20 Facts About Raymond Washington

Raymond Lee Washington was an American gangster, known as the founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles.

In 1971, Raymond Washington formed an alliance with Stanley "Tookie" Williams, establishing the Crips as the first major African-American street gang in Los Angeles, and served as one of the co-leaders.

In 1974, Raymond Washington was convicted of robbery and received a five-year prison sentence, during which his leadership and influence in the Crips declined.

Raymond Lee Washington was born in Los Angeles, California, on August 14,1953, the youngest of four sons to Violet Samuel and Reginald Cecil Washington.

Raymond Washington's parents separated when he was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather.

Raymond Washington grew up on East 76th Street, between Wadsworth Avenue and Central Avenues in Los Angeles' South Central.

Raymond Washington didn't go out of his way to fight or do anything bad, but if someone came to him, he would protect himself.

Raymond Washington tried to protect the community and keep the bad guys out.

Raymond Washington wouldn't let anybody from outside our neighborhood bother us.

At age 15, Raymond Washington beat up Munson's younger brother in a fist fight after discovering Munson had put a gun to his older brother, Reggie Raymond Washington.

In late 1969, Raymond Washington organized his own gang called the Baby Avenues, recruiting a group of other neighborhood youths in South Central.

In 1971, Raymond Washington approached Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a similar gang leader from South Central's West Side who used his reputation as a fist fighter to unite gangs under his control, at Raymond Washington Preparatory High School where both were attending.

Raymond Washington proposed to Williams they form a confederation of the gangs under their influence in their respective areas along with another teenage gang leader called Mac Thomas in Compton, to form a single large street gang.

Williams accepted Raymond Washington's proposal, uniting the West Side gangs under his influence as the West Side Crips.

In 1974,21-year-old Raymond Washington was arrested for second-degree robbery and sentenced to five years' imprisonment at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, becoming the first Crip to be incarcerated there.

Raymond Washington was unpopular among the prison population as he began to recruit young African-American inmates into the Crips, much to the disapproval of established black prison groups like the Black Muslims and the Black Guerrilla Family.

Raymond Washington faced another problem while serving time at Deuel: as the Crips murdered rival gang members on the streets of Los Angeles, inmates at Deuel who were relatives of victims held Raymond Washington responsible for their deaths.

In 1976, Raymond Washington paroled from prison and returned to Los Angeles.

Reportedly, Raymond Washington was shocked to discover that the violent war between the Crips, Bloods, and Hispanic gangs had escalated to the point that fighting using firearms, as opposed to fist fighting, was now normal.

Raymond Washington engaged in a brief conversation with them before the occupant in the passenger seat drew a sawed-off shotgun and shot him in the gastrointestinal tract and abdomen.