Sonny Carson was also the father of Professor X (1956-2006), who, as Professor X the Overseer, was the leader of the militant hip-hop collective known as Blackwatch.
With the exception of Sonny Carson (Ronny Clanton) and Little John (Roger Hill), most of the roles were not cast by trained actors, but in fact real life gang members.
The rival gang shown in the film, the "Hawks", were based on the real life gang the "Tomahawks" aka "Hawks" that was active from the mid 60's until the late 70's. The actor who played Wolfe (Derrick Champ Ford) was in fact the real life leader of the Hawks. He later turned his life around and changed his name to Akbar.