They are now a forced to be reckoned with in most states in the U.S so i have made this thread for anyone who would like to talk about them or post articles.Example Bloods,Crips,Latin Kings etc...


Arrests made in what police called a "major" crack cocaine operation in the Hilltop City are now being pursued in federal court.

At least two members of the Bloods — a notoriously violent street gang known for running drug rackets in many major U.S. cities — were arrested recently for running a drug operation out of an apartment at 231 High St. Police seized more than $3,700 worth of crack split among 70 packets with a total weight of 23 grams. Police also found ammunition indicating those involved possessed guns at some point.

Michelle Tillman, 35, resided at the High Street residence and was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. She was released on $50,000 personal recognizance bail.

Charles Nelson, 21 of 473 Pennsylvania Ave., Apt. 43, Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine and one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell. Tyree Everson, 18, of 611 Blake Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., was also charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine, one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell and one count of sale of crack cocaine.

Both Nelson and Everson were discovered to be members of the Bloods, police say, after review of information gathered during the course of the investigation.

Nelson and Everson were scheduled for probable cause hearings Friday, but before that date their cases were "nol prossed" and transferred to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono's office said until further notice no information about the case will be released as the case is under seal.

"Nelson and Everson were in Somersworth with the intention of selling crack cocaine and possibly opening a chapter (of The Bloods) here," according to a press release from the Somersworth Police Department.

Police Capt. David Kretschmar said the department has "no insight" about why these individuals chose Somersworth as a location to form a local chapter.

Four days elapsed before police notified the press about the arrests, which Kretschmar said was due to "the way the investigation was going."

He said there were elements of the investigation that had not been completed and to maintain the integrity of the investigation, information had to be withheld until a certain time.

Kretschmar did say there will be "more arrests down the road" related to this case.


http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/GJNEWS_01/463206054/-1/FOSNEWS

Does'nt matter which gang is which,it's always about the drugs is'nt it?

Chopper have you read the book "Monster" about the Bloods and Crips in LA?

Yes it's a very interesting book i have numerous books on street gangs,if you liked Monster i recommend Do or Die by Leon Bing and Also Home of the bodybags by Tyrell wright both very interesting and informative.

CHERYL Green was hardly the first.

Since the 14-year-old was shot to death in December in the forgotten strip of Los Angeles known as Harbor Gateway, she has become a symbol of the region's gang and racial strife.

Yet long before the mayor, police chief and FBI director showed up to decry the violence, the tiny neighborhood lived with it.

For more than a decade, many say, the neighborhood Latino gang -- called 204th Street -- had been attacking blacks. African Americans had taken to warily surveying their streets for Latinos, and few dared go north of 206th Street, which the gang had set as a boundary for blacks.

In 1997, 11-year-old Marquis Wilbert, an African American youth with no gang affiliation, was shot and killed by a 204th Street gang member on a bicycle.

In September 2001, Robert Hightower, a 19-year-old Pasadena high school senior, was shot to death after hugging his sister, whom he had been visiting. A 204th Street gang member shot him, according to court testimony, because he was upset that a black boxer had beaten a Latino in a prizefight.

In 2003, Eric Butler, 39, was shot to death as he drove from the neighborhood's lone business, the Del Amo Market, which the gang considered to be in its territory. He'd gone there to intervene after gang members began harassing his 14-year-old stepdaughter. She was shot in the back and lives today with a bullet lodged near her spine.

Butler's wife, Madeline Enriquez, organized marches to bring attention to the problem, without success.

Instead, the violence spread.
From 1994 to 2005 in Harbor Gateway, there were nearly five times as many homicides, assaults and other violent crimes by Latinos against blacks as by blacks against Latinos, according to Los Angeles Police Department statistics.

Cheryl's shooting -- allegedly by two 204th Street gang members as she and friends talked on a street in broad daylight -- underscored a new reality: that since the mid-1990s, according to the L.A. County Human Relations Commission, Latino gangs have become the region's leading perpetrators of violent hate crimes.

"It took this girl's death to show what's going on," said Khalid Shah, director of Stop the Violence, an anti-gang nonprofit group that has worked in Harbor Gateway.

Two weeks after Cheryl's death, the gang allegedly struck again, stabbing 80 times a white man they believed to be a witness to her shooting death. Five gang members were charged last month in his slaying....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/me-gang8,0,1532253.story

British yobs are beginning to ape the terrifying tactics of vicious American gangs, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warned yesterday.

She said there is increasing evidence they are wearing "colours" to show allegiance - just like rival LA gangsters such as the Crips and Bloods.

And they were are also using graffiti "tags" to mark territory and warn off outsiders.

Ms Smith said: "Some elements of gang culture tend to come from the States. We have seen the development of things like the use of tags, the use of colours. Those are all things we need to address."

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In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, she said gang members were getting younger, with teens of 14 involved in violence - partly due to tough action by police against older gangsters.

But she said it meant families, especially mums, had an extra responsibility to stop teens getting dragged in.

Ms Smith, herself a mum of a teenage boy, said: "This is an area where we can't take our eyes off the ball. We need to find alternatives and ways of allowing people to come out of a gang lifestyle."

She said the warning signs were increasing trouble at school, different clothes or spending time with new groups of people.

But people also "needed to feel confident that they don't have to carry guns or knives and others won't carry one either".

Ms Smith, speaking in Birmingham at the start of a monthlong crackdown, said there would be more street searches using metal-detectors and more undercover policing. But she also wanted more "street pastor" patrols in UK cities. Trialled in Birmingham in London, the pastors are church and community volunteers who patrol gang hotspots at night.

With police back-up they can mediate between rival gangs and try to talk to troubled youngsters in danger of getting into gangs.

Ms Smith said: "They are not soft these people. They are community representatives who people trust and can intervene to stop youngsters going down that road."

In one case two pupils turned to gangs to settle a score until a mediator got them together to sort their problems. She said: "When people don't step in, it can descend into weapons, serious violence." In just one day over the weekend police in Birmingham made five arrests and confiscated 40 replica firearms. Ms Smith said it showed new legislation was working.

She also launched a National Ballistics Intelligence register. Similar to a DNA database, it will record forensics from all guns and bullets used in crimes and find links in two days instead of the current eight weeks.

BLUE v RED TO THE DEATH

The Crips were founded in California by Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams in 1969.

Washington was shot dead in 1979, aged 25, and Williams was executed by lethal injection in 2005.

The Crips wear blue and their criminal activities include murder, robbery and drug dealing. The gang's estimated LA membership exceeds 30,000 and rap stars Ice-T, Snoop Dogg and Coolio are once thought to have links.

The Bloods were set up in 1971, when several Crips factions joined up with smaller gangs.

The gang - which wears red - has 25-30,000 LA members and is involved in the same kind of criminal activities. Rappers with links include The Game

The grafitti tags are nothing new round my way.

I'll tell you a little story. When i was growing up in the late 70's/early 80's there was a gang on my estate called the LBAB (Longbenton Agro boys). I know it is'nt very original but this lot were a fearsome bunch of glue sniffing skinhead hooligans who would beat anybody up for a laugh. They made the shopping centre a no go area and sprayed their monicker,LBAB, on every available surface.
Now this motley bunch are long gone, but the tag LBAB still pops up everywhere. The youngsters who did it are probably the grandchildren of the originals. As for the original bunch?

I know for a fact that 2 are in prison and one is dead. Another has a grandson who plays football in my sons team. I stand and talk to him every Saturday. He is over 50 now and a real pussycat.25 years ago and i would have shit my pants at the sight of him

When trying to solve a gang-related crime, Rogers and Springdale police can tap into information on hundreds of suspected local gang members or their associates.

Smaller police departments in Northwest Arkansas, however, don’t have such databases — photos, tattoos and addresses linked to gangs such as Sureno, MS-13, Nortenos, Brown Pride and Aryan Brotherhood.

The closest thing to a regional gang clearinghouse is the Arkansas Crime Information Center. While the center shows felony convictions nationwide, it lists only 21 gang members in Arkansas. In Rogers, police have more than 200 in their gang database.

“If my city gets hit with graffiti by someone called ‘Snoop Dog,’ I can’t call up ACIC and say, ‘Is there a Snoop Dog in your system ?’” Centerton Police Chief Lance Johnson said.

“With ACIC, you need a name, a date of birth or a driver’s license number, something to start with,” he said. “A lot of times, we don’t have that kind of information at the front end.” In Centerton, a fast-growing bedroom community west of Bentonville, the Latin Kings gang painted graffiti in January, and no one has been arrested for it. Johnson wants a plan to create a Northwest Arkansas gang-intelligence network.

