The biggest and fiercest rival of the Bloods is another LA-based street gang called the Crips. The purpose of the formation of the Bloods was to compete against the Crips.

It's an LA thing. Shout out to the Piru, shout out to the Bloods, shout out to the Crips. Shout out to the north side, south side... Shout out to all the gangs." Watch the full interview up top.

In Los Angeles' labyrinthian networks of Bloods and Crips gangs, with shifting alliances and feuds, Skipp Townsend is a mediator with credibility on both sides.

Skipp Townsend was a member of the Bloods gang for 27 years. Tyrone White was a member of the Crips gang in the late '80s and '90s.

After his funeral recently, Arthur 'King Bobalouie' Moses was remembered as an early member of the Crips and a founder of the Pirus, one of the nation's first Bloods gangs.