The Crips also known as Original Crip Homies (OCH) are a primarily African-American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams. What was once a single alliance between two autonomous gangs is now a loosely connected network of individual sets, often engaged in open warfare with one another. Its members traditionally wear blue clothing, a practice that has waned somewhat due to police crackdowns on gang members.

The Crips are one of the largest and most violent associations of street gangs in the United States,[1] with an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 members in 2008.[2] They have been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing, among other crimes.

Crips have a long and bitter rivalry with the Bloods.

Stanley Tookie Williams met Raymond Lee Washington in 1969, and the two decided to unite their local gang members from the west and east sides of South Central Los Angeles in order to battle neighboring street gangs. Most of the members were 17 years old.[9] Williams discounted the sometimes cited founding date of 1969 in his memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption.[9] Gang activity in South Central Los Angeles has its roots in a variety of factors dating back to the 1950s and 60s, including post-World War II economic decline leading to joblessness and poverty, racial segregation leading to the formation of black street clubs by young African American men who were excluded from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, and the waning of black nationalist organizations such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement.[10] [11] [12] [13]

By 1978, there were 45 Crips gangs, called sets, operating in Los Angeles. They were heavily involved in the production of PCP, marijuana and amphetamines. On March 11, 1979, Stanley Tookie Williams, a member of Westside Crips was arrested for four murders and then on August 8, 1979, Raymond Washington was gunned down. Washington had been against Crip infighting and after his death several Crip sets started