The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African-American gang founded in Los Angeles, California in 1969 mainly by 16-year-old Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams III . What was once a single gang is now a loosely connected network of individual sets, often engaged in open warfare with one another. Through the years the gang has grown to be one of the largest and most powerful gangs in the United States, currently with over 30,000 gang members. The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits. The gang is notorious for its gang members' flamboyant use of the color blue in their clothing. However, this practice has waned due to contentious police crackdowns on gang members. The Crips are known to have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Bloods as well as with some Chicano gangs. They are also locked in an ongoing struggle over the drug trade with the Vice Lords in Memphis, Tennessee.