He’s like one of the biggest guys out there, you know, that you hear his name in Compton and LA. Everybody know Hancho. Like a big hot shot, you know, everybody admires and, you know, a lot of people, you know, they praise him like God. Shout out to the channel Mob Facts. Welcome back to another episode of War in Cali.
The Jordan Downs Housing Projects first opened in May of 1944. The complex was originally developed as a semi-permanent housing for war workers during World War II. In the early 1950s, the Jordan Downs was converted into a public housing unit. It was among the last of the public housing projects in Watts to be opened for that single purpose.
The development, like others in the area, became integrated but quickly became majority black, approaching 100% by the mid-1960s. This change occurred for a number of reasons. Many of the veterans who still lived in the projects in the early 1950s moved out as they were able to purchase homes.
Blacks were still migrating west after the war ended and gravitated towards the areas like Watts that already had a sizable black population. Across the next few decades, the Jordan Downs Housing Projects and others became institutions of lack of access to education, jobs, and a big cycle of poverty.
The rapid decrease in the manufacturing jobs in Los Angeles depressed the area. And this caused breeding grounds for crime. The Jordan Downs was one of the flash points of the 1965 Watts riot. But the Jordan Downs, and all the projects, didn’t benefit at all from the federal money and attention that followed from the riots. In the ’70s and ’80s, the Jordan Downs seen a wave that was never seen before.
And that was the rise of Crips. With decline in federal spending in the area by the mid-’80s, Jordan Downs was known as one of the homes of the newly prominent street gang, being the Crips. During the ’70s, the neighborhood was called Watts Varrio Grande, which included both Mexican and black members together.
The black residents later started calling themselves the Jordan Downs Crips around the late 1970s. The Jordan Downs Crips transitioned into their name being now the Grape Street Crips, and many Mexican members will become aligned with the Mexican Mafia and become Southside Watts Varrio Grape. But, the Crips and the Southsiders, they kept a cordial relationship.
Their area goes from 97th Street to 107th Street between Wilmington and Alameda, making them one of the largest [ __ ] gangs in Los Angeles and gangs in general. Gangs have always had powerful figures, and the Grape Street Crips have had many. A family will rise, and that would be the Day family, which featured five brothers like Arthur, Kenny, aka Crow, who many said had a help with creating Grape Street and was the youngest brother, and Wayne, who became known as Head Honcho, but some would call him the Godfather of Grape Street and Watts in general. The Day family would take a big role in the Jordan Downs projects with power and force. Head Honcho was part of that new push in the streets. He had connections and respect all over Los Angeles. He had major connections outside of Watts in places like Compton, where he dealt with numerous [ __ ] sets. He even ran with legendary Crips in the ’70s like Mac Thomas. During the ’80s and early ’90s, the
crack epidemic hit Watts and the rest of Los Angeles with intense force, reshaping daily life almost overnight. Already dealing with poverty, limited job opportunities, and the arrival of cheap, highly addictive crack cocaine, this created a fast-going street economy. Head Honcho built structure in the area, making a drug organization that would take control of the Jordan Downs by the ’80s. He built a notorious crime family.
By the mid-1980s, Honcho’s Grape Street gang had became nationwide with distribution organization with direct connections to the Mexican drug cartels. Grape Street distributed crack in cities such as Minneapolis, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Jackson, Mississippi, and Memphis. Hancho’s reputation was known for violence, and the police knew him well.
He had a long criminal history. In the ’70s, he had numerous arrests for gang activity, followed by the ’80s. In May of 1980, he was arrested for gun possession. In June of 1980, he was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. In September of 1980, he was arrested for rape, which he did a year for.
In October of 1981, he was arrested for receiving stolen property. In October of 1983, he was arrested for selling PCP. In November of 1983, he was arrested for grand theft auto. In March of 1985, he was arrested for selling crack. And in July 1986, he was arrested for intimidating a witness.
Hancho’s crimes never stuck because he had many people terrified of what he or his crew may do if anyone snitched on him. Police complain Wayne has a way of convincing people not to testify against him. A Molotov cocktail exploded cars in front of this Pacoima house after the resident had filed a witness intimidation complaint against Wayne Day. The case was later dismissed.
Hancho was said to be a menacing figure, but he wasn’t the only one in the streets or the only person prone to violence. His younger brother, Crow, was also active in the streets. Crow was 26 by the time of 1987. Another gang member would attempt to rob him, and this led to Crow being murdered. His funeral showed how big of a figure Crow was in the [ __ ] world.
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But police estimate about a thousand people crowded in and around this Compton church to attend Kenny Day’s burial ceremony. It had all the trappings of a gangland funeral. A police helicopter flew overhead to watch the crowd. Crips from all over the county showed up. The funeral procession strung out for blocks.
Not everyone in it wanted to be seen. But the gang members came to show respect to Wayne Day and his family. It was a a huge funeral. Huge funeral. You would imagine this person was world famous and the response that he had gotten. The Grape Street Crips and Hunchback wouldn’t take this lightly.
The streets became a war zone and Hunchback was believed to be dropping money on people’s heads. Over 12 shootings quickly happened and a lot of people were getting grabbed up. And when Wayne Day’s younger brother Kenny was shot to death at this Union 76 station in Compton a year ago, this gang member who later was convicted in connection with the murder explains Wayne’s cronies got to him before the police did.
I was at the gas station getting some gas in my car. And the dude pulled up in his car and put a gun on me and made me get in his car. And then they tied him up and took him here to this boarded up apartment at the Jordan Downs project on Grape Street. They said that I knew the guy who had killed him.
