Chapter 2 – Shoot-Out at the Distribution Industry Center

The next day came along and I woke up at 8:00 a.m. to the alarm-music of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” on the station 101.9 – The L-A-X Beat. Before the song began it said that the weather would be sunny and warm day with a high of 78 degrees! Before I knew it, the time was 9:30 a.m. and I was to meet up with Adam in his 2011 Escalade ESV downstairs. We picked up Layla and Michael to take them to work in another city not too far from the LBC.

As the four of us in Adam’s car pulled up to Lakewood’s Distribution Industry Center on Clark Avenue and Hardwick Street also known to most locals here as “DI”, Adam and I went in to scope things out. I must say it was like the Salvation Army but better cheap with stuff that was worth buying.

As I looked through the electronics area for something, I bumped into a guy that looked the same age as me. I didn’t think anything of it and said, “Excuse me,” and went on my way. I noticed he was Asian, ordinary, and about 5’3” and around 180 lbs.

When I got to the checkout without anything, I saw Adam was already waiting outside and we walked to the car. As we drove-off, we saw him walking to his red 2012 Tong Jian S11 Coupe. It had a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with 162 horsepower and 160 pound-feet of torque. Adam had this worried look on his face and told me that we have a problem. I asked why and Adam told me, “That’s Chang Lee, former head of an Asian gang in Norwalk,” 14 minutes North from Lakewood.

I learned on the ride back that Adam knew Chang and he was part of a gang that call themselves the “Ying-Yang Norwalk City-Gang.” This was the oldest known gang in that town dating back to the early 70’s before there were even Asians in Norwalk.

As we got to the apartments, Mary-Ann was in the kitchen making breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash brown. As we were eating breakfast, Luke came downstairs in his boxers and wife-beater. That’s when Adam brought up Chang. I knew something was wrong with the look on Luke’s face. After we ate breakfast, we headed to Lili’s to let the others know.

The gang assembled and Adam began to talk, saying that Chang is in town and if the Ying-Yang Gang even gets sight of Chang in town, that they’d kill him! History has it that Chang was the former member of the gang and left it two-years ago to start his trek through college and a better life. Since the age of 12, Chang had known nothing more than the gang. Rumor has it that when Chang left the gang that he blamed them for killing his younger brother, Tang, and vowed to never return to the city again, until now!

After we finished at the sports grill, we drove back to Lakewood to see if Adam could call and meet up with Chang for lunch. All in agreement, we decided to stay the rest of the morning.

Noon stuck and both Layla and Michael joined us at a grill next door called Cuban Pete’s, near the DI, for a quick lunch. As we ate, Chang walked in introduced himself to us, and sat beside Adam. Mike then told me that Adam and Chang both knew each other since they were young, still in diapers, but Chang is three years older than Adam. Mike also said that the two parents knew each other as college students and since Chang joined the gang that their friendship grew distant.

Chang’s parents died in China in a drive by. Police reported that it was gang related, but never traced back to any officiating gang. That’s when Chang (18) decided to drop his lifestyle as a gang member to do something more with his life for the sake of his brother. Both brothers moved out of Norwalk and Chang went to University of Southern California while Tang went to a near-by school.

Sadly, three months ago, Tang was killed as he was driving back home to Los Angeles; he was only 17. Chang knew that it was the Ying-Yang gang. He also knew that Tang was involved in a high-speed race that killed him because, as good of a driver as Tang was, he wouldn’t drive into on-coming traffic and hit head-on into a semi-truck.

Police reports and highway cameras show that a separate car while racing hit Tang. When police checked-out the plates on the other car; they found and traced it back to the previous owner, who was an 80-year old man. Weeks later they found out that the plates were stolen from a car that was in the junkyard for years. Later, when photos of the plates were maximized and enhanced, police noticed that the year “12” had been painted on to look like the registration sticker. Other reports also stated that they couldn’t find the car that match the description that was shown on the cameras, because either they changed colors or had hidden the car.

Ever since that night, Chang had blamed the gang for the killing of his brother because he left the gang and in retaliation they had reason to harm his brother. After finishing lunch both Michael and Layla went back to work and the rest of the crew went back home with Chang following in his car.

On our way home, waiting at the light of Clark Ave. and Del Amo Boulevard, we saw Pang Lang, head-leader of the Ying-Yang Norwalk City-Gang in his 2013 Dodge SRT Viper. It was the ride that was off the hook with an 8.4-liter all-aluminum, V-10 overhead-valve engine that delivered a total of 640 HP, 600 lo-fi of torque, and estimated speeds of 206mph. It also had that look of black metallic color with a red racing stripe. That’s when I looked over at Adam and Mike and knew that the situation has gotten worse.

