Los Angeles is known as the epicenter of gang life and gang culture in America. L.A has produced two
of the most vicious street gangs of modern times - The Crips and The Bloods. Their violence and
influence has spread across America infecting it with crime. Culturally these two gangs have
leaked into the fabric of the world through music fashion and film. But, long before the rise of
this gang empire that would fill the streets with blood there were low-level gangs. As stated in
the journal Los Angeles, Crips and bloods Past and Present by Julia Dunn there were a number of small
African-American gangs from the 1920s onwards. These were largely nonviolent non-territorial
organizations made up of family and friends. They mainly did petty crime if anything. It has been
suggested by the documentary Crips and bloods - Made in America that there were little outlets
for black children at the time. For example, black children were allegedly not allowed to
join the scouts in that area. The significant thing was when I went to join the Boy Scouts
okay the Boy Scouts of America. My mother takes me up to the Scouts at the Goodyear rubber plant
where the original blimp was from 1933 to 1983 parked in our neighborhood right there. So I go
up there to join the Boy Scouts my mother taking out the Scoutmaster. He was nice but he tells my
mother well I don't know, some of the parents might object. Because it was a white troop.
Some notable gangs from this era include the good Lows, Kelly's, Magnificence, Driver Brothers,
Boozie's and the Blood Gets. In the forties crime started to ramp up as gangs were involved
in forgery, prostitution, extortion and gambling. Purple Hearts, 31st Street, and 28th Street were
notable gangs of that time. The 1950s brought about the car club gangs such as The Lowriders,
Slauson's, The Gladiators and the Coasters. This also ushered in the territorial control
of the gangs. Rival gang members would beat each other if they were found in the wrong territory.
This territorial grid-lock was made worse by the LAPD who would arrest black people for crossing
into white neighborhoods. Allegedly it was an open secret that one of the tacit duties of LAPD was to
make sure people were in the right neighborhoods at the right time and Alameda Boulevard was the
white curtain in L.A. You didn't cross Alameda for no reason at all. East of Alameda these were white
areas Lynwood South Gate we couldn't go there. You had cops that didn't want you there and blacks
that daned to cross the line were quickly put in place by police officers. The gangs would meet
up for organised fights using nothing but their fists. Ultimately, as the violence notched up so
did the weaponry. First it was bats, chains, and knives. Then years later came the guns.
Car clubs fizzled out into the sixties. It was the organized criminal gangs that took
over. Towards the end of the sixties street gangs were incredibly common.
However, a new gang was waiting in the wings to completely take over. The Baby Avenue Gang was
founded by Raymond Washington which was renamed the Cribs and then later on the Crips. As with
many gangs they formed to self protect from other gangs in the area. Raymond Washington built his
reputation in fist fights with local gangs. This, along with his charismatic leadership
inspired others to join. Many sources including Britannica suggest the Crips as an organized
gang formed in 1971 when gangs from the east and west unified. In 1972 there were six Crip gangs
named the Eastside Crips, Avalon Garden, 104th Street, Compton, Westside and Inglewood Crips.
The Crips made money by robbing and extorting non-gang members. During their expansion they
began to encroach on the territory and operations of rival gangs. The National
Geographic documentary Bloods and Crips; LA Gangs explain that one angered rival was T Rodgers
founder of the Black P Stones. The guys from the other side of the double yellow line would come
over into our neighborhood, rob and burglarized certain houses. So we told them dudes you know if
y'all got that type of shenanigans going on y'all stay over there and do it in y'all's neighborhood.
Tired of being outnumbered by the Crips he and the other gangs including The Piru Street Boys of
Compton, The L.A Brims, The Lords Park hustlers had a meeting. The separate gangs unified under
one name - the Bloods. Their gang colours would be red to symbolize blood and to contrast the blue
of the Crips. We called a meeting up at Manual Arts High School and there were four groups and
we all agreed that we would come together and if any of us had problems or needed help that
the others would be there to support them in their endeavors. There's a safety in numbers.
Silvester Scott and Vincent Owens are credited with forming the Bloods. The Crips still heavily
outnumbered the Bloods and they began targeting them. Gang fights would break out all across
South Central L.A. These fist fights would mark the beginning of the deadly open warfare between
the two factions. It has been suggested that the Bloods turned to guns first to defend themselves
from the mass numbers of Crips. Raymond Washington was against using guns but he had already lost
control when imprisoned in 1974. This year saw the invention of the drive-by shooting
when Crips shot a teenager dead at the home of T Rogers. The Crips were set up for protection
but ultimately they couldn't protect themselves from themselves. Though under the umbrella of
Crip many gangs maintained independence and defended their territory, thus Crips began
to kill other Crips. IN particular the 8 Treys and the Rollin 60s started feuding. In 1979 the
disillusioned founder Raymond Washington was blasted in the chest and killed by a shotgun.
Many speculate a member of the Crips was the shooter but the culprit was never found. [Music]
Tookie Williams who helped found the gang was also imprisoned for life the same year for four
counts of murder. The very next year there were 355 gang homicides in L.A. The 80s would bring
about the most destructive force yet for the gangs - crack. Thanks to Pablo Escobar the powder and
rock flooded the streets. Inevitably this made the gangs more territorial, and more vicious,
as whoever controlled the supply and held the most territory made the most money. And because of the
territorial divide the gangs were dealing to their own neighbors. They were poisoning
their own community in order to make money. This is it so powerful it will empty the money
from your pockets make you sell the watch off your wrist, the clothes off your back. this new found
wealth also gave them the funds to arm themselves with military-grade weapons, like AK-47's. The
destruction was so bad that in 1987 there was one gang murder every 24 hours in LA. Things got
worse in 1990 when there were 690 gang murders in L.A. In 1992 the two gangs declared a truce after
the L.A riots bringing an end to a 30-year war. In that year homicides dropped by 44%.
Crips and bloods once rivals, working together. We would like to go to speak to schools, parks,
to the whole community, businesses and everybody and let them know,
let our younger generation know that we're coming together to lead those who would have
been going straight and we're gonna lead it now to the right direction.
However, the truce did not last.With the help of mass incarceration and the influence of gangsta
rap the Bloods and Crips spread out across America to form their own factions. According
to Britannica the Crips operated in 40 states and had upwards of 20,000 members. The Bloods
also grew into other areas including New York and have over 20,000 members.
Thankfully peace talks began in 2019 after the death of rapper Nipsey Hussle. Hopefully
this will bring an end to the bloodiest and longest gang war in American history [Music]
[Music]