Print this page | Close Window


https://n2v.paloaltoonline.com/square/print/2008/07/18/who-are-the-true-blue-crips

Town Square

Who are the True Blue Crips?

Original post made by julie, Midtown, on Jul 18, 2008



To most Palo Altans, before the night of June 12, when Herbert Kay was fatally beaten on Gilman Street in downtown Palo Alto, gangs were the stuff of documentaries, of movies, of gritty urban sprawl.

But the quiet of Palo Alto's tree-lined streets was shattered by the viciousness of a sinister group mentality that night as six members of an East Palo Alto gang known as the True Blue Crips pummeled Kay, who, without his wallet, was taking an evening stroll.

Web Link

The six suspects in the murder--three juveniles and three adults--have been formally charged with Kay's murder and with attempted robbery. The charges against all six have also been enhanced with a "gang charge," a violation of an aspect of the penal code which prohibits an ongoing organization of three or more people to conspire to commit serious crimes in association with a gang in order to further their mission as a gang or under the direction of a gang leader.

The original Crips gang from Los Angeles was African-American, according to Detective Charles Zeglin of the Los Angeles Police Department's gang investigative unit. Their signature color is blue--perhaps because this was the school color of the high school attended by some of the original members--and their main industry is drug dealing.

The name "Crips" reputedly has a sinister origin. "If you didn't do what they said, they'd cripple you," Zeglin said.

Comments

Posted by steve
a resident of Midtown
on Jul 18, 2008 at 1:00 pm



Thanks for this post, we need to remember Herbert KayWeb Link
and his wife and children, I wonder if they are still in the area, I believe they moved to San Jose.

What a sad matter.

Email Town Square Moderator      


Posted by WPedia
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 18, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Crips

Through the years the gang has grown to be one of the largest and most powerful gangs in the United States, currently with over 30,000 gang members.
The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits.
The gang is notorious for its gang members' flamboyant use of the color blue in their clothing.
However, this practice has waned due to contentious police crackdowns on gang members.

Email Town Square Moderator      


Posted by sam
a resident of Gunn High School
on Jul 18, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Al-Qaeda and fellow international terrorists are said to threaten failing Pacific states but as Michael Field reports the real menace comes from the streets of America and south Auckland.

They’re shadowy and amoral; big and vicious men, now living in every village in Polynesia.

They learned their trade with American street gangs like the Sons of Samoa and the Tongan Crip Gang (TCG).

Samoan Warriors Bounty Hunters, Tongan Crip Regulators, Tongan Style Gang and the Baby Regulators fill out the world of hoods, hand signals, graffiti and crime.

And, according to the article, “they are mostly from Latter-day Saint families.”

The claim is that these young people once lived in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. When they became uncontrollable they were sent “home” to the Pacific Island nations to be rehabilitated. But these kids brought the “skills” they learned in the inner cities of the U.S. with them, resulting in a burgeoning gang problem in the South Pacific.

Trouble became apparent last November 16th when riots erupted in the Tongan capitol of Nuku’alofa. When all was said and done, eighty percent of the business district of the city had been destroyed and eight people were dead. Since then, the police have been working hard to find the people responsible for what has come to be known as “Black Thursday.” Fairfax Media reports:

Around 1100 people have since been arrested — with New Zealand police help — and over half are TCG who are mostly from Mormon Latter Day Saint (LDS) families.

Email Town Square Moderator