Such a database would let law enforcement officers add information as they get it. They would check whether a suspect — who only may be known by a nickname, a tattoo or who he runs with — is on the radar of another department.

“If another department arrests a gang member, and it turns out he lives in Centerton, I might not ever know until one of us picks up the phone and calls the other,” Johnson said. CALIFORNIA USES DATABASE Twelve agencies in North- west Arkansas meeting under the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods’ Anti-Gang Initiative talked about starting a gang-intelligence database last year, but logistics and cost concerns put the plan on hold.

Bob Balfe, U. S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas based in Fort Smith, said for a regional database to work, every agency wo uld need to use the same criteria for entering information, and someone would have to maintain the system.

“On top of that, there’s a huge funding issue with equipment and manpower,” Balfe said. “As stretched as many of the departments are just trying to get officers on the streets, it’s just not a top priority right now.” Although there’s no central database, the agencies from Washington, Benton and Sebastian counties meet every seven weeks or so and share gang intelligence and leads on cases.

“Gang members don’t respect county lines, and that’s especially relevant in Northwest Arkansas where it’s not one large metropolitan area, but in fact a region with more than one county,” Balfe said.

“Everyone involved here knows how important it is that we all continue to communicate and collaborate on this issue,” he said.

In considering a regional database, the agencies looked at CalGang, the California Department of Justice’s gang database.

Wes McBride, executive director of the California Gang Investigator’s Association, helped design CalGang, an automated information-sharing system.

“It’s an electronic gang file built on a network that allows sharing between departments,” McBride said. “It may sound sophisticated, but a gang file is a gang file. If you know your suspect drives a red Chevy, you enter that in, and you get a list of gang members who drive red Chevys.” McBride, who is retired from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office, said police can work to control and reduce gangs by banding together for training.

“Gang members in today’s world are very mobile, moving from one town to the next,” Mc-Bride said. “To stay on top of it, police need to form a task force and start training their officers to recognize gangs. Put on statewide training, and roll it across the state.” The federal Justice Department dedicated $ 10 million to Project Safe Neighborhoods in 2006, with an additional $ 30 million to fund an “Anti-Gang Initiative.” The U. S. attorney’s office in Fort Smith has been allocated $ 694, 000 for Project Safe Neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods pays for police agencies in Northwest Arkansas to get gang resistance and education training. Agencies in Washington, Sebastian and Benton counties — where officials in Balfe’s office said gang activity is most prevalent — have had the training over the last year. Some also are providing gang intervention and prevention in English and in Spanish in schools.

‘GANG OVERTONES’ From March to July 2007, some Springdale police officers worked on a part-time crimesuppression team that identified, photographed and documented gang members in the city.

The officers also ran saturation patrols that focused primarily on curbing graffiti and property crime.

Sgt. Shane Pegram, who supervised the team, said officers identified about 150 people with ties to several major gangs: Sureno 13, Nortenos, Folk Nation, 18 th Street, Aryan Brotherhood, Peckerwoods, Crips, Bloods, MS 13, Gangster Disciples and Latin Kings. To identify gang members, the team used a combination of criteria, including self-admitted membership, association with known gang members, frequenting known gang areas, “throwing” hand signs, and having gang tattoos, Pegram said.

“The overall goal of the team was to identify crime trends in the city, and unfortunately, a lot of what we found had gang overtones,” said Pegram.

“About every gang there is in the country right now, we’ve had contact with in Springdale,” he said. “And other cities in Northwest Arkansas are seeing the same thing, too.” A full-time crime-suppression team starts next month, he said.

While Springdale isn’t using its data as an investigative tool, the Rogers Police Department uses gang data it has been compiling since 2005.

Cpl. Craig Renfrow, a gang investigator for Rogers, helped build a database of more than 200 entries of active and inactive gang members and their associates living in the city.

About 40 percent of those in the database fall under the category of Sureno or Mexican Mafia gangs, Renfrow said. The second largest category — about 14 percent — consists of prison gangs and hate groups.

“We’ve got a solid knowledge now of what’s going on in the city, but the next step is to do something collectively as a region,” Renfrow said.

The Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville police departments have met independently of the federal group to share gang data, he said.

The Benton County sheriff’s office is another agency that uses it own system to track gang members.

Jail commander Capt. Hunter Petray said about 90 gang members have been identified using the system, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those gangs are operating in the county. Many members already are doing prison time or were extradited from some other part of the country, Petray said.

The county forwards its gang information to the FBI but isn’t actively sharing the data with other agencies in Northwest Arkansas, he said.

“There’s nothing set as far as regional sharing, but we’re always willing to share our gang file with any other law-enforcement agency that wants to see it or benefit from it,” Petray said.

Kelly Cradduck, a candidate for Benton County sheriff, is one of the people spearheading the effort to implement a regional gang database in Northwest Arkansas.

While campaigning, Cradduck is on leave from the Rogers Police Department, where he is a sergeant supervising the gang unit.

He teaches gang awareness to police and at area schools.

“We need a database where all the agencies can enter into it and take information from it,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest roadblocks right now.

“ Even if everyone is collecting the data, it’s not compatible,” Cradduck said. “Not everyone is sharing information. When all you do is shove gang members two miles out of your city, you’re not fixing anything.”

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/220566/

Here is a brief history of the crips and bloods i know they are not o.c in the traditional sense but they are here to stay.

The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang founded in Los Angeles, California in 1969 by 15-year-old Raymond Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams III . What was once a single gang is now a loosely connected network of individual sets, often engaged in open warfare with one another.

Through the years the gang has grown to be one of the largest and most powerful gangs in the United States with a membership that exceeds well over 30,000 gang members. The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits. The gang is notorious for its gang members' flamboyant use of the color blue in their clothing. However, this practice has waned due to contentious police crackdowns on gang members.

The Crips are known to have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Bloods as well as with some Chicano gangs. They are also locked in an ongoing struggle over the drug trade with the Vice Lords in Memphis, Tennessee
Raymond Washington initially called the gang the Baby Avenues in an attempt to emulate older gangs and the activities carried out by the Black Panthers, a movement with which he was fascinated. The gang renamed itself the Avenue Cribs and then took on the nickname Cribs because of the young age of the members.[2] The name Crips was first introduced in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper in a description by crime victims of young men with canes, as if they were crippled (though there is some discussion that it may have initially been a simple spelling mistake). The name stuck.

Stanley Tookie Williams, generally acknowledged as co-founder of the Crips (Community Revolution In Progress),[3] started his own gang called the Westside Crips. The Crips became popular throughout southern Los Angeles as more youth gangs joined; at one point they outnumbered non-Crip gangs by 3 to 1, sparking disputes with non-Crip gangs including the L.A. Brims, Athens Park Boys, the Bishops and the Denver Lanes. The Crips eventually became the most powerful gang in California[citation needed]. In response, all of the other besieged gangs, including the Pirus, formed an alliance that later became the Bloods[citation needed].

Along with friends, Williams and Washington created the initial intent of continuing the revolutionary ideology of the 1960s. These aspirations were unattainable because of a general lack of political leadership and guidance. Washington and Williams were never able to develop an agenda for social change within the community and instead became obsessed with protecting themselves from other gangs in the community.

By 1971 the gang's notoriety had spread across Los Angeles. The gang became increasingly violent as they attempted to expand their turf. By the early 1980s the gang was heavily involved with drug trade
1971, a Crip set on Piru Street, Compton known as the Piru Street Boys was formed. After two years of peace, a feud began between the Piru Street Boys and the other Crip sets. It would later turn violent as gang warfare ensued between former allies. This battle continued until the mid 1970s when the Piru Street Boys wanted to call an end to the violence and called a meeting with other gangs that were targeted by the Crips. After a long discussion, the Pirus broke off all connections to the Crips and started an organization that would later be called the Bloods, a street gang infamous for its rivalry with the Crips.[2]

Since then, other conflicts and feuds were started between many of the remaining sets of the Crips gang. It is a popular misconception that Crips sets feud only with Bloods. In reality, they fight each other — for example, the Rollin' 60s and 83rd Street Gangster Crips ("Eight-Tray") have been rivals since 1979. This conflict has resulted in the majority of "Gangster Crip" sets feuding with most "Neighborhood Crip" sets. In Watts, Los Angeles, the Grape Street Watts Crips and the P Jay Crips have feuded so much that the P Jay Crips even teamed up with the local Bloods set, the Bounty Hunter Bloods, to fight against the Grape Street Crips
For many years, Crips were characterized by their tendency to wear blue in order to easily identify each other. One suggested origin of the selected color is traced to the school colors of Washington High School in South L.A. Another theory is the co-founder, Stanley Williams, had a good and close friend called "Buddha", who wore blue shirts, khakis, shoes, and a blue bandana from his back left pocket. When Buddha died, Williams made blue the Crip color in honor of Buddha. A particular set of Crips, the Grape Street Crips, have been known to wear purple in addition to blue. The Shotgun Crips (SGCs) are separated into three sub-sets: the Nine, 139th street; the Foe, 134th street; and the Deuce, 132nd street in the city of Gardena, California and have been known to wear dark-green, the city color of Gardena, in addition to blue to show that the Shotgun Crips are from Gardena. Crips also wear blue bandanas and British Knights sport shoes (using the company moniker BK, which the Crips use as a backronym meaning "Blood Killas")[citation needed]. They usually refer derisively to their rivals, the Bloods, as "slobs" and "busters".

