Bloods and Crips

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Crips" - gang with bandanas
"Hancock Street Bloods Gang" - Brooklyn / NYC

The Crips and the Bloods are two of the three great American gangs . They both come from the Los Angeles , California area . The third largest gang is the Mara Salvatrucha , but this is neither with Bloods nor with Crips in a similarly hostile relationship as this one to each other.

The two groups, which in turn are divided into many individual groups, dominate parts of the illegal drug market in the California city, although others, particularly Hispanic gangs, for example Mara Salvatrucha, are gaining weight in Los Angeles . The Bloods and Crips are characterized by an exceptionally high level of violence, and to this day bloody clashes occur regularly both between individual Crip gangs and between Bloods and Crips, which among other things have led to the current total of around one hundred Members of these gangs are on death row in California.

The Crips are a street gang that was originally founded by Raymond Washington in 1969 under the name "Baby Avenues". After a while, the size of the gang increased rapidly and it was renamed "Avenues Crips". The name "Crips" was later established and refers to the abbreviation "Community Revolution in Progress". Their distinguishing marks are mainly the blue " bandanas ". However, wearing the blue headscarves is a distinguishing mark of decreasing importance.

The name Bloods is an abbreviation of the name “Blood Alliance” for the alliance of rival gangs who, under the impression of increasing aggression and expansion of the Crips, decided in the 1970s to unify their presence to the outside world. Similar to the crips, the distinguishing marks of the Bloods are the red "bandanas", although the wearing of red headscarves is still practiced here, but is no longer of the same importance as in earlier times.

Historical background

South Central LA streetscape

The beginnings of the Crips and their rival, the Bloods, can be found in the social environment of Los Angeles in the 1960s. At that time there was already a very diverse gang scene, which included both white and black, rarely mixed, youth gangs. In what would later become known as South Central Los Angeles (now South Los Angeles ), social tensions were particularly high. South Central was particularly hard hit by the economic decline. In Compton, for example, there was no longer a single cinema and the last large supermarket closed in 1979 because of too frequent shootings. Many white middle class families left the area, and with them what observers call “middle class organization and coordination” of the neighborhoods disappeared. South Central became increasingly impoverished and experienced a previously unknown degree of ghettoization . In addition, there were regular attacks on the now dominant black population by white youth gangs originating in cities such as Huntington Park , Bell and South Gate . The "Spook Hunters" should be mentioned here in particular. This led to backlashes from the black youth gangs that were forming and ultimately also allowed the Los Angeles Police Department ( LAPD ) to increase their presence. Under the leadership of Chief William Parker, it alienated the black population of South Central Los Angeles and especially the youth with a policy of harshness and multiple violent attacks on these gangs, as well as general suspicion of the black population of South Central Los Angeles, so that they were further confirmed in the exercise of vigilante justice felt.

Conditions allowed the apparently routine inspection of a suspected drunk driver in the South Central borough of Watts by a California Highway Patrol officer in 1965 to grow into a riot of unprecedented proportions. It went down in history as the " Watts uproar ". The riots spread across the entire district, lasted six days and, according to official reports, claimed around 1,000 wounded and up to 34 deaths. The riots were carried through large parts of the population of Watts and gang interference was very limited.

As a result of these events, political groups, in particular the Black Panther Party (BPP), founded in Oakland , California in 1966 , gained considerable support from the black population in general and from youth in particular. This made the BPP a primary target for police investigative work and led to its infiltration and disruption, especially by the FBI as part of the secret COINTELPRO program. In addition, the BPP rivaled another group, the US organization , which, like the BPP, had set itself the goal of monitoring police activities and was also characterized by a highly politicized appearance. Police surveillance, arrests and violent clashes between the two groups led to their decline and by around 1970 these political organizations had practically disappeared again and left a power vacuum in Los Angeles, which was subsequently filled by youth gangs, v. a. through the crips.

Creation and development of Crips and Bloods

Raymond Lee Washington- founder of the Crips

The family of then three year old Raymond Lee Washington moved to Los Angeles in 1956. As a teenager, he was thus a contemporary witness of the entire development in Los Angeles and it is obvious that the Watts riots in particular left a lasting impression on him. Washington was a great admirer of the Black Panther Party, which he was not allowed to join due to his age. Together with nine other young people, including Greg "Batman" Davis, he decided to found his own gang, which was initially based on the ideals of the BPP and another gang, the "Avenues". The name of this new gang was based on the Avenues and because of the young age of the members Baby Avenues , other names were Baby Cribs or Avenue Cribs (note the "b" in Cribs , the word also indicated the low age of the members and must not be confused with the later crips ).

In their clothing, the Baby Avenues initially strongly oriented themselves towards the BPP, with black leather jackets and gloves, next to them they wore hats and pants in beige and a walking stick, which probably contributed to the fact that the gang members later called "Crips / Krüppel ”received from local reporting. Initially, the Crips were simply out to take on the role that the BPP had once played. However, from the outset they lacked the political program of the Black Panthers, instead they concentrated exclusively on the aspect of a vigilante and protective power in the respective territories ( turfs ). Due to the poverty of the members and their simultaneous urge to conform to the Crib dress code, some of the first offenses against bystanders occurred. These were mainly break-ins in clothing stores and theft of leather jackets etc. on the street. One such theft grew to become the first murder when a youngster was beaten to death while a leather coat was stolen by a group of youngsters who all looked like Crib members. The press ( Los Angeles Times , 1972) coined the term "Crips" for members of this gang in this context. “Crippin '” would then become the lifestyle of many Cribs.

