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The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California in 1971 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, 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.

History

Stanley "Tookie" Williams met Raymond Lee Washington in 1969, and the two decided to unite their local gang members from the west and east sides of South Central Los Angeles in order to battle neighboring street gangs. Most of the members were seventeen years old. Williams discounted the sometimes cited founding date of 1969 in his memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption. Gang activity in South Central Los Angeles has its roots in a variety of factors dating back to the 1950s and 60s including: post-World War II economic decline leading to joblessness and poverty, racial segregation leading to the formation of black "street clubs" by young African American men who were excluded from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, and the waning of black nationalist organizations such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement.

The original name for the alliance was "Cribs", a name narrowed down from a list of many options, and chosen unanimously from three final choices, which included the Black Overlords, and the Assassins. Cribs was chosen to reflect the young age of the majority of the gang members. The name "Cribs" generated into the name "Crips" when gang members began carrying around canes to display their "pimp" status. People in the neighborhood then began calling them cripples, or "Crips" for short. A Los Angeles Sentinel article in February 1972 referred to some members as "Crips" (for cripples). The name had no political, organizational, cryptic, or acronymic meaning. Williams, in his memoir, further discounted claims that the group was a spin-off of the Black Panther Party or formed for a community agenda, the name "depicted a fighting alliance against street gangs—nothing more, nothing less", Williams wrote. Washington, who attended Fremont High School, was the leader of the East Side Crips, and Williams, who attended Washington High School, led the West Side Crips.

Williams recalled that a blue bandanna was first worn by Crips founding member Buddha, as a part of his color-coordinated clothing of blue Levi's, a blue shirt, and dark blue suspenders. A blue bandanna was worn in memorium to Buddha after he was shot and killed on February 23, 1973, which eventually became the color of blue associated with Crips.

The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more youth gangs joined; at one point they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1, sparking disputes with non-Crip gangs, including the L.A. Brims, Athens Park Boys, the Bishops, The Drill Company, and the Denver Lanes. By 1971 the gang's notoriety had spread across Los Angeles.

Initially Crips leaders did not occupy leadership positions, but were recognized as leaders because of their personal charisma and influence. These leaders gave priority to expanding the gang's membership to increase its power. By 1978, there were 45 Crips gangs, called sets, operating in Los Angeles. The gang became increasingly violent as they attempted to expand their turf.

By the early 1980s the gang was heavily involved with drug trade. Some of these Crips sets began to produce and distribute PCP (phencyclidine) within the city. They also began to distribute marijuana and amphetamine in Los Angeles. In the early 1980s Crips sets began distributing crack cocaine in Los Angeles. The huge profits resulting from crack cocaine distribution induced many Crips members to establish new markets in other cities and states. In addition, many young men in other states adopted the Crips name and lifestyle. As a result of these two factors, Crips membership increased throughout the 1980s, making it one of the largest street gang associations in the country. In 1999, there were at least 600 Crips sets with more than 30,000 members transporting drugs in the United States.

Membership

Crips has over 800 sets with 30,000 to 35,000 members and associate members, including more than 13,000 members in Los Angeles. The states with the highest estimated number of Crips sets are California, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Membership typically consists of young African American men, with members being white, hispanic and Asian.

Crip on Crip violence

By 1971, a gang on Piru Street in Compton, California, known as the Piru Street Boys was formed and associated themselves with the Crips as a set. After two years of peace, a feud began between the Piru Street Boys and the other Crip sets. It would later turn violent as gang warfare ensued between former allies. This battle continued and by 1973, the Piru Street Boys wanted to end the violence and called a meeting with other gangs that were targeted by the Crips. After a long discussion, the Pirus broke all connections to the Crips and started an organization that would later be called the Bloods, a street gang infamous for its rivalry with the Crips.

Since then, other conflicts and feuds were started between many of the remaining sets of the Crips gang. It is a popular misconception that Crips sets feud only with Bloods. In reality, they fight each other — for example, the Rollin' 60s and 83rd Street Gangster Crips have been rivals since 1979. In Watts, Los Angeles, the Grape Street Watts Crips and the P Jay Crips have feuded so much that the P Jay Crips even teamed up with the local Bloods set, the Bounty Hunter Bloods, to fight against the Grape Street Crips.

