gang colors red and dark blue originated in the most ordinary way. They were the only bandanna colors sold in California prisons.


In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Mexican Mafia — or "EME" — a southern gang, was the predominant gang in California's prisons, said Tulare County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Cotton, supervisor of the county's Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Teams.

As large numbers of northern gang members filtered into the prison system, they organized for self protection, creating La Nuestra Familia gang. To identify themselves, the gangs used bandannas purchased in prison commissaries. They came in two colors, red and dark blue.

The northerners chose red, and the southerners, in turn, began purchasing the blue bandannas, Cotton said.

Crips and Bloods, largely African-American gangs from Los Angeles, also began identifying themselves with the prisons' colored bandannas, with the Bloods choosing red and the Crips blue.

Since then, the color system, as well as the deadly rivalry between the northern and southern gangs, has made its way to the street and evolved. Now, gang members display their colors not just with bandannas but also with clothing, even jewelry.

Some have even adopted different colors.

For example, said Tulare County sheriff's Detective Joe Aguilar, a gang unit deputy who also serves as the Sheriff's gang liaison to schools, some northern gang members have begun wearing silver-and-black Oakland Raider shirts and other team gear, a nod to their gang's Northern California roots.

"We're starting to see the white bandannas and black bandannas," Cotton said. "White seems to be among some separate 'cliques' of Hispanic gangs, though they tend to ally with north or south