Pirus
| Founded | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Compton and Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Years active | 1972–present |
| Territory | California: Sacramento, Fresno, San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara |
| Ethnicity | Primarily African American; with Mestizo and Native American members |
| Criminal activities | Murder, drug trafficking, robbery and extortion |
| Allies | Bloods, People Nation (Midwest), Black P. Stones, Norteños, Harvard Park Brims, ES 20s Outlaws,Van Ness Gangster Brims, Fruit Town Brims, Fruit Town Pirus |
| Rivals | Crips, Sureños, Hoover Criminals, Asian Boyz, Folk Nation (Midwest) |
The Pirus, also known as Piru Street Family are a Los Angeles street gang alliance based in Compton, and also present in the cities of Carson, Hawthorne, Houston, San Diego, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Inglewood, Pacoima, Pomona, West Covina, Wilmington and Watts. Piru sets make up most of the original Blood Alliance in Los Angeles. The main colors of Pirus are red and burgundy.
History
In 1969, the Pirus were created by teenagers from neighborhoods and young black men returning from Vietnam. The Pirus were a gang in Compton which spread. In 1969 with the Crip alliance made by smaller gangs, the Pirus also joined, making a large "set" of the Crips. At that time, there were various sets throughout the region of Los Angeles, California. However, these sets were small groups of hustlers. In 1969, fifteen-year-old Raymond Washington started the Crips street gang with friends from his neighborhood on the East Side of South Central Los Angeles. The Crips began to attack hustler groups and cliques in order to create a larger organization.[1]
The Pirus soon joined with the Brims gang, a victim of the Crips attacks, and together in jail they created the Bloods, starting off at first as a way to address one another. Following this, new inmates entering the LA County Jail were asked by intake/deputies, "Who do you run with, the Crips or the Bloods?" Those who were victimized by the Crips joined the Pirus and Brims and ran with the Blood identity, which is how the Blood gang was formed. The Bloods started in jail in LA County in 1974, and the Pirus and Brims both formed on the streets in 1972.
Original formation of the Pirus Street Gang
In Compton, Raymond Washington and his Crip affiliates approached the Piru Street Family in 1969 and the gang later changed their name to the Piru Street Crips. The Pirus, however, were arch enemies of the gang that would become the Compton Crips, led by a teenager named Mac Thomas. According to Westside Crips co-founder Tookie Williams, Thomas and the Compton Crips were unhappy about Washington recruiting their arch rivals. According to Williams, Thomas had even complained about Washington showing the Pirus the Compton Crips' turf, including their personal hangouts. The alliance lasted for two to three months.
At one time some members from the Pirus were a part of the Crips before they broke off from the Crips and became some of the first gangs within the Bloods. There is disagreement as to whether Pirus and Bloods share the same usage.
Bloods and Pirus are known to use the term "no kutts", which means to individually rep one's own neighborhood or turf and claim it as one's own. The term is rooted in the lack of association between both Bloods and Pirus with the prison gang "Bloodline". Kuttz is a slang term for Bloodline. The Bloodline gang is represented by Bloods from across the country and is not exclusive to just one set in one city. If you're part of the "BL" gang, your loyalty is to Bloodline and not to your original neighborhood, which is where the conflict between Bloodline, Bloods, and Pirus originates.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Martinez, Juan Francisco Esteva (2008). "Bloods". In Kontos, Louis; Brotherton, David. Encyclopedia of Gangs. Westport, Konnecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 12 &ndash, 13. ISBN 978-0-313-33402-3.