Kelly Park Compton Crips

Full Name: Kelly Park Compton Crips
Also Known As: Kelly Park Hustlers, Kelly Park Hustler Crips, KPCC
Founded: Late 1970s to early 1980s
Founding Location: East Side Compton, California
Territory: Kelly Park area; generally between Alondra Boulevard and Greenleaf Boulevard
Ethnicity: Predominantly African-American
Affiliation: Compton Crips
Identifiers: Blue and green; Kansas City sports caps; “57” used as a reference to KP
Notable Affiliates: Eazy-E, MC Ren, Tweedy Bird Loc, AWOL, Yellaboii, TG Zip

The Kelly Park Compton Crips (KPCC), formerly known as the Kelly Park Hustlers or Kelly Park Hustler Crips, are an African-American street gang from the Kelly Park section on the east side of Compton, California. Their neighborhood is wedged between the Neighborhood Compton Crips and the Atlantic Drive Compton Crips.

Kelly Park became one of the better-known Compton Crip neighborhoods in part because of its ties to Eazy-E, MC Ren, Tweedy Bird Loc, and AWOL of Bloods & Crips. The gang built its name through crack-era drug activity, wars with nearby Piru gangs, and later conflicts with other Compton Crip neighborhoods.

Early History

The exact founding date of the Kelly Park Compton Crips is unclear, but the gang emerged by the late 1970s or early 1980s as the Crip identity spread across Compton. In its early years, the gang operated under the name Kelly Park Hustlers or Kelly Park Hustler Crips, a label tied both to the neighborhood around Kelly Park and to the street hustling culture that shaped many East Compton gangs during that era.

During the 1980s, the Kelly Park Compton Crips, Neighborhood Compton Crips, and Atlantic Drive Compton Crips were close allies. Members from all three neighborhoods regularly gathered at Kelly Park on Caldwell Street, between Harris Avenue and Castlegate Avenue, making the park a major gathering spot for east side Crip members.

Kelly Park and Neighborhood Crips even referred to their relationship as Kelly Park Neighborhood, ,an unofficial alliance that reflected how closely the two hoods moved together at the time. As the crack epidemic took hold during the mid-to-late 1980s, old relationships across the city began to shift. Drug money, neighborhood pride, and competition over territory turned former allies into enemies.

By the mid-1990s, Kelly Park, Neighborhood, and Atlantic Drive were no longer moving as one bloc. Kelly Park had gone to war with both of its former allies, turning one of Compton’s best-known east side Crip alliances into one of its bloodiest internal rivalries.

The gang also drew police attention earlier than many other Compton neighborhoods. In 1986, the Compton Police Department opened a permanent substation inside Kelly Park after a series of shootings and retaliatory attacks in and around the park. The move was aimed directly at the gang’s ability to use the park as a gathering point and open-air base of operations.

Territory

The Kelly Park Compton Crips are based around Kelly Park on Caldwell Street in East Compton. Their traditional neighborhood stretches from Alondra Boulevard to Greenleaf Boulevard, with Kelly Park itself serving as the hood’s center. Over the years, the area has also been pressured by nearby Piru gangs and local Sureño neighborhoods.

In Entertainment

The Kelly Park Compton Crips became one of the most visible Compton Crip neighborhoods in rap because of their ties to several major figures in West Coast hip-hop. Eazy-E and MC Ren, both members of N.W.A., came out of the Kelly Park area, helping make the neighborhood one of the best-known sections of Compton during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Kelly Park was also tied to Tweedy Bird Loc, whose music openly referenced street conflicts and gang identity, and AWOL, a Kelly Park affiliate who later appeared on the Bloods & Crips project. Through Ruthless Records, N.W.A., and the rise of gangsta rap, the name Kelly Park reached far beyond Compton.

Documented Incidents

The Beeb Stevens Killing and Retaliation Against Lueders Park Piru (1985)

One of the earliest major cases tied to the Kelly Park Compton Crips came out of their feud with the Lueders Park Piru. On December 27, 1985, 15-year-old Charles “Beeb” Stevens, an associate of the Kelly Park Crips, was shot and killed in a drive-by while standing in Kelly Park. Two days later, the violence escalated when Don Turner, a Lueders Park Piru member, was shot and killed in Lueders Park territory.

