Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd

His mother Madeleine had been a longtime secretary and matron for the Park Ridge Police Department, and both of his grandfathers and his great uncle were Chicago cops from the 1920s through the 1950s and had

worked through the gang wars of Al Capone and the Italian gangsters against Bugs Moran and the Irish gangsters.

Brennan joined the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve at seventeen while still in high school.

He was stationed in New Jersey, Virginia, Louisiana, and Illinois.

He worked construction by day and got his high school diploma by going to school at night.

Timothy M. Brennan (March 2, 1959 – November 16, 2021) and Robert Ladd (born February 19, 1959) joined the Compton Police Department as officers in 1982 and 1983, respectively.

Brennan and Ladd were present in Compton during the burgeoning days of Gangsta rap when it began in the 1980s and knew many of the artists involved in what would become hip hop genre.

They investigated and/or assisted investigations involving such figures as Tupac Shakur, Marion "Suge" Knight, David "DJ Quik" Blake, Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus, Eric "Lil Eazy" Wright, Jr., Jayceon "The Game" Taylor, and Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, among others.

In the '80s, when Brennan and Ladd were a presence on the Compton streets, a young DJ Quik had an underground rap song called "Blondie," describing Brennan.

Brennan and Ladd are featured in the Noisey/Vice.com film The Story Of 'Fuck Tha Police', starring N.W.A members Ice Cube and DJ Yella discussing the making of their eponymous seminal rap protest song.

They are also heavily featured in the three-part A&E miniseries Streets of Compton, executive produced and narrated by rapper The Game.

Eventually, the Chicago winters took their toll, and in February 1981, Brennan put his motorcycle and clothes in the back of his mini pickup and headed out west with $1200, a new lease on life, and a desire to be a cop - a real cop in an area with a high crime rate, where real police work could be done.

After looking for work and a place to stay in Arizona and Nevada, and with only $500 left, he decided to try Long Beach, California.

He stored his bike and, as his money dwindled, slept in his truck.

He eventually found construction work and got an apartment in downtown Long Beach.

Robert Ladd was born in Hawthorne, CA and was raised in and has lived in Garden Grove, CA all of his life.

He met his wife Kathy when they were in junior high, attended high school with her, and they were married shortly after graduating.

Ladd worked several different construction jobs

until he decided that he wanted to become a police officer.

In January 1982, Brennan joined the Compton Police Department.

Even though Compton was not ranked nationally because the population was under 100,000, the city consistently had murder rates topping the nation's major cities.

In the fall of that year, Brennan met his future wife, JoAnna Ramirez, who also worked for the department.

In 1983, 24-year-old Ladd was fresh out of the police academy.

He had been working as a reserve officer at the Garden Grove Police Department.

Two-and-a-half years later they married and had two children, Brian (born 1987) and Jamie (born 1990).

In 1988, they were promoted to become Compton's two-man gang unit.

The police department could only afford to have two people at the time, even though many smaller cities typically had up to four times as many.

As the gang unit, Brennan and Ladd were responsible for dealing with and investigating over fifty-five gangs in the 10.1 square mile area that make up the City of Compton.

They have served as the primary or assisting investigating officers on hundreds of gang-related murders and thousands of gang-related shootings, and witnessed instances of gang-related rapes, robberies, drive-by shootings, and shootings at police officers.

Brennan and Ladd each retired from law enforcement in 2014 and currently reside in Orange County.

They are still actively involved in providing gang training to schools, businesses, federal and local police and prosecutors across the country, U.S. military personnel, and police departments in countries in Europe.

They have provided gang-related intelligence and evidence for prosecution for law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies across the country.

As gang investigators, they travel extensively throughout California, Texas, Nevada, Illinois, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Washington, Arizona, and Iowa on gang-related investigations.

Their book Once Upon A Time In Compton, written with author/screenwriter Lolita Files, about their years in the Compton Gang Unit, the rise of Gangsta rap, gang wars, the L.A. riots, the investigations of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., and the fall of the Compton Police Department, was published on April 25, 2017.

Brennan passed away on November 16, 2021.

At the time cause of his death was not released to the public.

Until Robert Ladd confirmed to DJ Vlad, that Brennan died from cancer.

Timothy M. Brennan was born in Chicago, IL and grew up in Park Ridge, near O'Hare International Airport on the northwest side of the city.

Brennan's family had a long history in construction and law enforcement.

His father Richard and brothers Mike and Pat were carpenters.