RUMOR OR REAL: SUGE KNIGHT AND PIRU GANG MEMBERS BANNED FROM COMPTON?

Seeking to further curb criminal activities, Compton has asked a judge to ban individuals identified as members of the Mob Piru street gang -- including rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight -- from congregating in a northeast neighborhood. Using a strategy employed by other crime-ridden communities, the court order would be the first gang injunction in a city with a long history of battling street gangs. Authorities contend that the Mob Piru gang has terrorized the neighborhood for years, with buying and selling of drugs, discharging firearms, robbing and assaulting residents and by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

For the last two years, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department gang task force has worked to get gang members off the streets with aggressive enforcement of immigration, housing and parole violations. "We've done it without an injunction," said Lt. Paul Pietrantoni, who heads the task force. "We have the lowest murder rate in 20 years in Compton. The injunction is just going to give us one more tool." But the proposed injunction is expected to be controversial because community leaders and others say it opens the door to police harassment of innocent residents. Knight, who is listed as a defendant, dismissed the injunction as "a publicity stunt."

"This is crazy," said Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records. "I'm a 42-year-old businessman, not a gang member. I don't even live in Compton anymore...This injunction names people who are already in jail -- and at least one guy who is long dead."

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Henry "Hendog" Smith, who is also named in the injunction, was shot to death in 2002, according to news reports. Mob Piru members have gained widespread notoriety for their alleged links to Knight and Death Row Records, once home to some of rap's biggest names. But sheriff's officials say the gang is on the decline. The injunction would ban the estimated 200 members of the gang from congregating, carrying guns, using gang gestures, spray-painting graffiti, fighting or drinking alcohol in public and staying out past 10 p.m. Violators would be subject to arrest on misdemeanor charges, which could bring a $1,000 fine or up to one year in jail.