Grape Street Watts Crips

Grape Street Watts Crips
Founding location Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active 1970s - present
Ethnicity African Americans Hispanics
Criminal activities Drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, burglary, identification theft, car theft, kidnapping
Rivals Bounty Hunter Bloods, PJ Watts Crips, East Coast Crips, Neighborhood Crips, Mafia Crips, Bishops, Swans, Pirus

The Eastside Grape Street Watts Crips (known by the acronyms JDC, GST, WBLC, and GSW) is an African-American Crips subset based in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. They're known for being the first original Crip set in Watts. The gang was majority located in the Jordan Downs Housing Project, and was named after a north-south street in Watts near 103rd street.. The gang's rivalry with the Bounty Hunter Bloods has been described as being "the most violent and long lasting feud between two gangs that are in the Watts area."[1]

Rivals

PJ Watts Crips Bounty Hunter Bloods Weigand Colonial Watts 13 Hacienda Village Bloods 92 Bishops Bloods Circle City Pirus Compton Avenue Crips Ten Line Gangsta Crips Be-bop Watts Bishops Bloods Fudge Town Mafia Crips Beach Town Mafia Crips Blue Gate Mafia Crip 99 Watts Mafia Crips Elm Street 13 Ivy Street 13 Watts 13 Village Boy 13 Hickory Street 13 Florencia 13 all Compton 13 all Compton Pirus Miller Gangster Bloods Athen Park Bloods Denver Lane Bloods Mad Swans Bloods Families Swans Bloods Pueblo Bishops Bloods Blood Stone Villain Pirus Harvard Park Brims Fruit Town Brims Van Ness Brims Neighborhood Bloods Black P. Stones Bloods

History

Since the Jordan Downs Community was built it was a predominantly black area. In the 1950s and 1960s an early club known as "The Farmers” from Watts was based in Jordan Downs. During the 1970s, the gang's neighborhood originally contained a Mexican-American and African-American gang called Watts Varrio Grape (WVG). When the Mexican gangs in Los Angeles had started to align themselves under the wing of Sureños, the Mexican members started the Watts Varrio Grape Street 13 gang. The African-American members established the Eastside Watts Varrio Grape gang.

Brandon "BL" Bullard, a veteran member of the Grape Street Watts Crips was murdered by the East Coast Crips. The murder of Bullard sparked a war that resulted in 26 wounded and 9 dead.[2]

Media appearances

Members of the Grape Street Watts Crips have appeared in the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America, directed by Stacy Peralta.[3] Members have also been interviewed in Gangland on the History Channel. and at the TV Show Southland. The gang is also featured in the film "Menace II Society" with the main characters being Grape St. Crips. The gangs colors, hand signals, and actual Street all being featured in the film. Real members also appear within the film as background extras.

References

  1. ↑ "THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. CORDELL HAWKINS, Defendant and Appellant" (PDF). Superior Court of Los Angeles County. June 8, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ Temple-Rastan, Dina (June 8, 2008). "Cops Target L.A. Gangs' 'Shot Callers'". National Public Radio. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Stacy Peralta (Director) (January 20, 2008). Crips and Bloods: Made in America (Motion picture). United States: PBS.

Further reading

  • "PCP drug bust in South Los Angeles: 20 arrested". ABC7 Los Angeles. February 13, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  • "Second South Los Angeles Gang Leader Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Federal Prison for Distributing PCP". FBI. February 4, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  • "13 L.A. street gang members indicted in sale of PCP". Los Angeles Times. March 27, 2008. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
  • Watts Beset by Retaliatory Shootings. Los Angeles Times.
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