European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 20, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine gangs from coast to coast by wary Gabriel Washington Posta red with High powered weapons pounds of Coke and a plan to Hustle drugs in cities not already sewn up by bigger dealers the West coast based crips and. Bloods Lrae gangs numbering some 70.000. Are liking their show of violence coast to coast. T to Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms. The Fri and local Law enforcement organizations irom California to Washington  Aie gearing up for a Ball to of a or proportions against the gangs that have turned some parts of los Angeles As one Law enforcement officer says into a Beirut. Dol  spokeswoman in Washington says. Hern arc an estimated 10,000 jamaican drug dealers operating in the United Stales organized in 40 groups. By contrast the la police department has identified about 70,000 crips and bloods members in los Angeles county alone operating in about 600 to 700 different sub gangs. Many of the gang members Are not dealing cocaine. Most often sold in the cheap potent and highly addictive form  but police say some Are. The estimated number of gang members engaged in drug dealing and crime is generally put at Between 5 percent and .10 percent. As insatiable As drug appetites might be the . Market is blanketed and crips and bloods members ready to leave their neighbourhoods can make area times the amount of Money they make in los Angeles by moving just 20 Miles away where Corners Are temporarily free of drug paddlers. Koester say at has identified  bloods operations As far Afi Eitt As Washington Oregon Nevada Utah. Arizona new Mexico Colorado Kansas Oklahoma. Texas Louisiana Florida Georgia Illinois Michigan Ohio Alabama Maryland and the District of Columbia. Ii he drug Market a there just like the jamaicans they re going to try to Lake advantage of ii Koester said. We be made it a National project. All of our people in the Field Wilt Send their reports on crips and bloods Inlo Tead Parlers in Washington Lor coordinated Effort to Stop the gangs spread. The los Angeles county gang related carnage statistics Are we a reported. So tar this year 286 people have been killed in gang slayings. And that figure is not a firm total police say reports Tom around the country Tell a less dramatic but still frightening story., Denver police note an increase in crack houses and gang violence including drive by shootings. Special task Sofce is created to confront the problem. But not Belore the killings begin. A Man is shot in a Sang member one Street Comer in Omaha neb., one of Many cities when los Angeles based gangs have Sot up extended drug networks. Drive by because he is wearing a red University of Oklahoma baseball Cap and is mistaken for a member of the bloods whose color is red. Three gang related shootings were reported in the first week of november. Heno Nev Mark Banks. 19, and William Wright 18, who identified themselves As crips Are sentenced to life after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl and stealing $1, Law enforcement officials Brace Lor influx of gang members. Las vegas nov. 3 and 4. Las vegas police wage War on gang members arresting 107 for drug offences in Sling operation targeted Al crips and bloods on City s Westside. Seattle City police report gang related drive by shootings and six cases of rape and abduction in the last 15 months As of May Seattle police had counted nearly 300 gang members in the area. In Juno , District judge John Doug Rienour offered one los Angeles gang member the possibility of a lighter sentence in he would warn other gang members about How serious these cases Are viewed up in this stale and in this  Seattle police chief Frank Fitzsimons says he has sought Federal assistance to Deal with gangs since members of the bloods and crips began showing up in Large numbers in the summer of 1987,. Omaha. Neb police ask Community to help them confront tha gang drug network building in the City. After More than a year of suspected gang activity in Omaha police Ara calling h a problem. They have asked citizens to take pictures of dealers and gang members if they Are identifiable. A special youth violence unit has been set up. V Springfield to a1,040-Pound shipment of cocaine believed in route to East St. Louis 11, is confiscated after police Stop iwo los Angeles men in a truck nov. 6 with the drugs to be distributed to gang members. Police say the crips and bloods Are firmly rooted in Kansas City mo., and spreading out in the Region. Interstate 44 is believed to be major route of drugs irom California through St. Louis to the East coast. Bill Carter an Fri spokesman in Washington said the Bureau is in the process of expanding its role in the fight against crips and bloods. About 50 cities nationally have been Iden Liodas having activity involving gang members he said with the method of operation generally the same. Essentially the Way they do it is through family ties a Cousin or some Typo of relative in the City. They move in Ullh them for awhile and establish themselves with local illegal drug distributors. They la gel them the dealers to work Tor them and Promise them a certain profit i can Supply the cocaine for half of what you re gelling now,1" is the usual scenario. Carter said. Carter said tha drugs Are purchased originally irom colombian and mexican traffickers. A special Fri drug gang squad is in los Angeles. Tuesday december 20, 198b helping to coordinate a National network and intelligence base to Monitor the groups. The Baltimore Washington based Maidon Institute a risk analysis think Lank released a report on the gangs this month John fleas the report s author said the findings indicate the gangs arc a major National Law enforce men problem that is growing. Because of the Money involved 1he weapons and Rhc Ages of those concerned it s a new problem. We have a group that will give a kid of 10, $12,000 to Fly irom la. To san Francisco to carry drugs. You be got a new dimension on crime Rees said. Rees said the gangs Aro not limited to drug dealing but Are engaged in extortion counterfeiting and. Prostitution -. The Maidon report says Tho groups can be raced historically to Street gangs in South Central los Angeles which were first Active in the 1920s. At that Lime and until the mkt-19603, the gangs Farmers. Sir variants and Pueblos existed As territorial groups fighting rival gangs and engaging in minor criminal activity. In 1969, die first report of crips gang activities came rum Washington High school in sout Fiwel los Angeles Rees said. The name crips appears to have derived from the Vincent Price horror film tales of the.  crypt was transformed in Street Slang to crips but the message remained the same horror and violence. In the 1973-74 period groups not aligned Wilh the rips Ormed a collective organization the bloods and intense gang rivalry grew. In the 1930s, drugs entered the equation Rees said. Firs with marijuana then cocaine. By 1982 and 19b3,. The gangs started expanding beyond los Angeles with an intent to Rob National Chain jewelry stores in particular. The intent quickly changed to the lucrative Salu of cocaine. Rees said missionary gang members who. Travel to other cities to snarl a new cocaine Market sometimes cooperate with rival gangs to gain a foothold. Both crips and bloods decorate the Walls and fences of the new territory with Graffiti to help Dezinc a sense of Community for converts and directions Lor their Lellow members he said. The missionary carries a Pound of cocaine or More into the new Market Selling it Low in order to gain customers. Trie profit is pocketed Rees said but the original Cost of the drug is sent Back to the gang base in los Angeles. Cash is still carried Back although increased use is being Mads of Western Union Money orders or Federal express Type services 1 Rees said in the report. Protecting the drug network requires heavy artillery and the weapons of Choice the study said appear to be ak-47s. Uzi Sand Mac-115, in addition to 9mm and .45-caliber pistols. The stars and stripes Page 13