Inside the Crips: Life Inside L.A.'s Most Notorious Gang
Dec 2013 · Macmillan + ORM
4.5star
75 reviewsreport
Ebook
350
Pages
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About this ebook
“[An] arresting memoir” about one man’s life in an L. A. street gang, from age ten in the 1970s to his prison turnaround twenty-five years later (Publishers Weekly).
Colton “C-Loc” Simpson was a Crip. Beginning at the age of ten in the mid-1970s, Simpson’s world was defined in terms of war. By the time he quit, Simpson had risen through the ranks to become Stabilizer and, later, General.
Simpson was the son of Dick Simpson, a ballplayer for the California Angels and Cincinnati Reds, but even before he became a gangbanger, his life was rough. Raised by his grandmother in South Central L.A. Simpson didn’t so much turn to the streets as become engulfed by them: without asking to become part of the gang, his forced induction into the Crips meant running don an alley while the members opened fire on him.
Inside the Crips is Simpson’s unstinting account—emotional, violent, ugly, and tender—of life inside a gang. You’ll meet intense characters such as Smiley, Simpson’s fellow gangbanger, and heartbreaking ones such as Gina, the mother of two young sons who married Simpson in prison.
With a foreword by Ice T
“The book provides a window into an often misunderstood way of life.” —Publishers Weekly
“The Crips . . . is a famously difficult organization from which to retire alive. . . . This unvarnished portrayal of gang life is enlightening and even inspiring about a subject badly in need of illumination.” —Booklist
Colton “C-Loc” Simpson was a Crip. Beginning at the age of ten in the mid-1970s, Simpson’s world was defined in terms of war. By the time he quit, Simpson had risen through the ranks to become Stabilizer and, later, General.
Simpson was the son of Dick Simpson, a ballplayer for the California Angels and Cincinnati Reds, but even before he became a gangbanger, his life was rough. Raised by his grandmother in South Central L.A. Simpson didn’t so much turn to the streets as become engulfed by them: without asking to become part of the gang, his forced induction into the Crips meant running don an alley while the members opened fire on him.
Inside the Crips is Simpson’s unstinting account—emotional, violent, ugly, and tender—of life inside a gang. You’ll meet intense characters such as Smiley, Simpson’s fellow gangbanger, and heartbreaking ones such as Gina, the mother of two young sons who married Simpson in prison.
With a foreword by Ice T
“The book provides a window into an often misunderstood way of life.” —Publishers Weekly
“The Crips . . . is a famously difficult organization from which to retire alive. . . . This unvarnished portrayal of gang life is enlightening and even inspiring about a subject badly in need of illumination.” —Booklist
Ratings and reviews
4.5
75 reviews
Clyde Jones
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February 14, 2017
Really insightful book about gang life. Colton doesn't come across as the hero or good guy - he did some bad things, and continued to do them when he had a chance not to. However eventually he learns the error of his ways, but its too late. Well written, warts and all.
5 people found this review helpful
Keiff Whose
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August 10, 2016
No words other than his own can describe this man's life other than the way it has been written in this book. Deep, exciting, true, drama. Defines the difference between gangsta and gangstER! WOULD LOVE TO MEET THIS MAN JUST TO SHAKE HIS HAND!
1 person found this review helpful
Johnny Pereyra
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April 19, 2014
Book sucks except for The first two chapters.. Do not get it is not what you think it is..sure there's action pack gang violence but it is horribly written. He brings character's out of nowhere I'm like whose this? Doesn't even introduce them.a lot of homo erotic tones and gay stuff like the way he speaks of his best friend smiley yet gives little to nothing detail about girls. Than it really goes down the drain with the long boring jail chapter's. You wanna read a book about action pack gang violence sex drugs revenge? Get my bloody life in the Latin kings by reymundo Sanchez.. You won't regret it.. But you will regret buying this book.
2 people found this review helpful
About the author
Colton Simpson lives in Los Angeles.
Ann Pearlman is the author of GETTING FREE: WOMEN AND PYCHOTHERAPY, KEEP THE HOME FIRES BURNING and INFIDELITY: A MEMOIR. She has a private psychotherapy practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she lives.
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