THESE extraordinary images give an intimate look inside the infamous LA street gang the Crips at the height of their power in the 90s.
With more than 30,000 members, the African-American mob has been in a virtual state of war with rivals the Bloods since the late 60s.
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A member of the Grape Street Watts Crips gang cradles a shotgun
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Members of the same branch throw the G and W sign to show their allegiance to the Grape Street Watts crewCredit: Getty Images
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Drug dealing forms a large part of the gang's illegal activities. Here, a member of the Dodge City Crips poses with a rock of crack cocaineCredit: Getty Images
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Obscuring his identity in shades and trademark bandanna, a Crips member makes the gang's famous 'C' hand signalCredit: Getty Images
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Members stage a mock execution of a young boy, pointing sawn-off shotguns at the child's headCredit: Getty Images
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Two young men stand in front of a wall bearing the names of fellow gang membersCredit: Getty Images
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The sign is used as a means of pledging loyalty to the LA-based street gangCredit: Getty Images
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The gang is notorious for its rivalry with the Bloods, a fellow street gang from the South Side of LACredit: Getty Images
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Youngsters are groomed to become members of the gangCredit: Getty Images
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A toddler walks up to a group of gang members posing for the cameraCredit: Getty Images
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The gang mark their territory with graffitiCredit: Getty Images
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A teenage member of the Crips poses with his little brother draped in the gang's coloursCredit: Getty Images
Up to 15,000 deaths are believed to have been as a result of the Bloods/Crips feud that is behind many of LA's gang executions.
Such is the extent of the group that it has infiltrated the US Army and spread thousands of miles to cities such as New York and Chicago.
Yet 48 years since the street gang's formation by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips remain one of the most feared forces on US streets.
These groundbreaking images reveal everyday life for those who lived a precarious existence in southern LA in the 1990s.
Young men mix their family lives with automatic weapons.
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Posing with shotguns, these members of the gang wear their signature Vikings hatsCredit: Getty Images
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The gang originate from the Jordan Downs housing project on the South Side of Los AngelesCredit: Getty Images
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Since its foundation in 1969, it has grown to a size in excess of 30,000 membersCredit: Getty Images
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Two members of the gang grapple in a playful fight on the streetCredit: Getty Images
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The gang and its rivals the Bloods has spread across America as far as Chicago and New YorkCredit: Getty Images
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The gang is even reported to have infiltrated the US ArmyCredit: Getty Images
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The leader of the Sons of Samoa - a gang the Crips have teamed up with - poses in bed after being paralysed from the waist down in a shootingCredit: Getty Images
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Members of the Sons of Samoa originate from the Pacific and quickly allied themselves with the CripsCredit: Getty Images
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Its female arm has been named the East Coast Baby Dolls. Two members pose here with a young childCredit: Getty Images
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Many members of the Crips are barely teenagers. Many will die before they reach adulthood thanks to the violence that plagues LACredit: Getty Images
Dealing heroin and crack cocaine is just another everyday activity in the gang's territory.
Its G and W hand sign, first used by gang members on LA's tough Jordan Downs housing project, remains a call sign for fellow gangsters.
The Bounty Hunter Bloods, with whom members do their daily battle, have been at war with the Crips for almost 50 years.
Clashes continue every day to control the lucrative LA drug trade.
And members of both gangs are not afraid to use a fearsome arsenal of weapons including shotguns, Uzis and assault rifles.
Capturing every aspect of life on the streets, members are snapped drinking and partying.
Members are also pictured handcuffed as police continue their daily battle to subdue the street crime on LA's notorious south side.
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Up to 15,000 deaths are believed to have been a result of the near-50 year feud between the Bloods and CripsCredit: Getty Images
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Several men are handcuffed as police carry out searchesCredit: Getty Images
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The vast majority of the gang come from LA's African American communityCredit: Getty Images
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Wearing their trademark purple bandannas, members of the gang greet each otherCredit: Getty Images
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Their illegal activities have branched out from drug-dealing into prostitution, extortion and murderCredit: Getty Images
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Two more members are handcuffed by police officers. Gang membership is just as prevalent in America's prison systemCredit: Getty Images
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One member of the gang wears a jumper that pays tribute to a friend killed in the bloody feudCredit: Getty Images
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Law enforcement face a battle to stop the next generation of youngsters being caught up in the violenceCredit: Getty Images
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Members of the street gang pose for a picture with a wheelchair-bound friendCredit: Getty Images
