Crips
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Crips, originating in Los Angeles, California, are one of the oldest, largest, and most notorious gangs in the United States. They have been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing in the Los Angeles area. The Crips are mostly identified by the blue color worn by their members. What was once a single gang is now a loose network of "franchises" around the United States. The gang primarily (but not exclusively) comprises African Americans. The Crips have an intense rivalry with the Bloods and are also known to feud with Chicano gangs.Contents [hide]
1 History of the Crips
2 The Great Divide, Crip On Crip Violence
3 Expansion
4 Gang identification
5 Origin of the name "Crips"
6 Entertainers with Crip affiliations
7 Crips, hip-hop, and C-walk
8 Pop Culture
9 See Also
10 References
11 External links
History of the Crips
The Crips were founded in Los Angeles, California in 1969 by 15-year-old Raymond Washington. Washington initially called the gang the Baby Avenues in an attempt to emulate older gangs and activities carried out by the Black Panthers with which he was fascinated. This evolved to Avenue Cribs and then Cribs as nicknames for the age of the members.[1] The name Crips was first introduced in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper in a description by crime victims of young men with canes, as if they were crippled (though there is some discussion that it may have initially been a simple spelling mistake). The name stuck.
Stanley Tookie Williams, generally acknowledged as co-founder of the Crips,[2] started his own gang called the Westside Crips. The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more youth gangs joined it; 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 and the Denver Lanes. The Crips eventually became the most powerful gang in California. In response, all of the other besieged gangs, including the Pirus, formed an alliance that later became the Bloods.
Along with friends, Williams and Washington created the initial intent of continuing the revolutionary ideology of the 1960s. These aspirations were unattainable because of a general lack of political leadership and guidance. Washington and Williams were never able to develop an agenda for social change within the community and instead became obsessed with protecting themselves from other gangs in the community.
By 1971 the gang's notoriety had spread across 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.[1]
The Great Divide, Crip On Crip Violence
In 1971 a Crip set on Piru Street, Compton, known as the Piru Street Boys was formed. 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 until the mid 1970s when the Piru Street Boy wanted to call an end to the violence, and called a meeting with other gangs that were targeted by the Crips. After a long discussion, the "Pirus" broke off all connections to the Crips and started an organization that would later be called the "Bloods," a streetgang infamous for its rivalry with the Crips.[3]
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 also fight other Crips sets — for example, the Rollin' 60s and 83rd Street Gangster Crips ("Eight-Tray") have been rivals since 1979. In Watts, Los Angeles, the Grape Street Watts Crips and the PJ Crips have feuded so much that the PJ Crips even teamed up with local Bloods set, the Bounty Hunter Bloods, to fight against the Grape Street Crips[4]. A clique (a still smaller group within a gang set) within the PJ Crips is even called 'Tha GK (Grape Killa) Boys.' The Hoover Crips developed huge rivalries with many Crip gangs in Los Angeles. Because of this they decided to stop being Crips and changed their name to the Hoover Criminal Gang.
Expansion
In the 1980s, Crips moved into the sale of crack, a form of the drug cocaine. It was developed as a simpler alternative to the process of freebasing, which necessitates the use of controlled and dangerous chemicals such as ether. Inexpensive and highly addictive, crack could be marketed by the Crips to lower-income brackets.
The Crips made enormous profits from selling crack and gathered the capital to advance themselves in the illicit markets. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the Crips developed intricate networks and a respected reputation with other gangs across America and neighboring countries.
To stem violence between the Crips and Bloods, a peace treaty was recently negotiated, most notably in Watts, the treaty being largely based upon the ideals laid forth by original Crip co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams in his "Tookie Protocol For Peace." Though violence levels have been reduced somewhat after the conclusion of this peace treaty, gangland killings and warfare persist in heavily gang-controlled areas.
Crips are also found in cities such as Toronto, Montreal and London.[citation needed]
Gang identification
For many years, Crips were characterized by their tendency to wear blue in order to easily identify each other. One suggested origin of the selected color is traced to the school colors of Washington High School in South L.A. Another theory is the co-founder, Stanley Williams, had a good and close friend called "Buddha," who wore blue shirts, khakis, shoes, and a blue bandana from his back left pocket. When Buddha died, Williams made blue the Crip color in honor of Buddha. A particular set of Crips, the Grape Street Crips, have been known to wear purple in addition to blue. The SGC's, (Shotgun Crips), are separated into three sub-sets: the Nine, 139th street; the Foe, 134th street; and the Deuce, 132nd street in the city of Gardena, California and have been known to wear dark-green, the city color of Gardena, in addition to blue to show that the Shotgun Crips are from Gardena. Crips also wear blue bandanas and British Knights sport shoes (using the company moniker BK, which the Crips use as a backronym meaning "Blood Killas"). They usually refer derisively to their rivals, the Bloods, as "slobs" and "busters."
More recently, however, the Crips have begun to cease the use of colors as a means of identification, since it is likely to draw attention from police. Methods such as the use of college sport team jerseys and hats are sometimes used, but in general, what set a certain gang member claims can be determined solely by their tattoos.
