These are the stories of 5 innocent women who spent 17-40 years in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Lawyers from The California Innocence Project, Innocence Matters, Loyola’s Project for the Innocent and Loyola’s Juvenile Innocence and Fair Sentencing Clinic worked to set these women free after they were wrongfully convicted.
Lev Dermen, also known as The Lion, was a self-made billionaire who came to California from Armenia and built a fortune out of nothing. He lived a life of pure luxury —...
It’s almost impossible to measure the full extent of influence that Los Angeles gang culture has had on the world. But for one 16-year-old in the 1980s, that influence...
Darrell Dent was a young athlete with a bright future in Major League Baseball. Chosen 3rd round in the draft, he had the path to success laid out in front of him. But a...
In the 1990s, California saw a disturbing increase in the number of kids committing murder. In 1994, 250 juveniles under the age of fifteen were in juvenile detention...
Are you a Crip or a Blood? That was the first question Officer Donovan Jacobs asked when he pulled over Sagon Penn. Minutes later, a police officer was dead and Sagon...
During the 1960s and 70s, women would wait in line to be with Frank Ward. He was a hustler and a pimp with money and power, and with his brothers, he controlled the...
Chad MacDonald was 17 years old when police detectives fit him with a hidden wire tap and sent him into a drug dealer’s meth house to buy drugs. Six weeks later...
In 2013, alleged gang leader Todd Ashker, was sitting in a windowless prison cell in solitary confinement – and he had been there for 25 years. Living in...
Suge Knight and Terry Carter both grew up in Compton, California. Both became successful business men and both were well-known and respected in their neighborhoods. But...
When talking about the history of lowriders, there are so many names who could be mentioned. So many people who, over the years, have contributed to the art and history...
In 2012, Barry Gilton and his wife found out that their 17-year-old daughter was working for a pimp in Los Angeles, California. The couple did everything they could do...
California 200 years ago, looked a lot different than it does today. Back then there were no cars, no tv’s or phones, houses didn’t even have electricity...
In 2010, a California FBI office received a letter from an inmate inside the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. The letter, stated that there were deputy...
Every day, people turn to their televisions, newspapers, computers and phones to get their daily news. All of this information, comes from the millions of reporters and...
Reports of police corruption in California have existed ever since the first police department was formed in 1849 in Sacramento. In the past 30 years alone, every year...
In the late 1990s, newspapers were filled with stories of men and women in California who were sentenced to life in prison for misdemeanor offenses. The most well known...
Skid Row in Los Angeles, California is one of the largest and most dangerous homeless encampments in the country and it’s one of the places where Khadijah Williams...
In 1991, Tony Young looked like a regular business man. You would never have believed that he was a leader of the Wah Ching, one of the biggest Asian gangs in Southern...
In the 1990’s, there were over sixty thousand gang members in Los Angeles. One of those gang members was Raul Ramos. But he wasn’t like most gang members...
Watani Stiner was once one of the most wanted men in America. Accused of the shooting deaths of The Black Panther Party leaders Bunchy Carter and John Huggins on the...
In 1996, investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a series of stories exposing the connection between the CIA and the crack cocaine that was being sold in South Central...
T. Rodgers has been linked to the West Coast Black P. Stones for over 50 years. Known as the man who founded the Los Angeles blood gang. But what most people get wrong...
In 1942, Ralph Lazo was one of over 10,000 men and women living in California’s Manzanar concentration camp. The camp was built to house Japanese Americans during...
Flores A. Forbes first joined The Black Panther Party at 16 years old. He later became the man who controlled all the guns and weapons for the Party. The Black Panthers...
It was 1987 when DJ Yella got together with friends from his Compton California neighborhood to form the rap group N.W.A. At the time, none of them could have imagined...
Felix Mitchell is known as being the Godfather of Oakland California’s drug game. As the leader of a heroin empire he was Oakland’s first large-scale drug...
Only one photo was ever taken of José Díaz. It was in 1942 and he was 22 years old. A week later he was killed. The Los Angeles police department blamed his death on...
Basketball player Demetrius “Hook” Mitchell was all but guaranteed to go to the NBA straight out of highschool. Coaches, players, scouts and everyone who had...
The Crip King, the King of the Crips and the Crip Godfather are just a few of the names that have been used to describe Stanley Tookie Williams, the man who called...
Edward “Big Ed” Sanders might not be a name you often hear in discussions about the greatest boxers in history but it should be. He made boxing history at 22 years old...
