Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods

Last updated
Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods
Nobody Can Stop the War But Us Mural in Nickerson Gardens, Watts, Los Angeles.jpg
A mural referring to the war between the Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods and the Grape Street Watts Crips.
Founding location Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active1969 - present
Territory Nickerson Gardens
Ethnicity African American
Membership (est.)2,000 [1]
Criminal activitiesDrug trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, burglary, identification theft, car theft, kidnapping
Rivals Grape Street Watts Crips, West Side Piru, [2] 118 East Coast Crips [3] [4]

The Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, [5] [6] also known as the Bounty Hunter Bloods, is a "set" of the Bloods gang alliance situated in the Nickerson Gardens public housing projects in Watts, Los Angeles.

Contents

History

The gang was originally established in 1969 but became well established by 1972. Whilst today it is a set of the Bloods, it was originally known as the Green Jackets. Gary Barker and Bobby Jack are believed to be the set's founders. [7]

The gang is perhaps most known for its longstanding rivalry with the Grape Street Watts Crips which has been described by gang experts as "the most violent and long lasting feud between two gangs that are in the Watts area". [8] In 1992, the Watts truce was declared which saw a rapid decline in violence between the two street gangs. However, by 2005, the truce had reportedly imploded with the homicide rate increasing to at least seven. [9]

In 1993, Regis Deon Thomas, a member of the Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, shot and killed two Compton Police Department officers during a traffic stop. They were the first Compton police officers to be killed in the line of duty in the department's 65-year history. [10]

In 1997, members of the 118 East Coast Crips shot a school bus in the hopes of killing members of the Bounty Hunter Bloods, killing 17-year-old bystander Corie Williams instead. [3] [4]

In 2003, shots were fired at Los Angeles Police Department patrol officers in two incidents in the Nickerson Gardens projects. In 2000, the FBI convicted 30 Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods members on federal drug violations for the distribution and conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. [11] An injunction was imposed on the gang in 2004 which limited the movements of members. [12]

In 2013, O.F.T.B. rapper and Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods affiliate, Kevin “Flipside” White, was shot dead by alleged members of the Grape Street Watts Crips. [13]

Overview

The gang is situated within Nickerson Gardens, the largest government housing complex west of the Mississippi River. [14] The complex forms the majority of its territory which is the largest of any African-American street gang in Watts. [5] The gang has over 2,000 documented members and is subdivided into numerous subsets and cliques, including the Lot Boys, Block Boys, Bell Haven, Ace Line, Duece Line, Tray Line, Four Line and Five Line. [1] [5] Like all Bloods gangs, the Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods affiliate themselves with the color red. Its members tattoo themselves with the letters "B" and "H" which refer to "Bounty Hunters" and also use the letters in hand signs. [1]

Its members have been known to attend Centennial High School in Compton. [15]

In addition to its feud with the Grape Street Watts Crips, the gang is also known to feud West Side Piru, which is based in nearby Compton, [2] and 118 East Coast Crips. [3] [4]

There are other street gangs across the United States which claim the same name, such as the 59 Bounty Hunter Bloods in Houston, Texas [16] and the Bounty Hunter Bloods in Detroit, Michigan. [17]

Notable members

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloods</span> Street gang founded in Los Angeles, California, US

The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Washington</span> American gangster

Raymond Lee Washington was an American gangster, known as the founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles. Washington formed the Crips as a minor street gang in the late 1960s in South Los Angeles, becoming a prominent local crime boss. In 1971, Washington formed an alliance with Stanley "Tookie" Williams, establishing the Crips as the first major African-American street gang in Los Angeles, and served as one of the co-leaders. In 1974, Washington was convicted of robbery and received a five-year prison sentence, during which his leadership and influence in the Crips declined.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watts, Los Angeles</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States

Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orlando Anderson</span> Prime suspect in the murder of Tupac Shakur (1974–1998)

Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson was an American Crips gang member suspected in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Anderson belonged to the California-based gang known as the South Side Compton Crips. Detective Tim Brennan of the Compton Police Department filed an affidavit naming Anderson as a suspect; he denied involvement and was never charged. Anderson's uncle, Duane Keith Davis, was charged with Shakur's murder on September 29, 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nickerson Gardens</span> Public housing complex in Los Angeles, California, United States

Nickerson Gardens is a 1,066-unit public housing apartment complex at 1590 East 114th Street in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Nickerson Gardens is the largest public housing development in Los Angeles and was the first home of many notable people, including Jazz Joy and Roy Global Radio host, Roy O’Dell Gray who, according to Hollywood insiders, is the first cousin of Mary Mary Super Producer Warryn Campbell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crips</span> Street gang from Los Angeles, California

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. Its members have traditionally worn blue clothing since around 1973.

Andre DeSean Wicker, better known by his stage name Gangsta Dresta, is an American rapper. He is best known for collaborating with Eazy-E on the 1993 single "Real Muthaphuckkin G's".

