This is Raymond Lee Washington, best known as the founder of The Crips. Washington was born August 14, 1953 in Los Angeles to Violet Samuel and Reginald Washington. He had three older brothers from his mother’s first marriage and one younger half-brother from his mother’s second marriage. Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s Washington came to be known for getting into fights. His penchant for fighting led to his being routinely expelled from school for fighting and later being sent to Juvenile Detention Camps. In the late 1960s, Washington, now a teenager, admired the Black Panthers and their attempt to bring social change through their militant positions. Washington sought to emulate these tactics, eventually joining the Avenues street gang led by Craig Munson. However, Washington got in a fight with Munson’s brother, and afterwards decided to leave the gang to start his own group known as the Baby Avenues. The youthful aspect of the gang’s membership then led to their adopting the name the Avenue Cribs, which finally became the Crips. On August 9, 1979 Washington was shot by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in LA. Though he was taken to a nearby hospital, the gunshot proved fatal. He died five days before his 26th birthday. Washington’ death marked the end of the unification of the Crips as the various branches began fighting one another and also the end of hand to hand combat, disputes began to be held with guns.
enemies too.