The Crips are one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States. Known for their rivalry with the Bloods and their identifiable blue attire, the Crips have a long and storied history in America. At the center of the founding of the Crips is Raymond Washington, often referred to as the godfather or founding father of the Crips gang.
The Origins of the Crips
The Crips were founded in Los Angeles, California in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams. Raymond Washington is most commonly referred to as the founder and originator of the Crips. Stanley “Tookie” Williams co-founded the gang with Washington and helped lead the organization in its early years. The original name of the gang was “Cribs” and the name came from a street slang term referring to young kids. Washington and Williams decided to add a “C” to make the name Cribs into Crips.
In the late 1960s, Los Angeles had numerous street gangs of young African American men. Washington, who was only 15 years old at the time, sought to unite some of these gang members in the LA area under one large gang alliance. The main role models for the Crips gang were the Black Panther Party and other anti-establishment organizations that were popular in the late 1960s. The Crips adopted the Black Panther Party’s philosophy of armed resistance and self-identity, but decided to focus their objectives closer to home rather than broader political goals.
The Crips were heavily influenced by the Black Power movement and tried to instill pride and self-esteem in impoverished black youth living in Los Angeles. However, as the gang grew, the focus shifted from fighting economic and social injustice to engaging in criminal activities for profit. The original Crips gang was relatively small, but started to rapidly expand as more youth joined, splintering into different subsets of Crips gangs.
The Rise and Growth of the Crips
Throughout the 1970s, the Crips began to expand rapidly and develop an increasingly aggressive and violent reputation. Several factors contributed to their growth from a small alliance to one of the largest street gangs in the country:
- Recruitment of disaffected youth – The Crips offered a sense of belonging and identity to many urban black youth who faced poverty, racism, and a lack of opportunity.
- Media attention – Extensive coverage of crimes committed by Crips brought the gang a sense of notoriety and fame.
- Crack cocaine epidemic – The introduction of crack in the 1980s provided huge financial incentives for inner city youth to participate in the drug trade as Crips.
- LAPD effect – Heavy-handed policies and aggressive suppression tactics by the LAPD contributed to an “us vs. them” mentality that bolstered gang unification.
By the late 1970s, there were several hundred Crips gangs controlling huge swathes of South Central Los Angeles. Different subsets of Crips emerged all over LA that were aligned with the main gang but operated independently. The Crips had over 30,000 members by the mid 1980s and were heavily involved in drug dealing, burglary, robbery, and homicide throughout LA as their criminal activities became more organized and calculated.
Major Crips Sets
Some of the most well-known Crips sets that emerged were:
- Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips
- Eight Tray Gangster Crips
- Grape Street Crips
- Hoover Crips
- Van Ness Gangster Brims
- Eastside Crips
Raymond Washington and the Founding Philosophy
From the founding of the Crips in 1969, Raymond Washington was the central founding figure who spearheaded the gang alliance that became known as the Crips. Though other prominent members like Tookie Williams and Stanley “Doc” Barnes were also involved in founding sets, it was Raymond Washington who formulated the ideas that brought the different sets together in the beginning and provided early leadership.
Raymond Washington devised the Crip philosophy that sought to empower the marginalized black youth of Los Angeles. The basic beliefs of the early Crips gang were:
- Helping one another – “Crip” stood for Community Revolution In Progress, with the goal of collectively improving conditions in their communities.
- Accountability for actions – Members were expected to accept responsibility for their behavior.
- Resistance to oppression – The Crips embraced black power principles and sought to assert themselves in the face of racism, poverty, and police brutality.
- No guns – Raymond Washington prohibited the use of firearms in Crips activities in the gang’s early days.
- Financial independence – Members were expected to be self-reliant by making money through business interests, jobs, or other enterprises.
However, while these positive principles defined the early Crips philosophy codified by Raymond Washington, the shift toward more violent and criminal activities eventually overwhelmed and replaced the original mission and goals of the gang.
