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”.
Myth number 2:
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.
“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.
The Crip name, the
Crip dress, and the Crip walk spread like fire throughout the Juvenile Justice
System. A large number of troubled youth, who were in the juvenile detention
system, wanted to be associated with this feared Crip image. Once these
juveniles were released, they took this Crip identity back to their own
individual neighborhoods, and formed their own Crip Gang. One problem developed
though. The most hard core youth of each neighborhood wanted to be the leaders
of their own neighborhoods. They wanted to have an alliance with other Crip
gangs, but they definitely didn’t want to take orders from any “outside” group,
or person. The OG’s continually tried to organize all the Crips into a one
central command type of structure. That structure never materialized.
Early Crip
Sets
Some of the
very earliest OG neighborhood Crip gangs formed along both sides of Central
Ave., between Gage St. and 92 St. The Kitchen Crip gang was the first to develop
East of Central Ave. The others followed within weeks. A couple of other gangs,
including the Avalon Gardens Crips, were the first to form on the West Side of
Central. The only other Crip gang outside this “Central Ave.” connection was the
Grandee Crips in Compton. Some of the original OG Crip gangs are listed, along
with a few of their recognized leaders name and/or nicknames of active members
of those particular OG neighborhood gangs. It should be noted that all of the
following gangs had 100 plus members.
Avalon Gardens CripsJimel Barnes
God father, Davis, Koonce, et al
Kitchen CripsHillis and Lee family
Skull, Red, Woo Boo, Cowboy, et al.
Neighborhood Crips Gregory Davis
Batman, Black Joe, Dog D, et al.
Mafia Crips Steven Robinson
Ba-Ba, Mad Professor, Karate Man, et al.
House Crips, Kenneth Jackson
Black, Iron Man, Pee Wee, et al.
BMCD Foster Grigsby
Deadly Blue, Battle’s, Pookie, et al.
Main Street Crip James Compton
Little James, Squeeky, Moto, et al.
Grandee Crips,
Mack Thomas
Sugar Bear, Salty,
Too Sweet, et al.
A few other
highly visible OG Crips in the early 1970’s were Karate Man, Monkey Man, Light
Bulb, Concepcion, and Paddle Foot
Gang Influence
By the end of 1972
every area of the South Central Los Angeles felt the influenced of a street
gang. The Crips considered themselves “gangsters”, or street thugs who were
involved in every type of criminal activity. Their criminal activity was
committed mostly in their own neighborhoods, e.g. burglaries, purse snatches,
GTA’s and narcotics. A number of anti-Crip gangs also simultaneously began
forming at approximately the same rate as the Crip expansion. The first of these
anti-Crip groups was the Piru Gang. This gang was located on Piru Street in the
city of Compton. The OG Piru’s came from an upper middle classneighborhood
in Compton. Their original purpose of the formation of the Pirus was
only to keep the Crips from overrunning their own neighborhood. Note: This group did not
fit the common societal mold of believing “only poor kids that have no future
are drawn to gangs”. A number of the OG Pirus even drove Fleetwood
Cadillacs.
Other anti-Crip
gangs begin forming alliances with each other to combat the overwhelming Crip
Gang influence. I’ve listed some of the earliest original OG anti-Crip
gangs, (Blood terminology did not start until the mid to late 1970’s) along with
a few of their recognized leaders name and/or nicknames of members of those
particular OG neighborhood gangs. It should be noted that all of the following
gangs also had over 100 plus members.
Pirus, Sylvester
Scott
Puddin, AC,
Carters, Tam, et al.
Bishops. Bobby
Lavender
Turp, Clay, Space
Ghost, Magoo, et al.
Bounty Hunters,
Herman Coleman
King Rat, Ali
Baba, Red, McGowans, et al.
Leuders Park
Pirus, Marcus Nunn
China Dog,
Studderbox, Black Bird, et al.
Athens Park
Boys, Anthony and Michael White
Junior, Cold
Train, Mooney, Butch, et al.
Homicides
A number of
homicides occurred between these warring factions over the years. Two of the
most notable gang homicide victims were an OG Piru named “Tam the Top”,
and an OG Grandee Crip named “Salty”. Their funerals were highly attended
by their respective gangs. Each of their funeral processions stretched well over
a mile long. Low riders, containing a minimum of four gang bangers each would
hang out their vehicle’s windows, yell their gang name, and wave their
respective blue or red handkerchiefs, as the funeral procession made its way to
their designated cemetery. The shear size of these funerals was an indicator of
just how massive the gang problem was going to be.
Anti-Crip Gangs
The anti-Crip
Gangs appeared to be much more organized than the Crip Gangs. They apparently
had to be for survival sake. One of the most organized anti-Crip gangs
was the Bishops. The Bishops were located in the unincorporated area of
Firestone. Bobby Lavender was the leader of that gang.
In the early to
mid 70’s the Watts Festival was a major attraction in the Watts area. The
Festival was held at Will Rodgers Park for a number of years to commemorate
“the struggle of the people”, as well as the Watts Riot.
Will Rodgers Park
was located directly in the middle of disputed gang territory. The Black Mafia
Crip Dogs and the Kitchen Crips territory were located on the north side of the
park. The Bounty Hunter gang’s territory was on the south side. The Bishop
territory was to the east and other smaller Crip gangs were to the west. Because
of the Crips shear size in that area, they generally “controlled” inside the
park. During the festival a large number of Crips, led by bare chested Tookie
and Jimel Barnes, would walk through the park intimidating Festival attendees.
Note: Tookie was a “peer leader” living in the Fred Shaw home for boys
on Slater St., in Compton during this time frame. Tookie later moved to the
Bob Simmon’s Home for boys on Atlantic Ave. in Compton.