More recently, however, the Crips have begun to cease the use of colors as a means of identification, since it is likely to draw attention from police. Methods such as the use of college sport team jerseys and hats are sometimes used, but in general, what set a certain gang member claims can be determined solely by their tattoos.

Many Crips will also change words containing the letter B or choose another word to replace it, the best being a word with a C. This is due to their hatred of Bloods. If no word can reasonably be substituted, the letter B will be crossed out to show disrespect. Sometimes excessive use of the letter C also occurs, such as "be right baCC" to refrain from using the initials "ck" which stands for "Crip Killer". Also, the letter B can be written Bk as in "Blood Killer".




Bloods


The Bloods are one of Los Angeles, California street gangs. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and their gang symbol. The Bloods are made up of various sub-groups known as "sets" between which significant differences exist such as colors, clothing, and operations. Since their formation the Blood gangs have branched out throughout the United States, and have even influenced youth groups using the same name in Europe
Starting in late 1971, the Avalon Garden Crips, Inglewood Crips and various other Crip sets joined forces. They began to expand to non-Crip gang territories such as those controlled by The L.A. Brims, a powerful street gang that had been formed in 1969. Due to the encroachments of the Crips, several gangs eventually became part of the Blood family, including the Bishops and Athens Park boys. The Denver Lanes also had conflicts with the Crips, but were outnumbered and eventually became unknown in California for some time. The Piru Street Boys, who presented a powerful force in Compton, actually collaborated with the Crips prior to 1972, as the Crips had affected the Piru neighborhoods.

According to a Los Angeles Weekly profile, the Bloods generally refuse to use the letter C in words and names, often replacing C with B for Bloods or appending a K, to form CK, meaning crip killer[3]
Bloods also wear their "colors" on their right side, often with bright red shoe laces, a red belt, or a red bandana in the back right pocket.[4]
An urban legend claims that the Bloods, as well as other gangs such as the Hells Angels practice an initiation ritual that involves driving at night with their headlights off and murdering the first motorist who flashes their own headlights at them.[

here a list of L.A bloods sets

135 Piru
456 Island
64 Brims (defunct)
706 Blood
92 Bishops
Acre Hood Piru (defunct)
Athens Park Boys
Aliso Village Brim (defunct)
Avenue Piru Gang
Bartender Piru (defunct)
Be-Bopp Watts Bishops
Black P Stones-City
Black P Stones-Jungles
Blood Stone Pirus
Blood Stone Villians
Bounty Hunters
Campenella Park Piru
Cedar Block Piru
Center Park Blood
Center View Piru
Centinela Park Family
Circle City Piru
Crenshaw Mafia Gang
Cross Atlantic Piru
Dalton Gangster Blood (defunct)
DBCP
Denver Lane Bloods
Doty Block Gang
Down Hood Mob
East Compton Piru
East Side Piru
Elm Street Piru
Family Swan Blood 89/92
Fruit Town Brims
Fruit Town Pirus
Ghost Town/ES Pain
Harvard Park Brim
Hawthorne Piru
Holly Hood Pirus
Hoover Family (defunct)
Inglewood Family Gang
Jarvis Street Piru (defunct)
Kabbage Patch Piru
Kalas Park Loks
Leuders Park Piru
Lime Hood Piru
Lynwood Mob Piru
Mad Swan Blood
Mid Wilshire Bloods (defunct)
Midtown Family (defunct)
Miller Gangster Bloods
Mob Piru
Neighbor Hood Pirus
Neighborhood Pirus 145
Rollin 20s NeighborHood Blood
Original Block Piru 151
Outlaw 20s
Pacoima Pirus
Parke Nine Bloods
Pasadena Denver Lane
Project Gangster Blood
Pueblo Bishops 52
Queen Street Blood
Queen Street Blood 76 Block
Rollin 50s Brims
Samoan Warriors Bounty Hunters
Scott Park Blood
ScottsDale Piru
Squiggly Lane Gangster
Summit Street Bloods
Tree Top Piru
Ujima Village Bloods
Unton Brims (defunct)
Van Ness Gangster
Village Town Piru
Water Front Piru
Weirdoz Blood
West Covina Mob
West Side Piru - Compton
West Side Piru - West Covina
Hacienda Village Blood

For anyone interested i will post a brief history of a different gang from various countries as most are now sophisticated O.C gangs to start with is the Mongrel Mob from New Zealand.

The Mongrel Mob is a New Zealand gang formed and organised in Hastings New Zealand. Members are predominantly from New Zealand's Māori or Pacific Islander community. The gang currently operates in many cities within New Zealand; some of the most well known chapters include Mongrel Mob Notorious and Mongrel Mob Rogues. Mob members are notorious for their tattooed faces.

It is believed the term "mongrel mob" originated from the comments of a District Court Judge in the Wairarapa in the late 1960s, when he referred to a group of men before him as "nothing but a pack of mongrels". The name stuck, and later, similarly named groups sprang up around the country, forming their own independent chapters.

Today there is a network of more than thirty Mongrel Mob chapters throughout New Zealand. They are especially active in Kawerau, Rotorua and Auckland. The Mongrel Mob's main rivals are a gang called Black Power and there have been several very public and violent clashes between the two gangs over the years.

In 2007, the Mongrel Mob were involved in the shooting of the 2 year old daughter of a patched Black Power member Jhia Harmony Te Tua in Wanganui. A dispute between members of the two gangs at a rugby league game lead to the drive by, which was planned to kill Jhias father, however a stray bullet hit the two year old girl. Several members of the mob appeared in court over the matter.

The Mongrel Mob were strong supporters of former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Robert Muldoon, and showed their respects at his 1992 state funeral.

The Mongrel Mob featured in a Sky One documentary called Ross Kemp on Gangs in which British actor Ross Kemp interviewed several current and former prominent members of the gang. The documentary revealed many older members dissatisfaction with the fact that the Mob is now involved in drug dealing.

The gang’s colours are predominantly red and black. The patches usually feature a Bulldog wearing a German Stahlhelm which supposedly is an image intended to offend. The patch is worn on the back of "patched members" – those considered loyal and trustworthy within the gang. The patch can also be tattooed on the member's body.

They also use the Swastika as one of their symbols, and use the Nazi phrase "Sieg Heil" which is German for "Hail [to] Victory".

Their hand gesture (Shaka sign) may be to offend the white gangs as the horns gesture is similar. Also could be because Shaka is sometimes referred to as E-E-E, which could be rotated to M-M-M (Mighty Mongrel Mob).

I saw the Ross Kemp gangs show about the Mongrel Mob!

Good show!

Very good show,i also bought the book which is just as good.

Across California, authorities struggle to deal with problems caused by PENI. An unusual hybrid of a racist skinhead gang, a street gang, and a prison gang, PENI has grown considerably in California, where it originated, and has even spread to nearby states.

California law enforcement and prison officials are increasingly faced with a wide range of problems caused by the organization, ranging from the illegal methamphetamine trade to white collar crime that includes identity theft and counterfeiting. In addition, PENI members have been convicted for violent crimes, including assaults, attempted murder and murder.

The group has also raised its profile in the California prison system, where incarcerated members attempt to gain more recruits and influence. PENI's increasing strength stems to a large degree from its ability to position itself as a white power criminal organization capable of operating both on the streets and in the prison yards as foot soldiers for older, more established white supremacist prison gangs, such as the Aryan Brotherhood.

In the past several years, Public Enemy Number 1 has grown considerably in size. As it has expanded, so too has the threat that it poses. Heavily involved in the drug trade, PENI members also have a strong history of violence, both in the prisons and on the streets. Its mercenary and criminal nature, coupled with a white supremacist ideology and a subculture of violence, makes it a triple threat, both to law enforcement and to the public at large. Even people far removed from the worlds of narcotics and gangs may become victim to the PENI through white collar crimes ranging from fraud to counterfeiting to identity theft.

