Halloween night in South Los Angeles ended in tragedy: Jabari Henley, 34, was gunned down in cold blood outside his smoke shop at 69th and Figueroa. Witnesses say he approached a dark sedan around 11 p.m. when the occupants opened fire. The killers sped off into the city’s lawless streets.
Henley was no stranger to violence. He was the son of Eugene “Big U” Henley, the notorious leader of the Rolling 60’s Neighborhood Crips. Under Big U’s reign, celebrities paid “check-in” fees—protection money demanded at gunpoint. That predatory racket thrived under the cover of lax law enforcement and soft-on-crime policies.
Los Angeles Police Department officials refused to call this a gang hit, but let’s be blunt: this was gang warfare, and it’s happening on every corner. Crime is surging while City Hall dithers. Politicians talk about “reform” as more neighborhoods bleed.
This killing exposes the failure of appeasement. Radical prosecutors embrace plea deals for career criminals, only to release them back into the streets. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens cower, and honest shopkeepers shutter their doors at dusk.
Federal agents have already tied the Big U network to extortion, kidnapping and racketeering. A recent affidavit laid it out: “Big U Enterprise manufactures the very danger it claims to protect against.” Yet the Biden Justice Department looks the other way, letting these predators operate with impunity.
Los Angeles needs decisive action:
• Reinstate tough federal RICO prosecutions against gang bosses.
• Slash parole and probation loopholes that free violent offenders.
• Fully fund the LAPD—stop pandering to “defund the police” zealots.
• Deploy targeted asset forfeiture to dismantle gang finances.
Until we restore the rule of law, families like the Henleys will stagger under bloodshed. Halloween’s horror should be a wake-up call: liberal crime policies are killing our communities. It’s time for real leadership, not excuses.
