Crips Street Gang

The five best jail-inspired musician memoirs

Pop culture incrementally improved the chances that books would outlive CDs when news spread that Lil Wayne had inked a deal to write a memoir about the eight months he spent locked up on gun charges. Titled Gone 'Til November, the book is scheduled to be released in May. While the hip-hop blogosphe ... More >>

Terrance Roberts' anti-gang initiative, Prodigal Son, faces potential shutdown

Terrance Roberts is one of Denver's great comeback stories. A one-time shot-caller in the Park Hill Bloods, Roberts turned his life around and founded the Prodigal Son Initiative, an anti-gang youth program in northeast Park Hill. When a 2008 gang-related arson attack destroyed the Holly Square Shop ... More >>

Rollin Oliver: Read probable cause statement of Officer Celena Hollis's accused killer

Update: We've obtained the probable cause statement in Denver Police Officer Celena Hollis's death. See it below earlier coverage. Original post, 6:59 p.m. September 13: Rollin Oliver, accused of murdering Denver Policewoman Celena Hollis, admitted to officers that he fired at least two shots on Ju ... More >>

Holly Square Shopping Center: From arson to basketball courts, playgrounds

In May 2008, Crips gang members burned down the Holly Square Shopping Center in northeast Park Hill. More than four years later, the scorched earth is experiencing a rebirth. On Saturday, The Prodigal Son Initiative, a youth organization headquartered across the street, is leading a clean-up effort ... More >>

Denver's plan to cool down gang violence

Also read: Gang-related deaths are on the rise in Denver

John Severe latest biker with military background busted in Virgil Means homicide

Update: "For all those who are worried.... I'm ok. Just dealing with some shit but I will be fine." That's a Facebook message posted a short time ago by John Severe, a Colorado Springs resident who's worked for the military. And he is indeed dealing with some shit: He's one of five people arrested t ... More >>

Stacy Peralta: "When parents tell me their kids are skateboarders, I tell them, sorry, your kids are democrats."

Stacy Peralta -- legendary professional skateboarder, founder of the Powell Peralta skateboard company, documentary filmmaker and commercial advertising mogul -- visited the Auraria campus yesterday to speak with students on the art of being creative. "When kids tell me their kids are skateboarder ... More >>

Five reasons to go see skateboard legend and filmmaker Stacy Peralta today

Stacy Peralta, a '70s-era skateboarding legend in his own right -- and co-founder of the Powell Peralta Bones Brigade skateboarding team that included Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, Mike McGill and dozens of the top pro skaters of the '80s and '90s -- will be the feature ... More >>

John Burrell second soldier busted in Virgil Means killing near motorcycle club

Update: In recent days, Fort Carson-based Sergeant Christopher Mountjoy was arrested in the death of Virgil Means outside the Sin City Disciples motorcycle club. Now, a second soldier, John Burrell, has been arrested in the incident. He's being held on the charge of murder in the first degree.

Skater Stories

Anshutz Foundation pledge may finally lift Holly Square up from the ashes

Early on May 18, 2008, a car full of Crips drove into Park Hill. They were were young gangbangers who'd just beefed with some Bloods in LoDo, and they were still spoiling for a fight: Michael Asberry, co-founder of the Denver Crips, had been shot and killed in Aurora just a few hours before. Now it ... More >>

Gang's All Here: I'm just a juggalo, everywhere I go, the FBI knows the part I'm playing

Courtesy of the FBI​If you consider the Sharks and the Jets to be gangs in the same way the Bloods and the Crips fit that selective bill, you might also be willing to consider juggalos one. The FBI does, at least: According to the bureau's most recent National Gang Threat Assessment, the face- ... More >>

A Colorado teen sentenced to forty years gets a second chance

Also read: Josh Beckius was sentenced to prison at sixteen -- but sixteen years later, he has a second chance

La Toya says Michael Jackson was murdered: Top five other music myths and conspiracies

​In an interview with CNN yesterday, La Toya Jackson stated rather bluntly that she believed her brother was murdered. "I would never, ever think differently," she said. "Michael told me that they were going to murder him." It's not that outrageous of a claim, but it's also one of those things ... More >>

Nipsey Hussle wants to give the '90s West Coast hip-hop sound a facelift

Brian Hicks stands trial for allegedly ordering Willie Clark, another man to murder a witness

Brian Hicks.​ Today, reputed gang leader Brian Hicks stands trial in Denver for the murder of a witness named Kalonniann Clark. Prosecutors say Hicks ordered the killing while he was in jail on drug charges in 2006 in order to stop Clark from testifying that he'd tried to shoot her a year earl ... More >>

Crips burned down the Holly in Bloods territory, but can peace emerge from the ashes in northeast Park Hill?

