Danny Bakewell takes over Sentinel

Danny Bakewell, president of the Brotherhood Crusade and a longtime activist in the L.A. African American community, has formally taken control of the Los Angeles Sentinel, the city's oldest and biggest black-oriented paper. The Wave newspapers reported March 17 that Bakewell, a real estate developer, had bought a majority interest and named himself CEO and co-publisher. The story adds that Bakewell has exercised behind-the-scenes power at the Sentinel since 1997. The L.A. Times reports Wednesday that Bakewell intends to expand the paper with bureaus in the Valley, Inland Empire and elsewhere.

In 2002, Bakewell sued New Times Los Angeles and columnist Jill Stewart for calling him an "obnoxious black nationalist" and a "poverty pimp," but a judge ruled the labels valid and ordered Bakewell to pay $25,000 in legal fees. Chip Jacobs of the Pasadena Weekly has done a pretty recent two-part series on Bakewell (sometimes called the Godfather of South Central) but there's no link available because the PW server is down.