Raymond Washington’s Influence and Control
As leader of the original Westside Crips in the early 1970s, Raymond Washington exerted a great deal of authority and control in defining rules for the Crips gang. He had the final say in any disputes between gang members and Crips sets. Washington’s leadership helped maintain order and cohesion within the Crips as it rapidly expanded.
Key aspects of Raymond Washington’s influence as founder of the Crips were:
- Final arbitrator – He had the ultimate authority to resolve any disagreements between sets or members.
- Enforcer of rules – He dictated rules of conduct for members and enforced discipline for those who violated them.
- Oversight of initiations – Washington oversaw the process of initiations and approval of new members into the Crips.
- Vision setter – He established the core philosophy and identity that defined Crips membership and activities.
- Unifier – His personal leadership and direction helped unify the different Crips sets under one umbrella organization.
However, by the late 1970s Washington’s influence had started to wane as the Crips far exceeded the ability of any one leader to exert control over the gang. The Crips had grown from a handful of sets to hundreds of subsets with thousands of members spread over a wide area. While Raymond Washington was still respected as the founder, the decentralized nature of the gang made it difficult for him or any one person to reign in the escalating violence and criminal activity of the Crips.
The Downfall of Raymond Washington
Although Raymond Washington was the founding father and early leader of the Crips, by the early 1980s he had lost control and influence as the gang transformed into a massive criminal enterprise. Several factors led to the decline of Washington’s leadership and original vision for the gang:
- Explosive growth – The Crips became too big, loosely organized, and geographically dispersed for one leader to manage.
- Shift to criminality – With huge profits from crack cocaine, criminal activities took priority over positive community values Washington espoused.
- Rise of other leaders – Strong leaders of large sets like Tookie Williams diluted Washington’s authority.
- Violence spiral – Rampant violence within and between Crip sets was impossible for Washington to stop.
- Imprisonment – Washington’s incarceration from 1974-1976 took him out of day-to-day gang leadership.
With Washington’s decline, the Crips moved in a very different direction from the community-driven, black power-inspired vision he originally established for the gang. By the mid 1980s, Washington no longer had any meaningful control over the Crips as a whole.
Death of Raymond Washington
In 1979, Raymond Washington was convicted of robbery charges and served 4 years in prison. After his release, he distanced himself from the Crips and moved to Texas for a fresh start. Tragically, when Washington returned to Los Angeles in 1984, he was murdered by a teen member of the Eastside Crips at the age of 25 outside a crack house.
Washington’s death symbolized the end of his leadership over the Crips as the gang continued to spiral into disorganized criminality and extreme violence throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Despite renewed efforts by original members to refocus the Crips on community activism instead of crime, the gang culture and identity Washington created took on a life of its own that could not be reined in.
Legacy and Influence of Raymond Washington
While unable to control the evolution of the Crips in the long-run, Raymond Washington left a distinct and enduring legacy as the origination point of one of the largest street gangs in America:
- Crips identity – The Crips gang identity of blue clothing, language, graffiti, and culture originated with Washington.
- Expansion blueprint – The model Washington created for recruiting and organizing Crip sets fueled the gang’s explosive growth.
- Huge membership – It is estimated there are still 30,000 to 35,000 Crips members today across the US.
- Media and culture impact – The Crips have had an extensive influence on movies, music, fashion, and culture.
- Crip on Crip violence – The lack of strong centralized leadership as Washington intended allowed Crip infighting and violence to spiral out of control.
While the positive vision and goals of Washington were short-lived, the foundation he laid through the Crips was monumentally impactful, for better or worse, in shaping the history of American street gangs.
Conclusion
Raymond Washington is considered the original founding father and leader of the Crips street gang. From a small alliance in 1969, Washington oversaw the formation and growth of the Crips until the late 1970s when his influence began to wane. While his original aim was to empower marginalized black youth, the gang took on a destructive life of its own as criminal enterprises overshadowed Washington’s more positive goals. His inability to control the Crips as they exploded in size marked the decline of his leadership up until his death in 1984. Despite not maintaining control in the long-run, Raymond Washington’s role in framing the historical arc and identity of one of America’s most notorious gangs seals his legacy as the godfather and architect of the Crips.