PENI is currently strongest in California, where it has caused many problems in recent years. However, if its growth is not stopped, it is likely to become increasingly problematic in other states as well—the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest being the most likely areas of PENI expansion. PENI may not be the nation's "number one public enemy," but they have more than proven themselves a violent, hateful, and dangerous threat—one that needs to be contained.

The Gangster Disciples are a Chicago-based same gender street gang which has, over the years, grown into one of the largest criminal organizations in the United States.

Originally formed on the South Side of Chicago, they now have an enormous presence in that city, and in other Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Gary, Indiana. They are by far the largest group that makes up the Folk Nation coalition of street gangs, which includes the Black Disciples, Maniac Latin Disciples, Spanish Cobras, Satan Disciples and a number smaller gangs. They also have a heavy presence in Southern cities such as Memphis, Atlanta, and Houston.

Symbols used by the Gangster Disciples include a six-pointed star (Star of David) in remembrance of its co-founder 'King' David Barksdale (there is no connection to the Jewish symbol apart from the name of King David), a three-pointed pitchfork (pointed upward like the letter psi, to display it upside-down is an insult), and a love heart with wings, horns, and a tail. The gang's colors are black and blue.

The Gangster Disciples are known to be involved in about $100 million a year of drug trafficking.

Their main rivals are the Vice Lords and Black P Stones and in Memphis they are rivals with Blood gangs. Their main allies are the Gangster Two Six who are also part of gangster nation as well as the Gangster Party People and the Gangster Stones and the Crips.

http://avm.gangs.tripod.com/id13.html

The Chicago Gaylords, also known as the Almighty Gaylords, is the oldest White Chicago street gang. It originated in the neighborhood of Grand and Noble. Their original corner was the corner of Huron and Throop Streets. The original president of the Gaylords selected the name after reading about the Gaylords of France in the public library. They are a part of the People Nation alliance.[1]

The Chicago Gaylords started out as one of the clubs that were started by veterans post-World War II. The majority of the original members were Italian, Irish, and Mexican American which reflected the population at the time, as the Grand and Ogden area was known as one of Chicago's "Little Italy's." There were many such clubs in Chicago during the post WWII era. Many of these social clubs had their own clubhouses and baseball teams. The Gaylord's clubhouse was on the corner of Ohio and Noble Street. The Chicago Gaylords would eventually leave the Ohio and Noble area as the neighborhood's population became more Latino.

During their peak period in the 1970s, the Chicago Gaylords held sets (or sections) in both the North Side and the South Side of Chicago. Their South Side sections included Back of the Yards (around 55th & Ashland, Sherman Park), Marquette Park, Pilsen (18th & Western), and Bridgeport (Throop Street). Their North Side presence included Humboldt Park (Moffat & Campbell); Logan Square (Palmer & California, Lawndale & Altgeld); Irving Park (Albany & Byron); Kilbourn Park (Cornelia & Kilbourn); Dunham Park (Montrose & Narragansett); Ravenswood (Seeley & Ainslie); and Uptown (Sunnyside & Magnolia, Lawrence & Broadway). During the 1960s through the early 1980s, the Chicago Gaylords experienced tremendous growth and expansion, with sections popping up all over Chicago.

Gaylords were also into brawling with fists and traditional type weapons like bricks, baseball bats, chains and knives. As the rules of engagement on the streets of Chicago changed, the Gaylords were forced to use guns and increase their level of violence to combat their enemies.

The Gaylords had a strong presence and experienced continual growth throughout the 1980s. They remained in their traditional neighborhoods while White families moved to the suburbs, and gentrification of poor White neighborhoods eliminated their ability to recruit new talent. Today, they are a shell of what they used to be: a gang with over a thousand members.


[edit] Gang structure
Unlike other street nations or gangs, the Gaylords have never had any major president or leader that was in control of the entire collective group. The Gaylords have one or two leaders from each settlement:

Divisions Within Sets Age Group
Slylords/Palmer Puds Under 13
Midgets 13 to 15
PeeWees 16 to 18
Juniors 18 to 20
Seniors 21 and older

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Gaylords

I just can't put together the image of a violent gang and the name "Gaylords"....

Just can't do it!

I know when i first started investigating gangs it amazed me when i saw the gaylords name but when you read about the history of them theres nothing funny about them,the culture of american gangs amazes me and how much it has spread for instance my own family,gangs are spreading at a unbelieable pace and people dont see it until it's on their doorstep.

There are two chapters of the Crips (that I know about, although there could be more than that) in Ireland too, chopper. There is a chapter called the Original Cox's Crips in Dundalk and there is another one called the Mayobridge Crips in Newry.

Wow i didnt realise there were crips in ireland,i suppose i should have known though as they have spread like wildfire.Are these crips mostly white or black or a mix of both?

Oh i agree mate!
The rise of disaffected,youth gang culture is a big,big problem nowadays! These little fuckers will knife you just for a bet or a laugh

I blame drugs and the rise and rise of the "welfare state".

5-10 years the uk will be as bad as the U.S with gang and gun crime we already have more knife related crimes than the U.S do it's bad.

I think that most of the Crips in Ireland are mostly white, Irish people, but there could be some black-Irish or even black-foreign Crips here too. I am not completely sure.

Sorry if this was already posted. I ran across this article or something similar a few days back but can't remember where I saw it. It may have been on this board.
What is going on with the knives anyway? And why is Scotland considered any more "hard-core" than the rest of the UK?

************************************************************
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Depraved-killer-stabbed-victim-.3912736.jp
Depraved killer stabbed victim 80 times - then posed with body

By Lucinda Cameron
A TEENAGER who stabbed a man 80 times in a frenzied attack then posed for a photo by the dead body was branded "depraved" by a judge yesterday.
Stephen Price, 19 – who was branded a "monster" by his own father – was detained for life and told he must serve at least 15 years behind bars before he is considered for parole.

He admitted murdering Scott Burgess, 24, at the victim's home in Paisley, Renfrewshire, between 23 August and 6 September last year.

Sentencing Price at the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Brodie told him the attack showed "a gross level of depravity". He said: "You planned to assault Scott Burgess in his own flat and got entry for that purpose.

"Once in the flat, you locked the door to prevent escape.

"You carried out a very violent and prolonged attack on an unarmed man with no provocation and, as far as I can make out, no reason whatsoever.

"Your immediate reaction was self-congratulation – you were photographed holding a knife in the presence of the deceased."

Karen Duncan, 17, was sentenced to seven years after admitting the culpable homicide of Mr Burgess and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Her sister Irene Duncan, 18, who also admitted attempting to defeat the ends of justice, was sentenced to 27 months in a young offenders institution.

The court heard that Karen Duncan twice struck Mr Burgess with a screwdriver during the attack. She and her sister admitted trying to defeat the ends of justice by destroying evidence and moving the body.

The judge said he had regard to the trio's difficult backgrounds and the fact they had been drinking on the night in question, but that was no excuse.

Last night, Scott's mother, Ann Burgess, 46, condemned the sentence and said she was haunted by the image of her son's brutal death.

The mother of seven said: "I came to court for justice for my son, but I didn't get any. That animal Price will only be in his 30s when he gets out. My Scott is gone for ever and doesn't have the chance of a new life."

Price's father, James, labelled him a "monster" and said he had reported him to police after he told him he had "done a guy in".

The killer's mother said she was devastated by what had happened and insisted the victim's family deserved answers.

Helen Price, 37, who had raised the killer since he was a toddler, told how her son had broken her heart. She and her mother, Betty Cunningham, a former provost, brought up Price after his real mother fled to England when he was a baby.

She said: "I have to face up to the fact that he killed that boy.

"He tells me that he can remember some of what he did but not all of it. Stephen has to give the family answers, and that is what I am asking him to do."

Mrs Price said Scott's family deserved to know exactly what had happened.

She added: "My heart goes out to Scott's family, and they deserve answers from Stephen.

"I think Stephen and the girls targeted him because he was quiet. I never thought my son could do something like this."

Lord Brodie told Price that he would have been sentenced to at least 20 years before he could apply for parole if he had not pleaded guilty early.

Karen Duncan was sentenced to 22 months for trying to defeat the ends of justice, and given an extended sentence on the culpable homicide charge. She will serve five years and three months in custody and will then be monitored for three years on her release. Irene Duncan will be detained for 27 months and then be monitored for 12 months on her release.

Both women were told they would have faced longer sentences if they had not pleaded guilty.

