The Hijacker At Pump #4

Three weeks back I turned into the 76 station on Vermont south of the 10, pulled up to pump #4, killed the engine, grabbed my phone and replied to a text. 

While I did, I heard some man talking to a lady refueling at the pump on the other side of mine.  He was that gas station guy eager to wipe your windows for some change. Though I didn't look up, the man sounded quite pleasant as he complemented the woman and what I assumed was her child on their good looks. 

By the time I finished texting, the lady was gone and the guy focused on me.

"Wash your windows, young man?"

I was still fresh off the inspiration of Muhammad Ali's funeral, which had so many wonderful tales of The Greatest's kindness to strangers, that I felt the "Ali in me" and didn't brush this fella off.

"Young man?" I said to the guy who looked a little like Dr. J, though not as tall. "I'm probably older than you.".

"I'm 71." 

"You look good. Where you from?" I asked.  You know - probably, maybe - that here in Los Angeles, those are the three most dangerous words in the English language.

But, the man simply said he was from a lot of places, including L.A.   "I lived here in 1971 and didn't come back for 35 years. Part the time, I was in prison."

"Oh. yeah? Where?” I asked, informing him – kind of proudly - that not even an hour ago I had sent two letters to two friends of mine in prison.

"I was at Soledad and Chino.”

All of this I have no reason to doubt. But, then he shifted gears.

"I broke out of Chino and went to LAX and I hijacked a plane to Cuba." He said it like he was describing going on a Sunday drive to Ojai. 

Oh, boy, Here we go. I got a real nut on my hands. By now, I'm at about 10 in the tank. Still, I'm enjoying the tale and so I encourage him.  

"Yeah, I got to Cuba and met up with Eldridge Cleaver and he helped me out."

"Good," I said, thinking I hadn't heard mention of the Black Panther leader for eons.  

He goes on. "Then I went to the Middle East and met Yasser Arafat. You remember him?" 

"'Course, I do." 

"I was with the PLO and,  after awhile,  I got shot. In the ass. Those Israelis don't play. But, I got away. Made it to Algeria. Then I went to Nigeria. But, the FBI finally caught up with me and brought me back and send me to Lompoc [Federal prison]. 

By then, I was screwing the gas cap back on. I gave him three dollars, shook his hand and asked his name. 

"Around here? I'm Joe Joe."

"I'll see you around." 

I drove off to West L.A. and after a few errands, went home.  An hour later, I thought about Joe Joe. What the hell? I looked up 1971 LAX hijackings 

I forgot - or probably never knew - there were so many airplane hijackings back then. About 15 for that year.  But, alas, none from LAX. This guy was a good story teller, but a better liar. 

Still, I gave it one more at bat, adding a couple more  words to the search, hoping, against the odds, for a hit.

Crack! "High fly ball into right field. She is........gone!" 

May 17, 2001 by Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writer. 

"A Los Angeles man who escaped from a California prison and hijacked a jet to Cuba more than three decades ago agreed to plead guilty Wednesday in exchange for 12 years in federal prison.

Byron Vaughn Booth, 56, signed an agreement to plead guilty today to federal charges of interference with a flight crew. He initially faced more serious charges of air piracy and kidnapping, for which he would have faced at least 20 years in prison if convicted.

Booth was deported from Nigeria earlier this year, after being arrested by local police with behind-the-scenes help from the FBI."

My gas station guy said he was 71. The story is about a guy 56. It was written 15 years ago.

Further down in the story.  

In January 1969, Booth and fellow inmate Clinton Robert Smith Jr. scaled a fence and escaped from the California Institution for Men in Chino….Both were considered model prisoners.

A day later, Booth and Smith boarded National Airlines Flight 64, bound for Miami with a stopover in New Orleans. After the DC-8 left New Orleans and headed over the Gulf of Mexico, Booth, armed with a .38-caliber handgun, and Smith, holding four sticks of dynamite, ordered the captain to fly to Cuba, authorities said.

Once there, Booth and Smith were taken into custody but were quickly released with the help of Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver, despite demands by U.S. authorities for their return.

Joe Joe, or rather Byron was telling the truth. though i guess with the year off. I went back. He wasn’t there.

I told my girlfriend this and she thought it was great story.  But, she had an interesting question. A good editor’s question. How did I know he just wasn't assuming this hijacker's identify? I was temporarily taken aback. But, why would anyone take this particular guy's identify?  I had a plan. I'd go back again and when I saw him, I'd simply say "How you doing, Byron?"

