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In Los Angeles one gang is called the Cripplers (with a special auxiliary for girls known as Crippettes), because a member is initiated only after furnishing evidence that he has physically injured somebody. In what is close to a war zone, ghetto residents often eat and sleep on the floor to avoid the stray bullets whizzing through their windows. Joe, 17, a former Crip who has gone straight because he is tired of "hustlin'," says he was always stalking a rival gang member or a potential robbery victim. "Whenever I was shootin' [had a gun], I had someone in mind. If I couldn't get him, I'd get his partner or a substitute." He regrets a murder for which he was never prosecuted. "I took someone's life," Joe reminisces. "He could be on the earth, makin' babies and havin' fun."