VIOLENCE CLAIMS QUARTER MORE LIVES
SCOTLAND'S "booze and blades" culture has been underlined by a sharp rise in killings.

Violence, much of it using a knife, claimed 119 lives in 2006-7 – over one-quarter more than the previous year.

The most common method of killing during the past ten years in Scotland has been with a sharp instrument such as a knife.

In 2006-7, a knife or other sharp instrument was used in the killing of 54 victims (45 per cent) – more than three times as many homicides as the second most common method, hitting and kicking.

Police say boys and young men in Scotland aged ten to 29 are five times more likely to suffer a violent death than those in England and Wales.

Experts believe knife crime in Scotland could be up to five times higher than official statistics suggest.

Figures published last year showed that over the previous 12 months, 544 knife victims were hospitalised in Glasgow and 1,170 across Scotland. However, according to Dr Michael Sheridan, a senior registrar at Glasgow's Yorkhill hospital, at least 3,000 people are treated for stab wounds every year in Greater Glasgow alone.

In December Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, launched a ten-year plan to combat crime related to Scotland's "hard man" culture.

The Peckham Boys are a gang based in Peckham, South London. The gang was formed in the North Peckham Estate[1] and members are primarily of black origin. The gang is split into 'tinies', 'youngers' and 'olders', according to age group, and membership runs into the hundreds.

The teenagers convicted of the high-profile murder of Damilola Taylor in 2000 were members of the Younger Peckham Boys.[2]

In 2006, the Peckham Boys were involved in a widely reported gang-war against the Ghetto Boys street gang based at the Pepys Estate and Woodpecker Estate in Deptford and New Cross respectively, South London. In the conflict, one innocent man was shot dead in New Cross, mistaken as a Ghetto Boys member by the Peckham Boys. He was shot at by a group of approximately 50 youths on mountain bikes, who cycled from Peckham to Deptford.[3]

Shortly after the murder, another man was shot and stabbed in Deptford by the same group, but survived. Several members of the Ghetto Boys shot at youths in Peckham several days earlier. During the conflict, police seized handguns and sub-machine guns.[4]

The dispute between the rival gangs has been ongoing for over 20 years

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckham_Boys

I was told by someone that there is also two more chapters of the Crips in Ireland. One of them is in Dundalk, like the Original Cox's Crips and one of the is in Drogheda, but I don't know what they call themselves.

The Almighty Latin King Nation first emerged in Chicago during the 1940s when several young Puerto Rican males organized into a club. Their goal was to help each other overcome the problems of racism and prejudice that newly arriving Puerto Rican immigrants were experiencing.

Their slogan was to rise above the racism and to form an organization of "Kings" to better serve themselves and their communities. As time progressed, the group took a criminal path as it's members became involved in violent crimes including murders, drug sales and robberies.

The Latin Kings are Chicago's largest gang and have been involved in numerous violent acts. Although the original members were of Puerto Rican decent, most members are now Mexican-America. They now allow members of all races to join, yet they are mostly composed of Spanish, Caribbean, Latvian, Italian, Portuguese, Mexican or South American members.




In terms of identification, the Latin Kings tend to use 5-pointed crowns. To the older member, the 5-points represent love, respect, sacrifice, honor and obedience. Their graffiti may have a picture of a crown accompanied by the initials "LK" and often will have some sort of inflammatory symbolism aimed at an opposing gang. A lion or a lion wearing a crown with a variety of inscriptions may also be seen. Members identify with the colors yellow or gold.

The Chicago Police Department estimates they have over 25,000 Latin King members residing within their city alone. The gang also has organized chapters in numerous states across the country. These gang sets are referred as to as "Chapters" among members with each reporting to a leader. The head of the entire criminal organization is known as the Inca.

Some of the characteristics that sets the Latin Kings apart from other gangs is they consider themselves to be a community-based organization. They preach Hispanic pride and some King chapters even have formed their own religion called Kingdism. During these meetings members may recite the Latin King pledge, prayer and continually pledge to be prepared to rise to the call for their King or Inca. These meetings are often used by members to discuss retaliating against other gangs, drug disciplined for breaking gang rules.

When compared to most street gangs, the Latin Kings are generally more structured and organized. The gangs rules are strictly enforce and some members celebrate January 6th as "King's Holy Day" and the first week in March as "King's Week."

I have read a book about these guys but i can't for the life of me remember what it is called......?

Los Angeles the 18th Street gang is considered the largest gang in Los Angeles County. It is estimated that there are close to 20,000 members in Los Angeles County. Most of them are Mexican and Chicano with some Salvadorean membership and a few Blacks. Some estimates of the 18th are as low as 8,000, but this low estimate still makes them the largest gang in the county if you include all their barrios as one.

The 18th Street Gang is actually a collection of several smaller gangs, making them the most fragmented gang in the County also. The individual factions can number from 50 to several hundred members each. Factions of the 18th Streets are dispersed throughout the county in San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the South Bay, South Los Angeles, and Downtown Los Angeles just to name a few. Their strong hold and their oldest barrio is located east of the Staples center between the Harbor 110 Freeway (east) and Hoover Ave (west). There are also two significant size 18th Street Barrios in South LA, one between Vernon (north) and Slauson (south) along Vermont Avenue and second one being between Florence (north) and 91st Street (south). To say that the 18th Street is the largest gang in LA is a bit misleading, because what makes them so big is a collection of about 20 different gangs. The largest single Hispanic gang interms of turf size and membership would be one of 18th Street's main rivals, the Florencia 13 gang that has a turf that stretches from Western Ave (west) to Compton Ave (east).


The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has three gang injunctions against the 18th Street Gangs; two in the Rampart Division and one in the Southwest Division of the LAPD. The 18th Street gang in the Southwest division was implicated in the murder of an LAPD officer in 1998. The Rampart injunctions were under review and temporarily halted in September of 1999. In 2002 these injunctions were refiled by the City Attorney's Office.

Certain factions in South Los Angeles are fueding with Black gangs, such as the Black P Stones from the West Adams area and the Black P Stones from the Jungles of Los Angeles. They have also been fueding with the NeighborHood Rollin 20s Blood.

http://www.streetgangs.com/hispanic/18streethoodsinla.html

The Nazi Lowriders or NLR are a white supremacist criminal organization primarily based in southern California, although it is believed to have spread to other states. They are affiliated with the larger and more notorious gang, the Aryan Brotherhood, and the Ku Klux Klan. Their main rivals are the Bloods, the Crips, and Mara Salvatrucha.
The gang originated in the mid to late 1970s as middlemen and muscle for the Aryan Brotherhood, but was not really noticed by law enforcement until the early 1990s, by which time the California authorities had been cracking down on the Brotherhood and gave the Lowriders more room to move in. The Nazi part of their name is more a sign of a racist belief in white supremacy than anti-Semitism, while Lowriders is a play on the term used for Hispanic gangs.

The gang eventually progressed from being muscle for the Brotherhood to a fast-growing gang in their own right. Unlike other white supremacist gangs, they appear to be well organized and have developed links with other white gangs throughout the West Coast including the Ku Klux Klan. Paroled gang members have been known to move east to further spread the organization's reach.

In 1999, California prison officials recognised the Lowriders as a "disruptive" gang, and inmates known to be members could now be subject to be removed from general population and other restrictive treatment in an attempt to disrupt the gang's criminal activities. The Lowriders responded by striking an alliance with Public Enemy No.1, another white prison gang.

prison the Nazi Lowriders have a three-tier hierarchy system consisting of senior members, junior members and kids. The seniors typically lead the gang, and some may be old enough to have been in the gang since its early days. For senior status, gang members must have been active for at least five years and been elected by at least three other senior members. Below them are juniors, who cannot themselves induct new members but can attempt to recruit potentials. Kids usually come from smaller gangs like Public Enemy No.1, and the senior member who inducts them becomes their mentor. On the streets the organization structure is not so clear and appears to be more loosely connected.

Gang members may have tattoos and other body art depicting swastikas and SS lightning bolts, although they are not necessarily required to do so. A tattoo of the letters NLR commonly appears on the stomach, back or neck and while it stands for Nazi Lowriders, they may deny involvement to certain people and claim it means No Longer Racist or other NLR terms. Other popular tattoos include Nazi Low Riders written in Old English script or the runic alphabet.

Although the group is actively against blacks and so-called "race traitors" (those in interracial relationships) as well as other minorities, they appear to be more accepting of Hispanics, which may be accepted into the gang. Members are required to have at least half-white ancestry and no black ancestry.