"Tookie" - an early member of the Westside Crips

The Crips expanded increasingly at this time. A milestone in this development is the entry of Stanley Williams in 1971 and the establishment of the "Westside Crips", while Washington's gang was from now on run as the "Eastside Crips". Crips' confrontations with other gangs escalated and the "honorable" way Washington believed the gang should resolve conflicts; H. in fistfights and man to man, was replaced by the increasing armament of the Crips: initially with cutting and stabbing weapons, then from the mid-seventies also with firearms, in particular shotguns or self-made pistols. Washington itself was in jail from 1973 for second-degree theft and was able to exert little or no influence on developments. Tookie Williams, on the other hand, is considered one of the proponents of this armament and radicalization of the Crips.

The increasingly bloody confrontations over the use of firearms and the now general mass occurrence of crip gangs throughout South Central Los Angeles eventually led rival gangs, which were faction and in the minority, to band together. Leading the way were the "Piru Boys", who had bloody arguments in Compton with the "Compton Crips" resident there. In a meeting of several gangs in Piru Street in 1972, the "Blood Alliance" was finally formed. Since the Crips wore blue neck scarves or headscarves for their identification, the Bloods chose the color red as a distinguishing feature. This identification through special colors, especially red and blue, has been preserved to this day. Outsiders in many gang-dominated districts of major US cities are strongly advised not to wear such clothing in order to avoid accidentally becoming the target of gang rivalries.

After Raymond Washington was at large in the late 1970s, he noticed how drastically the crips had changed and apparently tried to influence developments according to his views. On August 9, 1979, Washington was shot dead with a shotgun from a car. The circumstances of the act suggest that Washington knew his killers. According to friends of Washington and observers of the Crip gangs, it is very likely that the perpetrators or the people behind them, who have not yet been caught, came from the leadership circles of one or more Crip gangs and felt threatened by Washington's views at least saw disturbed.

A few months earlier, Tookie Williams had been arrested for four murders. In the period that followed, new crip and blood gangs established themselves, and the violence increased massively during the 1980s. Part of the responsibility for this was also the marketing of crack , which the various gangs were supposed to sell to men. This led to even more intense clashes among the rival gangs. In particular, among different crip gangs there are still intense hostilities to a large extent, which is why a clear division between bloods and crips and the perception of the crips as a single block is no longer possible.

Bloods are much less involved in violent confrontations with one another, but they traditionally show a considerable degree of willingness to use violence against Crips, and it was essentially Blood gangs who in the 1980s acquired automatic weapons and even assault rifles such as the AK- 47 procured. In general, the armament of the gangs achieved completely new qualities during the 1980s and 1990s, and the previously quite simple shotguns and revolvers were replaced by a whole range of semi-automatic and fully automatic, e.g. Sometimes very expensive handguns replaced.

" In one of those dreams," he says, "I go down my street at night, alone, on the sidewalk. Suddenly a car stops next to me, I can see many heads inside. I run away. They jump out and rush after me . They beat me up. Then the guys start shooting ... bang! ... right in my face. " "

- Rome (18), OG = Original Gangster, about the beginning of the gang wars in Los Angeles

Statistics show that the number of bloody confrontations (“Drive-By Shooting”, “Walk Up” shootings and “Pay Back” killings) in the “Neighborhoods” peaked in 1980 (351), 1991 (771), 1992 (803) and 1995 (807) has decreased significantly in the 21st century. Instead, the violence is concentrated in certain areas. From 2007, there was a concentration in the area around South Vermont Avenue in Westmont / Los Angeles, which was known in the press as "Death Alley".

1992 was the worst year for Los Angeles with over 800 deaths from gang wars. Over half of the victims are not gangsters, but “civil collateral damage” from stray bullets. Although there have since been various agreements between Bloods and Crips (known from the 1992 as a reaction to the LA riots , initiated by various Watts gangs - it was the 1992 Watts Truce (armistice) between the Grape Street Crips of the Jordan Down Projects, the P Jay Watts Crips of the Imperial Courts Housing Project and their enemies, the Bounty Hunter Bloods of the Nickerson Gardens Housing Project who met at the Imperial Courty Project Gym. This peace was later expanded to other sets and subgroups.) as well as between individual gangs to limit the rampant violence, conflicts flare up again and again to this day, and an end to the violence is not in sight, although the death toll has fallen significantly, especially since the early 1990s. Another area of ​​tension has opened up since the 1990s through the establishment of further ethno-centered gangs, especially from the Hispanic environment, especially since South Los Angeles is now largely inhabited by Hispanics and the Afro-American population is increasingly becoming a minority here.

