Gangs in the 1980s
Gangs in the 1980s in the United States were characterized by significant violence and crime, largely fueled by the crack cocaine epidemic. Originating primarily in urban areas like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, gangs began to expand their influence into smaller cities across the nation. Two of the most notorious gangs from this period were the Crips and the Bloods, both rooted in Los Angeles. The Crips, known for their violent tactics and distinctive blue bandanas, became immensely powerful and were often linked to a surge in crime rates within their neighborhoods. In response, the Bloods emerged as a rival gang, adopting red bandanas and quickly gaining notoriety as a formidable opponent to the Crips.
In Chicago, a similar gang rivalry developed between the People Nation and Folk Nation, each comprising various smaller gangs that aligned under these broader affiliations. Unlike the predominantly African American Crips and Bloods, the People and Folks were more racially diverse. Throughout the 1980s, both the Crips and Bloods expanded their operations nationwide, capitalizing on the lucrative crack market, which allowed them to establish a presence in nearly every state. This period marked a significant evolution in gang culture, impacting not only local communities but also broader societal perceptions of gang life.
Gangs in the 1980s
Subcultural groups of persons—often young persons—attributing allegiance to specific territories and often engaged in illegal activities
By the end of the 1980’s, the United States experienced a sharp rise in crime. Simultaneously, gang activity increased and became more lethal, particularly as a result of increases in gang-related homicides and drug trafficking.
Historically, gangs in the United States have been confined to urban areas, especially New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago. However, throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, gangs spread to other urban areas and even to smaller cities in nearly all fifty states. Gangs of the 1980’s were associated with violence and crime. The crack epidemic of the 1980’s allowed gangs to support themselves economically, while gang members infiltrated the drug markets selling other hard drugs such as powder cocaine, PCP, and heroin. African American gangs, especially the Crips and the Bloods, began concentrating on selling crack cocaine, and drug trafficking provided young gang members with the opportunity to make significant amounts of money.
Bloods and Crips of Los Angeles
Two of the largest gangs in America, both of which had gained “super gang” status by the 1980’s, were the African American gangs the Bloods and the Crips. Both were based in Los Angeles, California. The Crips were the first to form, rising to power in the late 1960’s. The Crips’ members were younger than most other gang members and were notoriously violent. They held little regard for life or property and, consequently, engaged in a wide spectrum of violent crimes. They terrorized entire neighborhoods, leaving residents afraid to leave their homes after dark, and they were eventually blamed for the record-breaking crime rate in South Central Los Angeles. They adopted the color blue and began wearing blue and white bandanas to signify their allegiance. During the 1980’s, the Crips earned celebrity status, when rap star Snoop Dog (Calvin Brodus) began glorifying gang life as a Crip in his music. This type of music, which became known as “gangsta rap,” helped spread the popularity of gangs, because it portrayed gangs as offering impoverished adolescents a chance to thrive in their inner-city environments.
In opposition to the Crips and for self-protection, a band of juveniles living on Piru Street in Compton, another inner-city neighborhood of Los Angeles, formed a gang called the Compton Piru Street Boys, which later became known as the Bloods. They chose red bandanas and quickly gained recognition as an opposing force to the Crips. Other local gangs joined the fight, and the Bloods grew rapidly, becoming a more unified opponent for the Crips. The Bloods remained a relatively small gang compared to the Crips, but they became violent and powerful enough to survive and even thrive as a legitimate threat to the latter gang. By the 1980’s, nearly every predominantly African American neighborhood in Los Angeles was dominated by either the Bloods or the Crips, and both gangs were perceived as serious threats to local law enforcement.
People and Folks of Chicago
A war similar to the war between the Crips and Bloods in Los Angeles erupted in Chicago. The Chicago war was between the People Nation and the Folk Nation. By the end of the 1980’s, nearly every other gang in Chicago claimed affiliation with one or the other, and both gangs gained strength, recognition, and unity as legitimate gangs. The People Nation traced its heritage back to a gang known as the Blackstone Rangers, which first formed in the 1960’s. The Folk Nation first began as the Black Gangster Disciples and also formed in the 1960’s. Unlike the Crips and Bloods, which were predominantly African American and very resistant to admitting members of other racial and ethnic groups, the People and Folks were much more racially diverse. Also, many of the smaller regional gangs that paid national allegiance to the People or the Folks actually went by another name altogether, unlike the regional gangs of the Crips and Bloods which almost always retained their affiliated gang name. Thus, the People and Folks acted as umbrellas that encompassed many gangs underneath them, and it was not uncommon for regional gangs to switch allegiance from the Folks to the People or vice versa.
Also unlike the Crips and Bloods, which reached nationwide, the People and Folks were located mainly in the Midwest and the East. The Folks allied themselves with the Crips to offset an alliance between the People and the Bloods. While the Crips and Bloods wore blue or red to identify themselves, members of the People and the Folks instead developed a tradition of signaling their allegiance by decorating one side of their bodies more than the other side. The Folks identified themselves by emphasizing the right side of their bodies with their clothing, jewelry, and so on. Their members might wear baseball caps facing toward their right sides or roll up their right pant legs, for example. Similarly, the People identified themselves by emphasizing the left side of their bodies.
Impact
By the 1980’s, the Crips became one of the most powerful gangs in Los Angeles, with a thriving cocaine business. Once they realized that they could maximize their profits by exploiting the crack epidemic, they sought to control the cocaine market, propelling themselves to spread their gang from one coast to the other. They established smaller chapters in other urban cities and rural areas, reaching from the Midwest to the East Coast. In response to the spread of the Crips to all corners of the country, the Bloods also successfully spread to nearly all fifty states. Throughout the 1980’s, the Bloods began to dominate the East Coast, becoming the largest gang in New York City. The Bloods also exploited the crack epidemic of the 1980’s, establishing a lucrative crack trade rivaling that of the Crips.
Bibliography
Delany, Tim. American Street Gangs. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2006. Comprehensive description of gangs, discussing the different types that exist, why they form, and how law enforcement copes with the increasing threat.
Hagedorn, John. People and Folks: Gangs, Crime, and the Underclass in a Rustbelt City. Chicago: Lake View Press, 1988. Two gangs from Los Angeles and Milwaukee are portrayed as institutionalized entities in impoverished areas, where gang members move underground to perpetuate the underclass.
Huff, C. Ronald. Gangs in America. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1996. Collection of academic writings that address methodological issues in analyzing gangs, criminological and ecological factors used to explain gangs, the socioeconomics of gang operations, and behavioral aspects of ethnicity and gender.