DEVOTED 'BROTHERS' SPLIT BY GANG RANDOM GUNFIRE.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - Tom Riley and Dexter Rideout could not be more different. They were divided by race, class and geography.

Riley, who is white, 6 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighs 300 pounds, grew up in a comfortable middle-class family in Pasadena and now raises his own family in a suburban haven in the San Fernando Valley.

Rideout, black, 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and 230 pounds, lived his whole life amid poverty, drugs and gangs in South Los Angeles.

Despite their differences, the two men shared a 12-year friendship. Riley was Rideout's Big Brother - a mentor who kept his young charge out of trouble and showed him the possibilities of a better life.

But that bond was shattered when Rideout was gunned down recently by apparent gang members in broad daylight.

Grief-stricken, Riley is now mobilizing city officials and Los Angeles police to step up the fight against gang violence.

``I want to let people know it doesn't matter where you live - the Valley, South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles - we are one city. We do care about what happens in other parts of the city,'' said Riley, a businessman who previously ran for the school board and City Council.

Today, City Council members, Police Chief William Bratton and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo will gather at the spot where Rideout was shot on the way to visit family friends July 20. They will urge witnesses to come forward to help solve this case and others and promote Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, the mentoring program that was responsible for bringing Riley and Rideout together.

Family and friends of the two have collected $2,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest of Rideout's killer, and City Councilwoman Jan Perry will ask the council today to establish its own $25,000 reward.

Rideout, 20, who had no gang affiliation and no criminal record, was shot multiple times on a Sunday morning outside 4915 S. Hoover St., just a block away from home. Although the drive-by shooting happened on a busy intersection filled with markets, apartments and churches, no witnesses have come forward to identify the killer or killers.

``We have many shootings now in the early morning and afternoon hours in broad daylight. It used to be rare, but it's not any more,'' said Detective Manny Santoyo, who is investigating Rideout's slaying.

Anyone with information about the killing of Rideout is asked to contact Santoyo at [phone].

The 77th Street station, which patrols 10 square miles in South Los Angeles, reported 116 killings last year, with the majority gang-related. Rideout's slaying is one of 37 recorded in his neighborhood this year.

Citywide, homicides totaled 285 this year - more than 105 of them gang- related. In the Valley, there have been 34 slayings this year - 23 of them gang-related.

Riley and Rideout - known affectionately by his friends and family as ``Dex'' - were first matched up in 1991. His mother, Lovel Abram, who was determined to raise her son right, started the process by submitting an application to Big Brothers.

``The application asked 'Do you like whites? Do you want the Big Brother for your son to be black?' I told them I have no color scheme,'' said Abram, 66, choking back tears during an interview Thursday.

Rideout, who was 8 at the time, was described to Riley as a tough placement because he had dyslexia, a learning disability, and was on Ritalin.

Things were rough at the beginning. Riley recalled Rideout throwing temper tantrums at stores when he refused to buy him things. But the two soon became inseparable.

Riley took Rideout on camping trips and invited the young man to his family's Christmas and Easter parties in Glendale, and introduced him to all his friends and family. When Riley got married in 1995, Rideout was one of his groomsmen. There is a picture of the two dressed in black tuxedos, smiling, with arms around each other.

``Tom always introduced (Dexter) as his little brother. It's funny because Tom is as white as you can get. Dexter is as black as you can get,'' said Forbes Riley, Tom's wife.

``In many ways, (Tom) put his arms around Dexter,'' said Ken Chawkins of Pasadena, who got to know Rideout through Riley. ``Dexter, being in a very insecure and unreliable environment, felt security around Tom.''

Rideout's mother, Abram, said the Rileys gave her son gifts for his birthday and Christmas and sometimes came over to visit.

``(Dexter) listened to Tom like a dad,'' said Abram. ``Tom Riley is always going to be family. That's how I feel about him.''

Those who know Rideout described him as an unfailingly polite and kind- hearted young man who loved to swim and eat pizza. His mother said he was the kind of person who would give the clothes off his back to a stranger who needed them. He was threatened last year with a gun by somebody who wanted him to join a gang, but he refused, Abram said.

``Dexter doesn't act like a kid from South Central,'' she said, slipping into present tense as if her son is still alive. ``I didn't raise him like we live in South Los Angeles. I wanted to keep him from all those South Los Angeles-acting kids. That was an impossible dream.''

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

To get involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, call [phone] or visit wwww.bigbrothersbigsisterslaie.org. Currently, 250 families in South L.A. are waiting for Big Brothers. In memory of Dexter Rideout, Big Brothers hopes to raise money to hire a person dedicated to matching young people from South L.A. with mentors.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Dexter Rideout and Tom Riley, his Big Brother, both beam at Riley's wedding. Rideout, felled by gang gunfire near his South Los Angeles home, will be buried Saturday.

Box:

HOW TO GET INVOLVED (see text)