00:00my name is Tyrone white I'm a
former 65 Milo [ __ ] some of
00:04my rivalries were blood gangs and the
[ __ ] gangs we're evolved in drive
00:08by shootings as well as drug
dealing and this is how crime
00:11works yeah of course I've participated
in Drive buys um I've been a victim of
00:21Drive buys plenty of times when you going
to againsts war with one another there's
00:25no winners now you can you can look at it
and say okay I shot more of their homies
00:31than they shot of mine or I killed more of
their homies or they killed of mine but both
00:35sides are taking losses so if you both are
taking a loss of life there's no [Music]
00:43winners when I was coming up the guns that were
using gang banging were the 9 mm the 45 mberg
00:5512 gaug shotgun pump AK-47s Tech9 the first gun
that I ever got placed in my hand given to me as
01:04a gift from one of my homeboys was a 25 a chrome
25 little small 25 with the pearl handle shot like
01:12had like seven shots six shots in it or something
like that and as you got older and you learn more
01:17about guns and Elevate yourself of course you get
bigger guns guns are sold on the street like dope
01:22is sold on the street you can even buy guns from
enemy gangs cuz right now it's a business it's
01:27about making this money they come from everywhere
now where they get them from could be from the
01:31police force it could be from the military you can
never be caught what we call lacking or slipping
01:36you got to always be ready you got to have enough
Firepower you are ready for war at all [Music]
01:45times from the early 80s all the way up
through the mid 90s um those were the
01:54years of of heightened gang activities so drive
by shootings were nothing you you could turn you
02:01literally turn your news on every day at those
during those years and see a driveby shooting
02:07I mean every day we had to drive by shooting to
where uh that I participated in I walked in the
02:14house and I remember seeing it on the news I must
have been about 15 at that time I remember my mom
02:20was on the phone and she was like I'm so tired
of these kids shooting one another and killing
02:26one another and I remember thinking to myself
like man she has no idea that I was just in
02:35this situation she never found out about it but
I just remember the way that I felt listening
02:42to her on the phone telling her friend like man
this is these kids need to stop this and this is
02:48crazy and there's another situation to where
we were getting ready to go out on what they
02:54call Sunday Funday when all the low riders all
the motorcycle clubs all the car clubs all the
03:00gang members that's like the one day to where all
the gang members enemies everybody can congregate
03:10in one area on CR Shaw Boulevard I remember we
were we seeing a car pull up to the corner and
03:18usually when you see cars pull up in the corner
with no lights or anything like that you know
03:23you you you know that's a sign of something
that's going to happen and all you see was
03:27Guns come out the window and everybody just
got the shooting shooting at everybody and we
03:32all just scattered like like ants just everybody
screaming hollering running scattering because
03:38no one had guns actually on their person
at the time one of my big homeboy um he
03:45was real very known he had got hit in the face
because they shot with a 12 gauge and they had
03:51buck shots but it didn't kill him because they
wenten shot at close range luckily nobody got
04:03the Crips were founded in the 60s and by Raymond
Washington he formed the East Side Crips which is
04:10on the east side of La TIY Williams formed the
West Side Crips and through those two different
04:17uh foundations different sets start to evolve
different areas you know the the Hoovers the
04:24East Coast the rolling 60s the menow the all
these different sets the object and the goal
04:31was to keep this side of of La safe but you know
as usual things escalated things multiplied and
04:41vus became no sh happened when Raymond Washington
got killed that's what caused the division that's
04:48what caused that's what that's when cripping
became divided between the East and the west
04:53and different things start happening in different
subset and it just became like a disease no one
05:00[ __ ] set betrayed this [ __ ] set and it just
caused a NeverEnding Feud Bloods used to be the
05:07main Rivals of the Crips but now there just as
many Crips are against one another then there
05:13are Bloods a lot of Crips and bloods have become
allies because they share the same common [ __ ]
05:18enemy for example um the a TR gangster Crips
they have a uh a peace treaty going on with
05:26the Englewood Family Bloods and that's because