The organization is involved in criminal activity both in and out of prison, notably in the production and distribution of methamphetamine and has become a major distributor of the drug in Southern California. They are also believed to work with biker gangs in the drug trade.

While the organization's main motive appears to be criminal profit it has been associated with a number of racist attacks, including several outside prison. The most prominent incident associated with the gang occurred on April 1996, Danny Williams and Eric Dillard, two known members of the gang, beat a black teenage boy to death with a baseball bat. In July of the same year, they attacked two more black men, stabbing one of them in the back several times. The Los Angeles Times reported that they were on a mission to "rid the streets of Lancaster of African Americans".

Born to Kill is the name of a gang of Vietnamese youth formerly based in New York City. The name is believed to have been taken from the Stanley Kubrick movie Full Metal Jacket. Though Born to Kill was once considered the most vicious Vietnamese gang in North America, it is today believed to exist only in smaller factions nationwide. Its members were involved in many crimes, the majority being home and jewelry store robberies whose victims were other Asian Americans.

Eventually the BTK gang spread to other east coast states. Baltimore, Boston, Virginia, and North Carolina gained members in their area. It spread to not only Asians but also to African Americans, Whites, Hispanics, ETC. Soon North Carolina's public schools in Chowan County gained over 200 members. BTK had been brought there by a member of BTK from Virginia. You can spot them by looking for a black or white bandana hanging from their back pocket or around their neck/face.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Kill_%28gang%29"

Mara Salvatrucha refers to large gangs in Central America and the United States. The gang names are commonly abbreviated as MS, Mara, and MS-13, and are composed mostly of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and other Central Americans. The Mara Salvatrucha gangs have cliques, or factions, located throughout the United States and Latin America.

The gang has moved beyond its Salvadoran and American origins and now can be found in other nations, including Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Spain, Australia, Great Britain and Germany, according to international press on criminal activity. Membership in the U.S was believed to be as many as 50,000 in the United States as of 2005 MS-13 criminal activities include drug smuggling and sales, black market gun sales, human trafficking, theft, assaults on law enforcement officials, and contract killing]

Their activities have caught the eye of the FBI, who in September 2005 initiated wide-scale raids against suspected gang members, netting 660 arrests across the country.[ In the United States, the gang's strongholds have historically been in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Miami, Southern California, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, Maryland, the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, Richmond, and Delaware. Also in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. In Allentown, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and other areas of Pennsylvania, the gang is known for its street graffiti, which is used to depict their presence on certain blocks and also sometimes provides clues to their forthcoming crimes, including murder, robbery, narcotics, and especially as a prediction of retaliatory violence.

Former gang member Brenda Paz said that MS-13 is well structured, with multiple leaders, and that the gang's goal is to become the top gang in the United States

The Mara Salvatrucha gang originated in Los Angeles There is some dispute about the etymology of the name (see below: Etymology). The most common belief is that the word "Mara" refers to the Spanish word for "gang", and "Salvatrucha" (which is Spanish slang) for "Salvadoran army ant". Alternatively, it is suggested that "Salvatrucha" refers to the Salvadoran peasant guerrillas, the source of much of the gang's early manpower. The gang was set up in Los Angeles in 1980's by Salvadoran immigrants in the city's Pico-Union neighborhood.

Originally, the gang's main purpose was to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other, more established gangs of Los Angeles, who were predominately comprised of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. For this reason, the gang initially allowed only Salvadorans to join, but later allowed other Hispanics to join as well.

Many Mara Salvatrucha gang members from the Los Angeles area have been deported either because of their illegal status in the United States, or for committing crimes as non-citizens, or both. As a result of these deportations, members of MS-13 have recruited more members in their home countries. The Los Angeles Times contends that deportation policies have contributed to the size and influence of the gang both in the United States and in Central America. El Salvadoran authorities report that approximately 60% of prison inmates serving time for gang-related crimes there have either fled prosecution or been deported from the United States.[
Many Mara Salvatrucha members cover themselves in tattoos. Common markings include "MS", "Salvatrucha" the "Devil Horns" the name of their clique and sometimes the number "13" A December 2007 CNN internet news article stated that the gang was moving away from the tattoos in an attempt to commit crimes without being noticed.

Members of MS-13, like members of most modern American gangs, utilize a system of hand signs for purposes of identification and communication. One of the most commonly displayed is the "devil's head" (formed by extending the index and little fingers of the hand while tucking in the middle and ring fingers with the thumb), which forms an M when displayed upside down. This hand sign is similar to the same symbol commonly seen displayed by heavy metal musicians and their fans.

Deported MS-13 members have difficulty leaving the gang. When they do return to their country they are held in a prison exclusively for MS-13 gang members until their cases are reviewed. Upon release even if they have a family support system, MS-13 members are expected to continue their membership in the gang. Failure to do so could result in punishment from the gang ranging from being physically assaulted by other members of the gang or by death.

The Ñetas Association (Spanish language Asociación Ñetas, or simply Ñetas) is the name of an organization or gang of convicts in Puerto Rican prisons.

The Ñetas, ("new birth"), began around 1979 in the Oso Blanco Prison, located in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico[citation needed]. They formed as a mutual protection group, ostensibly to defend themselves against another prison gang called "G'27" ("group 27"), or the "Insects"[citation needed].

The organization was started by Carlos Torres Irriarte, who went by the name La Sombra, ("the shadow")[citation needed]. He professed to believing that the rights of inmates were being violated by prison officials. On March 30, 1981, Irriarte was shot in the chest, most likely by the "Insects"[citation needed].

The Ñeta are said to yell the word "Ñeta" three times on special occasions, including the birth of a child, and every 30th day of the month to honor the passing of Irriarte[citation needed].

Some reports claim Neta originated In 1980, while others claim it was founded earlier, perhaps in the 1970s sometime[citation needed]. It was originally founded in Oso Blanco Prison, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, then also known as "Asociacion Pro-Derecho Al Confinando." It then spread to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut[citation needed].

Carlos Torres, who had allegedly lived in poverty and gotten in trouble since he was a young boy had intentions of forming the gang since 1974, and eventually succeeded while an inmate at Oso Blanco prison in 1980[citation needed]. However, Torres never was able to witness the rise of the gang that would within a few years become the largest prison gang in Puerto Rico, and he died in prison in 1981[citation needed]. Fellow alleged member John Rodriguez said that Torres created Neta to further the rights of prisoners and "extended his efforts to help his fellow inmates understand the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were committed against our communities" (11 February 2003, EFE News Service)[citation needed].

The gang split into two factions in 1995, one following the original ideals of founder Carlos Torres and the other going independent. Recently, however, efforts by members to reunite the estranged factions has begun to increase[citation needed].

According to the EFE News Service, the gang attempts to promote the rights of prisoners and "help fellow inmates understand the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were committed against our communities" (11 February 2003 EFE News Service). Much of the work by faithful members involves teaching Hispanic culture and education, some of which includes experiences from inside prison, and many members claim they are strictly part of an inmate-rights group. Like most culturally-based street and prison gangs, Ñetas have reportedly become the voice of marginalized, Latino youth, and actively recruits teenagers from streets across the country. However, members insist it be called an "organization" rather than a gang. Perhaps many of their activities do fit into this category, but the stigma generated by a handful of aggressors sheds the gang of any legal credibility[citation needed].

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Chen, quoted in the New York Post in 2001, "The Neta women's role [in prison], traditionally, was to take care of the inmates, collect funds and do public service." According to ... the Neta's "Code" does not include killing, unlike the codes of many other major prison and street gangs.

According to the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Ñetas lack a hierarchy, and thus remain a loosely connected group of individually run gangs (26 April 2005 The Daily Journal).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%91etas

DDP (Dominicans Don't Play), Washington Heights and the Bronx: DDP is a rising force on the NYC Latino gang scene and is a popular gang among high schoolers. They have territories in Washington Heights and the Bronx as well as New Jersey and Florida, and they are in a feud with the Bloods. High schools with known DDP presence include Brandeis HS, Washington Irving HS, Adlai Stevenson HS, Pelham Prep and John F. Kennedy HS. Members wear black, blue, white and red beads.

The Flying Dragons, Chinatown (Canal St.): The Flying Dragons are connected to one of Chinatown's major tongs the Hip Sings and outsource protection and extortion rackets to smaller Vietnamese or Chinese gangs while they smuggle drugs. The Flying Dragons' longtime head Johnny Eng was arrested five times in the 70's and named one of the five biggest heroin dealers in New York by the late 80's.