The Watts truce was a 1992 peace agreement among rival street gangs in Los Angeles, California, declared in the neighborhood of Watts. The truce was reached just days before the 1992 Los Angeles riots and, although not universally adhered to, was a major factor in the decline of street violence in the city between the 1990s and 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirus</span> Street gang alliance in Los Angeles

The Pirus are a subset of the larger Bloods gang alliance, an organized crime group in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grape Street Watts Crips</span> African-American street gang

The Grape Street Watts Crips is a "set" of the Crips gang based in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The gang's rivalry with the Bounty Hunter Bloods has been described as being "the most violent and long lasting feud between two gangs that are in the Watts area."

Imam Mujahid Abdul-Karim is an African-American convert to Islam, who is best known for his involvement and "spearheading" of the April 26, 1992 Watts Gang Truce between the four influential rival gangs— Watts Hacienda Village Bloods, Grape Street Watts Crips, Bounty Hunter Watts Bloods, and PJ Watts Crips. He is imam of Masjid Al Rasul mosque in Watts, Los Angeles and the leader of The Imam Mahdi Movement.

O.F.T.B. was an American hip hop group from the Watts district of Los Angeles, California. The group O.F.T.B. consisted of three founding actual gang members Kevin "Flipside" White, Sammy "Bust Stop" Williams, and Ronald "Low M.B." Watkins, who grew up in Nickerson Gardens Project, which is home to the notorious gang Bounty Hunter Bloods. They were signed to Big Beat Records where they released their debut album Straight Up Watts in 1992 with the hit single "Slangin' Dope".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd</span> American gang unit duo

Timothy M. Brennan and Robert Ladd joined the Compton Police Department as officers in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1988, they were promoted to become Compton's two-man gang unit. The police department could only afford to have two people at the time, even though many smaller cities typically had up to four times as many. As the gang unit, Brennan and Ladd were responsible for dealing with and investigating over fifty-five gangs in the 10.1 square mile area that make up the City of Compton. They have served as the primary or assisting investigating officers on hundreds of gang-related murders and thousands of gang-related shootings, and witnessed instances of gang-related rapes, robberies, drive-by shootings, and shootings at police officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regis Deon Thomas</span> American murderer on death row

Regis Deon Thomas is an American convicted murderer and Bloods gang member who was sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of Kevin Michael Burrell and James Wayne MacDonald, two officers in the Compton Police Department who were shot dead during a traffic stop in the City of Compton. They were the only Compton police officers killed in the line of duty in the department's 65-year history. Thomas was also convicted of murdering another man in 1992 in Torrance, California.

The Crips and the Bloods, two street gangs founded in Los Angeles, California, have been engaged in a gang war since the 1970s. The war is made up of smaller, local conflicts perpetrated by chapters of both gangs, and has mostly taken place in major cities in the United States, especially Los Angeles (L.A.). It is also present in other countries, including Belize. The gangs often identify themselves using clothing colored blue for Crips and red for Bloods; people wearing those colors in gang territory are often targets of violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lueders Park Piru</span> Part of the Bloods gang alliance

The Lueders Park Piru are a "set" of the Piru gang alliance, which itself is part of the larger Bloods alliance. The Lueders Park Piru has its origins in the Lueders Park Hustlers, an independent street gang which was instrumental in the formation of the Bloods gang alliance in 1972.

In gang terminology, a set refers to a subgroup within a larger gang alliance. Sets vary in size and internal structure, and different sets within the same gang are known to fight one another.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "THE PEOPLE v. BOBBY WATTS". FindLaw. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 "THE PEOPLE v. DERRICK WASHINGTON". FindLaw. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Berry, Steve (21 June 1998). "Slayings of Girl, Cosby Again Joined in Time". LA Times. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Hull, Tim (31 October 2013). "Witness's Background Upends Gang Conviction". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 "History of Watts". Watts Neighborhood Council. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  6. "The Neighborhood Project: Watts". LA List. Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  7. Covey, Herbert C. (June 23, 2015). Crips and Bloods : a guide to an American subculture. ABC-CLIO. p. 160. ISBN   978-0313399305.
  8. "People v. Hawkins CA2/8, B254416 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015)". Court Listener. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  9. "War and Peace in Watts". LA Weekly. 14 July 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  10. "Hundreds Mourn Compton Officer : Tribute: Friends remember James Wayne MacDonald as a compassionate person who had long wanted to be a policeman". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. February 28, 1993.
  11. "LAPD And FBI Crack Down On Violent LA Street Gang". Los Angeles Police Department. 20 January 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  12. "Timeline: South Central Los Angeles". Independent Lens. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  13. "Kevin White, 44". Los Angeles Times. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  14. "Inside the Nickerson Gardens Projects with Rapper Jay Rock: "They Can Call Anyone a Terrorist, a Gangbanger, and Put Cameras in Your Neighborhood."". LA Weekly. 17 February 2011.
  15. "AMADO v. GONZALEZ". FindLaw. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  16. "Gang: 59 BOUNTY HUNTERS". Stop Houston Gangs. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  17. "Authorities: Leader Of Detroit's Bounty Hunter Bloods Gang Gets 30 Years In Prison". CBS Detroit. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  18. "Five Things To Know About Jay Rock". Hit Up Angle.
  19. "THE MARATHON CONTINUES: HOW NIPSEY HUSSLE HELPED BRIDGE THE DIVIDES OF SOUTH LOS ANGELES". L.A. Taco.