The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California.

Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips began as an alliance between two autonomous gangs, and developed into a loosely connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another.

[24][25] Some sources suggest that the original name for the alliance, "Cribs", was narrowed down from a list of many options and chosen unanimously from three final choices, over the Black Overlords and the Assassins.

[27] The name had no political, organizational, cryptic, or acronymic meaning, though some have suggested it stands for "Common Revolution In Progress", a backronym.

[32] Williams however appears to discount the sometimes-cited founding date of 1969 in his memoir, Blue Rage, Black Redemption.

[32] In his memoir, Williams also refuted claims that the group was a spin-off of the Black Panther Party or formed for a community agenda, writing that it "depicted a fighting alliance against street gangs—nothing more, nothing less.

Enrique Bermúdez was allegedly picked by the CIA to head the contras, who met with Oscar Danilo Blandón and Norwin Meneses to discuss fundraising.

[36] The gang's growth and influence increased significantly in the early 1980s when crack cocaine boomed and Crip sets began distributing the drug.

Members typically consist of young African American men, but can be white, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander.

[23] The gang also began to establish a presence in Canada in the early 1990s;[39] Crip sets are active in the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto.

The letter "b" in the word "blood" is "disrespected" among certain Crip sets and written with a cross inside it because of its association with the enemy.

[46] As with most criminal street gangs, Crips have benefited monetarily from illicit activities such as illegal gambling, drug-dealing, pimping,[47] larceny, and robbery.

[citation needed] The gang's initial phase of growth and popularity was due to the explosion of crack cocaine in the United States during the 1980s.

This battle continued and by 1973, the Pirus wanted to end the violence and called a meeting with other gangs targeted by the Crips.

The rivalry started in the 1960s when Washington and other Crip members attacked Sylvester Scott and Benson Owens, two students at Centennial High School.

Between 1972 and 1979, the rivalry between the Crips and Bloods grew, accounting for a majority of the gang-related murders in southern Los Angeles.

Members of the Bloods and Crips occasionally fight each other and, as of 2010, are responsible for a significant portion of gang-related murders in Los Angeles.