timeline

  • 1970s. South Central Los Angeles is also badly affected by the general recession in the USA and unemployment is rising sharply
  • 1971 - 1972 Raymond Washington (15) founds Baby Avenues, which later changed its name to Avenue Cribs. It is the first Crips gang, whose members have an average age of 14 to 24 years.
  • 1972 - 1975 In response to the growing violence and territorial claims of the Crips, the Piru Street Boys from Compton and other gangs join forces. They form the Bloods - the countermovement to the Crips.
  • 1972 Ten more gangs emerge in South Central LA. 29 people die as a result of the fighting between Bloods and Crips, both of which show pronounced territorial behavior and defend their neighborhood by all means against "intruders".
  • 1974 The number of deaths from gang wars in South Central LA, Compton and Inglewood rises to 70. The murders are concentrated in an area of ​​about 30 square miles.
  • Between 1978 and 1982 101 new Afro-American gangs emerged in Los Angeles, 45 of which were crips neighborhoods. At the same time, 70,000 workers will be laid off.
  • 1978 Los Angeles has about 30,000 gang members, killing 201 people.
  • August 9, 1979 Crips founder Raymond Washington dies at the age of 25 in a shootout between San Pedro and 64th Street in South Central LA
  • 1980 Los Angeles County has 30,000 active gang members
  • 1981 The drug crack finds its way into South Central LA and has devastating effects in the neighborhoods, which are already in a serious crisis. Bloods and Crips get into the drug business and thus the territorial fights for sales areas increase. Not only Los Angeles, but the whole United States is affected. In other major US cities, too, youth violence and the drug problem are increasing rapidly.
  • 1981 Bootsie Johnson († 18) is one of many chance victims when he gets into a shootout between "Santana Block Crips" and "Limehood Pirus" between Oak Street and Santa Fe Avenue and is shot with a pump-action shotgun .
  • April 1, 1987 (Good Friday). A birthday party massacre takes place on 46th Street in South Los Angeles. One person is killed and nine are seriously injured, including a four-year-old child. This act triggers the large-scale police operation "Hammer", which lasts a total of six weeks and costs 2.5 million USD. Around 12,500 young people were provisionally arrested.
  • January 31, 1988 Karen Toshima († 27), graphic artist, is killed in a gunfight between two gangs near the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood Village. She is the first "civilian" victim outside of the ghettos and is bringing the drug war, which the middle class has so far not noticed at all, into the public consciousness for the first time. According to prosecutor Ira Reiner, " nowhere are the streets so unsafe, nowhere is there such a lively drug trade and nowhere is there more shooting and murder than in Los Angeles ".
  • 1988 The film "Colors" appears in cinemas and sparked controversy over police violence and escalating youth violence in South Central LA. "Colors" relentlessly shows the colored ghettos and the fights for crack territories fought with submachine guns as "War Zones" with conditions worse than in Beirut. Director Dennis Hopper was accused of glorifying violence, which he rejected with " I can't lie, there is nothing but violence, and it's getting worse and worse ".
  • 1989 More than 400 people are murdered in gang wars.
  • 1991 The film "Boyz N the Hood", in which Ice Cube, who grew up in South Central LA played, and in which the well-known NWA ("Niggaz Wit Attitudes") title " Straight Outta Compton " is played, attracts international attention.
  • April 29, 1992 The acquittal of the officers involved in the mistreatment of Rodney King escalated into serious unrest that began in Watts between Normandy Avenue and Florence Boulevard and grew into civil war-like revolts. The National Guard must step in to contain the riots. In 1992, 803 deaths were registered in the Los Angeles gang war. The city thus becomes a symbol of urban violence.
  • 1992 The Watts armistice, signed between some Bloods and Crips factions and 12,000 gang members, brings only temporary relief. Only a little later, street fights break out again among the gangs. Dewayne Holmes, one of the initiators of the Watts armistice, was arrested a little later.
  • September 4th, 1993 United Bloods Nation is founded in the New York area.
  • Mid 1990s. The Bloods and Crips have now spread across the United States and have 650,000 members, 150,000 of them in Los Angeles.
  • December 13, 2005 Crips co-founder Stanley Williams is executed.

Identification mark

Bloods hand sign

The bloods are identified by the color red. They often wear sportswear in this color. So-called “Starter Jackets” (jackets from the Starter Clothing Line company ) are particularly popular . Popular jerseys used by sports teams include the San Francisco 49ers , Philadelphia Phillies , Chicago Bulls and Boston Red Sox . They also wear Dallas Cowboys clothing that features a five-pointed star logo. The most common symbols of the Bloods include the five, the five-pointed star and the five-pointed crown, as well as the bull and the bulldog . Some gang members wear three spots branded with a cigarette on their right shoulder. Bloods avoid the letter C (which stands for crips) or replace it with a CK (stands for "crip killer").

Hand sign of the Crips

Typical of the Crips is the color blue, which is often displayed with a bandana . Wearing sportswear and tennis shoes is common. The sports jerseys used here are those of the San Diego Chargers due to their light blue color. Popular brands are Dickies , Adidas , British Knights and Nike . You avoid the letter combination CK and replace it with a CC. The B is replaced by a BK. BK stands for "blood killer".

Bloods greet each other with the word "Blood" or with a hand signal for B. Crips, however, other gang members often refer to them as "Cuzz".