their their borderline is connected right next
05:34to one another so since our neighborhoods are
so close to one another you got to come through
05:41my neighborhood to get home I got to come
to your neighborhood to get home let's make
05:45this a blood free zone no VI let's not saying
that we're homeboy or we're just a close Hood
05:52but let's keep the peace between this dynamic
between this area the beef between the 65 mow
05:58Crips and the Hoover Crips it goes way back we
actually all grew up together and went to school
06:04together we became one of the biggest enemies
to the ho because our sets are so close to one
06:10another to get to the Hoover Hood you got to
come through our hood you know what I'm saying
06:15and to for us to get to other parts of the
city we got to go through the Hoover [Music]
06:22Hood I was raised born and raised in South Central
LA all my life had a stepfather in my life that
06:30taught me how to be a man of different things
but for the most part I was raised by a strong
06:35single mother usually in the black neighborhoods
when kids that come from single parent homes like
06:39that they usually get caught up in these streets
because your mom is out working trying to make
06:44a living for you provide for you while she's
at work you're out there running the streets
06:48doing sh that you know you're not supposed to be
doing and that's really that's pretty much how I
06:54started it I was about 10 when I first start
hanging around them I knew them very well it
06:59comes down to hey you know you've been hanging
around us a lot been chilling a lot you from the
07:06hood know let's make it official you know and
making it official means getting jumped in or
07:13doing something to be a member of the other
game can be anything from you fighting one
07:18person sometime four or five persons it's to
see how you handle yourself it's to see what
07:24type of skills you have if you get into to one
of these type situations you know can stand your
07:29ground and hold your own whether you get beat up
or not you have to know how to fight back you got
07:34to be a monster to be a member of of any game but
particularly in the Crips you better be a [Music]
07:43monster the word [ __ ] was really originally
meant Community resistance and progress it was
07:52a way to to bring the community to uplift the
community to protect the community of course we
07:58they took on a ER and the appearance of a gang
because according to the dictionary a group of
08:04five more more people is considered a gang to be
a [ __ ] you have to carry yourself a certain way
08:09you have to walk a certain way but for me the The
Lure was I love the color blue and they wore blue
08:15Rags uh they wore blue jeans they wore blue belts
they wore blue Chuck tayor the dress code for me
08:22back when I was a active CP in the in the 90s in
the early 80s it was definitely 501 Levi jeans
08:29creased you I would go by a can of starch and
literally spend about an hour ironing my pants
08:37laying the starch to a point to where before I
even put my pants on I could stand them up Crips
08:42wore K Swiss because it was an acronym it was
actually a disrespectful term towards the Bloods
08:50it was called K swister for kill slobs when I see
some slobs is a disrespectful term towards the
08:57Bloods if you wonder a [ __ ] you couldn't [ __ ]
walk if you wasn't a [ __ ] you didn't know how
09:02to [ __ ] Walk and so to learn how to [ __ ] Walk
and to actually perfect something like that was
09:08like a badge of honor it's a cool thing it's when
you look at it the the feet movement the way they
09:13dance the way they do it the way they incorporate
certain moves along with the hand signs and hand
09:18signals words that you Crips usually use which is
part of the lingo was of course cuz everything we
09:24say would start with a seat if you had say
Burger you say k you know if you say uh you
09:32say sit it's just different things that you could
replace the B with the c you would do it and that
09:40was the same thing with the Bloods anything
with a seed they wanted to eliminate it and
09:44it may it may sound strange and people might be
oh that's stupid that's y'all sound stupid that
09:48was our language that was the way that we talk we
understood it and that's all that matters and if
09:53you disrespect us and tell us it sound stupid you
can you might get your ass whooped of course they
09:58throw up the seat you know the C is is just you
just take your hands you you make a c with your
10:03hands and now you're set your actual neighborhood
your [ __ ] neighborhood like the 60s they have
10:11their signs uh the Hoovers they have their signs
the menow they have their signs you're going to
10:17throw up that sign to represent to let people
