Raymond Washington
Encyclopedia
Raymond Lee Washington was the original founder of the South Central Los Angeles street gang the Crips
.
Washington is believed to have initially formed the Baby Avenues street gang, which became the Avenue Cribs before the name evolved into the Crips, because he wanted to form a gang that could protect their territory in South Central and prevent criminal and more violent gangs outside the territory.
He disliked firearm
s and knives
, and believed that fist fighting
and hand-to-hand combat was the most effective way to resolve differences. By the time of his death, however, his influence on the gang had diminished and firearms had become widely used. Washington was murdered in South Central Los Angeles on August 9, 1979, and the murder has remained unsolved.
, the youngest of four sons to Violet Samuel and Reginald Washington. He had three older brothers and one younger half-brother, Derard S. Barton, conceived from his mother's second marriage. His parents separated when he was two years old, and Washington was raised by his mother and stepfather on East 76th Street, between Wadsworth and Central Avenue
s in South Los Angeles
.
Contemporaries recalled that Washington had an affinity for fist fighting. He was constantly in trouble with the Los Angeles Police Department
for various offenses as an adolescent, however his mother is quoted as saying, "Raymond was a good kid when he was a boy. Raymond didn't go out of his way to fight or do anything bad, but if someone came to him, he would protect himself. And he was well-built. He tried to protect the community and keep the bad guys out. But after a while, every time I looked up, the police were coming to the house looking for Raymond."
However, neighbors remembered Washington differently. Lorrie Griffin Moss, who resided across the street from Washington on 76th Street, said, "I don't have a whole lot of good to say about Raymond. Raymond was a bully. A muscular bully. He wouldn't let anybody from outside our neighborhood bother us. He would bother us. Raymond could be very mean."
A friend stated that Washington was a good football
player, however never participated on a school sports team due to his poor grades. He transferred between schools repeatedly due to expulsion
, and attended Locke High School
, John C. Fremont High School
, an alternative school
attached to Washington Preparatory High School
, and Fairfax High School
in the Fairfax District
near West Hollywood
.
escalated dramatically in the late 1960s, especially in the three housing projects
known as the Bricks: Imperial Courts
, Nickerson Gardens
and Jordan Downs
. Violent street robberies were common among adolescent criminals. Older street gangs like the Slausons, the Businessmen, and the Gladiators, had been ended by activist groups such as the Black Panther Party
and the US Organization (Us). Numerous gangs began to form among the youth that rejected the old gang names. Some of the names of these new gangs were Sportsmans Park, New House Boys, Acey Duecy, and Chain Gang.
In late 1969, 16-year-old Washington organized a group of other neighborhood youths in the South Central district of Los Angeles and formed a gang called the Baby Avenues. The Baby Avenues wanted to emulate a gang of older youths called the Avenue Boys. The Avenue Boys, whose territory was on Central Avenue in the east side of South Central, had been involved in gang activity since 1964. The Baby Avenues then began using the name Avenue Cribs.
Washington was the best fighter in the Avenue Cribs and was feared by his fellow gang members. However, it has been stated by co-founder Stanley Williams
that before the gang became a haven for violence, they had hoped to create a gang that could secure the area that he and his friends lived in, in order to eliminate more dangerous gangs.
The Crips remain one of the largest and most notorious gangs in the United States
. They have been involved in robberies, drug dealing
, and murder
. What was once a single gang is now a loose network of individual gangs around the country. Crip gangs are known to have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Bloods
gang, as well as many racial wars with some Chicano
gangs.
The story went on to state:
With the rise of media
coverage, which put these new violent gangs on the front page, soon many disaffected black youths were running to join the Crips, many without ever being contacted by gang leaders.
