Pirus

:"This article is about the street gang. For other uses, see: Piru (disambiguation)."

The Pirus (pronounced pie-rooz) are one of the Los Angeles, California, area street gangs based out of Compton. Once a set of the Crips, the Pirus are the original founders of the Bloods street gang.

In 1969/1970, a new gang was forming in South Central, calling themselves the "Crips" and identifying by wearing the color blue. The Crips eventually established themselves in near by Compton and in 1971, an independent gang on Piru Street in Compton known as the "Piru Street Boys" became the "Piru Street Crips."

After a short time of peace, a feud began between the Piru Street Crips and the other Crip sets mainly the "Compton Crips." It would later turn violent as gang warfare ensued between former allies. This battle continued through 1972, when the Pirus wanted to call an end to the violence caused by the Crips and called a meeting on Piru Street with other gangs that were targeted by the Crips. These other gangs included the "Denver Lanes," the "Brims," the "Bounty Hunters," the "Bishops" and the "Athens Park Boys." After a long discussion, the Pirus broke off all connections to the Crips and aligned themselves with the other gangs by forming a new allegiance on Piru Street, which eventually came to be known as the "Bloods." [Sullivan, Randall. "LAbyrinth - A detective investigates the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight and the origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal", 2003, ISBN:080213971X]

Since the Crips were known to wear blue, the Pirus and the other independent gangs began identifying with the color red, the school colors of Centennial High in Compton, and began calling themselves Bloods for this reason. The Bloods then became infamous for their rivalry with the Crips. They have a large presence in Los Angeles.

After many disputes with the Bloods, some of the Pirus dropped the label of Blood and made the "Piru" gang separate from the "Blood" gang. Pirus now wear the colors burgundy and maroon for identification.

A particular set of Pirus, the "Tree Top Pirus," identify wearing olive green. "MOB Piru" (an acronym for Money Over Bitches) is another L.A. Bloods street gang. Rap music mogul Suge Knight has been linked to the gang since he started up Death Row Records. [ [http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/celebrity/shakur_BIG/2.html CrimeLibrary - Hip Hop Homicide] ]

ee also

*List of California street gangs
*Crime in Los Angeles, California

References

External links

* [http://crimeandcriminalsblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/us-street-gangs-crips.html Crime And Criminals: U.S. Street Gangs - Crips]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Public-Affairs/press_releases/press08/TTPBloodsGangLeaderSentencedto25YearsforRacketeeringConspiracy.html TTP Bloods Gang Leader Sentenced to 25 Years for Racketeering Conspiracy: Defendant Led Violent Gang from Jail Through Phone Calls and Letters]