Original subtitles

[♪]

Gangs rule their territories through ruthless enterprises,

fear,

and a strict code.

Deviate from this code

or challenge their power...

and retribution soon follows...

especially for

one of the most ferocious street gangs in Los Angeles...

the Bloods.

From their start as defiant underdogs

to becoming a powerful, violent force in South Central,

here are three stories

that establish the brutal reputation of the Bloods.

First, a turf war between the Bloods and their arch-enemy

takes over the city of Los Angeles.

By the time I was 16,

I had already been to about 20 funerals.

[Narrator] Next, when two iconic rappers are assassinated,

the war between the Bloods and Crips goes national.

[Greg Kading] They see the BMW that Tupac is in.

Orlando Anderson simply leans out the window

and begins to fire.

[gunfire]

[Narrator] And last, a murder spree catapults the Bloods

to the top of L.A.'s Most Wanted List.

They were completely out of control.

[gunfire]

[Narrator] These are the stories

from inside Los Angeles's Bloods.

This is Gangland Chronicles.

1972. Los Angeles.

Known as the Gang Capital of America,

it's here where the Bloods

become one of the world's most violent

and notorious street gangs.

But the Bloods wouldn't exist

without another well-known Los Angeles gang...

the Crips.

The Crips were a dominant force

that was taking over almost every area,

every neighborhood in 1971 and '72.

[Narrator] Using violence and intimidation,

the Crips force smaller neighborhood gangs

across the city to join them.

[Townsend] The Crips were so powerful,

and there was so many of them,

a lot of people just said,

"Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join them.

[Narrator] But there are neighborhood gangs

who are sick of the Crips

bulldozing their way through South Central.

They unite, and become known as...

The Bloods.

[Townsend] The Bloods came together to form an alliance

to fight against the advancement and aggressiveness of the Crips.

[Narrator] Wearing red

to differentiate themselves from the Crips, who wear blue,

the Bloods Alliance

is outnumbered three to one by the Crips.

[Townsend] Being outnumbered makes an individual know

that there may be no help in sight.

You have to learn how to maneuver,

manipulate a fight with three guys.

[Narrator] They may be outnumbered and outgunned,

but the Bloods are not content to be L.A.'s criminal underdogs.

They became tougher, I think.

They were used to fighting.

They were always prepared.

They seemed to be better organized and dedicated.

[Narrator] That includes

trying to make more money than the Crips.

They knew how to diversify.

They would deal in drugs, stolen cars,

they would do extortions.

[Narrator] And they attempt to be more violent than the Crips.

You want the gang to be feared...

...and so you've got to be able to have people willing to go

and shoot somebody in front of witnesses.

[Narrator] As the Bloods' ranks grow,

it's only a matter of time

before Los Angeles is caught in the middle of a deadly war.

June 5, 1972.

Compton.

A party is in full swing

when a Crip gang member confronts

17-year-old Frederick "Little Country" Garrett,

a member of a gang that will soon join the Bloods.

Little Country, he was a known fighter in L.A.

He didn't care about the advancement of the Crips.

He would fight 'em. He was good with his hands.

[Narrator] Details are sketchy,

but Garrett is shot and killed by the Crip.

His death marks the first Crips murder

against a rival gang member.

Three months later, the Bloods strike back.

[automatic gunfire]

The Bloods kill their first Crip, Thomas Ellis,

and the war between the Bloods and Crips officially begins.

[Townsend] That just turned everything around

to where the homicide rate started going up.

[Narrator] Between 1972 and 1979,

the hatred results in 450 casualties.

If one of the homeboys got shot,

I had to make it my business,

because if you don't retaliate,

then it's going to happen more often.

It was all about fighting Crips, and that was it.

[Narrator] But in 1982,

everything changes with the introduction

of a new street drug, crack,

and it will spark the deadliest era yet

in the war between the Bloods and the Crips.

1982. Los Angeles.

A new drug floods the market,

and the feud between the Bloods and Crips

reaches deadly heights.

The crack cocaine was the escalation point

where these wars became really out of hand.

A small rock could get you a lot more money

than a vial of powdered cocaine,

and it was easier to control.

So they would cut these cocaine cookies

up into little rocks,

and sell these rocks,

and it's highly addictive.

I mean, really addictive.

They made more and more money,

they were able to buy cocaine in larger quantities,

they were able to finance labs...

the escalation just went out of sight.

[Sherrills] The Crips and the Bloods

went from hustling and selling dope

and making kibbles and bits

to making millions of dollars,

and so put them in a position

to buy a lot of high-powered weapons

in order to protect their territories

for where they were hustling at.