Surrounding the
park would be the anti-Crip gangs, just standing and watching. On the west side
of the park, a large contingent of Sheriff’s personnel were stationed on
standby, should a major incident occur inside the park. Sometime during the
evening hours whistling would begin. The anti-Crip group would run into the
park. Simultaneously the Crips would start running through the park hitting
festival goers, knocking over booths, assaulting, and robbing people as they
made their way towards the rival gangs. Once the anti-Crip groups were actually
inside the park, fights between the two groups would break out. Shots being
fired and people being injured were common place. Sheriff’s deputies would enter
the park and make hundreds of gang member arrests. This occurred every night, of
every year, the Festival was scheduled.
Bobby Lavendar,
from the Bishop gang, saw this Festival problem as an opportunity for him to
form a more organized group (gang) called Brothers Unlimited. The
Brothers Unlimited would be headed up by him, and Harold Tyiska from the Family
Bloods. The group would also include some Crip members to give it an appearance
of balance. All of the members were a little older and had all been trained in
Marshal Arts. The original membership of Brother Unlimited was approximately
35-50 individuals. Their initial goal was to be the security for the Watt’s
Festival, and then use that success as a spring board for bigger and better
things. Unfortunately for the Brothers Unlimited, the Watts Festival group lost
their permit to hold anymore Festivals in Will Rogers Park due to the gang
violence. The Brothers Unlimited also fizzled after a year, or so of trying to
get a foothold in the South Central area.
In the early
1970’s the Crips sarcastically referred to the Pirus as Roosters. The Pirus
referred to the Crips as Crabs. In the mid 1970’s the anti-Crip gangs joined
forces and began calling themselves Bloods. The Crips then begin calling the
Bloods “Slobs”. As the name calling evolved, so did the graffiti on the walls.
Anytime a “B” or a “C” was written on a wall it would be crossed out by the
rival gang. The crossing out on the wall soon evolved into their speech. Crips
would substitute the letter “C” in place of a “B”, and conversely the Bloods
would do the same thing, but a “B” would be substituted for the “C”, e.g.
concrete would be boncrete, etc. Conversation like “what it “C” like, or what it
“B” like became common place. “Cuzz” and “Blood” still remain words used in
greetings, or in a confrontational situations. Obviously this depends on who
they’re talking with.
Also during this
same time frame, other changes begin to occur. Crips no longer wanted the
notoriety that they once so enjoyed. They soon learned police officers were
giving special attention to those individuals wearing the Crip “uniform” dress.
They begin to dress “normal” in every manner in hopes of not drawing so much
attention from law enforcement. The exception to this was that they always had
the color blue on. The same situation was being experienced in the Blood gang
areas. Crips started wearing blue baseball caps, and/or blue windbreakers, e.g.
Dodgers, etc. It could be something as small as blue shoe laces in their tennis
shoes. The same situation occurred with the Bloods, e.g. red base ball hats,
etc. This even evolved into the names and types of apparel the gang members
would wear, e.g. “C/K” (Calvin Klien) apparel, etc. The Bloods said the C/K
stood for Crip Killer, etc., etc.
By the mid 1970’s
street gang activity had completely spread throughout the Los Angeles area,
including cities like Lynwood. By the early 1980’s, Crack Cocaine became the
drug of choice. PCP had previously been the drug of choice by both Crips and
Bloods. The Crips and the Bloods soon begin organizing their own drug cartels
that would eventually spread throughout the major cities in our country. Names
like Freeway Rick, Whitey Enterprises, etc. became synonymous with drug dealing.
The End
In the mid to
late 1970’s the founder of the Crip Gang, Raymond Washington, and a few other OG
individuals, stepped back from the high visibility
of the street gang scene. Raymond began hanging around a motorcycle group,
because he said “those youngsters (referring to the Crips and Bloods)
were too crazy”. Raymond was murdered on Aug. 9th,
1979 just a few blocks from his home. Tookie continued being the ultimate
gangster. Unfortunately for Tookie, the muscular physique that once gained him
the attention that he so much craved as a Crip, also made him easily
recognizable in his life of crime. Tookie had to make a choice. Leave
his life of crime, or leave no witnesses. He chose the latter. Tookie
was subsequently arrested for four heinous homicides that he committed in 1979. On December 13th,
2005, after 24 years on death row, Tookie finally paid the ultimate, and final
price for living the life of a Crip Gangster.
All text referring to the Crips, Bloods or other material contained on this page
is copyrighted material and may not be used without the permission of Gangs OR
Us
Source:
LASD Gangs - Curtis
Jackson, Herb
Giron, Richard
Thomas
The Crip name, the
Crip dress, and the Crip walk spread like fire throughout the Juvenile Justice
System. A large number of troubled youth, who were in the juvenile detention
system, wanted to be associated with this feared Crip image. Once these
juveniles were released, they took this Crip identity back to their own
individual neighborhoods, and formed their own Crip Gang. One problem developed
though. The most hard core youth of each neighborhood wanted to be the leaders
of their own neighborhoods. They wanted to have an 
By the end of 1972
every area of the South Central Los Angeles felt the influenced of a street
gang. The Crips considered themselves “gangsters”, or street thugs who were
involved in every type of criminal activity. Their criminal activity was
committed mostly in their own neighborhoods, e.g. burglaries, purse snatches,
GTA’s and narcotics. A number of anti-Crip gangs also simultaneously began
forming at approximately the same rate as the Crip expansion. The first of these
anti-Crip groups was the Piru Gang. This gang was located on Piru Street in the
city of Compton. The OG Piru’s came from an upper middle class
