Inside the Crips Life Inside L.A.'s Most Notorious Gang

by Pearlman, Ann; Simpson, Colton; T, Ice

• ISBN13: 9780312329303
• ISBN10: 031232930X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-14
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

A memoir of the author''s life as a Crip -- beginning at the tender age of ten in the mid 70s -- and his prison turnaround twenty-five years later. Colton Simpson lives in Los Angeles. Ann Pearlman is the author of Getting Free : Women and Psychotherapy , Keep the Home Fires Burning, and Infidelity : A Memoir. She has a private psychotherapy practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she lives. Colton ("C-Loc") Simpson was a Crip. From the impossibly young age of ten in the mid-1970s, Simpson''s world was defined in terms of war. By the time he quit'”the first gang member allowed to do so'”he''d risen through the ranks to become Stabilizer and later, General. Simpson was the son of Dick Simpson, a ballplayer for the California Angels, but even before he became a gangbanger, his childhood was tough. Raised by his grandmother at the edge of Los Angeles''s South Central, Simpson didn''t turn to the streets so much as become engulfed by them: without asking to be part of the gang, his induction into the Crips involved running down an alley while the members opened fire on him as he ran. Simpson was an elite gang soldier, loyal to a fault, participating wholly in a system whose rules and unique ethics he quickly mastered. But Simpson''s run at the top of the Crips was cut off by betrayal, injury, and a prison stint that plunged him into an even fiercer war beyond gang violence: the war in Calapatria prison between the Crips and the corrections officers. Inside the Crips is an intimate detailed look at gang life in the 1970s-1990s, and at the same time a story of both buoyant camaraderie and devastating loss. It places the reader in the center of the rush that comes from participating in gang violence and puts the extraordinary life and times of one Crip into a larger context. "Simpson shows us exactly how and why a bright, personable kid comes to join a gang and why that same kid would choose to stay despite the lethal risks, the soul-battering violence, and the inevitable incarcerations . . . Simpson gives us fresh, detailed snapshots of this highly disciplined supergang existence, where survival involves keeping abreast of group politics so intricate they resemble high-court intrigue."'” Los Angeles Times "Simpson shows us exactly how and why a bright, personable kid comes to join a gang and why that same kid would choose to stay despite the lethal risks, the soul-battering violence, and the inevitable incarcerations . . . Simpson gives us fresh, detailed snapshots of this highly disciplined supergang existence, where survival involves keeping abreast of group politics so intricate they resemble high-court intrigue."'” Los Angeles Times Simpson''s book paints a stark portrait of life in prison as the conflict between the Crips and its rival gang, the Bloods, is magnified by the claustrophobic surroundings."'” The Washington Post "This unvarnished portrayal of gang life is enlightening and even inspiring about a subject badly in need of illumination."'” American Library Association "A raw account of Los Angeles gang underworld and his life as a thief, thug, and triggerman in the bloody battle between the Crips and the Bloods."'” Calgary Herald "The Crips, one of two notorious L.A. street gangs that have attained national prominence, is a famously difficult organization from which to retire alive. Colton ''C-Loc'' Simpson did, however, and now provides an insider''s perspective on day-to-day life in the Crips, the gang''s history (including quite a bit about its rival, the Bloods), and the plight of growing up in the ''hood while wanting a better life. To free himself from poverty and constant physical danger, Simpson made some changes. His former wife Gina once accused him of ''acting White.'' He replied, ''You think I''m some bourgeoisie Negro? My changes aren''t negative and White. They''re positive and pro-Black'''”which reveals both changed attitude and just how wide the racial-cultural gulf has become. Though gritty, Simpson''s story is by n

Author Biography

Colton Simpson is a former Crip who has worked as a promoter for Ice T, Aaron Hall and Guerilla Black.  He has been in and out of prison for over twenty years.
 
Ann Pearlman is the author of GETTING FREE: WOMEN AND PSYCHOTHERAPY, KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING and INFIDELITY: A MEMOIR.  She has a private psychotherapy practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she lives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Foreword	xv
Ice TM
Transformation	1	(26)
Gangbanger	27	(21)
Out of the Ghetto and into the CYA	48	(22)
Road Not Taken	70	(13)
Crips Module	83	(13)
The Ultimate Test: Chino	96	(18)
Solitary	114	(16)
Soledad	130	(12)
Chess Games	142	(9)
Short Freedom	151	(36)
Discipline	187	(21)
Betrayal	208	(27)
Reality Hits: War and Depression	235	(16)
Candy and a Stamp	251	(24)
Transformation of a Crip	275	(21)
Uhuru	296	(11)
Epilogue	307	(12)
Ann Pearlman
Afterword	319	(10)
Index	329

Excerpts

An excerpt from Inside the Crips describing Colton Simpson’s induction at age 11:
 
“You wit’ it?” Big T asks, but he doesn’t look at me.
            “I’m down,” I tell them, waiting for the discussion of my worthiness and loyalty to begin.
“When I say run, run down the alley and don’t stop,” Smiley orders.
            I take a quick glance down the alley. Only a dim light lends a gloomy vagueness. The telephone poles have disappeared into the sky. The iron bars have a striped shield. What kinda shit is this? Then I turn to the group. Terry is loading guns.
            “Run,” Smiley orders.
I take off fast. There’s no streetlight. I can’t see. Stay in the middle. Otherwise, I’ll crash into fences, the trash, or the poles.
            My legs thrust. Don’t stop, Smiley said. I gasp for air.
            Boom.
            What’s that? Car backfiring. I jerk from the sound.
            Boom.
            Gunshots. They’re shooting at me. Fuck. In spite of the night’s heat and my sweat, I’m cold. I could die. Right here and now. No. Can’t be a buster. Be hard. Run. Just run.
            My heart hammers in my chest, my ears. My legs hit the cement as fast as they can, faster than my heart thumps. Another shot slaps behind me. My arms pump. Keep running. Stay strong. Focus. Stay in the middle. Run faster. I can do this. I can.
            A clap and then sparks fly from a hit electrical wire. Darkness is thick.
            Am I halfway through? What if they hit me?
            Don’t think that. Don’t be a buster.
            I can’t get enough air.
A bullet hits a wall.
I pant. Darkness diminishes. Almost at the end. It’s quiet except for my gasping, my heart. There, a car. I’m almost there, at the street, on the other side. I stop, lean my palms on my knees to grab some air. I made it.
Smiley and T.J. appear out of nowhere. Smiley punches me in the face, knocks me to the ground. Dizzy, I start swinging wildly. Big T rounds the corner. Three on one. My swing connects with a torso. Then T.J. lands five flush punches on my chest and I’m on the pavement, struggling for equilibrium. Kicked in the stomach, the wind is knocked out of me. I gasp and force my eyes to center.
“Squab for yours, cuz,” someone says. I’m snatched by the collar, forced to stand. A solid kick to the chest whips my head back.
The world swims as I receive another kick and a strike. Hard spitting-punches come from all angles. I’m tossed by blows like a speed-punching bag. They have the control. Stars swim before my eyes again.
Stay strong and focus. Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Ann Pearlman. All rights reserved.

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Excerpted from Inside the Crips: Life Inside L. A. 's Most Notorious Gang by Colton Simpson
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.