South Side Compton Crips

South Side Compton Crips (SSCC)
Also Known As: South Side Crips (SSC), Double S Gang
Founded: 1970s
Location: South Side / East Side, Compton, California
Ethnicity: Predominantly African-American
Affiliation: Compton Crips
Notable Members: Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, Michael “Lil Owl” Dorrough, Robert Edward Maxfield, Darnell Deon Brim

The South Side Compton Crips (SSCC), also known as the South Side Crips (SSC) or the Double S Gang, are a long-standing African-American Crip street gang based in the southeastern portion of Compton, California. Even though their hood sits on Compton’s East Side geographically, members have long claimed South Side because their neighborhood sits in the southern end of the city.

South Side has long been one of the more recognized Crip neighborhoods in Compton and has been tied to several of the city’s most high-profile gang murders, including the killing of Tupac Shakur and the 2003 murder of Yetunde Price, the half-sister of Venus and Serena Williams. South Side’s notoriety has also made it one of the most frequently depicted Compton gangs in television, documentaries, and Tupac-related crime series.

Foundation and Early History

The South Side Compton Crips developed in the southeastern section of Compton, in the area south of Compton Boulevard and west of Long Beach Boulevard. By the 1970s, much of East Compton had already been claimed by older Crip neighborhoods such as the Kelly Park Compton Crips and the Neighborhood Compton Crips. One of the few remaining open sections sat in the city’s southeast quadrant, and that area later became the base of the South Side Crips.

Out of that environment, the South Side Compton Crips emerged as a new East Side Crip hood rooted around Burris Street, Glencoe Avenue, and the Alondra corridor.

By the early 1980s, South Side had become an established Crip neighborhood. Like many Compton gangs, the hood grew during the crack cocaine era, when drug houses and street-level narcotics sales became a major part of the neighborhood economy. The crack era brought money into the hood and helped South Side grow into one of the stronger East Side Crip sets, with Burris, Glencoe, and A-Line becoming some of its best-known sections.

The gang also built one of its most important alliances during this period with the nearby Atlantic Drive Compton Crips. Because both neighborhoods claimed the South Side of East Compton, their alliance became known as South Side Atlantic Drive or simply South Atlantic. Together with the Nutty Blocc Compton Crips, that alliance later expanded into what members referred to as Nutty South Atlantic.

Territory

South Side Compton Crips claim a section of southeastern Compton generally bordered by Compton Boulevard to the north, Greenleaf Boulevard to the south, Long Beach Boulevard to the east, and Santa Fe Avenue to the west. The neighborhood sits directly north of the 91 Freeway and directly west of the Atlantic Drive Compton Crips.

The hood has historically been organized around several smaller sections, most notably Burris Street, Glencoe Avenue, and A-Line along Alondra Boulevard. Burris Street has long been one of the most recognized parts of South Side and shows up repeatedly in police reports, court cases, and street accounts tied to the hood.

Identity

South Side Compton Crips members commonly identify themselves as SSCC, SSC, or the Double S Gang. The gang has long used the Seattle Mariners “S” logo to represent South Side, and Mariners hats, jackets, and sportswear became a signature part of the neighborhood’s identity.

Media and Cultural Depictions

Because of its connection to the murder of Tupac Shakur and the larger Death Row Records conflict, the South Side Compton Crips have been featured in multiple television series, documentaries, and true-crime productions centered on Compton gang politics and the East Coast–West Coast rap war.

The gang and its members have appeared or been discussed in productions such as Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. (2018), Who Killed Tupac? (2017), Streets of Compton (2016), Dear Mama (2023), and Death Row Chronicles (2018). These programs generally focus on South Side’s role in the Tupac investigation, the Mob Piru feud, the Lakewood Mall chain-snatching incident, and the larger gang politics surrounding Death Row Records during the mid-1990s.

Outside of major television productions, South Side Compton Crips have also been discussed extensively in long-form street interviews and independent documentaries, particularly through platforms such as StreetGangs, VladTV, and Cam Capone News, where former affiliates, rivals, and Compton street historians have revisited the gang’s history and its role in the Tupac case.