We all ended up at Uncle Jay with the Highlander twins and Mary-Ann meeting us there to talk more about the situation that was going to be bad if not deadly for ether Chang or the gang itself. Adam also tried to talk some sense into Chang to leave the LBC and go back to USC but he wouldn’t have it ether way and said that this was for the sake of his brother and his family. As we were standing there and figuring out what to do next, Andrew runs into the shop from the office and yells out, “Guys, local BREAKING NEWS coming in on TV…Come quick!!”

As we all rushed into Uncle Jay’s office and set our eyes on the TV screen, it was clear by the shock in our faces “BREAKING NEWS: Shooting at Lakewood’s DI store.” The reporter was saying that 9-1-1 calls were and still are coming out and stating that four Asian guys walked into the store and shot up the place, as people ran out from the DI’s doors; while others outside called 9-1-1 to report it.

We all rushed to our cars and scrambled back to Lakewood as fast as we could hoping that everyone there, especially Layla and Michael, were alive and made it out okay. I must say, for everyone in that car ride back up, that was the longest 21-minutes ride ever. These friends were my family.

We got to the scene of mayhem where police had blocked off most of Clark Ave. We didn’t know where to go or what to do next. Porter said that we should park the cars and try to walk and get as close as we could. After five minutes, we couldn’t find Michael or Layla anywhere as we were 150 yards from the front doors. As we stood there in awe, everyone around us was in shock or dying to know the outcome of others that were stuck inside.

A few minutes later, Peter tried calling Layla’s cell to see if she would pick up. Peter only reached the answering machine. We grew discouraged thinking something may have happened to her. Now Peter tried calling Michael’s cell. Three rings then Michael picked up. He sounded tired and was breathing heavily. It was apparent that something was very wrong.

Michael said that Layla was shot in the mid left section of her body from a stray bullet. As he was trying to stop the bleeding we heard the shooters in the background trying to figure out their next move and how many hostages they had to bargain for an escape route out.

Michael had the phone between his knees while applying pressure to Layla’s gunshot wound and trying to talk at the same time. He was waiting for the shooters to leave that section of the store. Michael said Pang Lang was one of four that were shooting up the place. Also with him were Paul Nokokasi, second-in-command; Yoou Ling, Paul’s cousin; and Nick Tsu, Pang’s cousin.

Michael was trying to figure out what to do. Luckily the bullet had gone completely through Layla, but she wouldn’t be out of the woods until she was safely in a hospital.

Minutes later, SWAT came in and went to work of trying to calm the situation down. We could see workstation that the Long Beach Police Department and SWAT began to strategize of how to either go in and take them out or talk them into surrendering. SWAT and LBPD began to plan out the ins and outs of the situation.

Chang told us then and there that he knew that either way this goes, Pang will die trying before he comes out killing him, because Chang knew that Pang had something else, something bigger than this moment of just being the head of a gang wanting revenge on Chang.

After minutes, which seemed like forever, a phone call came over to where the workstation was and SWAT picked up. It sounded like they were trying to make small talk to stall the shooters. After the call ended with one officer, a few of the other officers began scrambling.

All of a sudden a call came over Chang’s phone and when he picked up, it was Nick Tsu calling to demand to meet face to face and pay the consequences for blaming the gang for the death of his brother, Tang. Arguments were beginning to flare up and soon enough a shout-out started! After that call, the phone rang again and it was the police asking to see him. They didn’t know that Chang was already there and waiting for the outcome of this holdup.

We stood there just a few feet away as Officer Gary Pullman asked what relation Chang had with the gang or with Pang Lang himself. As we stood there watching them speak, Peter’s phone rang; it was Michael on the other side! He said that something was going down, it didn’t look good and it would be big. Peter than asked about Layla and Michael said that she is staying awake but was in-and-out of it. Michael stated that Pang brought in bags after they shot out a few display windows in front. At that moment we knew that it could be any assortment of guns, shotguns, ammunition.

We then relayed our assumptions to the police and SWAT, but they said they had other things to worry about. The Police force questioned our trust in Michael; saying that he could be one of them and that’s when Mike and Adam conveyed in them to trust Michael and to their dismay Officer Pullman said that Michael was their only direct source on the floor of the situation because there were no cameras in the store. They did, however, put a team on the roof to see if they could see or hear anything from inside. That’s when they received a call over the switchboard that they made it on the roof and they had sent out the remote control car with a camera on it inside the cooling ducts that run over throughout the store.

Minutes later, we got the call that they had something coming in on the camera from the front of the store. They also told us that something big going to happen and they should move everyone far away. They sent both the LBPD with its 60 officers and SWAT to scramble mode to get people away from the 150-yards too at least 220-yards.

