April 19, 1958
Los Angeles
One gang was called the Cogents. The other was called the Black Wongs.
At least that’s what The Times said. We don’t know much more than that
except someone died in a fight outside the Kow Kong Benevolent Assn.,
510 N. Bernard St.
His name was Richard Sumii, 16, 3106 N. 9th Ave. It isn’t clear whether
he was a member of the Black Wongs or the Cogents or whether he was
even in a gang. All we know is that he was an honor student at Dorsey
High.
Using The Times stories to reconstruct what happened is bit like
reassembling an ancient pot based on a few shards. Unfortunately, there
isn’t much to go on.
Apparently there was a gang fight outside the Kow Kong center, where a
dance was being held. Louis T. Yamashiro, 17, 912 S. Valencia, and
Takeshi Masukawa, 18, went to Masukawa’s home at 568 N. Virgil Ave.,
got a .45 and returned to the center. According to The Times, Yamashiro
pulled the .45 from his friend’s waistband and was waving it around
when the gun went off, killing Sumii.
Unfortunately, that’s all we have. The Times wrote nothing about a trial. Why Japanese American kids were at a Chinese youth center is something the newspaper never addressed.
California death records show that Louis Tsuneo Yamashiro died June 6, 1985, at the age of 44.
ladailymirror.com 