How long have there been Bloods in Detroit? I heard this guy on TV saying that the small gangs there were too violent for Crips and Bloods to take over. Its not surprising though, it was only a matter of time. Its hard to believe that they haven't been active there before. Almost every major city in America has seen sets pop up and grow to be the dominate players. Most had cities had seem them fully operating by the early 90s. Gangs want that name-brand recognition, plus its protection in the pen on the street to have more heads. No one wants to be the smallest fish.
There are a lot of busters though. Only a few sets outside of California are recognized by the OGs. Obviously that is changing and now these news guys are seeking out their blessing. No one wants to be seen as fake, and word on the street is the founder of the UBN was a snitch. They formed as a prison gang in Rykers and had no real relation to the California sets. That being said, UBN were at least real "gangsters." There are "Blood" sets in small towns who made up of rich white high school kids who don't put in any work.
I think they have had groups like the 7 mile bloods and cash out crips that have been around for a while.
It really is about the branding, Ubn formed i think mostly because A)they were facing a large and organised latino gang like the latin kings. B) Not everyone wanted to join the 5 percenters on the east coast which was the predominant black gang, probably because not everyone could identify with the quasi religious stuff they believed in. Despite not being sanctioned by the west, east coast bloods are still a massive force around the north east with a lot of gangs in different places using their symbols and monickers. There have been cases like the one i posted where members have reached out to west coats leadership to be official but to what extent the majority of UBN leaders care about that is up for debate.