Practices

The literacy practices of Crip's gang life generally include rapping, graffiti and substitutions and deletions of particular letters of the alphabet. The letter "b" in the word "blood" will be "disrespected" among certain sets and written with a cross inside it because of its association with the enemy. The letters "CK", which stand for "Crip killer", will be avoided and substituted with a double "cc", and the letter "b" will be replaced. The words "kick back" will instead be written as "kicc bkacc". Many other letters are also altered due to symbolic associations.

Crips usually identify with the color blue in several different shades and usually wear a blue rag or handkerchief as an identity item. They often wear jogging suits and tennis shoes, professional sports team jackets and caps bearing the names of Los Angeles teams, and sometimes Adidas sweatshirts. They also may wear Dickey brand cotton work pants or bib-style overalls. Nike and British Knights shoes are also popular. Crips refer to each other as "Cuzz" and use the letter C to replace the letter B in their conversations and writings. They have an intricate communication system which involves not only graffiti on walls which mark their particular territorial boundaries, but also the use of hand signals (flashing), displaying their colors, and wearing selected athletic clothing. The initials BK represent their status as "Blood Killers."

See also

• Crip Walk
• Crime in Los Angeles

References

1. ^ U.S. Department of Justice, Crips.
2. ^ "Los Angeles-based Gangs — Bloods and Crips". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved 2009-06-21. Cite error: The named reference "dc.state.fl.us" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. "Crips". Gang Prevention Services. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
4. "Black Gangster Disciples". Gang Prevention Services. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
5. The Crips: Prison Gang Profile insideprison.com. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
6. Crips: Profile gangsacrossamerica.com. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
7. Crips: Los Angeles and Nationwide (April 26, 2007) A.V.M. Gang Awareness Night. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
8. "Gangs Increasing in Military, FBI Says". Military.com. McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
9. ^ Williams, Stanley Tookie; Smiley, Tavis (2007). Blue Rage, Black Redemption. Simon & Schuster. pp. xvii–xix, 91–92, 136. ISBN 1416544496.
10. Stacy Peralta & Sam George (2009). Crips and Bloods: Made in America (TV-Documentary). PBS Independent Lens series. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help); More than one of author-name-list parameters specified (help); Unknown parameter |executive producer= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |producer= ignored (help)
11. "Timeline: South Central Los Angeles". PBS (part of the "Crips and Bloods: Made in America" TV documentary). 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
12. Sharkey, Betsy (2009-02-06). "Review: 'Crips and Bloods: Made in America'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
13. Cle Sloan (Director) (2009). Keith Salmon (ed.). Bastards of the Party (TV-Documentary). HBO. {{cite AV media}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |executive producer= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |producer= ignored (help)
14. "Los Angeles". Inside. National Geographic Channel. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
15. Crip History
16. Capozzoli, Thomas and McVey, R. Steve (1999) Kids Killing Kids: Managing Violence and Gangs in Schools St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, Florida, p. 72 ISBN 1-57444-283-X
17. "A Brief History of the Los Angeles based Crips"
18. War and Peace in Watts (July 14, 2005) LA Weekly. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
19. Smith, Debra; Whitmore, Kathryn F. (2006). Literacy and Advocacy in Adolescent Family, Gang, School, and Juvenile Court Communities. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0805855998.
20. "Crips". Knowgangs.com. Retrieved 2009-06-21.

Reference publications

• National Drug Intelligence Center (2002). (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved 2009-06-21. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help) Product no. 2002-M0465-001.

External links

• History of Crip Gangs in LA early formation of Los Angeles Crips
• PBS Independent Lens program on South Los Angeles gangs
• Snopes Urban Legend – The origin of the name Crips
• L.A.-based gangs – An overview of LA-based gangs
• 2008 interview with Raymond Washington's mother

• Crips
• African American gangs
• Gangs in New York City
• History of Los Angeles, California
• Modern street gangs
• Gangs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Gangs in New Jersey
• Gangs in Canada
• Gangs in Los Angeles, California
• Gangs in Detroit, Michigan
• Gangs in Vancouver
• Gangs in Toronto
• Gangs in Arkansas
• Gangs in Little Rock