It has been stated that while Washington hated guns, he believed in the idea of street gangs, fighting and robbery, but only whenever necessary. This is mainly what led to his notorious reputation, since he, Williams, and other Crips felt an increasing need to steal food, money and clothing to survive in the poverty
-stricken areas of South Central Los Angeles. When new and aspiring Crip members began acting out of control of their leaders and committing homicide
s, it solidified Washington and the gang's reputation among the Los Angeles Police Department
as notorious.
and sentenced to five years at the Deuel Vocational Institution
in Tracy, California
. Washington would become the first Crip incarcerated at Deuel. While incarcerated at Deuel Washington began to recruit young African American inmates into the Crips, much to the disapproval of established black prison groups like the Black Muslims and the Black Guerilla Family (also known as the BGF). According to a former inmate who was housed at Deuel with Washington the Black Muslims and the BGF, aware of the spread of the Crips in Los Angeles, warned Washington that they weren't going to tolerate a formation of the Crips in the prison.
Washington was faced with another problem while serving time at Deuel: as the Crips murdered rival gang members on the streets of Los Angeles inmates at Deuel who were relatives of some of the victims held Washington responsible for their deaths. According to Washington's friend and Crips co-founder Greg "Batman" Davis, "People in the prisons was losing their loved ones on the streets and because Raymond was the founder of the Crips, they blamed him for it. And since Raymond was the only Crip up there (at Deuel) at the time, they were trying to kill him."
Eventually Washington became disillusioned with the Crips as the gang committed more heinous and senseless crimes as new recruits to the gang sought to build their reputations. According to law enforcement and former gang members Washington started to distance himself from the Crips. Ultimately Washington decided that the Crips needed to be brought back under one umbrella organization (as many new "sets" were formed after Washington and others went to jail). According to close friends, Washington wanted to return the Crips to one unified organization, stop fighting amongst the gang and then work towards a truce with the Bloods. Apparently this didn't sit well with some gang members and proved to be a fatal move for Washington. Washington was shot dead at the age of 25 when he walked up to a car on the corner of 64th and San Pedro Streets in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Washington no longer had any real control over the gang he originally founded. He wanted to unite warring gangs in peace and had always opposed guns. Different theories exist on why he was killed and who did it but no one was ever arrested for his murder.
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
.
Washington is believed to have initially formed the Baby Avenues street gang, which became the Avenue Cribs before the name evolved into the Crips, because he wanted to form a gang that could protect their territory in South Central and prevent criminal and more violent gangs outside the territory.
He disliked firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s and knives
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
, and believed that fist fighting
Street fighting
Street fighting is a colloquial term used to denote unsanctioned, illegal in some countries, hand-to-hand fighting in public places, between individuals or groups of people....
and hand-to-hand combat was the most effective way to resolve differences. By the time of his death, however, his influence on the gang had diminished and firearms had become widely used. Washington was murdered in South Central Los Angeles on August 9, 1979, and the murder has remained unsolved.
Early life
Washington was born in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, the youngest of four sons to Violet Samuel and Reginald Washington. He had three older brothers and one younger half-brother, Derard S. Barton, conceived from his mother's second marriage. His parents separated when he was two years old, and Washington was raised by his mother and stepfather on East 76th Street, between Wadsworth and Central Avenue
Central Avenue (Los Angeles)
Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs from the eastern end of the Los Angeles Civic Center south, ending at Del Amo Boulevard in Carson...
s in South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
.
Contemporaries recalled that Washington had an affinity for fist fighting. He was constantly in trouble with the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
for various offenses as an adolescent, however his mother is quoted as saying, "Raymond was a good kid when he was a boy. Raymond didn't go out of his way to fight or do anything bad, but if someone came to him, he would protect himself. And he was well-built. He tried to protect the community and keep the bad guys out. But after a while, every time I looked up, the police were coming to the house looking for Raymond."
However, neighbors remembered Washington differently. Lorrie Griffin Moss, who resided across the street from Washington on 76th Street, said, "I don't have a whole lot of good to say about Raymond. Raymond was a bully. A muscular bully. He wouldn't let anybody from outside our neighborhood bother us. He would bother us. Raymond could be very mean."
A friend stated that Washington was a good football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player, however never participated on a school sports team due to his poor grades. He transferred between schools repeatedly due to expulsion
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...
, and attended Locke High School
Locke High School
Alain Leroy Locke High School is a Title 1 co-educational charter high school located in Los Angeles, California, United States, and is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District/Green Dot Public Schools. It is named after Alain LeRoy Locke....