I did. The look on his face, well, it was like his eyes were reviewing his life in a handful of seconds. It was him. We talked for just a few minutes. I told him he reminded me of Dr.  J.

“Who’s that?”

“Julius Irving?  The basketball player?” He shook his head. “I guess you weren’t around when he was playing.”   

Last week, in the mail, I got a $40 check from my old friend Saji Mathai, a highly-respected copy editor at the L.A. Times.  He knows I sometimes send some money to inmates in prison - or ex-cons trying to stay straight and in need of a break - and he wanted to play a role.  He said it was my call who to give it to.

Last Monday, around 2 p.m., temp about 87, humidity about 50, I went by the gas station on Arlington. Byron Booth was there, looking clean in a bright orange T-shirt. As I walked to him, a woman handed him some change, most of which spilled onto the concrete. I bent down and helped the former skyjacker pick up about 14 pennies. He smiled and said "You tell Hollywood about me yet?" 

No. Instead, I told him about Saji and pulled out that $40. He looked at it for a long time - several seconds - before he took it.  “Tell this Saji he made my day.” We exchanged numbers and talked for a few. A few minutes later, he was walking southbound on Arlington over the 10.      

I’ve been thinking of Muhammad Ali almost as much lately as I did back in his glory days, those thrilling nights of title fights. I wish everyone in the world could see his funeral and get - or realize – the “Ali in me.”  Even if it’s only to talk a stranger at a gas station. They might not be an old airplane hijacker, but odds are they’ll have a story they’d love to tell. All you gotta do is supply the ears while you are pumping gas.

Saturday I went by the 76. Byron Booth wasn't there. But, as I debated If I should actually buy some gas, my cell light up. I had inputted him as "Hijacker".

He told me he wasn't as "the office" yet, but was on his way.  We made a quick plan to rendezvous close by, on Washington and 3rd Ave.  Two minutes later, I rolled the window down, shook his strong hand and gave him my novel. Inside I had stashed a few bucks. He appreciated. I told him I wouldn't see him for awhile as I was going out of town.

He asked if it was a road trip.  No, I said, I'll be flying.

He smiled mischievously and said "Don't get hijacked, man."

What could I say to that? I nodded with a smile and took off.

End of Part #1 of  "The Life of Byron Booth"  

Byron Booth at this office, the 76 station on arlington just north of the 10.

Court of Appeals "Tentatively" Rules In Favor Of Big Evil's Claim Of Vindictive Prosecution On Three Murder Charges

The saga of Cleamon "Big Evil" Johnson continues. 

The Court of Appeals has tentatively ruled in favor of a motion that argues Johnson is the target of vindictive prosecution, a claim that could led to three murders and an attempted murder charge being dropped against the infamous  89 Family Swans gang member.

Even if those charges are dismissed Johnson - and his co defendant Michael "Fat Rat" Allen - still face a retrial of the 1991 double murder of Payton Beroit and Donald Ray Loggins for which they spent more than 13 years on death row in San Quentin. That conviction was overturned in 2011 by the California Supreme Court which ruled that a juror, leaning toward acquittal, was wrongly removed by the judge, Charles E. Horan.

Johnson and Allen were sent back to the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail for a retrial  As they prepared to retry that case, the district attorney's office, aided by LAPD Robbery Homicide detectives, set out to find additional cases to pin on Johnson. Eventually, they filed the four additional charges.  This led Johnson's lawyers to file the claim of vindictive prosecution.  

A definitive ruling by the Court of Appeals is expected within two weeks.

When Johnson’s lead attorney, Robert Sanger, initially learned of the added charges, he was flabbergasted.

“After nearly 14 years on Death Row and the decision by the court to overturn the case, the addition of the three murder charges and one attempted murder was truly breathtaking,” Sanger said during the court of appeals hearing.

The prosecution argued to dropped the charges could lead to a dramatic change in strategy for other future capital cases.  

John Harlan of the district attorney's appellate division said that If these additional charges are not allowed to stand,  a so-called  “Kitchen sink” effect would evolve, meaning that prosecutors, fearing they would not be able to add additional charges later, would file every possible charge in the initial filing document.

Sanger countered.

“This [the added charges] would send a significant message to other people that if you attempt to appeal, you might end up with more cases. You just don’t pile on 187s (murders) and hope to get lucky on one.”  

