HELL A SERIES: act I - SPAHN RANCH
By August 1968 Charles Manson and his “Family” had already been evicted from Dennis Wilson (of The Beach Boys) house and had established a base for the group at Spahn’s Movie Ranch, near Topanga Canyon. On March 23, 1969, Manson called, uninvited, on 10050 Cielo Drive, which he had known as the residence of record producer, Terry Melcher. By that time Melcher was no longer residing there; since that February, the tenants had been actress Sharon Tate and her husband, film director Roman Polanski.
February 28th 1997, North Hollywood. A series of bank robberies culminated in quite possibly the most violent shootout in modern American police history. The lives of 36 patrons and 12 employees were endangered when two heavily armed men, Larry Phillips Jr and Emil Matasareanu, wearing body armor decided to rob the Bank of America in North Hollywood. Seen entering the bank by Los Angeles police officers, the two men intimidated employees and patrons by firing shots inside while not realizing that Los Angeles police officers were surrounding the building. As they left the bank, the robbers became aware of their predicament and began shooting at police and civilians.
Three civilians and nine officers were shot within the first five minutes of the shootout, and a to
tal of 350 officers were called to the scene. As police bullets bounced off the suspects, it became evident that the two men were wearing body armor and had out-gunned the police with their armor piercing bullets and semiautomatic weapons. A total of seven civilians and eleven LAPD officers were injured. Despite the overwhelming odds, many heroic officers, while in grave danger, initiated officer and citizen rescues as the suspects continued to exchange shots with other officers. The suspects fired more than 1,100 rounds from their semiautomatic assault rifles. Eventually, members of the LAPD SWAT team shot and killed them both. This event in Los Angeles history, changed law enforcement rules of engagement throughout the country.
HELL A SERIES: act III - L.A. RIOTS
This was my television memory; now I was seeing first hand what was really happening.
I peered through my side-window as the copter continued to circle in a steep bank. I could see that traffic was moving through the intersection below us. I watched as various cars whipped in a U-turn around to avoid the ominous chaos ahead. There were clusters of people milling around. They were throwing rocks and bottles at the passing cars. There were no police officers around, just an unruly mob venting hate on innocent motorists who happened to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Other figures on the street were darting in and out of a liquor store at the corner, taking what they wanted. The looting, the beating and the hysteria was going on right below me. My mind went back 27 years to when I covered the Watts riots in 1965. I tried to draw up similarities that might help my reports on what was going on below. I remember telling myself that the big difference was that in Watts, they had fires.
The Five Columns
Just a little background on the HelLA Series of shirts DTA is droppin for those of you who have no clue on what they stand for/represent. Just thought I'd share with you all
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