It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs.

The Bloods comprise various subgroups known as "sets", among which significant differences exist, such as colors, clothing, operations, and political ideas that may be in open conflict with each other.

The rivalry originated in the late 1960s when Raymond Washington and other Crips attacked Sylvester Scott and Benson Owens, two students at Centennial High School in Compton, California.

[18] On March 21, 1972, shortly after a concert featuring Wilson Pickett and Curtis Mayfield, 20 youths belonging to the Crips attacked and robbed Robert Ballou Jr. outside the Hollywood Palladium.

By late 1972, the Pirus held a meeting in their neighborhood to discuss growing Crip pressure and intimidation.

Several gangs that felt victimized by the Crips joined the Pirus to create a new federation of non-Crips neighborhoods.

UBN started in 1993 in Rikers Island's George Motchan Detention Center (GMDC) to form protection from the Latin Kings and Ñetas who were targeting African-American gang members.

Once released from prison, UBN leaders went back to their New York neighborhoods, where they retained the Bloods name and started recruiting members.

It makes its income through various criminal activities, including distribution of crack cocaine and smuggling drugs into prison.

[7] Members range in age from early teens to mid-20s, but some hold leadership positions into their late twenties and occasionally thirties.

A set leader is not elected but rather asserts himself by developing and managing the gang's criminal enterprises through his reputation for violence and ruthlessness and his charisma.

To the extent that women belong to the gang, they are usually associates and tend to be used by their male counterparts to carry weapons, hold drugs, or prostitute themselves to make money for their set.

It also offers immediate gratification to economically disadvantaged youth who desire the trappings of gang life, such as gold jewelry, cash, and expensive sports clothing.

[25] The gang has a membership of between approximately 15,000 and 20,000 active in 123 cities and in 33 U.S. states,[2] primarily on the West Coast and, to a lesser extent, the Great Lakes region and the Southeast.

[28][29] Bloods members identify themselves through various indicators, such as colors, clothing, symbols, tattoos, jewelry, graffiti, language, and hand signs.