Scott “Junior” Ereckson joined the Mongols Motorcycle Club in 1980. He watched the club grow from just a few hundred members in California to thousands of...
In the 1960s, The Wolf Pack was the strongest and most rebellious black prison group in California and James Carr was one of it’s most notorious leaders. Motivated...
In 1992, the LA riots tore through the city, bringing complete destruction to the community and it’s businesses. As the world watched, news stations played over...
Kev Mac grew up around one of the biggest gangs in Los Angeles, the Rollin 60s and he followed in the footsteps of generations before him becoming a Rollin 60s Crip. As...
In the 1980’s, a new wave of Asian gangs started popping up around Southern California and Tin Nguyen was there from the very beginning.
It’s almost impossible to be in Southern California and not know who Big Boy is. He’s been a Hip Hop radio DJ for over 25 years and he’s been a part of...
They call him Fillmore Slim, the Pope of Pimpin and the best to ever do it. Fillmore Slim has lived a life most couldn’t even imagine. He went from the dark world...
In 1999, 70 police officers were accused of police misconduct during the LAPD’s infamous Rampart Scandal and the man behind it all was Rafael Perez. Rafael Perez...
Kermit Alexander was a neighborhood success story. Raised in the Watts area of South Central LA he made it out of the projects and into the NFL, playing for the 49ers...
Phil Ivey is widely considered the best poker player ever. He went from playing in family poker games to playing in some of the most exclusive poker games in the world...
In 1993, Monster Kody wrote an autobiography that shocked the world, forever changing the way people looked at gangs in Los Angeles. His book also forever changed the...
There are only a few rappers today who can say they’ve actually changed the course of Hip Hop and Too Short is one of them. From selling tapes out of the trunk of...
Rene Enriquez rose to become one of the highest ranking members in California’s Mexican Mafia. He spent over 20 years of his life as a gang leader for the...
When most people think of Death Row Records they think of Suge Knight. It was once believed that Suge Knight alone was responsible for bringing some of raps biggest...
Kobe and Vanessa Bryant were married for over 18 years, first meeting before either of them was 21yrs old. Here’s how their love story began.
Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson has become the man at the center of one of Hip Hop’s greatest mysteries. But who was he and why is he now known as the man...
Raymond Washington was just 16 years old when he created what has now become one of the largest street gangs in the world. As the founder of the Crips he planned to...
Joe “Peg Leg” Morgan rose to become one of the highest ranking members of the Mexican Mafia but he was not Mexican. He was a Caucasian man born of Slavic...
The true story of what really happened to 50 Cent’s rap group G-Unit West.
The 5 biggest drug dealers that came out of California.
Southern California is the birth place of gangsta rap but only a few rappers are actual gang members with personal experiences to base their songs of street life after...
The 11 best California hood movies of all time.
California is the birth place of gangsta rap but only a few rappers are, or were, actual gang members with personal experiences to base their songs of street life after...
These 12 Hip-Hop Producers are the BEST to ever do it from California!
5 men who were found not guilty after spending years in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. The California Innocence Project worked to set them all free after...
Mac Dre is a rap artist that forever changed the course of hip hop in the Bay Area. As one of the pioneers of the hyphy movement his music spawned an entire culture and...
Since the formation of the Bloods in the 1970’s the organization has grown to more than 800 active sets in the United States. Over the years membership has grown to...
7 California rappers who are currently serving 20 years or more in prison.
The County and City of Los Angeles is known as the “gangs capital” of the nation. Many of these gangs have been in existence for over 60 years. Here are the 5 biggest...
Rap music is known for it’s violent lyrics but sometimes the violence spills over into real life. These 11 rappers were at the height of their careers when they...
Since the formation of the Crips in the late 1960’s the organization has grown to more than 800 active sets in the United States. Over the years membership has...
The County and City of Los Angeles is known as the “gangs capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles and many of these gangs...
There are currently more than 120,000 inmates incarcerated in California and many of these inmates are members of California prison gangs.
The County and City of Los Angeles is known as the “gang capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles and many of these gangs...
A Celebration Of Life For Nipsey Hussle August 15, 1985 – March 31, 2019. Video clips and raw footage from Nipsey Hussle’s memorial and funeral procession on...
The 10 richest rappers from California.
The County and City of Los Angeles is known as the “gangs capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles and many of these gangs...
California is the birthplace to many of the most notorious motorcycle clubs in the world. Here are the 5 biggest biker gangs that originated in California.
