Blood gang biography

BySimon Barnes

In 1972, on the streets of Los Angeles, a gang war between the dominant Crips and several local rivals was playing out, per Black Past.

When these smaller gangs formed an alliance to oppose the Crips, the gang known as the Bloods was born. Their ferocity would help them overcome their numerical disadvantage and propel them into notoriety as one of the largest and most feared gangs in the United States, and the archetypal opponent of the Crips.

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Contrary to what you might think, the Bloods are not a monolithically ruled gang.

Instead, Blood gangs are a vast patchwork of local "sets," each distinct from others, as described in an intelligence report released by Virginia State Police. Over decades the Bloods have set out a series of rules and codes of conduct that their members must follow.

A looser, more locally enforced doctrine exists for the West Coast Bloods, based in their founding