Start of the Infamous Bloods | Pirus | Damus | Brims

In the beginning, the Bloods gang existed solely for the purpose of challenging the Crips' dominance in the Los Angeles area. In the late 1960s, Raymond Washington and other members of the Crips gang attacked Sylvester Scott and Benson Owens, two students attending Centennial High School in Compton, California. This event marked the beginning of the rivalry. As a direct consequence of this, Scott established the Piru street gang, which was the initial "Bloods" gang. In the years that followed, Owens established the West Side Pirus. When the Bloods were first getting started, one of their primary goals was to provide members with protection from the Crips. Many of the gangs that were not affiliated with the Crips used to refer to one another as "blood." The first Bloods (damus) were: Pirus, Brims, Denver Lanes, Athens Park Boys (now bloods instead of boys) and City Stones (now black p stones)