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The cardinal rule of membership in the street gang known as the Bloods was to retaliate against anyone who “disrespected” them or was part of the opposition.
Keairus Wilson and Rondarius Williamson were Bloods members who obeyed this rule to deadly effect.
The Bloods are a street gang formed in Los Angeles during the 1970s. They have a longstanding rivalry with another gang called the Crips.
The Eastside Skyline Pirus and the Treetop Pirus are both affiliates of the Bloods with local outfits in Nashville, Tennessee. The two Piru gangs sometimes collaborated and operated in similar fashion.
To become a member of either gang, one first had to be “beat in” – which involved existing members beating up aspiring members.
Each gang had a hierarchy: A new member started out as a Tiny Gangster, and could advance in rank to Baby Gangster, Young Gangster, Young Original Gangster, Original Gangster, and, in some exceptional cases, double or triple “OG.”
A member advanced by “putting in work” – that is, by “fighting, shooting, basically being into it with the opposition, opposition meaning Crips.”
Lower-ranked members had a “Big Homie” – a mentor of sorts – higher in rank.
Each gang held regular meetings and had extensive rules.
For instance, if an Original Gangster says “go across the street and shoot this person, you need to do it.”
And if a Crip “disrespects” a member, then “handle your business” – meaning “assault them or possibly shoot them,” since “it would be considered weak” not to.
If a member violated the rules, he faced a “trial and jury” of the gang’s other members. By a majority vote, those members could kick him out of the gang. Or they could merely punish him.
For example, one member, known as Jo-Jo, disrespected his Big Homie; other members took Jo-Jo out to a field, formed a circle around him, and beat him. By the end, Jo-Jo “couldn’t stand up” and “was coughing up blood.”
Although Wilson does not dispute that he killed Alexandra Franklin and Michael Goins, he disputes whether he did so “for the purpose of … maintaining or increasing” his position in the gang. We recently declined to presume that gang members “are always motivated, at least in part, by their desire to maintain their status within the gang.”
As a general matter, it is undisputed that an Eastside Skyline Piru, like Wilson, could maintain or increase his position in the gang in multiple ways. One way was “putting in work,” which meant “fighting, shooting, basically being into it with the opposition.”
United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Keairus Wilson, Defendant-Appellant, Rondarius Williamson, Defendant-Appellant. United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Filed August 27, 2014
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