El Paso’s Ron Stallworth talks about new book, ‘The Gangs of Zion’

Ron Stallworth is not your traditional bestselling author, if there is such a thing.

He grew up in El Paso, graduating from Austin High School in 1971. He moved back in 2017 after a career in law enforcement in Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and Utah.

In 2014, while still living in Utah, he published “Black Klansman,” an account of his 1978-79 undercover investigation of the Ku Klux Klan while he was a police officer in Colorado Springs.

Spike Lee used Stallworth’s book as the basis for his 2018 film “BlacKkKlansman,” which earned Lee his first Oscar. As the film rolled out, Stallworth’s book was reissued in paperback and rose to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Stallworth was able to write the book in large part because he had maintained his records from the investigation in defiance of an order to destroy them. His willingness to flout orders he considered unjust stayed with him throughout a 30-year career in law enforcement.

He wrote “Black Klansman” after retiring in 2005 from the Utah Department of Public Safety.

His latest book, “The Gangs Of Zion: A Black Cop’s Crusade in Mormon Country,” traces his career after he left the Colorado Springs Police Department. It was published Sept. 17 by Legacy Lit, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing.

The book focuses on Stallworth’s work investigating gang activity in predominantly Mormon Utah, and the resistance he faced from law enforcement leaders and political officials. The book looks at the influence of two key factors in the rise of gangs in Utah: the infiltration of California street gangs trafficking drugs, and the growing influence of hip-hop music.

But it’s also a memoir of a Black police officer who found it difficult to be accepted in Utah’s small Black community, or among his fellow police officers. Stallworth, an intensely private man, writes about losing his first wife to cancer while his law-enforcement bosses sought to strip him of his badge.

“The Gangs of Zion” is the latest selection of the El Paso Matters Book Club. El Paso Matters interviewed Stallworth about the book, about his influences, and about what might come next for him.

El Paso Matters: For those who aren’t familiar with you, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Stallworth: Well, I was born in Chicago, grew up in El Paso, went to Alta Vista School, Bassett Junior High, and graduated from Austin High School, 1971, which is where I met my current wife, Patsy Terrazas, who also was a ’71 graduate. I left El Paso in ’72, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where I started my police career at the age of 19, and ultimately served with the Colorado Springs Police Department from 1972 to 1980.

I then left Colorado Springs in pursuit of my goal to be an undercover cop. I left Colorado Springs in 1980 for Phoenix, Arizona, where I worked for the state narcotics office. It later became known as the Arizona Criminal Intelligence Assistance Agency. Worked there for two years.

In 1982, I got hired by the Wyoming Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation, where I worked undercover narcotics from ’82 to ’86. And in 1986, the state of Utah hired me within their Narcotics and Liquor Law Enforcement Bureau. That’s where I finished my remaining law enforcement career.

El Paso Matters: How did you become a writer?

Stallworth: All credit goes to the late Elroy Bode. I was a student of his, along with my wife, we were students of his in 1969 when we were sophomores. And Mr. Bode had a writing contest in his classes. The winner was going to get some kind of prize that Mr. Bode was going to pick out. I can’t remember the topic, but I wrote my paper and he judged it to be the best one in his class and gave me the prize, told me that I had a talent for writing, encouraged me to stick with it. I always kept that in the back of my mind. So when I ended up writing “Black Klansman” in 2013, that’s what I had in mind was Mr. Bode’s words of encouragement to me all those many years earlier.

El Paso Matters: What would he think of your literary success?

Stallworth: He lived long enough to see “Black Klansman published. He didn’t get a copy of the revised edition that came out with the movie, but he knew there was a movie in the works, he knew who was going to play me in the movie, John David Washington. He was excited every time I called him to set him up on the latest updates. He would tell his wife to be quiet so he could hear all the details. He would ask me a lot of questions. Unfortunately, he passed away about a year before the movie came out. But he was aware that they were making a movie about “Black Klansman.” And he was extremely proud, which made me happy.

El Paso Matters: What are some of the key themes you’d like readers to take away from your book?

Stallworth: The main thing is speak truth to power. The whole book talks about high political officials, business officials, government officials in some capacity or another, that I had to go butt heads with. If I had allowed them to intimidate me and backed off, the important things that I accomplished wouldn’t have been accomplished.

So the main theme in the book, to me, is speak truth to power, and everything will take care of itself after that. You can’t let yourself be intimidated by those in high-ranking positions who want to keep you down and put you down because you are not their equal, if you will. I didn’t accept that.

El Paso Matters: The book is set in Utah, but you frequently mention your El Paso roots. How does your El Paso background influence the action of the book?

Stallworth: Believe it or not, my El Paso roots have influenced every aspect of my life. When I had to give testimony to the congressional Senate and House committees that I did, back in that time period, in my statement to them I always told about the fact that I was from El Paso, Texas, and a ’71 graduate of Austin High School. El Paso was the city, the community that instilled values within me. El Paso basically taught me right from wrong, told me how to differentiate between good and bad. And it’s where I established lifelong friendships and learned to pursue my dreams. 

El Paso Matters: Gangsta rap plays a crucial role in your book, and you developed an expertise in the music and its importance to Black people and others who felt left behind. Who’s your favorite hip-hop artist?

Stallworth: There are several that I like and, believe it or not, have respect for because of the nature of their lyrics, the meaning behind them. You see, I move past the curse words in rap music. You have to look deeper when you listen to these songs. You have to look a lot deeper than simply the fact that somebody is throwing the F-bomb out or whatever the case may be. Ice Cube, I think, is a very prolific lyricist. He was the one that penned the lyrics to “F— the Police,” “Gangster, Gangster,” “Straight Out of Compton.”

When you listen to his songs or read the lyrics through his songs, he is very focused on whatever the topic of the song may be. He speaks great commentary about the events that were happening at the time in America, and especially within the inner-city minority community. And it’s remarkable, considering that at the time he did all these things, he started off at 18. 

I like DJ Quik. DJ Quik is a Treetop Blood gang member out of Compton. His music is very, oh, the best way to describe it is very funk oriented. He would be right at home on a concert stage with James Brown, if he was still alive. His music is very danceable, and I like his music as well. His lyrics are very similar to Ice Cube’s, very defined, very focused on what’s happening in the community that he’s a part of. 

There’s a group called South Central Cartel, who are a bunch of Crips. They put out about three or four albums, did very well back in the day.

I like Public Enemy. Chuck D, the frontman for Public Enemy, did the blurb for my book. They are more Black consciousness as opposed to gangster. They promote the Black consciousness, Black ethic, Black morality within the Black community. That’s the base theme of their music. So I like a lot of their stuff.