According to a piece in the Yale Law Review,  legal "vindictiveness" does not refer to a prosecutor’s ill feeling toward, or even his desire to harm, a defendant. Rather, wrote Doug Lieb, a law clerk for the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, "As defined by the Supreme Court,vindictiveness means that a prosecutor has retaliated against a defendant for the exercise of a legal right, denying his/her due process."  

In addition to Beroit and Loggins - shot to death at a car wash in 1991 on 88th and Central  - the district attorney's office now alleges Georgia Denise "Nece" Jones, Albert Sutton and Tyrone Mosley were all killed or ordered killed by Johnson.  While Johnson was in Ironwood State Prison, Jones was shot and killed June 12, 1994 at 87th Place and Wadsworth Avenue in the 89 Family Swan neighborhood. Sutton was also killed in that neighborhood.  Mosley was shot and killed in September 15, 1991 on 97th Street and McKinley Avenue, a 97 East Coast Crips neighborhood.

Johnson, acting as his own lawyer,  was previously tried on the Mosley killing in 1998.. The result was a hung jury, well in his favor. 

If the vindictive prosecution is indeed granted, and the extra charges dropped. Johnson and Allen would be retried on the original double murder case.  However, that case was not a ":slam 'dunk" and relied much on the testimony of one Freddie "FM" Jelks, himself a gang member facing prison who was killed many years ago in an unrelated incident on the west side.. 

Sanger and co-counsel Victor Salerno were pleased as they left the courtroom. They were greeted by Johnson’s parents and his brothers.  Sanger was cautious with his optimism. Still, he admitted it was a good day in the court room, but the case was far from over.

"This might end up in the Supreme Court."

The above photo is many years old. Johnson is now 48 and that goatee is salted with grey. 

2 More L.A. Gang Killings; Man Beaten to Death 83rd & Western, Man Shot to Death on 105th & Lou Dillon in Watts

A 31-year-old man died Thursday morning from the injuries he suffered in a relentless beating by several men on Western Avenue and 83rd Street and, in Watts the previous evening, a 28-year-old man was shot to death.

James McDonald was beaten by up to six black males, ages about 20 to 30, Wednesday night, transported to a local hospital where he died today.  No arrests have been made as of Thursday afternoon. It was the 20th homicide of the year in LAPD's 77th Street Division, traditionally the city's deadliest division. 

Wednesday in Watts,  shortly before 6:30 p.m., the 28-year-old, a Hispanic, was standing at 105th Street and Lou Dillon Avenue when an unknown suspect in a dark gray or blue SUV fired on him, The man, whose name was not released, was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene by Los Angeles Fire Department responders

Both incidents are gang-related.  Anyone with information or either killing can call LAPD's Criminal Gang Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100

Two Saturday Homicides - National Guard Veteran Killed at 64th & Vermont, Woman Stabbed to Death on 83rd near Vermont

When LAPD officers responded Saturday afternoon to a disturbance call of a man with a knife at 83rd Street near Vermont Avenue, residents told them they had heard a woman screaming from a second floor apartment.

When officers went to the apartment they found a black woman, approximately 40 years old, bleeding badly from a knife wound to her stomach  She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A black man, 35-40, was  arrested and a bloody knife recovered.

No further details were available.

Earlier on Vermont Avenue near 64th Street, Charles Nevils, 33, was hanging out with several friends when he was shot. Neviles stumbled into Bottoms Up Liquor Store and died. 

His distraught family told KNBC news reporter Kate Lawson and KTLA's Ellina Abovian that Neviles was a good family man and veteran who had served nine years in the national guard.

"I don't understand the reason why they took my baby from me," his mother, Mira Bables, said as she stood near yellow police tape at the scene. She described Neviles as "a good father to his girls," ages 10 and 12, and said "he was a good son to me."

Adding to the sadness, Neviles deceased man's wife had died of cancer in 2009, the family said. 

"I would like for the world to know he was a very, very, very good person," said his sister Valerie Neviles.

Added Quintivia Abner, his niece: "He was a good father. He was a good uncle. So for somebody to kill him like this out here in the street wasn't right. We need justice."

Sorry for the cold nature of this brief report of two taken lives - and that local TV news was used,  but it is the only information available at the present time as this reporter is out of town. Still, I wanted to do something as these two stories will soon be forgotten and they shouldn't be. 

.  