, John C. Fremont High School
John C. Fremont High School
John C. Fremont Senior High School is a Title 1 co-educational public high school located in Los Angeles, California, United States.Fremont is in a region known as South Los Angeles...
, an alternative school
Alternative school
Alternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
attached to Washington Preparatory High School
Washington Preparatory High School
George Washington Preparatory High School is a secondary school in the Westmont section of unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States that is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, .It was founded in 1926...
, and Fairfax High School
Fairfax High School (Los Angeles)
Fairfax High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located in Los Angeles, USA, near the border of West Hollywood in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles...
in the Fairfax District
Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California
The Fairfax District is an area of neighborhoods in the Mid-City West area of Los Angeles, California.- Geography :It is roughly bordered by West Hollywood on the north, Highland Avenue on the east, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the west and Wilshire Boulevard on the south...
near West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
.
Gang involvement
Youth crime in and around WattsWatts, Los Angeles, California
Watts is a mostly residential neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California.-History:The area now known as Watts is located on the Rancho La Tajauta Mexican land grant...
escalated dramatically in the late 1960s, especially in the three housing projects
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
known as the Bricks: Imperial Courts
Imperial Courts, Los Angeles, California
Imperial Courts is a public housing project located in Watts, Los Angeles, California.It is located at 11541 Croesus Avenue on Imperial Highway between Grape Street and Mona Boulevard, near the 105 Freeway....
, Nickerson Gardens
Nickerson Gardens, Los Angeles, California
Nickerson Gardens is a 1054-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California.Nickerson Gardens consists of 156 buildings with townhouse style units ranging in size from one bedroom to five bedrooms. It was completed in the year 1955, and the...
and Jordan Downs
Jordan Downs, Los Angeles, California
Jordan Downs Housing Projects is a 700-unit public housing apartment complex in Watts, Los Angeles, California next to David Starr Jordan High School. It consists of 103 buildings with townhouse style units ranging in size from one bedroom to five bedrooms. The complex is owned and managed by the...
. Violent street robberies were common among adolescent criminals. Older street gangs like the Slausons, the Businessmen, and the Gladiators, had been ended by activist groups such as the Black Panther Party
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
and the US Organization (Us). Numerous gangs began to form among the youth that rejected the old gang names. Some of the names of these new gangs were Sportsmans Park, New House Boys, Acey Duecy, and Chain Gang.
In late 1969, 16-year-old Washington organized a group of other neighborhood youths in the South Central district of Los Angeles and formed a gang called the Baby Avenues. The Baby Avenues wanted to emulate a gang of older youths called the Avenue Boys. The Avenue Boys, whose territory was on Central Avenue in the east side of South Central, had been involved in gang activity since 1964. The Baby Avenues then began using the name Avenue Cribs.
Washington was the best fighter in the Avenue Cribs and was feared by his fellow gang members. However, it has been stated by co-founder Stanley Williams
Stanley Williams
Stanley Tookie Williams III was the co-founder of the Crips, a notorious American street gang which had its roots in South Central Los Angeles in 1969. In 1979 he was convicted of four murders committed in the course of robberies, sentenced to death, and eventually executed...
that before the gang became a haven for violence, they had hoped to create a gang that could secure the area that he and his friends lived in, in order to eliminate more dangerous gangs.
The Crips
By 1971, crips and the use of the word "Crip" had taken the place of the gang's name. Meanwhile, Washington and his young gang members influenced other area gangs resulting in the formation of many Crip sets. Some of these sets included the Avalon Gardens Crips, the Eastside Crips, the Inglewood Crips, and the Westside Crips, which was formed by Stanley Williams.The Crips remain one of the largest and most notorious gangs in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They have been involved in robberies, drug dealing
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. What was once a single gang is now a loose network of individual gangs around the country. Crip gangs are known to have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Bloods
Bloods
The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs...
gang, as well as many racial wars with some Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
gangs.
