidst debate over the death penalty and whether his anti-gang advocacy in prison represented atonement (CNN, 2005).
    Born to a 17-year-old mother in New Orleans, Louisiana, Williams moved to the impoverished South Central Los Angeles neighborhood when he was 6, where he made a name for himself for being a fighter and a "general" on the streets of South Central's West Side. He attended John C. Fremont High School, but was expelled and did not graduate (people, 2005)....