Drugs, Crime, & Doing time ☆ kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gtuZkrCY0a6on3k.html

It’s really inspiring how the Hawkins family were so successful and had many businesses even though they were from a rough neighborhood

As a black man, we have been our own worst enemy for the last 50 years. When we were oppressed and racially persecuted, we treated each other better.

This is when TV was at its golden age !

The son was later charged with murder. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison, but escaped during a 1985 court appearance on other charges. After his recapture, he was also convicted of the 1984 murders of two purported drug dealers and sentenced to life in prison. Not long after his son's escape, the elder Hawkins told an interviewer: 'You just always have a bad apple, you know, in the bunch. I did all I know to do, I did everything there was to raise 'em. I have 14 of them and never been on county (welfare). He's the one who's given us all the trouble.'

Yay!! The entire Frontline episode. 🔥 This is a rare gem.

Back when even the bad guys had good parents.

That's why we need fathers in our homes so we can learn how to be men.

Man I hope I can set my children up to win like this he even had a son become a farmer that’s very impressive don’t see many black farmers

My naive ass didn't realize how violent things were in the 80's

This channel is the gold mine of vintage documentaries

Rip james hawkins . I salute your whole family. This should have been a movie

I like how the Hawkins men conducted themselves when talking to the reporters. They weren't emotional, they spoke clear and well detailed.

Love these old gems, I even like the old commercials

The look on cappuccino face with that perm lol 😂

This is the kind of black family the gov’t doesn’t want you to know ever existed.

They don't make them like old man Hawkins anymore . He reminds me of my grandfather

Go down South and you can STILL find African American families just like this one. Still have the true essence of our people. We’ve lost this in California unfortunately

2021 Hawkins burgers are still available just had one over the weekend. What's crazy I remember when all this was going down but never knew they made a documentary / mini movie about it very interesting. And after watching this I'm going back next weekend much respect💪

So I was standing here with a 351 Winchester.

The Hawkins Family ain’t playing no games ! Salute to them

Tree Tops was the sketchiest person in the video lol

I’m here from Kraig facts do your homework it hit different Watching old videos or old documentaries about the past is like stepping into a Time Machine but it’s youTube.

I remember this back n the day my mom was real good friends with the mother of the victim who was gunned down...I remember attending the funeral ...so sad may he continue to rest

Awesome footage, KZfaq definitely provides us history, thanks for posting.

Wow i never knew about all this. I just went to Hawkins burgers the other day 2/20/23 on my B-day. One of the Best Burgers ive ever eaten. Not really knowing where I was you could easily tell it was a blood area from the surrounding peoples attire.. it was a Bitter sweet moment.. The Bitter was the 30 min wait in the heart of one of the most dangerous gang neighborhoods in the world. the sweet was that bombazz tripple Burger I had.. i would go back one day but with extreme caution.

This is better then any movie

Mr Hawkins has that Black Wall Street mentality! 🙌🏾

Seen This Spot On Snowfall When Skully Shot At Leon & Hit Wanda

Those fatherless p.o.s. were just jealous of this family and this strong patriarch, Mr. Hawkins. He raised great kids and very brave sons. This is what they are trying to destroy today,...the strength and order of patriarchal-rule.

I swear I give the Hawkins family respect, the son did that young blood griney the way he killed him, and they manage to survive the attacks of a gang that deep and dangerous, I drove to Hawkins burgers today to eat but it was to many people in line.. and was amazed how the structure is still there today, I also looked in the area where they had the fort and bunker lol it’s all still there! Crazy

Momma Cynthia and crew, we thank you! 😉💞

⚔ I'm from Georgia but was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. The neighborhood that I grew up in had strong families. Most of whom who had migrated from the south. Southern people are very family oriented. You mess with one. You're challenging the family. It's going down. This was not about class. It was about VALUES! Respect to the Hawkins family.

