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The Bloods are one of the Los Angeles, California street gangs. The Bloods are identified by the red color worn by their members. They also have a particular gang symbol (the word blood spelled with their hand). The gang is largely composed of African Americans, although the Bloods are more racially mixed than the Crips, their rivals. The Bloods are made up out of various cliques known as "sets" or "tres" (trays) between which significant differences exist such as colors, clothing and operations. Since their formation the Blood gangs have branched out throughout the United States..
History
By late 1971 the Avalon Garden Crips and the Inglewood Crips had joined forces with the other crip sets and began to engage in warfare with non-Crip sets. They began to expand to non-Crip gang territories including The L.A. Brims, a powerful street gang, beginning in 1969 on the Westside. They were targeted because they were simply not Crips, which made them a main target for Crip sets to attack. Several gangs eventually became part of the Blood family, including The Bishops, Athens Park boys, and the Denver Lanes also had conflicts with the Crips, but were outnumbered and eventually became unknown in California for a while. There were also the Piru Street Boys, who presented a powerful force in Compton, seeing how the Crips affected their neighborhoods, actually hung out with the Crips prior to 1972. For a short time they were known as the Piru Street Crips, and they also wore the traditional blue rags (bandana) and blue "Chucks" (sneakers) as part of their attire.
During the summer of 1972, the Crips, and the Pirus had a conflict, and an all out rumble ensued. The Pirus, like other northern gangs, were out numbered, and the Crips prevailed. The Pirus wanted to terminate peaceful relations with the Crips so they turned to the Lueders Park Hustlers for back-up. They agreed and a meeting was called on Piru Street. The Pirus also, invited every gang that had been targets by Crip sets to join the meeting, The Crips had murdered an L.A. Brim member earlier that year, so the Brims attended the meeting too. Others that attended were the Denver Lanes, and the Bishops.
How to combat Crip intimidation was discussed along with the creation of a new alliance to counter the Crips. At that time the color of bandannas was not important, but since the Crips were known to wear blue bandanas, the Pirus and the other groups decided to discontinue the wearing of blue bandannas. They decided to take on the wearing of an opposite color, red, and created a united organization which later became known as the Bloods. The Pirus, Brims, Athens Park Boys, and Pueblos decided to unite with the Bloods, and soon after, other gangs who had been threatened or attacked by Crips joined the Bloods.
Bloods and hip-hop
A number of popular West Coast rappers claim to be affiliated with Bloods gangs or use speculation about their ties to gangs to generate media attention. The Game has said he was caught up in the gangs in his Cedar Block neighborhood. Due to employing several known Bloods members, the media has speculated that Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight maintains an association with the gang . Rapper/producer DJ Quik, also a Compton native, has talked about growing up as a member of the Tree Top Piru Bloods. In 1995, Los Angeles producer Ron "Ronnie Ron" Phillips produced the self-titled debut album of the Damu Ridaz, a rap group consisting of gang members from the Denver Lane Bloods.
Notes
- According to a Los Angeles Weekly profile, the Bloods generally refuse to use the letter C in names, especially when names start with a C, they will often add the letter K after C to make it CK, meaning crip killer.
- The Bloods refer to Crips in disrespect as "Crabs".
References
- Maxson, Cheryl L. (1998). "Gang Members on the Move" (PDF). Juvenile Justic Bulletin.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Aftermath.com (2005). "Game Life Story".
- Bruno, Anthony. "The Murders of gangsta rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G." Crime Library. Court TV.
- "Quik as F**k". September 29, 2005.
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- Yusuf Jah, Sister Shah'keyah, Ice-T, UPRISING : Crips and Bloods Tell the Story of America's Youth In The Crossfire, ISBN 0684804603