know that you're actually from that set you're
10:22from that neighborhood we threw up the M it
was just a m you just take your hands cross
10:28your which it's Su just how Ice Cube throw up
the W when he's when he's in concert and doing
10:33taking pictures Snoop Dog throws up the W just
turn it upside down and you throw up the am gang
10:39graffiti is a big part of Crips people that are
coming in there they know when they see that on
10:43the wall uh the rolling 60 Crips or the mlo Crips
or the five5 Crips they know we're entering this
10:52game this is their [Music] neighborhood the gang
structure is not so much organized like uh the
11:04mafia with under bosses and bosses and stuff
like that we didn't give titles like that but
11:09people automatically knew who the ogs were who
the double ogs were who the big homies was and
11:15who was ranked over who the double OG is usually
one of the big homies that has put in more work
11:22than you can imagine um he's done it all killed
robbed made money uh been to jail every you name
11:31it he's done it usually 50s 60s you know higher
age that they were around in the 70s in the 80s
11:39when gang banger really just exploded they were
at the top of their game um an OG really Falls not
11:45not too much different from a double OG except
that he may be a little younger may have done
11:49a less little few a little less of the crimes
then you have some of the ogs that have turned
11:55their lives around and they just want to live
life have a family have wife and kids and they
12:01getting money they making money the legal way so
what makes them an OG is the fact that they're
12:07talking to the little homies to the young homies
showing them and explaining to them how they were
12:12able to do this street Soldier is exactly what
that sounds like a street Soldier is going to go
12:18out there and put in that work for the OG for the
double OG for the little homies or just for the
12:23set period a street Soldier has no limits he's
going to go out there and do what he has to do
12:29no matter what um the little homies are usually
of course what they sound like the little homies
12:34that's looking up to the big homies they're
going to imitate they gonna copy everything
12:37that the big homies do and if if the big homies is
constantly going to jail robbing people shooting
12:43people killing people the little homies gonna
follow a suit at some point my main thing was
12:48always to look out for my big homie or whoever
called me they Big Homie and make sure that he
12:53was taken care of and vice versa CU he does the
same for me he don't have to but he does [Music]
13:05I started out selling weed in middle school and
then moved to crack cocaine and Robin I did I did
13:12robberies that was my way mostly of making money
and and keeping money in my pocket the big homies
13:19had the big dope and they all issue it out to the
younger homies they'll issue it down to the guys
13:25to the next level and it was a way for every body
from the big homies OG homies all the way down to
13:32the homies in junior high school to make money
the homies in junior high school they may be
13:37out there selling crack on the corners $5 rocks
$10 rocks $20 rocks the big homies they move in
13:44big weight you know ounces uh quarter pounds
pounds stuff like that the drugs came from a
13:52lot of times from drug cartels and as well as the
government believe it or not not I mean there's a
14:00story about free Ray Rick one of the biggest black
dope dealers in history of Los Angeles and he was
14:07set up he was caught up in that Iran Contra stuff
with Ronald Reagan and come to find out that the
14:12DEA was supplying him with dope the same dope that
they gave him 30 years for in prison so you know
14:19it's like that's how that's just how it worked
they put they put it in our neighborhoods to bring
14:24us down to keep us down always a gold of Crips to
make a substantial amount of money and to open up
14:32your own business whether it be a smoke shop or
liquor store or a Fool's place or whatever that
14:39was the goal to find a way to take that money
and make it somewhat as legal as you [Music]
14:49can the LA riots happened in '92 I was 18 years
old at that time the LA R was a result of the
14:59Rodney King verdict those four officers that were
clearly guilty as hell on video beating Rodney
15:07King half death when they were found innocent
that just sparked something in the community I
15:13didn't never think I would see nothing like that
the ground zero of the riots happened five blocks
15:20from my house I was sitting home watching the news
I seen the news so we jump in the car we drive
15:26up to the riots by this time you got hundreds
and hundreds of people starting to migrate to