At 42:00 the Mom said she had to run outside and stop the gang from making the son suck they privates because he told the police some names . If that’s not the fruitiest shit I ever heard in my life

Woo more frontline episodes this is 🔥.

Stand for something or fall for anything.

Big respect to this family!.... if there were more strong families like this there wouldn't be no gang problem....stand up guys!....salute!

Salute to the Hawkins Family. Gangs in LA have bullied the community too long

Hes Smiling about the MORTUARY fire cause, They burned it for the insurance Money

I wish this family would open a store in my neighborhood. We would welcome this beautiful family and they would prosper here. Damn, I wonder what happened to them.

James hawkins jr had a record worst than most of the Bounty hunters.

That ''ex gang member'' is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle. Notice when he says ''you cant kill a gang member unless you have a goo...... (trails off as he realises)

The undercover police officer sounded like he wanted one of the Hawkins dead too.

Wow I use to work with the Hawkins brothers in 1986 funeral escort wow, during that time lot's of drive by's in that area

Someone Should make a movie about this!

Hawkins Burgers is still standing. 👊🏾Respect to them..

Almost 40 years later and LAPD still holds the title for the biggest and most vicious gang in the city

Damn even on the google maps picture damus stay posted in front of the burger joint. This business is lucky to have survived this and still standing today with the jects facing their building and compton nearby.

Beautiful black family headed by a true patriarch, they don't make em like this anymore

Spoiler Alert: James Hawkins, Jr. was convicted in the murder of Anttwon Thomas with a sentence of 28 years. An unrelated witness testified Hawkins, Jr. pulled the shotgun on Thomas. That was the opposite of what Hawkins had told the police and public. The really crazy part: shortly after Hawkins was convicted in 1985 he escaped custody and eluded the police for a few months. Eventually, he was caught in No. Calif. Finally, Hawkins, Jr. was convicted of murder AGAIN: a double murder related to a drug deal. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The most amazing part of this video is the fact that it used to RAIN IN LOS ANGELES!!! In May of all things! WOW!! Lol, I’m kidding came across this by going down the internet rabbit hole at 4am. I’m glad I did though I had no clue that burger stand had such an interesting history.

“We got the biggest gang in the city…”

