Bloods and Crips: The American Menace: A memoir by the most infamous blood in the California State Penitentiaries

by Michael Sims

The year was 1963 and my mother had just moved me and my siblings to Watts, California from Louisiana. I was only 3yrs old but from that point on my life would never be the same. Follow me Michael "Ridah Mike" Sims as I go through my life story the bad and the ugly as I show you the reader how I became the strong willed intelligent man that I am today. Warning! What you are about to read is a book so dangerous that it was filed "under Sealed" in court proceedings to determine if it should ever see the light of day. Prison officials have determined that if the manuscript is disseminated, it would incite violence and undermine institutional security...confiscating the manuscript thus helps to stop the distribution of it and the dangerous effects of the information it contains... -Edmund G. Brown, Attorney General Prison gangs are responsible for violent acts and other criminal activities taking place in the prisons and on the public streets. As IGI Lieutenant, I am responsible for Pelican Bay's efforts to monitor, control, and suppress prison gang activity. -James McMillan, Lieutenant IGI (Institutional Gang Investigation) Old cliches are often true! "Don't judge a book by its cover." Taken as a whole, Petitioner's manuscript is an attempt to persuade readers that the path to be avoided... -Scott Hoxeng, Attorney At Law I've been incarcerated since 1979 and lived a very pugnacious lifestyle, but now serve as a devoted activist against all violence. Some prison officials try to suppress reconciliatory messages by the esoteric minded brothers of my stature. -Michael "Ridah Mike" Sims, Author

392 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2012

About the author

Michael Sims is the author of the acclaimed "The Story of Charlotte's Web, Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination," "Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form," and editor of "Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories" and "The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories." He lives in western Pennsylvania.