The story went on to state:
One of the gangs in the area is known as the Crips, which started out at Washington High School as an extortionExtortionExtortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
and terrorTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
organization and spread to other schools where the gang members enrolled after being expelled from Washington, the police said.
The Police also said that this gang has been spreading "like an octopus" and now has members throughout South-Central Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton, South Gate and the Firestone area.
Gang members, to identify themselves, wear black gloves on their left hands and gold-colored earrings in their left ears, which are pierced, according to police. They sometimes carry canes, which they use as weaponWeaponA weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s.
There are two stories circulating on the derivation of the word Crips. One is that it stands for cripple, because some of the founders were injured and had to carry canes for a time. The other is that the founders once wore AfroAfroAfro, sometimes shortened to fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair...
-style hairdos and their parents made them "crip it."
With the rise of media
News media (United States)
Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Those who provide news and information, and the outlets for which they work, are known as the news media.Some high-quality news media...
coverage, which put these new violent gangs on the front page, soon many disaffected black youths were running to join the Crips, many without ever being contacted by gang leaders.
It has been stated that while Washington hated guns, he believed in the idea of street gangs, fighting and robbery, but only whenever necessary. This is mainly what led to his notorious reputation, since he, Williams, and other Crips felt an increasing need to steal food, money and clothing to survive in the poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
-stricken areas of South Central Los Angeles. When new and aspiring Crip members began acting out of control of their leaders and committing homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
s, it solidified Washington and the gang's reputation among the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
as notorious.
Life in prison
In 1973, Washington was arrested for 2nd degree robberyRobbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
and sentenced to five years at the Deuel Vocational Institution
Deuel Vocational Institution
Deuel Vocational Institution is a state prison located in unincorporated San Joaquin County, California, near Tracy.-Facilities:DVI opened in 1953 and named for the late California state senator Charles H. Deuel who sponsored legislation establishing the institution. The facility has been...
in Tracy, California
Tracy, California
Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States and an exurb of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census.-History:...
. Washington would become the first Crip incarcerated at Deuel. While incarcerated at Deuel Washington began to recruit young African American inmates into the Crips, much to the disapproval of established black prison groups like the Black Muslims and the Black Guerilla Family (also known as the BGF). According to a former inmate who was housed at Deuel with Washington the Black Muslims and the BGF, aware of the spread of the Crips in Los Angeles, warned Washington that they weren't going to tolerate a formation of the Crips in the prison.
Washington was faced with another problem while serving time at Deuel: as the Crips murdered rival gang members on the streets of Los Angeles inmates at Deuel who were relatives of some of the victims held Washington responsible for their deaths. According to Washington's friend and Crips co-founder Greg "Batman" Davis, "People in the prisons was losing their loved ones on the streets and because Raymond was the founder of the Crips, they blamed him for it. And since Raymond was the only Crip up there (at Deuel) at the time, they were trying to kill him."
Back on the streets
When Washington was released from prison in the late 1970s he returned to Los Angeles and discovered that the war between the Crips and the Bloods had escalated to the point where gunplay, as opposed to fist fighting, was now the norm. Washington, who by many accounts hated guns, was furious and implored Crips gang members to abandon the use of firearms to settle disputes. However because the murder rate in the black ghettos of L.A. continued to increase as the Crips' rivals used guns regularly, Washington's demand went ignored.Eventually Washington became disillusioned with the Crips as the gang committed more heinous and senseless crimes as new recruits to the gang sought to build their reputations. According to law enforcement and former gang members Washington started to distance himself from the Crips. Ultimately Washington decided that the Crips needed to be brought back under one umbrella organization (as many new "sets" were formed after Washington and others went to jail). According to close friends, Washington wanted to return the Crips to one unified organization, stop fighting amongst the gang and then work towards a truce with the Bloods. Apparently this didn't sit well with some gang members and proved to be a fatal move for Washington. Washington was shot dead at the age of 25 when he walked up to a car on the corner of 64th and San Pedro Streets in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Washington no longer had any real control over the gang he originally founded. He wanted to unite warring gangs in peace and had always opposed guns. Different theories exist on why he was killed and who did it but no one was ever arrested for his murder.