#62-22, night, minutes, first-person aggressor

“When it comes to bidness time I got these two dudes—real vicious dudes, can’t even let them eat at the table. When we go to work, it’s we bump and you grind.

"Now The Mac Daddy used to be associated with Big Daddy Dee, much larger en more viciouser than The Mac Daddy. One day Big Daddy go by the McDonalds and see this pretty boy with ‘is wife, en make the call. The message a the jungle go out (Hollow logs have been replaced by cell phones.) en the law a the jungle about to be enforced (No notable technological advancements here.) We locked the doors at about nine, en told the manager not ta worry, no harm to none not involved.

"There was five dudes there. First come the punches, then the smack down (throw), then Cole whip out the asp (telescopic baton) en said, ‘Hold im up!’

"Two dudes held him up en he cracked him across the face. Then came the stompin.’ "The boy paid triple for his offense—might even get him into heaven. It was a slap stompin—stompin’ ‘im like he was a cockroach. The stompin’ went on long enough fo The Mac Daddy to finish the pretty boy’s burger. Even so, we rolled out well ahead of the cops.

"Now the cops, they try ta lay it on Dee. But the Big Daddy was laid up wit dis girl the whole time, en she was there in court ta say so. The law of the Jungle brutha, it collects all debts and pays no dues. Justice plain en simple.”

-The Mac Daddy

In Baltimore and Washington D.C. the perennial animosity between law enforcement and the black community has fostered a code of silence that encourages vigilante justice.