We were safe behind the SWAT mobile and after minutes went by we were waiting for something as officers waited behind their cars with guns and shotguns drawn, ready for the next step.

All of a sudden, that parking lot became chaos as smoke-bombs came shooting out; there were at least eight to twelve canisters that flew out the windows and sooner or later the lot became too unbearable to inhale that smoke. Then came the unwanted shootout. First to come out were Paul Nokokasi and Yoou Ling. They came through the display windows with masks on and what looked like bulletproof vests, while shooting at least hundreds rounds from their shotguns, 4 nine-millimeter hand-guns, and more smoke bombs as they met and ran towards the front end of a getaway 1968 Chevy Camaro muscle car, that belongs to Paul. Seconds later, Pang Lang and Nick Tsu were right behind them and just like that within less than two minutes, they all rushed out, both Nick and Pang climbed into the 2013 Dodge Viper and the two cars sped off while everyone was still recovering from those smoke bombs. Police did have a helicopter waiting nearby to follow them.

As the cars sped off trying to escape the shopping center, four to six LBPD cop cars tried to trap them but could not move fast enough. The getaway cars exited into the sidewalk, busted through bushes, and onto Candlewood Street and Lakewood Boulevard heading North on Lakewood. Speeds got up to 70mph on that mile of road, weaving in and out of traffic toward CA-91 (known to most of the locals as Artesia Freeway).

Adam, Andrew, and I stayed put to hear the chase on the switchboard and see the action on television news from KNBC-4 and other news station that were following it to which it was typical in this city to watch chases on TV. We also wanted to see what would happen and become of the four, and while we set attention to what was transpiring live; Chang and the rest of the crew ran rushing into the DI store to see if Michael and Layla were okay.

As we watched on TV, the cars reached the freeway and headed west on Artesia Freeway. As cop cars followed the bandits with news and police choppers flying overhead, speeds exceeded 90’s as the police yelled into the megaphone at the automobiles. The chase went through major traffic, due to the time of day. We saw them weaving in-and-out of traffic, passing at speeds of 85mph through exits or streets of Paramount Boulevard, Cherry Avenue, Orange Avenue, and Atlantic Avenue as if they were in some kind of an arcade race. The chase got up to the intersection of ramps onto the North-South of I-710, also known as Long Beach Freeway and just like that with no slow-downs the Dodge Viper and the Chevy Camaro led the six trailing cop cars right behind them!

As soon as they knew they were off the ramp and onto the interstate, uncontrollable speeds were nothing for these two cars as they accelerated to more than 100 mph! For the next twenty minutes the chase ran through the cities of East Compton, Cudahy, and Bell Gardens, until they reached northeast Los Angeles to head onto West-Eastbound I-10, also known as San Bernardino Freeway heading west.

Before they got to eastern LA, the LAPD gave aid in helping the LBPD stop Pang and his gang. The tires on the Camaro and Viper were punctured at the Florence Ave exit, but did not rupture because Pang had planned for this to happen and had put extra thread on the tires. Spikes were set up again on the Atlantic Boulevard and Washington Boulevard exits. By the time they got to Pomona Freeway and even before they got to head west onto San Bernardino Freeway the tires on both the Camaro and Viper were all but flat and came to a complete stop, while being trapped with both the LBPD and the LAPD, handguns drawn on them. As Adam, Andrew, and I watched on TV, the four men were forced to surrender.

By 3:15pm, Layla came out on a stretcher with Michael who seemed to still be shaken by what has transpired moments ago. All of us, including Chang, went to the Long Beach Memorial Hospital and stayed there until the doctors came out of surgery.

At 8:28pm, Doctor Lloyd P. O’Hara came out into the waiting room. We were with the whole gang; our group had grown with Michael, the Forgotty Family, and Uncle Jay. Dr. O’Hara informed us that Layla will be okay and no major damage was done to any of her organs. This was the best news of our day!

At that moment, my dad came into the waiting room, standing facing me while everyone behind me looked on. He stood staring for a while and all he could think of saying was, “Thanks for cleaning my nightstand!!” and gave me a hug. At that moment I knew then that family was still around. My father was not the emotional type. I had wondered where his mind had been the last few months, but at that moment I didn’t have a worry about him while he stood and hugged me.

I later found out, from Polean, that my dad ran home to see if I was home and he called Adam to see if I was with them when he heard on the news that a shooting at DI. He knew we had to be part of it. After that we all went to Lili’s and ate there while Peter and Porter stayed behind to stay with Layla.

