The corner where Raymond Washington was killed

This is the location where Crips founder Raymond Washington was killed.

It is situated at the corner of San Pedro Street and East 64th Street in Los Angeles, California.

Washington grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where he quickly gained a reputation for being a formidable street fighter.

A number of locals described him as a Robin Hood-type character who defended them from outsiders. Others claimed that he was a muscular bully who only protected his neighbors so that he could pick on them himself.

During his teenage years, he was a member of a gang called The Avenues. However, he left after one of the leaders physically reprimanded him for bullying and robbing people.

The Crips

In 1969, Washington created a street gang called the Crips. Although it originally started out as a small outfit of teenage troublemakers, it did not take him long to grow it into something much bigger.

His strategy during this "expansion period" was simple.

He would approach rival gang leaders, challenge them to a fight, and then beat them. Once he put the toughest guy on their back, the rest of the members usually fell in line.

Notably, this strategy only worked because guns weren't as prevalent at the time. Furthermore, bringing a weapon to a fistfight was considered a cowardly move.

Tookie Williams

In 1971, a friend introduced Washington to Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a vicious street fighter from the West Side.

The pair liked each other and shared a mutual interest in fitness. They also respected each other's fighting abilities. As a result, they decided to join forces.

After agreeing to this alliance, Tookie began operating under the Crips banner.

Washington controlled South Central's East Side. Meanwhile, Tookie oversaw the West Side.

Although Tookie agreed to run the West Side of the Crips, there are doubts about whether he was actually a co-founder or not. Some sources state that Washington approached him and offered to join forces, while others say that Washington simply picked Tookie to run things for him on the West Side.

It has been claimed that Tookie's motivation for lifting weights was rooted in his fear that he would have to fight Washington one day. Tookie reportedly said that he needed to be bigger and more powerful because Washington was a better fighter.

Downfall

During the early 1970s, the Crips continued to expand across Los Angeles by absorbing smaller gangs. One newspaper report from the time likened the organization to an octopus that was quickly spreading its limbs over the city.

However, things started to fall apart in 1974, after Washington was sentenced to five years in prison for second-degree robbery.

When he was released on parole two years later, he was shocked to discover that everything had changed, even the dress style and dances.

Guns had largely replaced fists, the Crips had fractured into warring factions, and his "organization" was now feuding with another gang called the Bloods.

Furthermore, his West Side ally, "Tookie" Williams, was a shell of his former self, as he had become addicted to PCP after being wounded in a shooting.

Washington hoped to transform the Crips into a structured gang like the Black Panthers. However, it was now an unsalvageable mess.

Washington hoped to clean up the mess and bring some structure back to the Crips but soon realized that he no longer had the power to do so.

Due to the expanding drug trade, gangsters were now using handguns and shotguns to protect their profits and settle disputes. Consequently, his ability to win street fights no longer gave him the same influence that it once did.

Disillusioned by the disarray and wanton violence, he began distancing himself from the gang.

Murder

At around 10 p.m. on August 9th, 1979, Washington was hanging around 6326 South San Pedro Street when a group of men pulled up outside the building and called his name.

Although he told an acquaintance that he knew some of the men, he was still somewhat cautious about approaching them, as he had a rule against walking up to vehicles that he didn't recognize.

After carefully stepping forward and asking the occupants to identify themselves, he received an answer that put him at ease.

At that point, he smiled and began chatting with the men.

During their brief conversation, the passenger-side occupant pulled out a sawn-off shotgun and shot Washington in the stomach.

Following the shooting, the Crips founder was rushed to Morningside Hospital.

While he was en route, he reportedly claimed that he knew who the shooter was and that he was going to "deal with them" once he was healed.

However, Washington never got the chance to exact revenge, as he died from his wounds just 80 minutes later.

Although it has been claimed that local Crips members carried out the shooting, this has never been proven.

Washington remains unsolved.

Following his death, the Crips continued to fragment into loosely connected gangs called "sets," many of which still fight among each other to this day.