Pirus


The Pirus, also known as Piru Street Family, West Side Piru, East Side Piru Relatives and Piru Gangsters, are a Los Angeles street gang alliance based in Compton, and also present in the cities of Pomona, Carson, Sacramento, Hawthorne, San Diego, Fresno, Santa Ana, Watts and Colorado Springs. Piru sets make up most of the original Blood Alliance in Los Angeles. The main colors of Pirus are red, burgundy and grey.
The Pirus comprise various sub-groups known as "sets" between which significant differences exist such as colors, clothing, operations, and political ideas which may be in open conflict with each other. Since their creation, the Pirus gangs have branched throughout the United States.

History

In 1969, the Pirus were created by teenagers and young black men based in Compton. The Piru acronym is Powerful Indestructible Revengeful United also Political Inner-city Revolutionary Union. In 1969 with the Crip alliance made by smaller gangs, the Pirus also joined, making a large "set" of the Crips. At that time, there were various sets throughout the region of Los Angeles, California. However, these sets were small groups of hustlers. In 1969, fifteen-year-old Raymond Washington started the Crips street gang with friends from his neighborhood on the East Side of South Central Los Angeles. The Crips began to attack hustler groups and cliques in order to create a larger organization.
The Pirus soon joined with the Brims gang, a victim of the Crips attacks, and together in jail they created the Bloods, starting off at first as a way to address one another. Following this, new inmates entering the LA County Jail were asked by intake/deputies, "Who do you run with, the Crips or the Bloods?" Those who were victimized by the Crips joined the Pirus and Brims and ran with the Blood identity, which is how the Blood gang was formed. The Bloods started in jail in LA County in 1974, and the Pirus and Brims both formed on the streets in 1969.