The execution provoked international outrage as Williams had campaigned tirelessly against gang culture, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. International stars including Snoop Dogg and Jamie Foxx had also petitioned the authorities for clemency, to no avail.
Williams co-founded the LA street gang, the Crips, and was reputed to be the most feared man on the streets of Los Angeles until imprisoned for the murder of four people in 1981. In his biography, Williams decries his own bloody legacy and warns about the dangers of joining street gangs and gun culture. He was sentenced to death by injection with a lethal mixture of drugs.