bounty hunter bj wrote a statement

James Hawkins Jr., whose family’s stand against a Watts street gang drew praise from law officers and politicians, was sentenced Monday to 28 years in prison for killing a young gang member whose death triggered the violent confrontation. Hawkins, 41, who has a lengthy criminal record, received the maximum sentence of six years for voluntary manslaughter, two more years for committing the crime with a firearm and another 20 years because he had previously been convicted of four violent felonies. “It is our contention that the defendant has committed crimes on the installment basis over the entirety of his life . . . ,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss said, as he asked Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. W. Lew to impose the maximum sentence. “It’s our contention that a balloon payment is now due.” Janis A. Rader, one of Hawkins’ two attorneys, said outside Lew’s courtroom that the sentence was “outrageously disproportionate” to the crime of which Hawkins was convicted. “The court in my opinion continued to display a biased attitude toward the defendant,” Rader said. “That ain’t no justice,” said Hawkins’ elderly father, James Hawkins Sr., who established the family’s businesses in Watts more than 40 years ago. “It wasn’t no shock,” added the younger Hawkins’ wife, Helena. “It didn’t move me, because I knew they were going to go all the way.” The bulk of the younger Hawkins’ sentence was imposed under provisions of a 1982 initiative known as the Victim’s Bill of Rights. The initiative instructs judges in sentencing criminals convicted of certain violent crimes to add five years to their prison terms for each previous similar conviction. In Hawkins’ case, Lew imposed additional, consecutive five-year terms for a 1969 conviction for armed robbery in California, a 1974 conviction for armed robbery in Arkansas, a 1974 conviction for bank robbery in California and a 1975 conviction for assault with a deadly weapon on a California parole officer. As he passed sentence, Lew said, “The defendant has engaged in a pattern of violent conduct which indicates a serious danger to society.” Addressing Hawkins, the judge added, “I do feel the total of 28 years is sufficient and justified in this case, due to the crime alleged . . . and your criminal background.” Before he was sentenced, Hawkins told the judge, “My conduct . . . was not criminal, your honor. I defended myself against an assault. My past conduct has nothing to do with me now. . . . I acted in good faith and ended up being charged with murder.” Hawkins was found guilty last August of the less serious crime of voluntary manslaughter in the Sept. 11, 1983, shotgun death of Anttwon Thomas. Thomas, 19, was a member of the Bounty Hunters gang based in the Nickerson Gardens housing project. The project is across the street from the Hawkins family grocery at Slater Avenue and Imperial Highway, on the border of Watts and Willowbrook. Hawkins testified that Thomas died during a struggle that began after Hawkins stopped Thomas and other gang members from accosting a woman and her children near the Hawkins’ store. Minutes later, Hawkins said, Thomas walked into an arcade adjacent to the grocery. As he tried to eject Thomas, Hawkins testified, Thomas pulled a sawed-off shotgun from the waistband of his trousers. During a struggle for the weapon, Hawkins said, the gun went off and fatally wounded Thomas. Giss, however, produced witnesses whose recollections differed. Ed Lewis, a dispatcher for an alarm company, testified that he watched from across Imperial Highway as Hawkins walked from the arcade to a nearby trailer, retrieved a weapon that appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun and returned to shoot Thomas. Hawkins’ defense attorneys have repeatedly characterized Lewis’ testimony as unreliable and contradictory. For two nights after Thomas’ death, gang members fired shots and hurled Molotov cocktails at the Hawkins store and the family’s adjacent home. Seventeen gang members were later convicted of crimes stemming from the assault. Hawkins was not charged with the killing until the following April, four months after Lewis surfaced as a defense witness at a preliminary hearing for the gang members. After the gang attack, but long before Hawkins was charged, Mayor Tom Bradly and other officials visited the Hawkins home and praised the family for its resolve in remaining in the neighborhood despite the gang attacks. Hawkins and a co-defendant are currently awaiting trial on two other unrelated murder charges stemming from the June, 1984, shooting deaths of two reputed narcotics dealers. Before sentencing, Lew denied motions for a new trial filed by Rader, co-counsel Stephen A. Schwartz and Hawkins, himself. Hawkins asked the judge to set aside the verdict because of Schwartz’s alleged incompetence, saying that Schwartz’s “injudiciousness . . . aggravated the court to the degree of perhaps swaying the court in favor of the prosecution.” Schwartz later declined comment on the accusation.

Crazy watching this in 2022 living in Phoenix but being in the area in the Compton/ watts area 80's 90's . Nickerson Gardens etc. And watching Training day several times seeing it taking place in the Gardens

And the bottom line to it all is that Hawkins Burger is still there today and loved by everyone in that area.

We had it with the brits ! Fight for your family and country, from Ireland!

39:30 Damn....guy has 4 felony convictions and they're serious bank robbery, postal robbey, etc. Dude sounds as bad as the gang bangers.

This is a classic one. I hope you find the episode "DOWN FOR THE COUNT" INSIDE STORY OF BOXING

So the son lied and said it was tussle going on and the gun went off but the other brother confirmed the damages was from a saw off close range and the witnesses said the kid had no gun

Man this would make a great movie!

I wouldn’t have known this was Judy Woodruff if she hadn’t said it.

All I get from this is a sense of emboldening to not just take crap from people. No one’s feeling sorry for these gang members terrorizing their community..

I swear "suspect #5" look just like a young Franklin Saint! 😂😂

The parents are to blame. Instead of speaking out against gang violence, they talk about their poor babies. This will never end with families like this.