Green Dragons, Flushing, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights (Ithaca and Whitney Avenues, Elmhurst): The Green Dragons are a Vietnamese gang in Queens. Focused mainly on extortion and robbery the gang demanded almost $300 a week from businesses in Queens in exchange for protection throughout the 90's. Their leader Paul Wong is thought to be a major heroin smuggler now hiding in the Fujian Province. Many gang members were turned in when one leader Sonny Wong testified about gang operations in a criminal trial.

Los Vatos Locos, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights Queens (85-08 Roosevelt Ave.): Los Vatos is one of the biggest Mexican gangs in the country. Though it originally formed in LA, chapters can be found all across America. The most recent incident in NYC occurred when two gang members stabbed a high schooler outside an apartment building at 592 Amsterdam Ave. The gang was also caught running a major counterfeit ring out of Mainland USA, a Chinese restaurant at 85-08 Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights.

Almighty King and Queen Nation, Spanish Harlem, all over Brooklyn (179 Starr Street, 81 Central Avenue, 179 Jefferson Street, and 180 Jefferson Street): The AKQN arrived in NYC via the prison systems in '86. By '94 it was the most powerful Latino gang in New York, and it is the most violent gang in the city's recent history. As recently as two years ago, the kings held many of their meetings in St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem. About 600-700 kings and queens would attend these meetings. The Kings were invited to march in last year's Puerto Rican day parade and were greeted with cheers from the community.

What with all the gentrification, low crime rates, and paranoia about terrorism New Yorkers forget about good old fashioned vice and street violence. But just because NYC's underbelly isn't as dark as it was in the crime-ridden 1970's doesn't mean the average New Yorker can't be stabbed in an alleyway as part of initiation to some Mexican gang. In fact that happens all the time.

AN ARMED gang of suburban teenagers which is bringing violent American “gangsta” culture to Sydney’s streets is suspected of links to a string of robberies and violent assaults.

The rampage at Merrylands High School on Monday is the latest in a series of attacks in western Sydney by a gang of mostly Islander teenagers, who brazenly display guns, knives and cash on their social networking websites.

Some of the five teenagers accused of the school attack gestured obscenely yesterday on their way to court to face more than 100 charges of assault and affray.

Internet chatter among friends of the five accused included admiration of their show of defiance.

“Hahaha did u see [him] putin his fingers up to the camera,” one of them wrote on the bebo website. He even wanted to join his mates in jail. “Gettin boring man i want to go in … wat can i do to get 2 weeks inside i just wanna go say hi nd see how it is in side.”

The Premier, Morris Iemma, told Parliament yesterday that he had asked the Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, to investigate whether a new offence needed to be created in the wake of the Merrylands rampage to cover incidents in schools.

The rampage has opened a window on a world of violence, drugs and guns grown out of a veneration of American criminal culture. The teenagers, based around Granville, are known to use gang names such as the Gee40 and the Crazy Little Coconuts, or CLC.

Emulating US gangs such as the Crips, the Granville gangs have come to the attention of the homicide squad and the Robbery and Serious Crimes Squad following the shotgun murder of an 18-year-old at a house in Yennora in Sydney’s south-west in February.

[…]

At least two of the five youths accused over the Merrylands High School attack, a 15-year-old from Merrylands and a 16-year-old from Seven Hills, have been charged with violent robberies in the past.

It is understood police have already trawled sites such as bebo for incriminating pictures and video of teenagers involved in the Granville gangs.

“It’s amazing what these kids put up on these sites,” one investigating officer said.

When the Herald visited the linked pages of dozens of Granville Boys High students and their friends it found photos of large wads of $100 notes with captions such as “how we have fun with $$$$” or “livin it large”.

http://www.downundernewslinks.com/?p=2917

The Crips and Bloods down here are a bunch of little dirty fuckers. Knife wielding wannabe thugs, selling shit quality drugs to upper class white school kids.

I've had run ins with them a few times in the city. Cheap $2 blade hiding bitches, if you ask me.

The Folk Nation is an alliance of street gangs based out of the Chicago area which has since branched throughout the United States specifically in the Midwest. They are rivals to the People Nation. Within the Folk Nation alliance there are many gangs which all have their own unique colors, hand signs, and organization. Many of these gangs have signed a charter to join the Folks alliance. It was formed on November 11, 1978 in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Soon afterwards the People Nation was formed to counter the Folks alliance. Larry Hoover the chairman of the Gangster Disciple Nation created the idea for the alliance and persuaded many leaders of large Black, White, and Latino gangs from Chicago to join. After having a prosperous beginning in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the alliance started to break apart in the early 1990s due to wars over money and drugs between fellow Folk gangs.

Gangs demonstrate their particular alignment by "representing" through symbols, colors, graffiti, hand signs, and words. Representing also encompasses the left or right side of the body. Most Folk gangs represent using the six point star, pitchforks, and identify to the right side (e.g., they wear hats or bandannas turned to the right). Folk Nation gangs use the term "all is one" to greet each other. The six pointed Star of David, a Jewish religious symbol in honor of King David, is used by the gang in its graffiti When the leader and founder of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, David Barksdale was slain, the gang adopted the symbol in his honor.

Folk Nation Alliances
Ambrose
Black Gangsters
Black Disciples
Gangster Two Six
Gangster Disciples
Imperial Gangsters
La Raza
Insane Spanish Cobras
Insane North Side Popes
Latin Eagles
Maniac Latin Disciples
Simon City Royals
Spanish Gangster Disciples

Aryan Brotherhood (AB)
Gender Makeup: Male

Racial Makeup: White

Origin: Originated in 1967 in the San Quentin State Prison, California Department of Corrections.

Characteristics:

Unaffiliated splinter groups sometimes use the name of their state along with the name "Aryan Brotherhood" (e.g., Aryan Brotherhood of Texas).

Members display many white supremacist, neo-nazi characteristics and ideology, but often state their goals as simply "getting high and getting over," or making their stay in the prison as comfortable as possible.

Members are ordinarily apolitical. Most are in custody for crimes such as robbery.

Identifiers/Symbols:

Shamrock clover leaf
Initials "AB"
Swastikas
Double lighting bolts
The numbers "666"
Known to use Gaelic (old Irish) symbols as a method of coding communications
Aryan Brotherhood groups from other states often accompany the symbols mentioned above with the name of the state
Enemies/Rivals:

The AB maintains a working relationship with the Mexican Mafia (EME) and therefore opposes the EME's long-time enemy, the La Nuestra Familia (NF).

The Aryan Brotherhood has traditionally nurtured a deep hatred toward black individuals and members of black groups/gangs, such as the:

Black Guerrilla Family (BGF)
Crips
Bloods
El Rukns
Allies:

Maintains a working relationship with the Mexican Mafia (EME).

Is known to give moral support to black groups in an effort to encourage possible prison disturbances.

Utilizes black associates to buy and sell drugs to elements of the black prison population.

Compatibles with most motorcycle gangs; many members were former "Bikers."

Compatible with most white supremacy groups. This often leads to confusion in distinguishing AB members from other white supremacist groups, particularly when making identification by their tattoos or symbols.

"Copy cat" Aryan Brotherhood groups are generally tolerated by true members. However, federal and California ABs do not consider them to be legitimate and may threaten violence if AB tattoos are not burned or cut off.

Actively cooperates with the Dirty White Boys, an Anglo spin-off gang of the Texas Syndicate. Similar cooperation has been observed with the Silent Brotherhood.
Recruitment/Initiation:

Membership in the AB has traditionally come from white male inmates.
Lifelong allegiance is a requirement.
A "Blood in, blood out" oath must be taken.
Often a "hit" or significant act of violence is required before full membership is earned.
Candidacy for membership may last a year or more.
Propensity for Disruptive Behavior:

Aryan Brotherhood is not readily recognizable; however, receipt of inmates on interstate compact and the current membership in groups with white supremacy ideology lend to the threat of an organizing AB within our facilities.

Main activities of the AB are centered on drug trafficking, extortion, pressure rackets, and internal discipline.

Prison activities include introduction of contraband, distribution of drugs, and getting past facility rules and regulations.

Traditionally, targets have been non-gang inmates and internal discipline.


From 1975 to 1985, members committed 40 homicides in California prisons and local jails, as well as 13 homicides in the community.