Documented Incidents

The Murder of Tupac Shakur (1996)

South Side Compton Crips member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson was long considered a prime suspect in the September 7, 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. Investigators believed the shooting was connected to a confrontation that took place hours earlier at the MGM Grand, where Tupac and members of Death Row Records assaulted Anderson after accusing him of trying to steal a Death Row medallion from a Mob Piru associate.

Although Anderson was never charged in Tupac’s murder, the killing became one of the most notorious cases ever linked to a Compton gang member. It also helped ignite a deadly war between the South Side Compton Crips and the Mob Piru, a feud that spilled back into Compton and produced multiple retaliatory shootings and killings in the months that followed.

The Car Wash Triple Homicide (1998)

On May 29, 1998, Orlando Anderson and fellow South Side associate Michael “Lil Owl” Dorrough were involved in a shootout at a Compton car wash with Michael Stone and Jerry “J-Dog” Stone, who were tied to the Poccet Hood Compton Crips.

Anderson and both Stone family members were pronounced dead after the shooting. Dorrough was later convicted and sentenced to three life terms. Anderson’s death ended any realistic chance that he would ever publicly answer the allegations surrounding Tupac’s murder, and the shootout remains one of the most discussed killings in South Side Compton Crips history.

The Murder of Yetunde Price (2003)

On September 14, 2003, Yetunde Price, the half-sister of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, was shot and killed in Compton while riding in an SUV with her boyfriend. Prosecutors alleged that South Side Compton Crips member Robert Edward Maxfield opened fire near a drug house after believing the vehicle posed a threat to the neighborhood’s narcotics operation.

Price was struck in the back of the head and killed. Maxfield later pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to prison. The killing brought national attention back to South Side and remains one of the most notorious murders ever tied to the hood.

The Spring Avenue Retaliation Shooting (2014)

On May 19, 2014, members of a South Side Compton Crips clique carried out a retaliatory drive-by shooting at a house on Spring Avenue in Compton. Prosecutors said the attack was ordered after the killings of South Side members Omar Williams and Jesus Pena, and that Anthony Dixon, Keyshawn Evans, and Kevone Earl were involved in the shooting.

Roughly twenty rounds were fired into the house, killing Candice Barcenas, an innocent bystander, and wounding another person. Investigators later used wiretapped phone calls to tie the defendants to the attack. The shooting showed that South Side’s old beefs were still active decades later, and that retaliation politics still carried deadly consequences in the hood.

The Darnell Deon Brim Federal Drug Case (2013–2019)

Between 2013 and 2014, federal agents targeted South Side Compton Crips member Darnell Deon Brim, who was identified as a documented gang figure involved in crack cocaine sales. According to prosecutors, Brim sold multi-ounce quantities of crack to undercover agents during controlled buys and handled the conversion of powder cocaine into crack before delivering it to buyers.

Brim later pleaded guilty in federal court and was sentenced in 2019 to ten years in prison. The case showed that narcotics cases still remained part of South Side’s street activity decades after the set first took shape.

Allies and Rivals

South Side Compton Crips have long remained closely aligned with the Atlantic Drive Compton Crips, their most important and consistent ally. Together with the Nutty Blocc Compton Crips, that relationship later fed into the broader Nutty South Atlantic alliance.

South Side has also maintained ties with other Compton Crip neighborhoods, depending on the era and clique politics, but Atlantic Drive has remained the neighborhood’s closest ally.

South Side Compton Crips have maintained long-running rivalries with several Piru neighborhoods in Compton, most notably the Mob Piru, Lueders Park Piru, and Elm Street Piru. Their war with the Mob Piru became especially notorious after Tupac Shakur’s murder, when the killing helped push the two gangs into one of the most widely known gang feuds in Compton history.

The gang has also clashed with other Crip neighborhoods and surrounding Hispanic gangs over territory, drug sales, and retaliation killings. Among the more commonly cited rivals are Santana Blocc Compton Crips, Poccet Hood Compton Crips, Neighborhood Compton Crips, Palmer Blocc Compton Crips, and Compton Varrio Tortilla Flats, though the intensity of those conflicts has shifted over time depending on the clique and the era.

News

• Gang killer challenges state drive-by shooting law