Rival Crip Gangs Settle Beef: “I Ain’t Out There In The Streets Causing Trouble. I’m Out Here to Play Ball!”

Let this be a life lesson to us all--any beef can be squashed if people are willing to come together. Period.

Case in point, most of us are familiar with the rivalry between the infamous Bloods vs. Crips gangs, but many are not aware of the tension between the different Crip sets. According to the LA Times, the Los Angeles Crips have battled against each other for ten years, starting in the 1990's until a truce was called in 2006. 

To an outsider it might seem that all Crip members belong to the same gang, however there's much more to it. Martin Luther King Blvd separates the Rollin' 40s Crips from the Rollin' 30s Harlem Crips. Raymond Avenue marks the territory of the Raymond Avenue Crips. Many members who have lost loved ones, narrowly escaped death themselves, or suffered long prison sentences, are tired of the bloodshed and are now reppin' their set on the softball field.

They've started a softball league that includes eight teams: the 30s, 40s, 90s, 100s, East Coasters, Raymond Avenues, Compton Nutty Bloccs and Compton Santanas, all of which are different sets of Crips. Many of the players are middle aged founding gang members who want to show the younger Cripss that the rivalry is over and they can all get along. Lindsey “Linzo” Hogan, 48, a player for the Compton Nutty Blocc Crips says: “I ain’t out there in the streets, causing trouble. I’m out here to play ball. The negative, the gang banging — this ain’t about being bad.”

Many of the players like, Jevon “Lil C Moe” Cobb, (who after serving six years in federal prison for a bank robbery and is now a caseworker at a homeless shelter), have turned their lives around. They see the softball league as a way to keep the next generation out of jail. The softball league has even allowed Ryan “Pookie Twin” James to let  go of a grudge he had been holding towards the 30s Crips for killing his brother. “It took 15 years. Sometimes you’ve got to forgive,” said James, 45, who plays for the Rollin’ 90s.

Despite concerns that the championship game would attract a big crowd of current rival gang members, the Rollin' 30s and the Rollin' 40s took the field at Torrance Park. The Rollin' 30s Twins defeated the Rollin' 40s Brewers making them this year's champions. 

With the Crips softball league going so well, there have been talks of a Crips versus Bloods World Series in the making. #Empowering