A DEADLY gang war has exploded on the streets of New York City leaving three teenagers dead in just five days – including a 13-year-old boy with links to the Crips.
With statistics showing a significant increase in murder nationwide, the bloody rivalry between Bloods, Crips and MS-13 is once again attracting attention from lawmakers – more than 50 years after violence first erupted.
The Bloods and Crips street gangs have been operating in the United States since the late 1960s and early 1970s.
First formed on the streets of LA in 1969 by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips are often associated with the color blue.
In response, the Bloods -identified by the red color – were founded in 1972, to provide protection against the Crips.
Since their formation, the rivals have reportedly amassed a total of more than 50,000 associated gang members, including well known celebrities.
Over the years, big name rappers such as Birdman, Lil Wayne, The Game, Cardi B, Jim Jones and Suge Knight among others are associated or members of the Bloods gang.
Rappers, Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle, Eazy E, Bobby Shmurda, Nate Dogg, Jeezy and Blueface among others are associated or members of the Crips.
'RIVALS TO THIS DAY'
A Department of Justice report in 2001 notes: "Gang activity flourished and declined during various periods in the late 1950's and 1960's.
"In 1968 the first groups appeared that later became known as the Crips. To protect themselves from the Crips, the other Los Angeles-based African-American street gangs banded together. This group became known as the Blood gangs.
"The Crips and the Bloods are rivals to this day."
As for MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, they are thought to have emerged in New York in the early Nineties after being formed by Salvadoran immigrants in LA in the 1980s.
The gang – who use machetes – now have anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 members spread across dozens of US states, at least six countries in the Americas, and several countries in Europe.
The group lives by the motto: “Kill, rob, rape, control.”
In May of this year they were accused of evading arrest at the border by "exploiting the influx of migrants" amid the current crisis.
Steven Dudley wrote for the The Sun in April: "Before it became a murderous street gang responsible for tens of thousands of grisly deaths, MS-13 was a motley band of mostly teenagers who shared a love of heavy metal music.
"The gang quickly found themselves in another war in their adopted city of Los Angeles as hundreds of vicious street gangs fought tooth and nail for control of petty drug markets."
TRIPLE KILLING
The latest gang violence in New York City began last Wednesday with the death of 19-year-old Tyquill Daugherty in the Bronx.
Then on Sunday afternoon Jaryan "Jay Ripp" Elliot, 13, was shot dead.
Suspected Crips member and "modern-day Baby Face" Elliot was fatally shot Sunday as he stood outside a restaurant in the Bronx, police said.
Chief of Department Rodney Harrison confirmed on Twitter that the shooting was gang related. He said Elliot was the "intended target."
Baby Face was pseudonym for Lester Joseph Gillis, a Chicago gangster in the early 20th Century.
Just nine hours later Ramon Gil-Medrano, 16, who had links to the "Young Gunnaz" gang was also dead.
A police source told The New York Post that on the streets of NYC "we can’t keep them in [jail], and they’re going after each other."
Another said: "Everybody is walking around with a gun because they are more afraid of getting shot than getting arrested."
A prosecutor added: "They don’t go to jail, so they do robberies, get in fights and carry guns."
RISE IN SHOOTINGS
Facing rising fears of summer violence, Joe Biden is trying to back both law enforcement and the police reform movement.
The president on Monday met at the White House with city leaders — including Eric Adams, the heavy favorite to be the next mayor of New York City — about increased shootings.
Big city mayors have sounded the alarm on the rise in crime, believed partly fueled by destabilizing forces of the pandemic, and polls suggest it is an increasing matter of concern for many Americans.
Police leaders nationwide have said they are struggling with the increase in shootings and homicides. They’re grappling with retirements and fewer staff and a difficulty in recruiting officers to help push back.
A rise in shootings as New York City began to emerge from the pandemic helped propel a late charge for Adams, a black former police captain who rejects defund-the-police talk.
Adams also says he would bring back a contentious plainclothes anti-crime unit that focused on getting guns off the streets, a unit that was disbanded amid charges that it used excessive force.
Adams, the current Brooklyn Borough president, said: “Other communities are waking up to an alarm clock” while minority communities are “waking up to gunshots, and this president said ‘This is not good.’”
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