James Hawkins Jr was found guilty and sentenced to 28yrs for killing dude. He escaped and was charged with the deaths of two drug dealers and sentenced to double life. He also was charged with having a shootout with police.

This is history, they still own businesses in watts in 2024!

Wow, it was rnd these times I heard a saying, the gangs in la will never die, jus multiply... 2021,its not jus west coast, its all over, even UK has bloods n crips, and the colour of skin doesn't matter, this man is just surviving, watta brave man, he's old skool, and what every kid should strive to be a hard worker

What an amazing documentary.

All due respect to this poor mother but instead of blaming everyone else for her son's death she needs to look at the fools around her

Louies mother commentary ripped at my heart man.

This was also called 'Shootout On Imperial Highway'.

I could never sit there next to a “friend” who’s statement is being read with them telling on me

Its crazy how much back in the old days they looked so much more gangster and scary then now the gangsters wear tight clothes and have girl lookin hair lol

one f the main things i'm looking at is the ols skool twinkies and snack cakes and how everything still tasted so good back then....it's shit now..........also a bullet proof glass around the counter like stores have today would have also been nice for them........1984 is one of my fav years from the 80s.....purple rain the movie came out, and mj's thriller album and videos were magic......i miss the 80s.....

The Hawkins family might the most bad ass family in Los Angeles. They still there selling burgers in the same spot. Props to them and fuck gang members.

I recall that segment when it first aired while I lived in Oakland, CA. People talk about courage of police and soldiers. Can you not see the sheer courage, bravery and valor of that family in Los Angeles who refused to be intimidated. Right now as a nation we are discussing anti-Asian sentiment and that is a worthy cause to discuss. To be African-American and under assault by the establishment and gangs...My God!

But yet and still, SOME foreign business owners open up their business in black communities that are gang-infected but nobody bothers them.

I lived there during this time. Although not a part, this incident is part of me.

Sad part is, it be your own people looking to tear you down...

I came across this video after watching Bounty Hunter BJ’s interview on SplifTv’s channel explaining the whole situation… what I came up with was James Hawkins Jr. shot & killed lil tony only after his father shit & killed somebody 6 months earlier, both being set free and the bounty hunters attacked them because they felt like the Hawkins were repeatedly getting away with murder! Killing criminals who were not killing during their (alleged)crimes….

I wonder how many of these guys are still alive. I would almost bet the house that it's not more than 5

It’s never fun when the rabbit has the gun!!!

hawkins family was legit, they should have made james sr mayor of watts

I hate to see this type of twisted shit but That's how A family supposed to stick together

They own the morgue as well i think they have it all sown up...

what? Did I hear right? 5 of them gave statements ? And two testified against the 14 defendants? With that kind of solidarity, I don't see these guys being to successful in their criminal careers.

A squad of guys watching over him for how long without being compensated for those extra overtime hours.

All them cats ratted. Wow. No honor and no balls.

The crazy thing they just had a murder in projects a week ago ain't nothing changed in over over 35 years

RIP TC and all my love ones from the william NICKERSONs mo like WAtts we survived to CYNTHIA HAWKINS you know the business much love and respect

Great video 📹

Smh @ the gang member’s mother is in total denial.

Aye no disrespect but when the crips from the 80s say all the bloods back then was dark n ugly @46:50 I low key see why😂😂😂

Wow! This is 37 years old.

Yo son was a bounty hunter an he was robbing someone then walked in the store to confront the stopper yo son got what he deserved

Before George Zimmerman there was James Hawkins Jr. killed that young man in cold blood but this right here remind me of “tombstone” one family with the law on its side and the other is the outlaws.

He said that he has the biggest gang in the city - yep he said it - and he wasn’t telling a lie either - same thing now a days (the biggest gang is the police)

Just me or every trial I’ve seen in la has this Asian judge 😂😂start this documentary it’s set in ‘84 yet there here is young asf jk idk if it’s same guy but that’s so funny to me

man your channel is dope