Watts Truce

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The Watts Truce was a peace agreement among rival street gangs in Los Angeles. Although not universally adhered to, the truce was a major component of the decline of street violence in the city during the 1990s.

It was declared between warring gangs in the community of Watts in the days just before the 1992 Los Angeles riots. After 20 years of internecine warfare that waged across the public housing projects of Los Angeles two rival "sets" within the infamous Crips gang decided that enough was enough. The Grape Street Crips of Jordan Downs and P Jay Crips of Imperial Courts met in the Imperial Courts Project gym to negotiate peace [1]. Within days, despite the raging fires in downtown, most of the black gangs in LA declared themselves at peace. This truce is no longer in effect.