While we were there at Lili’s, Pam made a toast with a Coke can and told everyone sitting at the 20-chair table. She looked over and said to my dad how it’s good to see the Orange County’s own Speedway Champion and to have him back to the LBC to where he belongs.

Sunday 12:45 a.m. we reached our home. While sitting in my room, my Dad came in and said he wished he had been more comforting and supportive the last few months. He promised me from that moment that he’d be there whenever I needed him. After that he said goodnight and walked out.

1:00am found me snoring as “Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony played, dreaming about my mom and the future life I would have with my father.


Written by: Junior F.
Edited by: Aaron C.

Chapter 1 – Meet The Sun-Street Gang

Many walls and boundaries limit the open roads of life; mine is no exception. Of course, I might be dramatic with all of the climates in my life with a broken down father and a death-by-cancer mother. Life wasn’t all that bad before this one.

My father Allen was a Speed-Racer for the Sunset-Gang since he was sixteen years old and won numerous races in the 80s but became a race fanatic when he was ten at his Uncle Jay back lot of a junk-yard, which was by some rail-yard; where he and his friends would race in old junkies on a two-mile of flat, but dirt road just miles outside of Oakland.

Things became serious for Dad when he married Mom in 1986 due to me coming into the world and decided to go Pro at age 25 in the year of 1990. From his first winnings, dad bought a house in Orange County and everything that Mom or I wanted.  Within ten-years dad became a big name by winning championship titles for the tenth straight year in the Orange County Derby. He would also race in other tournaments in Southern California. Five years later, he began going to other places in the East coast and also in other countries from the London Drag-Race to the Australian Super Speedway, winning titles as he went.  Life was good and it looked as if we were on top of the world.

Unfortunately, things took a hard turn for the worst when mom was diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2009 and lost the battle to cancer two-years later in January. In the months after Mom’s passing, life began to shut-down for Dad and we were evicted out from our home in Orange County due to large debts that Dad had accumulated from betting on races and owing much to investors.

In the Summer of 2011, we moved from our home in Orange County to the streets of Long Beach where Uncle Jay, now at the age of 75, has resided for the past 30-years in his auto shop. Smack dab downtown on Long Beach Boulevard and 6^th Street. I had only heard of Long Beach from friends that come here to watch drag races on Friday nights and I never heard about Uncle Jay until we moved in.

We lived in a newer, remodeled Forgotty’s Broadway-Apartment on Broadway and Loma Avenue in Belmont Heights. Dad became a manager for the apartments two-months after we moved in, because dad knew the owner Rick Forgotty of the old Sunset Gang in the early 80s. Although many of dad’s friends were either dead or behind bars, Rick became smart and used the money from his old man’s will to better his life and for his wife and three boys.

One Friday morning in early June, finally settled in, I was just waking up to get ready for the day. I felt different in this place that I never been before. I felt alone. Felt that all this was just a dream that I couldn’t escape. Just being in a new room that I knew wasn’t mine to begin with made it all that much more difficult to adjust.

After I showered and got ready, I went downstairs just in time to see my dad taking off for work, which was in the central building of the complex. Ever since Dad and I had moved here; even since the funeral, we hadn’t spoken or spent real time together like we use to. Nowadays it’s like I’m alone in this world and no one out there for me to call on or even call family. I surely miss my mother more than ever!

After breakfast, I decided to clean up around the apartment. I unpacked a few leftover boxes and tidied up my room just to waste time. On my way outside I decided to stop and enter my Dad’s room. It was dark; no light was coming in from the humongous windows. In the far corner of the room I saw boxes full of our family albums and beside it was a nightstand covered in half-empty bottles of vodka, 40s, 50s, and even a few left overs of Dad’s favorite drink of Jack Daniels! I decided to clean up the room as if I were mom because she would have done the same. I looked inside the boxes and found our family albums and decided to look through them and remember a time that family meant something long forgotten. I never want to forget my mother’s smile, the smell of her perfume, and especially her personality. After what seemed to be hours, I left to explore the rest of the apartment.

I had the chance to meet Rick & Polean as I passed their building. Polean invited me in for something to eat, and boy did they have some nice gigs here! They had a large six-bedroom apartment and allowed me in although I was still new to the area. Luke was the first to introduce himself to me. He was a pretty-boy, who stood at 6’3” with an athletic body to match, and a great head of blond hair and blue eyes with a face that looked like porcelain. All of this looked like a match made in heaven to his girl named Mary-Ann. Mary-Ann looked gorgeous in her own right, standing at a 5-8 with a humble personality and a face that’ll melt any guy’s heart every time she looked at you with her hazel eyes, wavy brunet five-feet long hair every time she walks towards you…To me, it was like an angel was walking out of heaven.

