Soon after their arrival in Los Angeles the Mexican people began to congregate, according to their native areas of Mexico and separate "barrios" were born. The rise of these separate "barrios" or neighborhoods came with it the rivalries which had existed in Mexico. The Mexican gangs became concerned with marking their territory and establishing themselves within their own geographical boundaries. Tradition became a word symbolic of these Mexican gangs, as it was a belief that a son would follow in his father's footsteps and claim the same gang. Some of the very first Mexican gangs were Bunker Hill, Maravilla, North Broadway and Boyle Heights. Tradition and the importance of defending their territory became two trademarks of the Mexican gangs that still exist today.
African American street gangs began in the early 1920's but were not recognized until the 1960's. The original black gang was the Boozie gang, which was basically a large family of people who all engaged in criminal activity. Up until the 1940's most black gangs were just families involved in crime together, but in the 1940's the geographic location of people became the main contributing factor of gang formation. Not until after the Watts Riots of 1965 would black gangs truly make their stake in Los Angeles. Rivalries began to spring up across the city and violence against one another erupted. In the summer of 1972 the world bear witness to the birth of a monster, the birth of the "Crips" gang. Founded by Raymond Washington the Crips took Los Angeles and the LAPD by storm. Due to the media exposure of these true original gangsters little children began to dress, act and claim they were Crips. Los Angeles had on its hands the true beginning of the Epidemic. Soon after the Crips, became the birth of the "Bloods" which is the Crips arch rival and mortal enemy. This rivalry has continued throughout the years and brought more death with it than a small army could have.