One of the gangs' identification marks is their characteristic rap music , which is glorified in the film Straight Outta Compton , among others .

Initiation rites

The initiation rites of new gang members ("jump-in") include extreme acts of violence in order to gain respect within the group. This can range from physical violence to murder, often of indiscriminate victims. Most of the time, however, it is a matter of proving oneself in conflicts with rival gangs (brawls, "drive-by shooting" etc.) or armed robbery by being particularly daring. "Beat-Down" is one of these procedures in which a circle is formed around the gang candidate, who is then beaten and kicked by other group members in a particularly brutal manner until you are of the opinion that he is through his stamina Has proven "worthy" enough to join the gang. It's about enduring great pain and thereby proving your loyalty to the gang. "Blood-In and Blood-Out" is based on the self-image of the Bloods and Crips, that you can only join the gang by doing a bloody act and only leave it again by your own death. The gang demands unconditional allegiance and becomes a surrogate family. The increase in female violence among gang members is explained, among other things, by the fact that collective rape is one of the usual admission rituals ("sexed-in" or "gangbang") and is understood as submission. The victims submit to this brutal procedure partially voluntarily in order to then rise in social rank from a pure "sex object" with the lowest rank to a full gang member.

activities

Posing a crips gangster has become a kind of lifestyle in the neighborhoods. Terms like "crip walk", "crippin 'around" or "gangbanging", in this case in a non-sexual sense, are used to show the typical behavior of an OG, an original gangster. Many spend a large part of the day and also the night standing around on street corners, demanding respect from others, showing macho imposing behavior and protecting the neighborhood from the intrusion of another gang. The activities of the teenage, mostly unemployed, gang members primarily include drug trafficking (mostly crack , marijuana ), which is often carried out in the vicinity of the schools in the “neighborhood”. The Crips obtained most of the cocaine for crack production from the Cali cartel . A kilo of cocaine has a street value of $ 10,000. In the "crack kitchens" of the gangs around 12,000 servings of crack with a value of around ten dollars are "baked" from it. The sales are huge. There is bitter fighting for every block in the drug market.

In addition, protection racket, illegal arms trade and pimping (“pimp business”) are also sources of income to a certain extent . In the sociolect of the youth gangs, the "gangers" are the gang's followers, "bangers", those who form a raid party into enemy territory and the third group are "hangers" and "Wannabes" (also BG - "baby gangsters"), who run along but officially do not yet have the status of a full gang member. The "Shooters" use fully automatic weapons to fire untargeted bursts of fire. “Killer / Killaz”, on the other hand, carry out targeted contract killing. "Lookers" or "Look-Ups" are often used as observation posts on street corners and warn of "border crossings" by enemy gangs. Mostly 12 to 13 year old students are equipped with radio beeper. It makes you $ 300 to $ 400 a week. A very good salary with a youth unemployment rate of around 50% and a legal per capita income of around USD 5,000 per year. "Hookers" are prostitutes and "pushers" are small, outpatient drug sellers on the street. "Dealers" are drug dealers on a large scale, who then turn into wealthy "rollers" through the profit. Ice-T once emphasized that in the ghetto only the “law of the jungle” and of the strong apply. Reputation includes those who behave as male and violent.

Women are referred to as “ hoes ” and “ bitches ” “ who just want to be laid flat .” The perspective of gang members is slim. For most of them there is either only prison or, alternatively, death on the street. The violent death of many gangsta rappers who belong to a gang is often heroized accordingly: " The rapper Seagram Miller from Oakland died in a hail of bullets in the early hours of the morning. He was in a hostile district when he was gunned down. Seagrams Partner, Gangsta P, was critically injured in the fire attack . ". While Ice Cube (" Nobody I know got killed today, in South Central LA, it was a good day ."), Lil Wayne , Cardi B , Chris Brown , Immortal Technique , Prodigy , Waka Flocka Flame , RZA , GZA , B- Real , Birdman , Cormega , Sen Dog , Cam'ron and The Game are counted among the Bloods are Snoop Dogg , Dr. Dre , Eazy-E , Nate Dogg , Coolio , Young Jeezy , Warren G , Schoolboy Q , Tone Lōc , Afroman , 40 Glocc , MC Ren , Daz Dillinger and Kurupt associated with the Crips. They sing about the lives of gang leaders, drug lords and lawlessness and use their own jargon with expressions such as “ Niggaz ”, “ Fuckin 'Nigga Hoes ” or “ Motherfuckaz ”.

The O.Gs. are role models for the baby gangsters who want to imitate the mostly well-trained and dominant youngsters. In order to stand out, they have to be even more death-defying and cold-blooded than the O.Gs. proceed with the result that many of them die very young. The Bloods and Crips are known for sending the newbies very often on "suicide missions", which are very often fatal. According to prison psychologist Susan Egan, one fifth of them "make it to the top, another fifth goes to hell ." Gang funerals in the Los Angeles ghettos are colorful and full of pomp. The set wears its bandanas around its head and the weapon until the last escort. Clergy and social workers can sometimes negotiate a ceasefire for the funeral procession of the gang member who has been shot, but very often this is also shot at from passing cars by a rival gang. Howard “Yogi Bear” Hall, former member of the “Mona Park Crips” and survivor of the gang wars, describes the lifestyle of the gangs as a “ death cult, because in the end everything would be destroyed and only gravestones would remain. ".