The retaliation brought a major police response. A 43-officer task force raid followed in the Kelly Park area, and Kenneth Brown was later prosecuted in connection with Turner’s killing. The back-to-back murders helped cement the Kelly Park–Lueders Park feud and triggered a major police response in the neighborhood.

The Caldwell Street AK-47 Shooting (1989)

On April 2, 1989, Kelly Park’s home turf was hit in a major shooting that showed how vulnerable the neighborhood remained, even with a police presence inside the park. During an evening gathering near Kelly Park, a Cadillac drove west on Caldwell Street, and an occupant opened fire into the crowd with an AK-47.

The attack killed Earl Solomon, a member of the allied Atlantic Drive Compton Crips, and left another associate, Brian Owens, seriously wounded after a chaotic pursuit that followed the shooting. Prosecutors later identified the shooter as Paul Gregory Watson, a member of the Santana Blocc Compton Crips, who was eventually convicted. The shooting was one of the most serious attacks carried out in the Kelly Park area.

The Seattle Federal Drug Case (2006)

By the 2000s, Kelly Park members were no longer limited to Compton. On February 11, 2006, federal agents and local police arrested DeAndre Howard Bradford and Devonne Michael Lee, both documented Kelly Park Compton Crips members, in a Safeway parking lot on Rainier Avenue South in Seattle, Washington.

Investigators said Bradford had been selling crack cocaine out of Lee’s vehicle. A search of the car turned up more crack cocaine and a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol, while a search of Lee’s residence uncovered more than $15,000 in cash. Bradford was later sentenced in federal court. The case showed that Kelly Park members had expanded their drug activity outside California.

The Murder of James Hampton (2009)

The split between Kelly Park and Atlantic Drive had deadly consequences in the 2000s. On February 7, 2009, James Hampton, a member of the Atlantic Drive Compton Crips, was sitting in a car in a liquor store parking lot in Compton when he was targeted by Will A. Ervin and William Abner, both documented members of the Kelly Park Crips.

According to court records, Ervin got out of his vehicle, pulled an AK-47 from the back seat, and opened fire, killing Hampton. He later fled to Phoenix, Arizona, where he was arrested in 2011 and eventually convicted of murder. The killing showed that the war between Kelly Park and Atlantic Drive was still active well into the 2000s.

The Murder of Andrew “Bender” Little (2021)

A more recent case tied to Kelly Park came out of a long-running dispute involving the Neighborhood Compton Crips. On December 5, 2021, a young Kelly Park member confronted Andrew “Bender” Little, a 50-year-old associate of the Neighborhood Crips, and accused him of killing his father years earlier. The next day, Lawrence Stackhouse shot and killed Little in East Compton.

Stackhouse was later convicted of first-degree murder. Court records placed the shooting inside Kelly Park Crips territory and tied the case to the longstanding hostility between Kelly Park and Neighborhood. The case showed that the feud between Kelly Park and Neighborhood was still producing killings decades later.

Rivals & Allies

Kelly Park was once aligned with the Neighborhood Compton Crips and the Atlantic Drive Compton Crips, but both later became rivals. Since the 1990s, Kelly Park has had major conflicts with both neighborhoods, along with other Compton Crip gangs such as the South Side Compton Crips and the Nutty Blocc Compton Crips.

Their oldest and arch-rival is the Lueders Park Piru. Still, Kelly Park has also had long-running problems with Mob Piru, Elm Street Piru, Holly Hood Piru, and other Compton Piru neighborhoods. On the Latino side, Kelly Park has clashed with the Compton Varrio Chicano Gang, Compton Varrio 70s, and Compton Varrio 155.

Kelly Park’s allies have included Farm Dog Compton Crips, Acacia Blocc Compton Crips, Spook Town Compton Crips, Ward Lane Compton Crips, and the Carver Park Compton Crips.

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