It was so easy to use an assault rifle

as opposed to a . 38, and you did more damage.

[automatic gunfire]

It was not unusual at all,

even within the small divisions of South Central Los Angeles,

to have multiple murders a night.

[Valdemar] The local hospital there

named after Martin Luther King

became known as "Killer King"

because so many people passed away

in that particular hospital.

[Narrator] Between 1980 and 1989,

there are over 3,000 gang-related murders in L.A.

[Valdemar] The level of violence and killing in Los Angeles

became so intense and common

that it ranks up there

with the casualties of Vietnam or Korea.

In fact, the late 1980s to the early 1990s

were the most violent period in Los Angeles history.

[Sherrills] I've found dead bodies in the neighborhood.

I've seen people brains blowed out, point blank.

I watched my best friend get cut in half with an AK 47.

By the time I was 16,

I had already been to about 20 funerals.

[Narrator] The deadly war that's been dominating local news

will soon make national headlines...

when two of the world's most famous rappers choose sides.

1991.

Los Angeles.

Death Row Records catapults gangster rap

up the Billboard Charts.

Co-founder Suge Knight, a Compton native,

hires his old friends from a Blood group,

the Mob Piru,

as the label's security detail.

My job was to fight,

shut people up and whatever it was,

whatever it takes to fix the situation.

[Kading] Suge began to dress in red

and identify himself

as being part of this gang organization.

[Narrator] And Death Row's biggest act, Tupac Shakur,

gets in on the action.

You've got all of these Blood gang members

around Suge Knight, around the studio,

they have a certain influence on Tupac Shakur.

He's beginning to act more and more, you know, gangster.

[Narrator] He's about to get involved

in the war between the Bloods and Crips.

September 7, 1996.

Las Vegas.

After watching his friend, Mike Tyson,

win his fight against Bruce Seldon,

Tupac steps into the lobby of the MGM Grand

surrounded by the Bloods security team.

What they don't know

is that a rival from the Southside Compton Crips

is in the crowd.

Orlando Anderson is known by law enforcement

and by his own group of friends

as a very dangerous guy,

a guy who won't hesitate to pull a gun...

[Narrator] Tensions between the gangs

are at a breaking point

after Anderson had attempted

to steal a diamond-encrusted Death Row medallion

back in Compton.

Suddenly, Tupac and his Bloods bodyguards

spot Anderson through the crowd.

[Kading] Doesn't matter if you're in Los Angeles,

Las Vegas, wherever,

if a Crip sees a Blood,

there's always going to be tension,

and one small thing can spark it off.

[Narrator] What happens next

changes the American rap industry forever...

and reignites a war on the streets of Los Angeles.

[Narrator] September 7, 1996.

Las Vegas.

In the lobby of the MGM Grand,

Tupac Shakur and his Bloods bodyguards

have spotted a rival Crip, Orlando Anderson,

who's recently stolen a valuable necklace from the group.

Tupac, siding with the Bloods, sees an opportunity.

[Kading] He runs over,

he sucker-punches Orlando Anderson,

the rest of the gang members start stomping this individual

because he was trying to impress the gang members around him.

[Narrator] Strutting out of the MGM,

Tupac and his entourage head to a party,

but Orlando Anderson and his fellow Crips don't wait to act.

Orlando Anderson has just been attacked.

He doesn't really have a choice but to retaliate

if he wants to maintain his reputation

within the gang.

[Narrator] The Southside Crips load into a vehicle

and go hunting for Tupac.

We start hearing words

that Southside Crips is coming to 662,

which is a club that we had in Las Vegas.

[Narrator] Down the street from the club,

the Southside Crips spot their target.

They see the BMW that Tupac is in.

Orlando Anderson simply leans out the window

and begins to fire.

[Narrator] Tupac is shot multiple times.

After six days in the hospital...

the 25-year-old rapper dies.

Tupac is dead because didn't nobody... stop him.

If he didn't want to fit in or didn't try to fit in,

Tupac probably would still be here.

[Narrator] Tupac's murder is all over the news,

and the Bloods and Crips rivalry makes national headlines.

When police question Southside Crip Orlando Anderson,

he denies any involvement.

No arrests are made in Tupac's murder,

and rumors start circulating

that his biggest rival, Biggie Smalls,

AKA The Notorious B.I.G., is involved.

[Kading] The street rumor started

that Biggie had hired the Crips,

and that really Biggie was behind the murder of Tupac.

So the shooting started

if not that night, the very next night.

In the city of Compton,

there was a war between the Crips and the Bloods.

[Narrator] The violence spirals out of control.