Effects

The police's response to the excesses of “ trigger-happy gangbangers ” on the street is helicopter surveillance and mostly counter-violence (including operation “Hammer” in 1987) and less de-escalation. The police often refer to the non-profit housing estates (Projects) of Los Angeles as " snake pits " because of their dangerousness . Street workers have observed that on the 1st and 15th of each month, when the welfare checks arrive in the ghetto, the shootings decrease significantly. Because the average of 295 USD is enough for two or three “drug nights in the intoxication of bliss”. " Mothers forget their babies, men their wives and the 'Crips' and 'Bloods' that they have to kill each other ." The hospitals in the surrounding region specialize in treating gunshot wounds . In the King Drew Hospital (now Martin Luther King Hospital) in Willowbrook , between Watts and Rosewood, more than 5,000 gunshot wounds per year during the height of the "Gang Wars" with a focus on South Central, Compton and Watts in the early 1990s in every other hospital in the United States. The emergency room would have to care for more seriously wounded people on some nights than in a crisis or war zone. The chief physician Dr. Fleming to the Pentagon , " There's a war going on in Los Angeles, we need help ". The entrance to the emergency room had to be guarded by security personnel, as rival gangs tried again and again to give an injured rival the "catch shot" while still in the hospital. William Rathburn, Police Chief of South Central LA, describes the situation as follows: “The only thing we can do is make a makeshift way of preventing the dams from breaking. I've got 1,200 cops and half of the entire gang problem on my neck; I have deleted the term 'win' from my vocabulary . ”Daryl Gates, police chief of the LAPD, reported in 1991 in all sharpness about the“ states of war in Los Angeles ”:“ There is war here. This is Vietnam . ”And according to the words of the mayor of Artesia , James Van Horn, the blacks are to a certain extent the“ Viet Cong ”who have joined together to form the two super bands, the Bloods and Crips. Since the beginning of the "crack epidemic" in the second half of the 1980s, the situation has gotten completely out of control. As a result of the violent gang war, civilians who were not involved take certain security measures: In some areas, the lights are hardly turned on at night, nor is the TV set in order to avoid a target, and many sleep on the floor to avoid being hit by gunshots and ricochets in bed become.

Splinter groups (sets), subgroups and their territories (selection)