I’m like, I don’t know him. They said, yes you do. Yes you do. I couldn’t argue with them. I got jumped on and stabbed in the head about three times and then they had left. He says the two henchmen never mentioned Wayne Day but there is no doubt in his mind why he was fingered. Word on the street was Wayne Day was offering a $50,000 reward for the capture of his brother’s killer.
They was like trying to do his business to let him do it. After Kenny Day’s murder, all hell broke loose on the streets. Retaliation came big. Within a week, Grape Street Crips executed as many as 12 drive-by shootings. But Hunchback didn’t just cause violence. He actually did do some good in his community.
Always giving money to people in the Jordan Downs and looking out for the kids in the community. His leadership qualities showed when the Grape Street Crips called hundreds of separate warring Crips sets together at Compton High School in 1987. The Crips themselves videotaped the incident.
This huge meeting where Hancho called for [ __ ] unity. IS IT TIME TO CLIP? [cheering] JANUARY 1987. What you might call a team photo. The team being the Compton Crips. Straight out chilling, [ __ ] The game today organized for crime. According to the cops, this is a frightening event that has never happened before.
More than 500 Compton Crips packed into the bleachers of a high school football stadium. Representatives from as many as 30 different [ __ ] gangs called sets. But today they came to talk unity. Because this man, Wayne Day, known on the street as Hancho, called them here. Like a mafia godfather, Day calls on all these Crips to unite as one big powerful gang.
So it’s like this, cuz, we all going to stay together from now on. You know what I’m saying? Okay, all West Side LA, cuz, if y’all seen Crips, period. Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Graves, who works the gang detail in Lynwood, believes Wayne Day called this meeting to keep the streets cool for drug dealing.
While Hancho was building a reputation as a gang leader, his parents seemed to have been stand-up citizens and worked in the community. Hancho’s father, Arthur, ran a trucking business and his mother, Betty, was an activist and big presence in Watts. So much so, she was called the godmother of Watts.
Betty was a legend in Watts. Watts was her home for more than 60 years. LA Weekly reported that she worked against gang violence as the president of the Watts Gang Task Force Council and was connected with local politicians. Hancho’s crime ring would continue to go into the ’90s and the Grape Street community began to gain a lot of attention in the 90s from things like the peace treaty.
Now for 3 weeks, members of the two main rival gang factions, the Crips and the Bloods, now attend frequent parties together. I’m going back to the underground. Where there had been an average of two gang-related killings a day, authorities confirmed that the killings by black gangs have stopped.
As far as it working with gangs, this is the absolute biggest deal that I’ve ever come in contact with. Gang members claim the truce occurred spontaneously during the rioting out of mutual hostility toward the police. What it was like was wait, we got to do this.
No longer should we shed our own bloods on this on these streets because of endless and senseless murders. It doesn’t make no sense. Our main priority was to stop the killing cuz that was the most harmful thing that came out of gangs. A lot of attention would come from movies like Menace II Society, too, which is based on the Grape Street Crips, which had many scenes shot in the area, and the cast of people on set had to deal with figures like Honcho.
We went and shot around real Grape Street [ __ ] and in Jordan Downs, a housing project, and actually employed the real gangsters. We were able to shoot there because at the time there had been a peace treaty between the gangs, and we had hired a few of the guys on as technical consultants and emissaries to the neighborhood.
I’ll never forget this one guy. I forget his name, but he was the scariest guy in the area. I mean, everything about him, his manner, his approach, his reputation. You would think if anybody was going to be somebody who was going to cause us problems or hurt somebody or anything, it was this guy.
But by 1996, Honcho’s reign would come to an end. 11 suspects were in custody in Los Angeles, and more would be in arrested in Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Jackson, Mississippi, and other places. Federal prosecutors announced that an indictment of 49 people. Most were charged with trafficking drugs, and all were linked to Los Angeles street gangs.
The US attorney in Los Angeles said that 28 people were arrested, and all were from Southern California, and that the indictments grew out of investigations to Los Angeles street gangs. Although they did not identify the gangs, sources close to the case said that many of the suspects were from Grape Street.
Indictments and complaints unsealed in four cities, and comments by top law enforcement pointed out a portrait of a multi-million dollar crime syndicate using stash houses, storage lockers, and illegal operations to use. Cocaine smuggled into the United States from Mexico was routed to Los Angeles, where it was then shipped to several cities across the country.
Authorities seized more than 500,000 in cash, and confiscated more than 40 kg of crack. By this time, Hancho was 39 years old, and he went on the run. Police will state that he’s been a difficult target. He’s untouchable, but we’re going to reach out and touch him. Two federal indictments unsealed charges with conspiracy to sell crack cocaine.
Hancho’s organization was also being charged with selling to a confidential informant, and with trafficking stolen merchandise, which valued up to 191,000. Several pieces of bad news for his family came as well. Hancho’s sister was among those being sought by the FBI, along with his aunt and several other family members.
Hancho’s parents denied that their son was involved in the drug trade, and complained about the FBI’s decision to search their home, and to question them about his whereabouts. This has all of us shook up, his mother would state. He’s my son, but if he did something wrong, ride to store us. We are his parents.
Hancho’s father would state that he and his son was in the trucking business, and he did not believe his son would be heavily involved in drug trafficking. In 1996, the FBI arrested Hancho in Minneapolis. Hancho was convicted in federal court in 1997 for drug dealing and was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison.
But the Day family continued in the family business. His sister remained at large for several years, but eventually was arrested in Florida. She served 10 years in prison. And his brother was later arrested and he served 4 years. Hancho would later be released by 2008. He would later do several interviews over the years.
His family played such a pivotal role in the Great Street community. A park in the area named after his mom. In his current state, Hancho was still around and is around 7 years old with his name and his reputation solidified. This will conclude this episode. If you haven’t already, check out my previous episodes.
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