The Bloods want payback for Tupac's murder,

and look for a high-profile target.

March 9, 1997.

Los Angeles.

Biggie Smalls arrives in town

with his record producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs.

Combs hires the Southside Crips,

the same group

that is most likely responsible for Tupac's death,

to act as bodyguards.

Suge was affiliated with the Bloods.

Their natural rivals were the Crips.

Puffy Combs decided "The best thing I can do

is affiliate myself with Crips

so that I have a layer of protection

when I'm in Los Angeles to protect me from Suge."

[Narrator] And the Bloods see their opportunity for revenge

when Biggie Smalls leaves a party

at the Peterson Automotive Museum.

[gunfire]

Smalls is shot dead.

[Kading] The individual

that shot and killed Biggie Smalls,

he was a member of the Bloods in Compton

closely affiliated with Suge Knight,

so it's just tit for tat, tit for tat.

It's just your stereotypical gang retaliation.

[Narrator] Tupac and Biggie's assassinations

make the Bloods and Crips feud famous,

but the Bloods find a new enemy coming after them

when their crime spree turns them into...

L.A.'s Most Wanted.

August 4, 2007.

Lynwood, California.

On the border of Compton,

a young woman and her boyfriend

are leaving a liquor store with some snacks.

[Rose] The liquor store is a gang area.

The Mob Pirus are Bloods, and Palm and Oaks are Crips,

and they frequently feud over the territory.

[Narrator] As the young couple head to their car,

they pass two Crips standing outside.

And all of a sudden,

four vehicles drive by the liquor store...

[automatic gunfire]

[Narrator] And gunfire erupts...

...putting the couple in the crossfire of a turf war.

August 4, 2007.

Lynwood, California.

A young couple leaving a liquor store

in Bloods and Crips disputed territory

are caught in the middle of a drive-by.

[gunfire]

[sirens wailing]

[Narrator] A bullet hits the young woman,

and she dies at the scene.

It's only the beginning of the Bloods' deadly rampage.

[Rose] Multiple shootings continued to occur.

Over a three-month period, there had been four shootings.

[Narrator] The drive-bys are a tactic

to raise the gang's reputation.

[Sanchez] They were completely out of control.

We really did have to stop it.

Let's start taking these individuals down.

[Narrator] The L.A. County Sheriff's Department

launches Operation Killen Court.

Using surveillance and wiretaps,

they hope not only to solve the liquor store homicide,

but also take down the Bloods.

Weeks into the operation,

officers catch wind of a deadly plan.

[Rose] There was one night when we were listening to the phones.

They planned to do a drive-by shooting

at a nightclub in Orange County.

They were saying they had some AK 47 assault rifles

that they were going to use

on Crips coming out of the nightclub.

[Narrator] But before the gang gets to the nightclub,

they're tipped off that police are in the area,

and abort the mission.

We were able to prevent a mass shooting.

If they would've been able to pull this off,

their reputation would've been huge in the gang world.

[Narrator] The Bloods' crimes are escalating,

but police still don't have enough

to solve the murder

of the young victim at the liquor store.

Their intel points them

to a gang associate named Maurice Bennett.

[Rose] We don't believe that he's a full-fledged gang member,

but he certainly hangs out with them

and participates in some of their activity...

so we think that Maurice might be a weak link.

[Narrator] To their surprise,

Bennett breaks down

and confesses to his role in the drive-by shooting.

[Rose] So, Bennett identifies

the other three gang members that were involved,

so we had to scramble.

We had to find them and arrest them

before they knew that we knew.

[Narrator] Alex Graves, Robert Maxwell,

and a juvenile are arrested.

Along with Bennett,

they are charged with first-degree murder.

But the Sheriff's department isn't done yet.

[Rose] This investigation was twofold.

We were going to solve the homicide,

but we were also going to dismantle the gang,

so now we put into effect phase two.

July 8, 2008.

Compton.

Based on information from the wiretaps,

about 450 law enforcement officers

conduct raids,

seizing drugs and guns

and arresting 16 gang members.

[Rose] We disrupted that gang.

We were able to stop the violence that was going on.

[Narrator] While Operation Killen Court is successful,

the Bloods continue to exist

and still have a strong presence

in their birthplace, Los Angeles.

[Townsend] The Bloods changed Los Angeles for the worse.

I believe it started out to be protective

and stop the aggression of other people

coming in our communities,

but it turned into lawlessness.

[Narrator] Currently, there are between

15,000 and 20,000 members

across the United States.

[Kading] The Bloods' legacy is well established.

It's kind of tentacles that continue to go out,

and it now plagues an entire nation.