  • 900 Block Bloods : Bloods gang from Compton, which is counted among the Tree Top Pirus.
  • Black P. Stones Bloods / Almighty Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN): allegedly up to 100,000 members, Chicago-based organization. The Black P. Stones Jungles, which claim some territories in Los Angeles for themselves, are a sub-division of the Black P. Stones (BPS). In 1972, the BPS were among the founders of the Bloods along with the LA Brims, Piru St Boys, Athens Park Boys, Bishops, Denver Lanes, Pueblos, and Lueders Park Hustlers. The BPS, in turn, are divided into two gangs: the City Stone Bloods "Bity" from Mid-City / Arlington Heights and the Jungle Stone Bloods, which have been around since 1969 . The latter come from Baldwin Village, also known as "The Jungle", a neighborhood on the West Side of South Central Los Angeles. They quickly grew into one of the biggest gangs in South LA. The Black P Stones are estimated to have 700 members. 300 of them in Baldwin Village alone. Between 2000 and 2005 , the Jungle Stone Bloods were responsible for around 28 murders and 1,500 robberies. For a long time, their headquarters was the Chesapeake Apartment, a residential complex with 425 residential units that was repeatedly stormed by the police. On November 10, 2005, "Operation Stone Cold" began, a large-scale operation by the LAPD against the BPS with 18 arrests. In another raid in 2011, 30-40 gang members were arrested. Police officer Brian S. Bentley's experience with the BPS was recorded in the book "One Time: The Story of a South Central Los Angeles Police Officer" (Cool Jack Publishing. 2016. ISBN 978-1890632038 ).
  • Bounty Hunter Bloods or East Side Bounty Hunter Bloods (ESBHB): Blood Gang from Watts. This group was founded in 1972 and is also active in Watts, where it is one of the largest gangs, under the name East Side (E / S) Bounty Hunters Watts Bloods. You rule the Nickerson Gardens Housing Project from 108th Street (north) to Imperial (south), between Compton Ave (east) and Central Avenue. Their direct rivals are the Grape Street Watts Crips. They are also feuding with the Piru sets. Their predecessors from the Jordan Downs Projects were called Green Jackets and were led by Rhea (Ray) Boyce. The Bounty Hunter was born in 1971 on 112nd Street around personalities like Gary Barker and Junior Thomas. In 1978, to the west of Central Avenue, the Bell Haven Bounty Hunters were founded and in 1981 Renee McGowen founded the Lot Bounty Hunters. The Bounty Hunters quickly split up into numerous sets. Your arch rivals are Grape Street Watts. The harsh hostilities of the 1980s and early 1990s did not decline until the 1992 Watts armistice. The story of this neighborhood is in Allhood Publications Magazine, Issue # 2 | Grape Street Crips & Bounty Hunters written down. In 2018 an interview was recorded with Anthony “00” Boykin, a gang leader for the Bounty Hunters in New York.
  • Center Park Bloods (CPB) also Center Park Boys: the CPB have been active on the west side of Inglewood, between 111st and 108th Streets, since the 1970s. Compared to other sets in the local neighborhood, the CPB that form an alliance with the Inglewood Family Bloods are rather small. The CPB originally come from the Inglewood Family Gang and specifically war against the Mad Ass Gangster Crips, Imperial Village Crips, Tonga Crips Gang, Osage Legend Crips and Raymond Avenue Crips.
  • Centinela Park Family (Bloods): the CPF comes from the Eastside of Inglewood. You are associated with the Family Bloods and fight the Rollin 60 Crips. Their area is concentrated around Edward Vincent Junior Park on Centinela Avenue, between Hyde Park Blvd and Florence Avenue
  • Crenshaw Mafia Gangster (CMG) (Bloods): the CMG comes from Inglewood / Westside. This set has been featured in films such as Boyz N The Hood (1993), The Wood (1999), Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Dope (2015). This grouping arose in the 1970s and includes the core area Century Blvd and 104th Street, Village Darby-Dixon, a neighborhood also known as "The Bottom" / "Bottoms Ville". Some rappers of the Damu Ridas group (in 1993 they released the famous song "Piru Love" tBAo Bloods - Piru Love (original album version) ) were members of the CMG. All of them were killed in shootings.
  • Doty Block Gang : a smaller group from Inglewood
  • East Coast Crips (ECC): powerful Crips gang that governs large parts of the East Side of Los Angeles and South Central Los Angeles. The ECC acts like a franchise company , which gives its name to numerous independent gangs: 1 East Coast Crips, 59 East Coast Crips, 62 East Coast Crips, 66 East Coast Crips, 68 East Coast Crips etc. The ECC is currently at war with Hispanic gangs.
