Bloods
The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs. The Bloods are made up of various sub-groups known as "sts" between which significant differences exist such as colors, clothing, and operations, and political ideas which may be in open conflict with each other. Since their creation, the Blood gangs have branched out throughout the United States.[3]Bloods have been documented in the U.S. military, found in both U.S. and overseas bases.[4]Gangs in some European countries including England, Holland, and France pledge their allegiance to the Bloods but they are not thought to be directly linked to sets in the US.
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams. What was once a single alliance between two autonomous gangs is now a loosely connected network of individual sets, often engaged in open warfare with one another.
The Crips are one of the largest and most violent associations of street gangs in the United States,[1] with an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 members. The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, and drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits. The gang is known for its gang members' use of the color blue in their clothing. However, this practice has waned due to police crackdowns on gang members.
Crips are publicly known to have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Bloods and lesser feuds with some Chicano gangs. Crips have been documented in the U.S. military, found in bases in the United States and abroad.[6]
Crips and Bloods History
A first hand account of their real history and the myths surrounding the origin and founders of the gangs
Preface: Throughout the World Wide Web, there are web sites, news reports, and other sources that declare that Stanley "Tookie" Williams was a founder of the street gang known as the Crips. This report, with historical information submitted by a 30 year veteran of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, describes the history and origin of the Crips and Bloods and describes the fact that although he was a part of that history, Tookie Williams, was not a founder, nor an actual leader of a Crip set.History and origin: The Crips gang originated in Los Angeles in the mid- to late 1960's, and the Bloods street gangs were formed in reaction to the Crips. Both gangs have loosely structured subgroups or sets, most of which are from specific neighborhoods. Typically, members dress in a distinctive fashion, display colors (with blue associated with Crips and red with Bloods), use monikers, sometimes display gang names or monikers on clothing, and communicate through graffiti. However, when individual members or sets become more serious about drug trafficking, they also may become more cautious about calling attention to themselves with these outward signs of gang affiliation.
In the early 1980's, members of both gangs surfaced outside Los Angeles and the rest of California, primarily to sell cocaine. Investigative reports in 1991 placed Crips or Bloods in 32 States and 113 cities. However, these migrations are not orchestrated by any sort of national leadership. Instead, criminal acts often are committed or directed by individual leaders (who change frequently), rather than as the result of some hierarchical or collective decision making process.
The Crips is a loose association of some 200 gangs, many of which are at war with one another, and none of whom recognizes or exerts any kind of central authority. Individual gangs are equally marginal in their organization. Most are loosely knit coalitions of small, autonomous cliques.
Background
There have been many stories regarding the beginning and subsequent expansion of the Crip and Blood Gangs. The following identifies some of the most prevalent myths, and brings to light, factual information regarding the Crips and Bloods Gangs as witnessed first hand by Sgt. Curtis Jackson, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, retired.
While he was with the LASD, Sgt. Jackson was recognized domestically and internationally as one of the nations foremost experts on street gangs. He is considered to be the "Godfather" of Black Gangs and was there at the beginning of the Black Street Gang phenomenon.
Myth number 1:
* “Crips” originally stood for “Community Resources for Independent People”.
* “Crips” evolved from the word “Crib”.
* “Crip” name started as a result of a newspaper (Los Angeles Sentinel 1972) article that accidentally described a Crib member, who had assaulted someone, as a Crip by mistake.
Truth:
The name “Crip” was short for “cripple”. One of Raymond’s sidekicks walked with a limp. It was originally thought that the individual who limped had been shot in the leg. A crime victim referred to their assailant (Raymond’s group) as being a “crip”, instead of a “cripple”. It has been confirmed that Raymond’s older brother, Reggie, was bow legged and had a bad ankle. His buddies would write “crip” on his Converse tennis shoes as a joke, demeaning his handicap. This was well before the name “Crip” became synonymous with the Crip gang name. This was verified by Raymond’s younger brother (Derard Barton), and a neighbor with first hand knowledge who lived across the street from Raymond.** The name “Crip” was definitely derived from the word “cripple”. This also explains why the original Crips utilized a cane, and walked with an exaggerated limp. The word “Crip” caught on, and stuck just like a lot of nicknames do. The “Crip” name was also given additional publicity as a result of a newspaper(s) account of the above described crime. Note: An original newspaper account, if there was one, had to have occurred in the 1971 time frame, as the Crip name was already wide spread by 1972. The 1972 article by the Sentinel correctly referred to the assailants as being Crips, because that was already their (Crips) established name”.
The first Crip Gang started on the “Eastside”. (referring to Eastside of the Harbor Freeway)
Truth:
The gang did start East of the Harbor Freeway., but the dividing line between the Eastside and the Westside, at that time, was Central Ave. An example would be the Kitchen Crips. The Kitchen Crip Gang was located directly east of Central. The Westside Kitchen was directly West of Central. In later years, as the Crip Gangs spread throughout Los Angeles, the Harbor Freeway. became the commonly accepted dividing line between the East and West side.
Myth number 3:
* Raymond Washington’s groups’ original intent was to “continue the revolutionary ideology of the 60’s, and to act as community leaders and protectors of their local neighborhoods”.
* Raymond founded the organization in “response to the increasing level of police harassment of the Black community”.