1 Dead, 1 Critical After Easter Morning Shooting at 84th & Main, 1 Dead in Saturday Attack at 87th & Flower

(UPDATED)
Two weekend shootings, including one Sunday morning at 7 a.m., left at least two young men dead and two others in critical condition. 

The first attack, occurred Saturday night at 9:10 p.m. at 87th and Flower Street, near the western border of the Harbor Freeway when a black man, 22 was shot. He made it a block away to 87th and Figueroa where he was found down, but alive. However, he was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. 

The Sunday morning shooting occurred five blocks away at 84th and Main streets, one of the city's hottest neighborhoods. Multiple suspects opened fire on two black males, both age 20. They were struck multiple times in the upper torso. 

One victim was transported to California Hospital, the other to Harbor/UCLA Medical Center. Both were in initially listed in critical condition. However, word sadly just came out that the man taken to California Hospital died of his injuries. 

The shooters fled in a unknown vehicle.

Anyone with information can anonymously call LAPD's Criminal Gag Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100.

Would-Be Robber Shot To Death By Taco Stand Worker In Green Meadows

JUST IN

Friday night, minutes before midnight, a 19-year-old man armed with a gun was attempting to rob a taco stand at Century Boulevard and San Pedro Streets in Green Meadows when a an employee pulled gun of his own and shot him to death.

The preliminary investigation suggests the suspected robber accompanied by two other suspects were taken by surprise when one of two taco stand employees, a 40 year old man, fired multiple rounds, striking the 19-year-old in the chest. The wounded alleged robber was transported to Harbor UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. 

The two other robbery suspects ran off. 

The employee turned himself in at the LAPD's Southeast Division station. No further information was available at this time.  

Gang Member Gunned Down Monday Night at West Adams Blvd. and Halldale Ave.

 (NOTE- Because I am out of town, the details of the following shooting are very limited)

A 30-year-old black street gang member was assassinated Monday evening while he was standing near West Adams Boulevard and Halldale Avenue.

The word "assassination", not normally used for most gang-related killings, seems appropriate here as the attackers who approached in a gray or white pickup at 6:48 p.m., , were wearing some type of masks, indicating a planned hit. The victim, whose gang affiliation was not immediately known, was shot in the heart. He was pronounced dead at the scene moments later.

The killing was at least the 9th of year in LAPD's Southwest Division. Only the notorious 77th has more.

Sunday Daytime Shootings in Los Angeles Leave At least One Dead, Two Wounded

The drastic rise of homicides in the LAPD's Southwest Division continued in the early morning hours of Sunday when a man was shot to death near Coliseum Street and La Brea Avenue.

Shortly after 4:30 a.m., a 36-year-old black male was driving southbound on La Brea when a burgundy vehicle (no further information currently available) followed him and opened fire. 

The victim was struck in the back and was transported to Centinela Hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

The killing was at least the 8th of the years in the Southwest Division. In 2015, there were no homicides in the division in the first two month of the year,

In the neighboring 77th Street Division, a man was shot four times near Western Avenue and 70th Street minutes after high noon. The victim, a male black age 37, had been involved in verbal altercation at Florence Avenue and Western with the suspect, a male black of unknown age. The suspect left the scene, but returned to the area of 70th St. and Western, approached the victim who was in a brown, 4-door sedan, and opened fired. . The victim sustained  four gunshot wounds to the upper torso. He was transported to California Hospital in a serious, yet stable condition. 

Another shooting in the 77th occurred at 10 a.m. on 84th Street and Broadway when a male black in his mid-20s, was wounded in the forearm.  The victim walked in to 77th Station suffering from the wound and stated that he was in the passenger seat of his friend's vehicle when a silver Infinity approached and stopped. The suspect, also a black male in his mid 20s, exited the passenger side of the Infinity and fired 5 shots at the victim. The victim was transported to California Hospital in stable condition.

1 Dead, 10 Injured During Sunday Shooting in Compton

At approximately 1:35 a.,m Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to the 900 Block of West Victoria Street in Compton, to investigate the circumstances surrounding a shooting with multiple reported injuries.

Upon their arrival on Victoria near Wilmington Avenue, deputies discovered there was a large party with numerous gunshot victims at the location.  One victim, a male black adult, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. 

Eight other victims sustained gunshot wounds and were also transported to local hospitals where they are currently being treated. Two others were also injured, but apparently did not require hospitalization. 

The investigation is on-going. The homicide detective on the case, Det. Richard Tomlin, was unavailable for comment. 

Anyone with information can call the L.A. County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (323) 895-5500 

.