15:32Florence in Normandy so at this point it just
kicked off every spirited like wildfire every
15:38car that came through the intersection that had
a white person in it was getting attacked I saw
15:43news reporters getting beat up I saw cameraman
getting beat up getting the cameras taken from
15:47them and at that time it really didn't matter
what gang you were from because now it's about
15:55it's a black against white thing now so it didn't
matter if you was a blood or a [ __ ] or whatever
16:00you was even though it was such a messed up day
it's such AED up day it was also a g a day to kind
16:07of Rejoice because that was the first time in a
long time that you saw common enemies Crips and
16:14bloods and Mexican gangs come together against
this one common enemy the LAPD and so after a
16:22days of riding some of the community leaders like
Jim Brown the football player uh a couple popular
16:29gang leaders some different gangs from different
areas different sets had a meeting and decided
16:35that this was the person perfect opportunity to
try to bring a peace treaty a truce between the
16:40gangs even though it was something bad that
caused us to get to that level it still was
16:45an opportunity for us to bring things together the
peace treaty lasted officially maybe a good couple
16:54weeks and it kind of continued to dissolve
as weeks and months went on it to the point
17:01to where it didn't exist no more but for that
little short time it was great to have [Music]
17:11it when gangster rap came out it introduced a lot
of cripping a lot of Crips and when NWA came out
17:25which is the group that started gangster rap uh
he rest in peace e was known to be a [ __ ] and
17:33from him you had other Pioneer rappers that were
from [ __ ] neighborhoods you had Snoop Dog you
17:40had Dove seed uh all these popular gang rappers
that was in the neighborhoods representing their
17:47hoods that were blowing up on the mainstream and
so now you got people sitting at home watching
17:53MTV 106 in park they're watching all these video
shows and they got these game members doing rap
18:00videos with the blue rags and the and the the
six fos and the the low riders and wearing all
18:07the gang attire and the Gang uniform but they're
actually artists making money on TV and now it's
18:14being broadcast all over the world aside from
the UK and the Netherlands I've heard about
18:19Crips in China um I heard there's some Crips in
Africa which I've actually seen online social
18:25media uh people in afca cripping and and just
loving this West Coast culture and I think all
18:33that all these countries adapted on to these
United State values and these United States
18:38ways just because of how it was glorified not
really understanding the meaning of it know
18:47that people lost their lives and people are
killing this is not something to play [Music]
18:55with in 1994 I went to Oklahoma I got a football
scholarship to go to Oklahoma to play football
19:06that's pretty much really what saved me from
being killed or anything else bad happening to
19:11me on these La streets played football there for
two years at a historically black college in 1996
19:1697 I moved to Oklahoma City and I start working
at the Juvenile Detention Center they needed a
19:23gang advisor a gang trainer so of course I was
qualified for that just volunteering my time
19:29talking to the kids and you know educating them
on gangs and telling them no because I had no
19:34idea Oklahoma had a gang problem so I went and I
sat down with the chief of police to see exactly
19:39you know where did he want me to go with this I
did two years in the school system they came to
19:44me and ask me that I want to uh interested into
transferring to the streets basically running
19:49traffic pulling people over writing tickets blah
blah blah um I'm like yeah F let me let me do that
19:54I I'll do that see see what that's like I CU
I actually want to see how they how they dealt
20:00with drug dealers being on with me being on the
other side of the law and all the complaints that
20:07I had as a criminal all the police brutality all
the mistreatment from the police I got to witness
20:15that's firsthand working with them and a lot of
times I would have to intervene on like hold on
20:22like you know it was a couple times where they had
to have that conversation with me look either you
20:27with us or you with them so even in the training
in the police academy I dealt with racism I
20:33dealt with discrimination because a lot of those
officers felt like this dude is a criminal this
20:39dude is from the streets how in the hell is are
you guys going to let him work with us blah blah
20:44blah that's even that's why even after I became
a police officer and I moved back to California I
