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PORTLAND OBSERVER
¡ Volum e X V II, Num ber 30 •
June 3 ,1 9 8 7
25C
Crips in Oregon?
. ’T;
by Larry Baker
The Eugene Register-Guard newspaper headline inflamed Black and
white parents throughout the Willamette Valley: "CALIFORNIA STREET
GANGS MOVING TO OREGON."
The article, written by Bob Keefer, R-G reporter, on April 12, 1987, reads
"Southern California urban street gangs are beginning to invade the Port
land and Eugene communities."
The most noted gang, named Crips, Keefer writes, are Black youths roa
ming and terrorizing the communities in south-central Los Angeles. They
terrify Black neighborhoods by assaults, gun fire, and dealing cocaine.
Another Southern California gang of youths Keefer identifies in his article
is named Latino. They originated in the barrio in and around east Los Ange
les as Mexican immigrants from the early 1900’s, and operate in the same
manner as the Crips.
Officer Craig Ward of the Portland Police Bureau intelligence division
was interviewed by Keefer as saying: "They are a very high profile kind of
people. I don’t now if they cognizantly deal in terror or not, but people in
northeast Portland are just terrified of them ." Ward continues, "W e never
had more than six genuine California Crips in town at any one time, but the
impact they have is disproportionate to their numbers."
Keefer reports Ward saying, "The gang members, who are heavily armed
—one Portland raid produced an AK-47 assault rifle— have been seen in
Portland on and off since 1982, but first established an ongoing presence
there last summer." Says Ward, whose normal assignment is monitoring
outlaw motorcycle gangs, "For the last three months, I ve been working
solid Crips."
Keefer reportedly contacted Sgt. Wes McBride, operation sergeant or
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's gang detail and the president of the Cali
fornia Gang Investigators Association. "They even have taken over some
of our prison gangs down here. The hard core prison gangs fear them be
cause they'll kill y o u -a n d they'll kill you right in front of the guards.
They’re not old enough to worry about it," says McBride.
Over the phone, McBride gave Keefer the gang's history; and law en
forcement agencies in Southern California monitor more than 600 street
gangs with a combined membership estimated at between 40,000 and
50,000 youths, mostly young men in their late teens and early 20's.
The crips, actually a group o f at least 140 separate street gangs in South
ern California, are the largest and most powerful of the Black gangs that
grew up in and around the Black communities of Compton and Watts after
the Watts riots of 1965. The Black gangs have tended to prey less on each
other in formal territorial disputes and more on outsiders, Keefer wrote.
Ward, the Portland policeman, says, "The Crips have been flying to Port
land with large sums of cash and have been trying to take over the drug
market. They will blend into the Black community, then they muscle in on
the existing crack distribution network. That's physically muscling in. They
kick in the door and tell people they are working for them now. If you don't
like that, we're going to beat the hell out of you or kill you," Keefer quoted
Ward.
It was also cited in Keefer's article that the Southern California authorities
cite the Crips as responsible for the deaths of 328 people in gang-related
murders in 1986 alone.
Ward was quoted by Keefer as saying, "Thus far no uninvolved victims
have fallen prey to Crips' violence in Portland. We've come very close,
and there's a maybe. But the victim is uncooperative. She says the bullet
just came through the wall and hit her. Well, it was a brick w all."
Ward continued by stating, "W e don't know how many of these crimes
are occurring, but we keep hearing from multiple sources that these guys
are involved at a much higher level than crime reports would indicate."
The Eugene Register-Guard's report highlights that the Southern Califor
nia gangs have begun to show up in a number of other cities around the
country as well. Police in Phoeniz, Arizona; Shreveport, LA; and a small
town sheriff in rural Georgia has reported problems with the Crips, with
these statements made by detective Norm Sorenson, who tracks Southern
California gangs for the Long Beach police department.
"A t first, I thought thst one of my buddies was making a joke," Sorenson
supposedly had said. " If you have any evidence of gang activity, it will
likely grow and grow until something is done to stop it."
Sorenson adds, "You probably still have a chance to stop it there
(Eugene and Portland) with real proactive police work. Anything we can do
here now is putting a bandage on cancer."
McBride reportedly says, "You guys have a chance. You’ve obviously
recognized there's a problem. Many jurisdictions hide at first. Next thing
you have so many gang members you can't do anything about it. Now you
have to identify the players."
"Just because a guy says he's a Crip, you can’t arrest him. You watch
him. You can follow him around," stated McBride. "You can watch every
thing he does and make him so uncomfortable, he will go somewhere élse
to do it. They understand when they're not welcome."
On local level reporting, Keefer writes, "although the problem is not near
ly as severe, Eugene does have a growing street gang problem, police say,
and the influence of Southern California gangs is unmistakable, from the
stylized graffiti appearing in downtown alleys to the manner of dress of
some youth." (The word "Crips" was found written on a wall in the
Eugene Mall.)
"Police have recently begun to rocognize the signs of gang activity,"
says Officer Vern Hoyer of the Eugene police. Writes Keefer, "Eugene is
real naive to a lot of things. People here are used to leaving the door open
all night long and airing out the house while they sleep. We're real vulner
able. We're getting victimized."
Hoyer stated that while individual members of LA street gangs have ap
peared in Eugene-one member of the Crips, convicted of murder and now
a fugitive, reportedly has been seen in town, and a number of other gang
members are known to be living here—there is no sign that Southern Cali
fornia gangs have begun to move into this community in an organized
fashion the way they have in Portland.
The Eugene R.G. reporter wrote, in addition, "Police, though, are aware
of at least three local gangs—The Party Boys, a white gang; The Home
Boys, or HBO's, a Black gang; and The Sanchez Brothers, a Latino gang —
that are operating in Eugene and that show similarities to LA street gangs.
Doug Bates, Managing Editor,
goofedl" See Page 5 for story.
Eugene Register-Guard, "We
Fear and Strong
Reactions Strike
Blacks and Other
Minorities in
Eugene Area
by Larry Baker
Immediately, within days of the Register-Guard's headline and publica
tion of the article, Black concerned parents assembled themselves in a fit of
anger and frustration. It was quickly acknowledged, after speaking with
their children, no such Black gang members were pressuring them within
their circle of friends. But the parents were also beginning to hear problems
of how members of the Eugene police were beginning to seek information
from the Black children on who in the city belonged to the Crips, and if
the gang named The Sanchez Brothers was part of the Latino gang which
'had been published in the RG.
According to Jesse Oliver, the son of Jan Oliver, Director of the Council
of Minority Education of the University of Oregon, "The Sanchez Brothers
are a group of five friends who acquired their name in a Halloween gag last
year." Says Oliver, "The gang was made up of three whites, one Iranian,
and him self." He (Oliver) had no idea how the police had come to call his
group a "gang."
"M y son was even stopped and questioned by the police on his activities
in the com m unity," said Dr. Ed Coleman, Director of Ethnic Studies at the
University o f Oregon.
Suddenly it became very apparent how many other Blacks and minorities
must have been going through the same type of racial harassment by the
law enforcement authorities in the city of Eugene. A meeting of the minds
was quickly brought together on what approach to take to question accu
racy of the article and statements published.
The Black parents were allowed an audience with Police Department
Gov. Signs Divestment Bill
A very happy Rep. Margaret Carter holds up House Bill 2001
following its signing by Gov. Neil Goldschmidt. The bill is one
to sell about $800 million w orth o f investments in U .S . com
panies doing business in So. Africa.
of the strongest in the country and is seen as giving the U .S .
anti-apartheid movem ent a boost. HB 2001 requires the state
Photo by Richard J. Brown
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