  • Eight Tray Gangster Crips (ETGC) also 83 Gangster Crips: the ETGC are a notorious formation from South Central LA They come from the neighborhoods between Gage Ave. - 79th Str., Western u. Vermont Ave. They are considered by the FBI to be the most violent gang in Los Angeles. Its members often wear baseball caps with the badges of the Texas Rangers, or Texas Longhorns, from which the letter T is derived. The ETGC hit the headlines when it shot and killed two underage girls during a drug handover. On April 29, 1992, when Rodney King's mistreatment sparked the LA riot, the ETGCs were the first gang to declare war. Police helicopters observed a scene from the air where Reginald O Denny of the ETGC was beaten half to death. Another member, Trynon Lee Jefferson, nicknamed "Psycho", was wanted nationwide for triple police murder on Manchester Ave. The best-known ETGC gangster is Sanyika Shakur (real name: Kody Dehjon Scott, born November 13, 1963), who committed numerous crimes in his neighborhood under the nickname "Monster". In 1993 his biography was published under the title "Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member".
  • Grape Street Watts Crips (GSWC / GSC / GSW): the GSWC are the first crips gang that was formed in Watts. Its heartland is the Jordan Downs Housing Projects from Grape Street to 97th Street, Alameda Street and 103rd Street. Her struggles and unforgiving demeanor against the Bounty Hunter Bloods are known as the longest and bloodiest feuds in the entire Los Angeles gang war. The GSWC appear in Stacy Peralta's 2008 documentary "Crips and Bloods: Made in America". The Grape Street Crips have swapped blue, the typical color of the Crips, for purple.
  • Imperial Village Crips (IVC): the IVC operate in Arbor Village, Inglewood . This gang received media attention through its connection to the rapper Tyruss Himes, who later took the stage name Big Syke and published the song "Thug Life". The IVC fight all local blood gangs, especially the Crenshaw Mafia Bloods and the Inglewood Family Bloods.
  • Inglewood Family Gang (IFG) or Inglewood Family Gangster Bloods: one of the first Bloods groups to be in direct feud with the West Side Crips under Stanley "Tookie" Williams from the start. They are allied with the Avenue Piru Gang, the Crenshaw Mafia Bloods, and the Centinela Park Family.
  • Osage Legend Crips : their territory is Inglewood. The gang is one of the few that, oddly enough, is dominated by Bloods. They are feuding with other Crips formations, such as B. the Tonga Crip Gang
  • Pirus / Piru Street Family or Avenue Piru Gangsters (APG): The Pirus are divided into numerous sets. They originated in Compton, spread to Carson, Hawthorne, Houston, San Diego, Fresno, Santa Barbara and Watts and belong to the Blood Alliance. Their colors are red and burgundy.
    • 135 Pirus
    • Avenue Piru aisle
    • Bartender Pirus
    • Butler Block Piru
    • Campanella Park Pirus
    • Cedar Block Pirus
    • Cross Atlantic Pirus
    • East Compton Piru
    • East Side Pirus
    • Elm Street Pirus
    • Fruit Town Pirus
    • Holly Hood Pirus
    • Leuders Park Pirus
    • Lime Hood Pirus
    • Neighbor Hood Pirus
    • Mob Piru
    • Original block Pirus
    • Taper Street Pirus
    • Tree Top Pirus
    • Village Town Piru
    • West Park Piru
    • West Side Pirus
  • Project Watts Crips : also known as PJ Watts Crips (PJWC) or PJ Crips from the Imperial Courts Housing Project in Watts. The PJ Watts Crips became known through their leader Tyrone Tony Thomas, alias "Tony Bogard", who was instrumental in the 1992 "Armistice of Watts". Two years later, "Tony Bogard" was killed in a shootout with a member of his own gang.
  • Queen Street Bloods (QSBG): the GSBG come from the west side of Inglewood and were sanctioned by the Bloods in the 1980s through their unauthorized alliance with the NeighborHood Pirus of the Blood Alliance.
  • Raymond Ave Crips = World Famous Raymond Crips (RAC): the RAC are based on the west side of Los Angeles and Inglewood.
  • Rollin 20's Neighborhood Bloods (R20NHB): one of the oldest Bloods Gangs from the West Adams District, West Side / South Central LA. The R20NHB have now become one of the largest Bloods Gangs in LA. One of its most famous members is the future writer Terrell C. Wright
  • Shot Gun Crips (SGC): The SGC claim the west side of Gardena / California for themselves.
  • Tongan Crips Gang (TCG) also T-Gang: Crips set with Pacific roots ( Samoa , Tonga and others). TCG operates across California and Utah.
  • United Bloods Nation / East Coast Bloods : one of the larger Bloods Gang, which has established itself with its 5,000 to 7,000 gang members in the New York area.
  • Venice Shoreline Crips (VSLC / VSC): even posh Venice has a crips faction. They were founded in the Afro-American Venice Oakwood Neighborhood, also known as "The Ghetto by the Sea". In the 1980s this gang also started dealing in crack. In the 1990s, the conflicts with the Culver City 13 Gang over the Mar Vista Gardens Projects began, which were fought in nightly firefights. In the end, the VSC were driven out of the highly competitive Mar Vista Gardens Projects.
  • Weirdos Gangster Bloods (WGB): the WGB are active on the West Side of Inglewood. Its supporters wear Washington National Baseball caps, hence the name W for weirdos.
  • Westside Crips : one of the oldest crips sets from 1971, which was found near Washington High School on Thinker Ave. Was founded and later expanded to Bakersfield , California.