The Forgotty boys too, were loaded with some cool whips and out-of-this-world cars, trucks, and SUVs.  Luke is the same age as me (18); then there is Adam at 17, and the youngest of the bunch, Rick Junior also known as RJ, at 16-years old. All of the Forgotty Brothers had sweet rides. Luke with his 1975 Z25 Chevy Camaro, a 350 cubic-inch V8 engine, rated at 245 horsepower. The car itself looked great with an orange and black paint-job and a shine of steel runs below the bottom of the car with a front end looking like a page out of the car-magazine; perfect in every way. All that with a classic inside that is to die for; leather bucket seats that were made to sink into and a dashboard that was clean from ear to ear that you would kiss like you would your girlfriend.

The guys decided on a cool June Friday night, to take me on a ride to the streets to see a drag race between Luke and one of the members of the Sun-Street Gang. There the Forgotty boys met up with the guys, some with their girlfriends, at Alamitos Park.

Luke then introduce me to Mike Applegate, the second-in-command and the biggest of the bunch. Towering at 6’8”, Mike was a former basketball star at Long Beach Polytechnic High School until he tore his ACL on his right leg during a pick-up game a week ago. Mike met up with us at the starting point of the race with his kid-brother, Victor Applegate Junior, who uses a wheelchair because of his condition at birth, cerebral palsy. Don’t let his disability fool you; Junior stands only a few inches below his big brother at 5’9” and is 16 years old. Junior is helped out of their slick black, tinted windowed, 32” rimmed 2011 GMC XL Denali. Luke helps Junior out of the massive SVU because of Mike’s bandage right-leg and puts him in his chair; he is also a mastermind in his own right with an athletic body and big arms that make mine look like straws of hay!

Luke then introduced me to the rest of the crew and told me that most of the guys knew each other since they were in diapers. He also said our fathers were in the old gang together, dead now, but relived through each of us. Many of the guys within the gang had never heard from their fathers or even seen them. Some whose fathers were still around got to listen to talk about stories from those days of old.

The Sun-Street Gang was made up of six other members plus the four of us: Applegate - second-in-command, Peter and Porter Highlander who are twins (though Peter is older by eight-minutes), Michael Link - the computer geek of the bunch, Andrew Steel - the shop keeper at Uncle Jay’s Car Shop, and Layla Menz, the only girl in the gang. Layla was a mother-figure to the Highlander twins whose mother died in a shootout involving FBI officials and their father. Caught in an ambush in an abandoned warehouse in possession of $50,000+ worth of heroin, he is now serving a 20-years sentence after a 12-year addition due to drug tracing back to an outside mafia source. Layla’s mother took in the twins and gave them a home before she died a few years afterward and since then they’ve grown to become a family.

The drag race was on Ocean Boulevard by the park, which was in the town of Peninsula. Luke, in his 1975 Chevy Comoro and Porter, in his 1979 Ford Cobra; things were about to take off as Layla counted down with her black and blue bandana (the gang’s colors)!! Off they went down what seemed a two-mile stretch of roadway, to the light of Belmont Avenue. Head-to-head down to the last second; Porter won by an inch on Luke’s Chevy.

After, the gang decided to drive-up to a burger joint that was not too far from Belmont Ave.  Lili’s Bar & Sports Grill was the name of the place on Ocean Blvd. and 18^th PI, just along the seafront of the city beach. What a view it was! The owner of the establishment, Pam Link, was indeed the mother of Michael! The joint was named after Pam’s mother, who died when Mike was six years old; Lili was 80.

Pam was surprised to see me, as I would introduce myself to her, as the son of the great car racer, Allen Kingston. Pam knew who I was when I walked through the door because of my father’s body figure and a photocopy of my mother’s face. Pam also knew my Mom because they lived next door to each other as they were growing up. Dad was a mechanic at her grandpa’s car shop, Uncle Jay’s Car Shop! She gave me the greatest dinner that night; their famous BBQ ribs and mashed potatoes with dark gravy, a side of fresh homemade rolls with honey-butter, and told me it was on the house while everyone else had to “pay”.

As we walked out the door, Pam handed out the bills. Not the bills I was expecting. Apparently she always gave the gang $50 each, but she gave me $50, then an extra $50 then kissed me on the forehead and told me to keep looking like Mom - she was better looking than Dad!! As we got out of the cafe and into the vehicles, Michael asked for $20 for this new game that he wanted, which costs $68.99. When I told him I’d race him for it I got blank stares from the others. After a half a minute of nothing, Porter announced the race to be at lunchtime tomorrow.

Written by: Junior F.

Edited by: Aaron C.