Many Crips will also change words containing the letter B or choose another word to replace it, the best being a word with a C. This is due to their hatred of Bloods. If no word can reasonably be substituted, the letter B will be crossed out to show disrespect. Sometimes excessive use of the letter C also occurs, such as "be right baCC" to refrain from using the initials "ck" which stands for "Crip Killer." Also the letter B can be written Bk as in "Blood Killer."
Origin of the name "Crips"
There have been many different explanations for the origin of the name of the gang:
The most well-known theories tie the current name with "crib" or "crib street" (alluding to an actual street or the young age of the members at the time of the gang's founding).
"Crip" originates from the carrying of a cane or stick — Los Angeles Times 14 April 1992: "Word spread about the tough-looking young men, who some said carried canes and walked with a limp — cripples, or crips, they were called for short."
Mis-pronunciation of "The Crypts."
Some alleged backronyms for the name include:
Cultural (or California) Revolution/Restoration In Progress
Community Resources for an Independent People
Community Revolutionary Inter-Party Service
California Rebels In Power
Crip meaning cradle to the grave. C standing for Cradle, RIP standing for Rest In Peace, a common phrase inscribed on tombstones.
An interviewed Crip member told at the Sean Bell Rally on December 16th 2006 that the right backronym is "Community Revolution In Progress."
Entertainers with Crip affiliations
Snoop Dogg (Rollin' 20 Crips) [5]
Daz Dillinger (Rollin 60 Neighborhood Crips) [6]
Eazy-E (Kelly Park Compton Crips) [7]
Jayo Felony (NHC 47 Blocc Crips) [8]
MC Eiht (Tragnew Park Compton Crips) [9]
Tone Loc (South Side Compton Crips) [10]
Chris Salviati (D-Town Crips) [11]
Crips, hip-hop, and C-walk
Many popular rappers, in particular West Coast rappers, have close ties to Crips gangs in L.A. County. Snoop Dogg is a former member of the Rollin' 20 Crips in Long Beach (as are Warren G, Nate Dogg, and Goldie Loc), while WC has an affiliation with the 111 Neighborhood Crips in South Central Los Angeles. The late N.W.A member Eazy-E reportedly had ties to the Kelly Park Compton Crips. Recently signed G-Unit rapper Spider Loc is a member of the 97th Street East Coast Crips. Also G-Unit West's Snoopy Blue is also part of the 97th Street East Coast Crip gang. It is said that the popular hip-hop dance, the C-walk (Crip-walk), is meant to spell out one's set as an insult to rival gangs. On WC's song "The Streets" from his Ghetto Heisman album, he and Snoop Dogg rap about the C-walk's popularity in the mainstream, telling suburban teenagers and other non-gang members that it is a dance for Crips only. Another song with a similar instance is "Not a Dance," by Spider Loc, Young Buck and C-Bo.
Bloods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bloods gang symbol
The Bloods are one of the Los Angeles, California street gangs. They are identified by the red color worn by their members, and their gang symbol is the word "blood" spelled out with their hands. The Bloods are made up out of various sub-groups 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, and even have even influenced youth groups using the same name in Europe.[1][2]Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Bloods and Hip-Hop
3 Notes
4 References
5 See also
6 External links
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 controlled by gangs including The L.A. Brims, a powerful street gang, beginning in 1969 on the Westside. The Crips targeted these gangs because they were not Crips. Several gangs eventually became part of the Blood family, including the Bishops and Athens Park boys. The Denver Lanes also had conflicts with the Crips, but were outnumbered and eventually became unknown in California for some time. The Piru Street Boys who presented a powerful force in Compton, actually collaborated with the Crips prior to 1972, as the Crips had affected the Piru neighborhoods. For a short time the Pirus 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. They have an strong alliance with the Vice Lords and other People Nation sets.
During the summer of 1972 the Crips and the Pirus had a conflict and warfare ensued. The Pirus, like other northern gangs, were outnumbered and the Crips prevailed. The Pirus wanted to terminate peaceful relations with the Crips, so they turned to the Lueders Park Hustlers for assistance. The Lueders Park Hustlers agreed and a meeting was called on Piru Street. The Pirus also invited every gang targeted 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, as well. Others that attended were the Denver Lanes and the Bishops.
At the meeting, the groups discussed how to combat Crip intimidation, along with the creation of a new alliance to counter the Crips. At that time the color of bandanas 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 bandanas. 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[3]. Dipset is also allegedly affiliated with Blood sets. Due to employing several known Blood members, the media has long speculated that Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight maintains at the very least an association with the gang.[4]. Rapper/producer DJ Quik, also a Compton native, has talked about growing up as a member of the Tree Top Piru Bloods[5]. 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 words and names, often replacing C with B for Bloods or appending a K, to form CK, meaning crip killer[6].
i`m crip...yea`
Post je objavljen 02.07.2007. u 12:39 sati.