Truth:
These statements are all romantic folklore with absolutely no substance. Raymond was just a troubled 15 year old kid who hung around other troubled 14 and 15 year old youths. Raymond had been kicked out of a number of schools, and had already been involved in the juvenile detention system. Raymond, at 15, did not have the maturity, or the vision to formulate these great ideological ideas and plans that some “social experts” espouse. Gregory Davis, who has also been identified as being another one of the original leaders was only 14 years old in 1969.
Myth number 4:
Raymond’s Gang was called the Raymond Street Crips.
Truth:
The Raymond Street Crips were located well West and South of Raymond’s home turf. Too far away to be called his gang. That gang probably didn’t even start until after Raymond stopped Crippin’. The first Crip gang was simply called the Crips. When the gang expanded it became the Westside Crips. In later years this area became the East Coast Crips.
Myth number 5:
The original gang attire included a leather coat, patterned after the Panther party.
Truth:
The original gang attire included an ear ring in the left ear, kaki pants, suspenders hanging down, brim type of hat, cane, and Stacy Adams, “Old man comforts” shoes. Gregory Davis, aka Batman, was the poster child for this OG Crip look. Note: Even then, not every Crip had this same look as some of the kids could not afford the clothes. The leather coat look was temporary and short lived at best. The leather coat was supposed to be stolen, and was a demonstration of strength and power as it had to be taken from someone else. This didn’t last long either, as there were not enough leather coats available to be stolen. The cane, the suspenders hanging down, and the exaggerated “limp” look lasted the longest. The blue rag was also an early identifier of Crip association.
Myth number 6:
The Piru Gang originally went by the name, Piru Crips.
Truth:
There is no evidence supporting this claim. Original Piru members have always denied any validity to this claim.
Myth number 7:
* In1972 there was only 18 Crip and Blood Gangs operating out of Los Angeles, Compton, and Inglewood. Two independent black gangs were firmly established in the South Central Los Angeles area. Six gangs had territories in the unincorporated areas, e.g. Athens, Florence, and Willowbrook,
* Between 1973 and 1975 the Crips formed a Federation
Truth:
By the end of 1972, every area of South Central Los Angeles, including Compton, East Compton, Florence, Firestone, Athens, Willowbrook and Carson had been divided up and was totally saturated with a street gang presence. The original gangs that were in place in 1972 are still in place today. It should be noted that some Crip street gangs were in place by late 1971.
Myth number 8:
Raymond Washington was the leader of all the Crip gangs.
Truth:
Raymond was the leader of only one gang. His original gang. Each neighborhood had, and has, its’ own leaders. Stanley “Tookie” Williams, and Jimel Barnes were a couple of Crips that were very muscular, and as a result a lot of Crips looked up to them. A number of Crips would follow Tookie and Jimel around events like the Watts Festivals because of their muscular physiques. That was as close at it got to having a single leader. Gang bangers, like Tookie, always wanted and tried to be the single leader of the Crips, but it never worked out. Factually, even Tookie didn’t have his own set. Jimel was the recognized leader of the Avalon Gardens Crips.
Additional evidence disputing the fact that Tookie Williams was a founder of the the Crips may be found in the following news report supported by various Los Angeles gang experts and citizens who knew Tookie.
Myth number 9:
“Between 1973 and 1975 several of the non-Crip gangs decided to form a united federation………because of the Crips sheer numbers they terrorized the other non-Crip gangs, resulting in the first Crip against Blood gang related homicide”.
Truth:
There is no denial a homicide, as described above, may have occurred, but it was not the first homicide between the Bloods and the Crip gangs. A number of homicides had already occurred between these different groups dating back to at least early 1972. It should also be noted that there were no accurate gang homicide statistics prior to 1979.
Myth number 10:
“A dramatic increase in the number of gangs from 1978 to 1982, which was evident in the Los Angeles, Compton and Inglewood areas, occurred during the same time when unemployment was rising because of plant closures”.
Truth:
Another piece of Folklore, which attempts to tie some sort of social phenomenon for Crip gang expansion. There was not one single gang added to the Compton, and South Central area during that time frame. All of the original gangs were in place from the early 1970’s to the mid 1970’s, at the latest.
In the beginning - South Central Los Angeles:
When the term “South Central” Los Angeles Area is used, it specifically refers to the area South of Slauson, extending south through the cities of Compton. The East/West borders are basically the Harbor Freeway. on the west and the Long Beach Freeway. on the east. A portion of this area was policed by various police Departments, including LAPD 77th, Firestone Sheriff’s, and Compton PD.
Much has been said about Raymond Washington starting the Crip Gang in 1969. This claim cannot be disputed, but there is no concrete evidence of his gang ever being called the Crips in1969. Raymond and the others, who have been generally recognized as OG’s, were only 14 or 15 years of age in1969. More realistically the Crip Gang was not started, or at least not recognized, until early 1971.
The original Crip Gang members all had some common bonds. They either had an association through their High schools (Fremont, Locke, or Washington), Fred Shaw Home for Boys, Bob Simmon’s Homes for Boys, or Detention Camps. In some cases all four. Most of the OG’s were troubled youths who craved personal recognition. The newspaper article(s) that publicized the Crip gang’s criminal activity, coupled with the attention (fear) they were receiving from their neighborhood became an attractive, volatile aphrodisiac. This recognition gave them a sense of real power, which they loved