Holly Square, up from the ashes: More memories of trials & triumphs in Park Hill

Anthony CameraTerrance Roberts.​In this week's feature, "Crips Burned Down the Holly in Bloods Territory, But Can Peace Emerge from the Ashes in Northeast Park Hill?," we recount the story of the Holly Square shopping center, burned to the ground in a 2008 gang attack and now poised for rehabi ... More >>

Alan Sudduth learned young that you never snitch -- but now, only the truth can set him free

In the hunt for Darrent Williams's killer, the cops went on the offensive early

Darrent Williams murder trial, day one: Opening statements and denials of Willie Clark's guilt

Prosecutors say Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams (left) was shot and killed by 26-year-old Willie Clark (right) on New Year's Day 2007​ Westword is covering the trial of Willie Clark, accused of murdering Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams early on New Year's Day 2007. The mo ... More >>

Darrent Williams murder trial: A preview of the trial of accused killer Willie Clark

Tomorrow, a jury of eighteen Denver County residents will begin to hear evidence that Willie Clark killed Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams on New Year's Day 2007. They'll also hear evidence that he didn't, in a trial that's expected to take two weeks and include testimony from convicted ga ... More >>

On A Roll

VOX PHAMALIA tells tales of disability with humor.

Souvenirs of South Park

Souvenirs of South Park

Pogue Mahone’s

Get your Irish on at this Parker pub.

Michael Asberry, RIP

Juggalos Band Together at Primos

Meet the Insane fans who united Denver's hatchet-wielding, Faygo-loving family.

Metro Denver Gang Coalition: Beyond Darrent Williams

Members of the Metro Denver Gang Coalition are at a crossroads, hoping they can keep the peace through the rest of the year.

Update on Fredrick Abram

The Last Six to Face Life for Juvenile Crimes

The Transformers

They created Denver's gang life. A generation later, can they break free?

Letters to the Editor

From the week of February 16, 2006

A Vicious Cycle

His parents had high hopes for Contrell Townsend. But the seventeen-year-old wound up stabbed to death -- like both of his grandfathers.

The Gang's All Here

A late-summer confrontation leaves two families grieving.

Last Chance

Before Brad Braxton goes to a gangster's final destination, he has a choice to make.

What's So Funny

Catch and Release

One Nation Enlightened wants just one thing from Denver cops: their business cards.

Murder He Wrote

Ice Cube's words now ring hollow for one of his students.

Backwash

Can Barry Fey save the day for Denver's concertgoers?

Blood In, Blood Out

Danny Ray Lopez couldn’t outrun his gang life or the police. Will his brother follow in his footsteps?

Bored Games

Dealing With the Devil

When the Deuce-Seven Bloods went hunting for a snitch, they shot Venus Montoya instead.

Dealing With the Devil

Brandy DuVall went through hell before she died. She left no angels as witnesses.

The Buddy System

They met because they wanted to fight gangs. Ten years later, Leon Kelly and Lloyd Lewan are a gang of two.

Do Tell

Notorious Denver informant Mark Tibbs has finked his way through a lot of cases. But can he talk his way out of this one?

Sanctuary

For a century this inner-city church has served as a refuge. But its most important mission has always been outside the walls.

Letters

NATURAL BORED KILLERS

WHEN SUBURBAN GANGSTER WANNABE CHERYL ARMSTRONG WANTED HER BOYFRIEND DEAD, SHE DIDN'T HAVE TO LOOK FAR FOR HELP.GIRL TALK INSIDE THE CHILLING DIARY OF CONVICTED TEENAGE MURDERER CHERYL ARMSTRONG.

THE ORIGINAL GANGSTER RAP

THE DEFENDANT IN ONE OF DENVER'S EARLIEST MURDERS SEEKS A NEW TRIAL.