Bloods and Crips show an opaque network of different, partly fragile alliances, as well as z. Sometimes even feuds between individual Bloods and Crips sets among themselves. The boundaries are not static, but are often redrawn every week.

Representation in the literature

In her alleged autobiography "Love and Consequences", which was later exposed as a forgery, Margaret Seltzer (pseudonym Margaret B. Jones) describes her alleged life as a member of the Bloods.

Movies

literature

"Crips" - in the Drugs and Crime Profile (en.)
  • Robert Stack, Paul Sharratt, Brad O'Leary, David McKenzie: Gangsta King: Raymond Lee Washington. New York 2003, OCLC 60336842 . (NBC-based documentary about the evolution of Crips and Bloods in general and the life of Washington in particular)
  • Malcom Klein: The American Street Gang: Its Nature, Prevalence and Control. Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-19-509534-0 .
  • Kody Scott: Monster Kody. I was a street gang fighter. Heyne Verlag , Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-07500-5 .
  • Bodo Mrozek: Blood and Respect: America's Dirty Backyard. Report. In: Lettre International . No. 93, June 2011, pp. 100-104.

Web links

Commons : Crips  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Bloods  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa This is a death cult. SPIEGEL reporter Joachim Riedl on drug gangs in Los Angeles. The mirror. January 1, 1989
  2. ↑ a b Malcolm W. Klein, sociologist, in Gangsta King: Raymond Lee Washington. Documentation. 2003.
  3. ↑ Behind the Crips Myth. In: Los Angeles Times . November 20, 2007, accessed March 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ The year 1971/1972 is sometimes seen as the year in which the Crips were founded. However, due to statements made by founding members as well as scientists and civil servants, this representation is not tenable, see web links / literature. Tookie Williams was also not a founding member of the Crips, but he was an early member and had a significant influence on the further development of the Crips. The designations Westside and Eastsidel refer to the location of the gangway territories to the Harbor Freeway / Interstate 110 , which runs on the north-south axis through Los Angeles.
  5. ↑ The colors have no deeper meaning, but serve purely for differentiation. When the Crips began to wear blue scarves, and due to the limited selection in many stores where gang members bought their accessories at the time, the color red was simply the logical choice (portrayed by Kevin McBride, former gang analyst for the LAPD , in Gangsta King , documentary)
  6. ^ Gang Homicide in Los Angeles County 1980-2000
  7. ↑ Fire fight out of the car
  8. ↑ on foot
  9. ↑ Talking to the violent Street Gangs of Los Angeles. In: Chicago Tribune. August 25, 1991.
  10. ↑ local neighborhoods, respectively territories of the Crips or Bloods
  11. ↑ Welcome to LA's 'death alley': Two-mile stretch of road which has had 60 homicides in seven years. In: Mail Online. 20th January 2014.
  12. ↑ County's Yearly Gang Death Toll Reaches 800. In: Los Angeles Times.
  13. ↑ affairs. Kick in the body. Beating police officers were caught in Los Angeles by a videographer - front scenes in the war against the black underclass. In: Der Spiegel. March 25, 1993.
  14. ^ Crime & Justice. Forget the LA Riots - historic 1992 Watts gang truce was the big news.
  15. ↑ social housing projects
  16. ↑ Gym
  17. ↑ US gangs. With machetes in the street war. They call themselves "Bloods", "Crips", "Knockout Honies" - there are around 21,000 gangs in the United States, and more and more gangs as young as seven are joining them. In many cities there is again an alarm mood. In: Stern. April 5, 2005.
  18. ^ Los Angeles Crips and Bloods: Past and Present. Poverty & Prejudice: Gangs of All Colors. EDGE
  19. ↑ A Murder That Woke Up LALA Times. January 30, 1998
  20. ↑ Once to hell and back. The mirror. September 19, 1988
  21. ↑ Timeline: South Central Los Angeles
  22. ↑ Gang wars in LA Deal, shoot, rap. The bloody gang wars in the slums of the American metropolises are out of control. More and more young people are drawn into the maelstrom of the numerous gangs, whose violent image is also glorified by the famous rappers of the billion dollar hip-hop industry. In: Der Spiegel. November 27, 2002.
  23. ^ Society. Rolled over. “Straight Outta Compton” was supposed to tell about ghetto life, police violence and the gangsta rap of the band NWA. Then reality caught up with the film. In: Der Spiegel. August 14, 2015.
  24. ↑ Inside a Gang Initiation with the Silent Murder Crips. “Beat-In” the Crips
  25. ↑ Being raped by a gang is normal - it's about craving to be accepted '. Former gang member reveals how women suffer shocking sexual abuse in return for 'status'. In: The Guardian. February 18, 2012.
  26. ^ How Street Gangs Work
  27. ↑ What is initiation like for the Crips gang?
  28. ↑ How New York's gang culture is changing. The violence in New York is increasingly perpetrated by small local gangs, but “super gangs” like the Bloods and Crips still exist. on www.vice.com, August 21, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Looks like neon advertising". The mirror. December 18, 1989
  30. ↑ The Laws of the Jungle. The mirror. 1 . February 1994
  31. ↑ Blood trail from the ghetto. The mirror. August 1, 1997
  32. ^ Rappers Associated with Bloods. Ranker hip hop
  33. ^ Rappers Associated with Crips. Ranker hip hop
  34. ↑ After sun over LA Der Spiegel. February 1, 1996
  35. ↑ "First plug the holes". The mirror. October 2, 1995
  36. ↑ Kicks in the body. Beating police officers were caught in Los Angeles by a videographer - front scenes in the war against the black underclass. The mirror. March 25, 1991
  37. ↑ Tree Top Pirus
  38. ↑ Owner of gang-infested apartment complex may be forced to live in his crime-ridden facility. MyNewsLA.com. November 27, 2017
  39. ↑ Bounty Hunter
  40. ↑ LA Gangs: Nine Miles and Spreading. In: LA Weekly. December 12, 2007.
  41. ↑ Bounty Hunter Bloods
  42. ↑ A social housing project comprising around 700 residential units in Watts
  43. ↑ Bounty Hunter Bloods on www.streetgangs.com
  44. ↑ What The Gang Leader Of The BOUNTY HUNTER BLOODS Taught This FBI Agent About Life, by James A. Gagliano. The Havok Journal. 20th July 2018.
  45. ^ Center Park Bloods
  46. ^ Centinela Park Family
  47. ^ Centinela Park Family Bloods at www.rapdict.org
  48. ↑ Crenshaw Mafia gangsters
  49. ^ The Blood Alliance
  50. ^ Inside the East Coast Crips Street Gangs
  51. ^ East Coast Crips
  52. ↑ unitedgangs.com
  53. ↑ Sanyika Shakur: Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member . Penguin, 1994, ISBN 0-14-023225-7 .
  54. ↑ Grape Street Watts Crips
  55. ^ Crips and Bloods: Made in America
  56. ^ Imperial Village Crips
  57. ↑ Inglewood Family Gang
  58. ↑ Osage Legend Crips
  59. ^ PJ Watts Crips
  60. ^ Queen Street Bloods
  61. ↑ unitedgangs.com
  62. ^ Rollin 20's Neighborhood Bloods
  63. ^ Terrell C. Wright: Home of the Body Bags . Senegalpress, 2005, ISBN 0-9758594-0-4 and Terrell C. Wright: Revelations of an ordinary Childhood . Senegalpress, 2006, ISBN 0-9758594-1-2 .
  64. ↑ Shot Gun Crips
  65. ↑ Tongan Crips Gang
  66. ↑ Weirdo's Gangster Bloods
  67. ^ Westside Crips
  68. ^ Margaret B. Jones: Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival. Riverhead Books, New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-59448-977-8 .
  69. ↑ Bastards of the Party on german.imdb.com
  70. ↑ Colors - colors of violence on german.imdb.com
  71. ↑ Crips and Bloods: Made in America on german.imdb.com
  72. ↑ Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story on german.imdb.com