Inspired by Nipsey Hussle, Crips and Bloods begin the most extensive peace talks since riots
LOS ANGELES - The men arrived in twos and threes, Crips and Bloods, young and middle-aged, gathering around a picnic table in a Compton park to confront their sworn enemies.
After two hours of negotiations on a chilly, overcast Saturday in April, they came to an agreement - not a truce, exactly, but a tentative cease-fire.
The losses had been heavy, with nearly a dozen dead on each side. It was too soon to talk friendship.
But at least the Swamp Crips and the Bloods-affiliated Campanella Park Pirus could agree to stay away from each other's territory and stop shooting at people.
"It's a troubled past. A lot occurred, and we can't heal that fast," said Lamar "Crocodile" Robinson, 46, a Swamp Crip. "But it's important for us to take the initiative and school the youngsters on what's at stake and what they can gain."
The cease-fire talks in Compton were part of an audacious effort by Los Angeles-area gang leaders to curtail violence in their own ranks following the killing of rapper, activist and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle, whose influence extended beyond hip-hop culture to the realms of business and politics.
Unique among artists of his stature, Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, remained embedded in his South Los Angeles community, and his biography - a gang-affiliated, tattooed black man pulled into street life before attaining stardom - resonated with young gang members.
Hussle spoke openly of his membership in the widely feared Rollin' 60s Crips while setting an example by performing with rappers who were Bloods.
Leaders of the peace movement say the outpouring of grief after Hussle's March 31 death has made it easier to convince others that the cycle of violence needs to