20:51still ended up hooking back up with my old homies
and old gang members and I end up going to jail
20:57even after being being a police officer I went
to jail my experience with the LAPD they still
21:03haven't found a way to deal with communities and
cultures that they don't know nothing about it's
21:10the same tactics no dirty cobs bogus charges
planting drugs um mistreatment because of who
21:19you are what you represent it's the same thing it
hasn't stopped the one way the police can breus
21:25de capap with the community is to Contin you to
work with those that want to work with them big
21:30U as example from ring 60s guys that like that
that are gang activists that are trying to do
21:36things to stop the gang violence and help kids in
the community and bring some positiv positivity in
21:42the community the main thing is to save lives and
after you save lives you want to create [Music]
21:49opportunities I went to jail in Oklahoma for
robbery um since at that time when I was out
21:58there it was for a robbery that I did when
I was living in Oklahoma when I came back to
22:03California in 2006 I went to jail again in 2009
for another robbery and they end up finding about
22:15another robbery that I did and they combined
the cases I end up taking a three-year deal
22:20when I first got arrested um they took me down
to the main LAPD headquarters what they call the
22:26Parker Center they transfer you the next day
to the County facility so I left the parking
22:31center that morning they put me on the jail bus
took me to the county jail which is known as the
22:36Twin Towers you usually go into the tank the tank
is basically a holding area where a whole bunch
22:42of other game members are at and I'm talking
about mixed in Crips Bloods Mexicans everybody
22:50and that's just a that's like a box of dynamite
waiting to explode and sometime you get put in
22:57those situations and the officers just leave you
and they don't care they don't whatever happens
23:03in there it happens and you're going to always
find somebody in there that's going to challenge
23:09you especially if you're from a rival gang you
listen for the lingo you listen to what they
23:14saying or you might see people that you haven't
seen since elementary and you lost contact with
23:20you wonder where they were at well this is where
they at and so and you find out that they from
23:25a [ __ ] set and so you guys you just I just
connect with one now if it becomes a racial
23:30thing um Bloods and Crips you know they find
a way to unite against whoever whatever race
23:36they have to go against you know it can be some
violence erupt in in between the transportation
23:42into the different dorms of the different units
but for the most part in the county jail cpses
23:48with Crips Bloods with Bloods or sometime you get
the general population where it's a mix dorm now
23:54don't get me wrong if I went in there as a mlo
[ __ ] or or is a 60 CRI or 60 going there and
24:00they run into some Hoovers it's blad it's bad
blood automatically no matter we're Crips and
24:05recps we're in the same unit don't matter we need
to settle this beef so you I might walk in here
24:11and a Hoover [ __ ] might say hey hey hey you
from menw I need that fade I need that fade so
24:18that lets you know that at some point you and this
guy have to fight because y'all both of y'all sets
24:24don't get along inside or outside of prison with
[ __ ] and there's no different the way you carry
24:29yourself on the streets is the same way that you
expected to carry yourself in the prison except
24:35at a higher level because it's a little more
dangerous in prison than it is on these [Music]
24:43streets the thing that made me change my life
was my kids when I took the scholarship to the
24:52school I was in the process of changing my
life I just didn't know it but that was my
24:57start of changing in my life and when I start
working with gangs and talking to the kids in
25:01the schools and at the juvenile jails and I seen
how I was getting through to them and how much
25:08they respected me from what I was telling them
to try to teach them it just made me want to
25:12change just made me want to continue to to do
positive things and that that's what I've been
25:17doing ever since I met somebody one day and they
told me I had this look it's like you should get
25:23into acting you should think about acting so
I started doing acting little gigs doing extra
25:29roles and so I've done several projects and been
a part of several uh uh TV series and dramas and
25:36and different things that have gotten my
foot into the door of acting so I there
25:41there's definitely some positivity that could
happen from my past that was negative [Music]
