crips.com

The Crips are NOT one gang, but an identity that many gangs associate themselves with.

 Copy cat Crip gangs in other cities may fashion themselves by regional cultural indicators, but most have nothing to do with Los Angeles. Some of the first Crip gangs in Los Angeles included the East Side Crips, Compton Crips, West Side Crips, Avalon Garden Crips, 43rd Street Crips, Harlem Crips, Hoover Crips, Inglewood Crips and Grandee Crips.
The Crips is a street gang which originated in Los Angeles, California in the late 1960s. During the early 1970s, the gang grew and branched out to other parts of Los Angeles County. These new subsidiary or realigned existing gangs were known as sets, and they used the term Crips in their individual gang name.
Originally, most Crips activity took place on or around school campuses, and these gangs created a reputation for violence and extortion. Although a predominately Black gangs in most areas across the nation, many other ethnic groups have adopted the Crip name because of the on-going notoriety of the Crips and their rivals, the Bloods.
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."
Crips gangs are found in nearly every city in the United States and have been identified in several foreign countries.The most prominent traits of Crips are individualism and maintaining a commitment to foster violence upon other gangs. The Crips rivalry with the Bloods gang presents a likelihood of violent encounters between members. Crip Anthem

Crips-Knowledge
Crips are an alliance of individual street organizations known as sets. The Crip alliance originated in Los Angeles, California. Each Crip set is it’s own individual gang and are known to have sub-clicks, blocks, or lines (line-ups) which are like smaller individual sets within the set. Gang members in gangs under the Crip allaince are known as Locs and all Crips call each other “cuz” (short for cousin) to signify that they see each other as family. The gangs under the Crip Alliance are mainly identified by the color blue which is worn proudly by all Crip members as a primary color. Each Crip set has significant differences such as hand signs, use of secondary colors, and customs. The Crip alliance has significantly branched out of California and has 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.

Crips Catch A Bad Day

An army of law enforcement officers arrested 46 alleged members of the Crips street gang in a sweep across the greater Bakersfield area Thursday.
Bakersfield Police Chief Bill Rector said it's the first time they've teamed up with the FBI and a slew of other agencies to form a task force.
"They were hit hard and were dismantled, and we'll be back to do it again," said Sheriff Donny Youngblood. "If I were a gang member in this city or this county, I would move."

The FBI says it decided to focus on the Crips during its 2-year investigation after agents realized the gang was responsible for a large number of drug deals and other crimes.

About 200 FBI agents, Sheriff's deputies, and police officers swept through seven locations in the greater Bakersfield area serving arrest warrants for more than 30 members of the Eastside Crips, the Westside Crips and Country Boy Crips.

"Whether it's drive by shootings or robberies or assaults, clearly they have become a target of our attention because of the violent nature of their actions," said Chief Rector.
A reputed member of the Eastside Crips was convicted of shooting 27-year old Damon Moore to death after Moore stopped at a Citgo station on Union Avenue in Bakersfield to gas up on his way to his bachelor party in Las Vegas in 2005.
Investigators said Moore had no gang connections or criminal record and gang members mistook him for a rival.
"Part of the goal of putting some of these people in the federal prison is it takes them out of the California prison system, it takes them out of the leadership of the prison gangs," said FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Gelios.

Those arrested Thursday in the sweep face various state criminal charges and will likely appear in court to enter a plea Monday.

But the push isn't over yet.
Officers seized several weapons and an undetermined amount of drugs.
Agents say they are still looking to arrest 15 other people, including several additional members of the Crips gang.

The FBI says other criminal street gangs are likely targets of future investigations.

Originating in Los Angeles, California in 1969, The Crips are one of the oldest, largest and most notorious gangs in the United States. The Crips were founded by 15 year old Raymond Washington along with Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Avalon Gardens resident Jimel Barnes. Initially the gang were called the Baby Avenues (named after the older local gang members at the time called the Avenues). 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).

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The Crips are NOT one gang, but an identity that many gangs associate themselves with. Copy cat Crip gangs in other cities may fashion themselves by regional cultural indicators, but most have nothing to do with Los Angeles. Some of the first Crip gangs in Los Angeles included the East Side Crips, Compton Crips, West Side Crips, Avalon Garden Crips, 43rd Street Crips, Harlem Crips, Hoover Crips, Inglewood Crips and Grandee Crips.