LOS ANGELES — Darren “Bo” Taylor, a former member of the Crips who brokered a truce between warring inner-city gangs after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, has died. He was 42.
Taylor died Monday of cancer in San Diego, his sister, Adrienne Galloway, said Wednesday.
He was a member of the Crips gang as a teenager but became a gang peace activist after the riots.
“You don’t find many in the gang-intervention world who can be effective in the street, effective in the courtroom, effective at City Hall and effective in the prisons,” said civil- rights attorney Connie Rice. “He could calm everyone down and make us work together.”
Taylor founded Unity One, which worked to prevent gang violence through intervention and education and taught life-management skills to county-jail inmates.
Last year, Taylor hosted a midnight call-in show on a Los Angeles radio station. The show attracted callers ranging from police to prisoners who discussed gang violence, poverty and community issues.
Survivors include his wife, Marlene Oglesby-Taylor, and mother, Charlene Taylor.
