Little Gangster (Part 13) A woman Scorned

Shakespeare has well stated:"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." It took exactly 3 days for Leti to find out that Jet had married someone. She had been trying to contact Jet for several weeks. Jet's mom did not care much for Leti, even though Leti was beautiful.......she was a chola to the core. To say she felt used is an understatement. As was mentioned before, Leti liked to party. She liked to get high. She liked to be with guys. But she had really fallen for Jet. The weeks that they were together, she saw Jet exclusively. There was nobody else. She thought the relationship had automatically evolved to the point that she was his one and only girlfriend. She was mistaken. She was furious. She was a little crazy. On the other hand Tiffany was upper middle class, educated, disciplined, sophisticated and attractive as well. Jet knew what he was doing. Conditions were already ripe for what was to happen next. There was already a feud going on between one of the gangs of City Terrace and a gang from Estrada Courts in Boyle Heights. Leti had lived in Estrada Courts all of her life. For a long time, a gang member from Estrada Courts had been an admirer of Leti. His name was Toe. Leti had never paid much attention to him. One night she asked Toe to take some vatos to City Terrace and "mess up some dudes from Terrace." He gladly obliged. The problem was that he killed somebody. Toe left L.A. He went to Tecate, Mexico to live with his grandmother. Three days later someone drove by the projects and shot and killed a 14 year-old boy who was not a gang member. One week later, a gang member from Pico Rivera who was the 14 year-old boy's cousin shot and killed two gang members from City Terrace. Neither the Los Angeles Police Department or the Los Angeles County Sheriff were successful in finding the killers. The killings caused a stimulation in gang activity. More gangs seized opportunities to get involved. Gangs in Norwalk, Cudahy, Montebello and the greater Boyle Heights area became involved. By late August, eight young men were dead as a result of these feuds. Some arrests were made. One night during early September of 1973, I heard a mother's plea as I listened to the radio. The woman was sobbing as she uttered these words: "Please, please stop this violence, You are hurting people. I will never see my dear son again. He has been killed because of this violence. Stop, stop, stop, please stop." Jet and Tiffany have been married for over 35 years. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. Jet's mom had also moved to San Jose to be near her son and his family. She passed away about ten years ago. Jet has never returned to East L.A. I don't know what happened to Leti.

(please refer to postings of 2/1,11/30,10/14,9/6 and 8/10 to read all parts related to "Little Gangster" parts 7 to 13)