The Hilltop was once notorious for drug-related gang activity, most notably related to the infamous Hilltop
Crips. The word "Hilltop" became synonymous specifically with Tacoma's
gang problems, and more generally with
urban pathologies associated with the US's
crack epidemic. The Hilltop gained a reputation for drugs and violence with the Mother's Day riots in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Tacoma civic leaders sought federal dollars by accepting a large number of Cuban refugees after the
Cuban Adjustment Act and the Cuban Relocation Program. Many of the Cubans were
prison inmates released by Castro who violently took over the illicit drug trade on Tacoma’s Hilltop. Around 1984, an unknown Los Angeles Crip association began organizing local Hilltop youth to sell primarily powder and crack cocaine. A yearlong violent struggle between Cuban dealers and the Crips ensued. Eventually, Cubans involved in the drug trade were murdered or left town. By September 23, 1989, the Hilltop Crips had become powerful, with violence and homicides at a peak, and police departments overwhelmed. Hilltop made national news in 1989 when several
United States Army Rangers got into a shootout with suspected gang members in what came to be known as the
Ash Street shootout. In 2002, it was reported that
neighborhood watch efforts, increased police presence, commercial real estate development efforts along Martin Luther King Way, the creation of the Alcohol Impact Area and rising real estate values in all areas adjoining downtown Tacoma have served to lower the amount of crime in Hilltop. In 2022, Tacoma Police numbers indicated that the Hilltop neighborhood was seeing an increase in crime. Some residents and businesses wrote to city leaders to express their concerns about rising crime. ==Employers==