B = Bold Crips Street Gang History - Crip Book Of Knowledge - Loc 8 Ball
The Crips are an alliance of individual street gangs. The Crips street gang alliance originated in Los Angeles, California. They are mainly identified by the color blue which is worn proudly by their members. Each Crip gang has significant differences, such as hand signs and colors. TheCrips street gang alliance has significantly branched out of California and spread throughout the majority of the United States.
A 15 year old Fremont High School student named Raymond Washington started a gang called the Baby Avenues in 1969 in an attempt to be like the older gangs and copy the political activities carried out by other organizations such as the Black Panthers. The gang named itself the Avenue Cribs eventually and took on the nickname Cribs because most members were very young back then. The name Crips was first brought up in L.A. a Los Angeles newspaper in a artical about young Cribs with canes, as if they were crippled. A lot of people believe the name came to existance because of a spelling error. Either way, The name stuck and the Crips alliance was formed.
Stanley Tookie Williams is one of the co-founders of the Crips. He started his own gang called the Westside Crips. The Crips were very well known throughout southern L.A. as more and more people began to join. The Crips eventually became the biggest and most ruthless gang in California and began targetting the other non-crip gangs with daily acts of violence. In retaliation, all non-crip gangs, including the Pirus, later formed an alliance that eventually became known as the Bloods.
Along with a few other friends near his 78th Street home near Fremont High School, Stanley Tookie Williams and Raymond Washington created the Crips alliance with the initial intent of continuing the revolutionary ideology of the 1960s. They failed miserably because of their lack of political leadership. They later became obsessed with protecting themselves from the other non-crip alliance independent gangs in the community which began to increase violence and resistance towards the Crips. The Crips began to increase violence and take over new turf. Some of the other original founding fathers of the crips were Anglo Barefoot Pookie White, Melvin Hardy, Bennie Simpson, Greg Batman Davis, Jimel The God father Barnes, Raymond Cook, Ecky, Michael Christianson, Michael Shaft Concepcion, Mack Thomas and No 1.
Most Crip sets wear blue. Some people believe the origin of the color is from the school colors of Washington High School in South L.A. Other believe they started wearing blue because of "Buddha", who always wore blue shirts, khakis, shoes, and a blue bandana from his left pocket, which is why Crips flag out the left side. When Buddha died, Tookie made blue the Crip color in honor of his death. The Grape Street Crips, on the other hand, have been known to wear purple in addition to blue. The Shotgun Crips are in Gardena, California and have been known to wear green, the city color of Gardena, in addition to blue to show that they are from Gardena. Crips under the Gangster Card are known to wear Gray in addition to blue. Long Beach Rollin' 20's Crips are know to wear yellow and black in addition to blue. Crips under the Neighborhood Card and the Avenue Crips are known to wear baby blue. Fudge Town Crips are know to wear brown and blue.
Crips are known to have "Cards", which are alliances of certain Crip sets within the Crip alliance itself. Some Crip cards are: Neighborhood Crips (NHC), Trays (Gangster Crips), Blocc Crips, Coasts, Deuces, and CC Riders.
Through the years the Crips have grown to be one of the largest and most powerful gangs in the United States. Today Crips and Hoovers are seperated, except for the 52 Hoover Gangster Crips. All other Hoovers are now known as Hoover Criminals and use orange and blue as their colors. Even though 52 Hoover's remined Crips, they still wear the orange with the blue.
Today, some Crip sets are known to put aside the Crip alliance concept on the streets and bang on other Crips if necessary. The Crips strictly bang for their hood before any alliance and continously & viciously defend and try to expand their territories.
There are significantly more Crp sets today than when the alliance was first created. This is because many independent gangs outside of California and across the United States also decided to unite under the Crip Alliance. Many Crip sets have names which include the name of their City, a street that runs through their turf, or the name of the projects or community they live in.
