Known Aliases: BHB, East Side Bounty Hunter Bloods, BH Bloods, Bounty Hunters, Nickerson Boys, Hat Gang
Origin: Nickerson Gardens Housing Projects, Watts, South Los Angeles, California — circa 1969–1972. Emerged as one of the original Blood-aligned organizations in direct response to Crips expansion into the Watts/Willowbrook area. Rooted in the 114th Street corridor and the Nickerson Gardens public housing complex (the largest public housing project west of the Mississippi).
Active Regions: Primary AOR: Watts (Nickerson Gardens, 114th–120th Street corridor, bounded by Central Avenue and Compton Avenue). Secondary AOR: Compton (CA), Long Beach (CA), Inland Empire (CA), Las Vegas (NV), Houston (TX), Atlanta (GA), and federal/state correctional systems. Membership heavily concentrated in core territory with moderate national expansion.
Known Alliances: Bloods, Pirus, Brims
Known Rivalries: Grape Street Watts Crips — primary rival, as both organizations are entrenched in adjacent Watts housing projects (Nickerson Gardens vs. Jordan Downs), producing one of the most geographically intense gang conflicts in the United States. PJ Watts Crips (Imperial Courts) — proximate territorial hostility. Compton Crips sets — sustained regional conflicts. 89 Family Bloods — localized friction. Front Street Watts Crips — area disputes.
Primary Identifiers: Colors: Red (dark red/burgundy). Symbols: 'BH' monogram, 'Bounty Hunter' script, crosshairs/rifle sights (referencing 'hunting'), dog paw imagery (as Bloods). Numeric codes: 112, 114 (referencing street numbers within territory). Tattoos: 'Bounty Hunter' across upper back or chest, 'BH' on hands, Nickerson Gardens address numerals, Watts-specific area codes (323/310), kill tallies (dots or marks). Apparel: Boston Red Sox (B), Houston Astros (star/H), San Francisco 49ers (red/gold), Cincinnati Reds. Hand signs: 'B' formation for Bloods, Bounty Hunter-specific variations. Graffiti: 'BHB,' 'Bounty Hunters,' 'Nickerson,' crossed-out 'GS' (Grape Street) and 'C' (Crip).
Executive Summary:
The Bounty Hunter Bloods (BHB) constitute one of the oldest, largest, and most operationally entrenched Blood-affiliated street gangs in the Los Angeles basin. Headquartered within the Nickerson Gardens Housing Projects in Watts — the largest public housing development west of the Mississippi River with over 1,000 units — the BHB command significant territorial control across a tightly defined AOR spanning the 114th–120th Street corridor. Their founding in the early 1970s was a direct defensive response to Crips incursion into the Watts/Willowbrook area, and the organization rapidly established itself as a dominant force within the emerging Bloods movement.
Primary illicit revenue streams include large-scale narcotics distribution (cocaine, crack cocaine, PCP, cannabis, and fentanyl), firearms trafficking, robbery, carjacking, and extortion. The BHB-Grape Street Watts Crips rivalry — fought across adjacent public housing projects (Nickerson Gardens vs. Jordan Downs) — represents one of the most geographically concentrated and lethal gang conflicts in American urban history, generating hundreds of homicides over five decades. Federal operations including the 2014 ATF/FBI Watts task force initiative and multiple LAPD Southeast Division suppression campaigns have resulted in significant prosecutions. Despite these interdiction efforts, the BHB's deep integration within public housing infrastructure provides a persistent operational base and continuous recruitment pipeline.