From 1978 to 1992, AB members, suspects, and associates in the federal system were involved in 26 homicides, 3 of which involved staff victims.
Once released from custody, AB members are actively expected to continue to assist or "score" for the members remaining in prison.


http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/gangs/prison.html#ab

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is a one-percenter motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. The club was formed in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. Its slogan is We are the people your parents warned you about. It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 195 chapters, located in 14 countries and growing. The club considers itself to be an Outlaw Motorcycle Club. The Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada have chosen to use the more derogatory designation of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMG).The club was formed in 1966 in Houston by Donald Eugene Chambers. Many people think after seeing a TV commercial with the Frito Bandito raising hell to sell Fritos corn chips, Chambers named his club the Bandidos. This is not true, as the cartoon came out in 1968 (although he did adopt an obese machete- and pistol-wielding Mexican Bandido as the center patch for the club's colors). After Chambers' presidency ended due to his conviction for murder in El Paso, Texas, Ronnie Hodge was elevated to president. Under the watch of Hodge, the Bandidos expanded internationally to become an even bigger motorcycle club (MC).The Bandidos, also called the Bandido Nation, is the fastest-growing outlaw motorcycle club in the world with over 90 chapters in the United States, 90 chapters in Europe, and another 17 in Australia and Southeast Asia. In the United States, the club is concentrated in Texas, but extends into Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Washington State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and several other states. The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in Canada patched over to Bandidos in 2000, and there is a chapter in Toronto, Ontario.The Bandidos are also found in Australia; aside from the non-locale-specific Nomads chapter, the chapters are located in Adelaide, Ballarat, Brisbane City, Cairns, Sydney Downtown, Geelong, Gold Coast, Hunter Valley, Ipswich City, Mid North Coast, Mid State, Northside, Noosa, North Victoria, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, and Toowoomba, and were acquired with much bloodletting. In recent years the club has also expanded heavily into Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, France and the Channel Isles of Great Britain. Additionally, it is looking into setting up shop in Russia and Eastern Europe and also in the tiny island nation of Singapore, as well as Malaysia and Thailand. The Bandidos are organized by local chapters, with state and regional officers, as well as a national chapter made up of four regional vice presidents and a national president.

The Bandidos have also fathered other clubs as support groups who can be pointed out by "support patches" bearing Bandido colors. Of the many support groups the "DOGS" or LOS PERROS have been known to be a big supporter of the Bandidos and often will preceed a group of Bandidos as a form of scouting or looking out.

On July 29, 2007, during the Hells Angels 2007 USA motorcycle run, six members of the Hells Angels confronted six members of the Bandidos in the parking lot of a Eureka Springs, Arkansas antique shop. Two of the Bandidos escaped the parking lot to retrieve weapons, leaving the other four members to face the six Hells Angels. The remaining four Bandidos were stabbed with knives and beaten with baseball bats in the ensuing melee, leaving them critically injured. The men were all flown to area hospitals. Police arrested six members of the Hells Angels a short time later. Police speculate that the fight may have started over one of the Bandidos named Brent coming on to a Hells Angels girl. Since Arkansas is controlled by the Bandidos, Brent though he could come there.

In October, 2006, George Wegers, the Bandidos' international president, plead guilty and received a two-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder. Also, in November, 2006, Glenn Merritt of the Bellingham, Washington chapter was sentenced to four years in prison on pimping charges. A total of 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges including conspiracy, witness tampering, and various drug and gun violations. Eighteen of those plead guilty.

The Mongols Motorcycle Club, shortened to "Mongols MC" is a motorcycle club headquartered in southern California that was originally formed in Montebello, California in the 1970s.[1]. Law enforcement officials estimate there are approximately 350 members. In addition to their presence in southern California, the club claims chapters in Nevada, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Oregon, New York, Indiana, Canada, and Mexico. . Norwegian mainstream news also reports that Mongols has spread to Scandinavia, April 2008.

The Mongols motorcycle club is named after the ethnic group the Mongols that conquered the largest contiguous empire in world history. The Mongols MC main website includes a quote from Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire on the front page. There is no other relationship between the ethnic group the Mongols and the Mongols motorcycle club other than the shared name.
1998, ATF agent William Queen infiltrated the club, eventually becoming a full-patch member and rising to the rank of treasurer using the undercover alias of Billy St. John. In April of 2000, based on evidence gathered during Queen's 28-month undercover tenure with the club, 55 Mongols were arrested and later all but one of the accused were convicted of various crimes including drug trafficking, motorcycle theft, and conspiracy to commit murder.

In 2002, members of the Mongols and the Hells Angels had a confrontation in Laughlin, Nevada at the Harrah's Laughlin Casino, that left three bikers dead. Some police intelligence reports indicate that the Mongols initiated the confrontation to bolster their status Mongol Anthony Barrera, 43, was stabbed to death, and two Hells Angels, Jeramie Bell, 27, and Robert Tumelty, 50, were shot to death. On February 23, 2007, Hells Angel members James Hannigan and Rodney Cox were sentenced to two years in prison for their respective roles in the incident. Cox and Hannigan were captured on videotape confronting members of the rival Mongols motorcycle club inside the casino. A Hells Angel member can be clearly seen on the casino security videotape performing a front kick on a Mongol biker member which in turn started the ensuing melee.

Attorneys for the Hells Angels claim they were defending themselves from an attack initiated by the Mongols.

Charges were dismissed against 36 other Mongols originally named in the indictment.

The Mongols are currently listed as an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang by the Attorney General of California

Two young men may spend the rest of their lives in prison after a jury convicted them Friday of first-degree premeditated murder for orchestrating what prosecutors called a “gang retaliation killing.”

Timothy “Timbo” Evans, 19, turned to his supporters and shouted “love you all” before being escorted out of the courtroom. The day before he had confessed on the witness stand to pulling the trigger in the 2006 shooting death of 26-year-old Adrian Patton at the Emma Wheeler Homes development in South Chattanooga.




But Mr. Evans always maintained that his co-defendant and leader of the local “Skyline Bloods” gang, Michael “Mike Mike” Daniels, made him do it. Mr. Evans, who was 17 years old at the time, said he was scared and didn’t even know how to use a 9 mm semiautomatic weapon when he “emptied” the clip into the driver’s side door of Mr. Patton’s truck.

“I wish every prospective gang member could have been here to see the result of involving oneself in gang activity,” Hamilton County District Attorney Bill Cox said outside the courtroom. “The only logical consequence is either death or imprisonment.”

“I’m just glad it’s over,” said Donna Sails, mother of the victim. “Now our family can get itself together.”

The premeditated murder conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison.

The jury also convicted Mr. Evans and Mr. Daniels of conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder, a crime that carries 15-25 years in prison. Judge Rebecca Stern will sentence them on July 28 with regard to that charge. The jury found Mr. Evans guilty of misdemeanor unlawful possession of a firearm, as well.

Mr. Daniels, 22, simply turned around and smiled at his two sisters after the jury foreman read the verdict. It marked the end of a four-day trial with heavy security, a sequestered jury, and explicit descriptions of gang culture.

ABOUT TIMOTHY EVANS

Timothy Evans testified he was only 17 that summer day in 2006 when he interviewed for a job at McDonald’s and then shot a man a couple of hours later “for no reason.” At the time he had a 1-year-old daughter who is now three and attended high school as a junior where he made B’s and C’s. Now he and his co-conspirator, 22-year-old Michael Daniels, will serve life prison sentences for first-degree premeditated murder. They must serve at least 55 years before being eligible for parole.
Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston said that Mr. Patton’s death was followed just three days later by another suspected gang retaliation killing in the East Lake Courts housing development in East Chattanooga. That homicide still is being investigated by police despite a man recently pleading guilty to playing a role in it.

“I think law enforcement would describe it as a “long hot summer” in 2006,” Mr. Pinkston speculated.

Mr. Pinkston said this week’s trial stands alone in recent memory as far as the inner workings of gangs playing such a central role in the prosecution.

“There have been other gang members tried, I’m sure,” he said. “But this is the first trial that comes to mind that solely focused upon gang life.”

The first round of testimony came from two local experts on gangs who described the history of the Skyline Bloods and told jurors that gang life in Chattanooga is very much an organized venture with clear-cut rules and objectives.

A showing of disrespect from someone outside the gang, however small it may be, can bring severe punishment, said gang investigator Christina Young.

“Things you and I brush off could equal death to gang members,” said Ms. Young, who works at Silverdale Detention Center.

There also is usually a set of rules, for which a gang member can be “violated” if broken. A “violation” usually means an assault for a set period of time, Ms. Young said, or even death.

TRIAL CONCERNS

Defense attorney Jesse Dalton, who represents Michael Daniels, said he asked “numerous times” for the co-defendants to be tried separately since animosity exists between the two and they had different stories of what happened the day Adrian Patton died. “We will have lots of reasons for an appeal,” Mr. Dalton said, citing security measures he said might have “scared” the jury and what he called an overemphasis on “gang talk.”
Mr. Evans tried to claim “duress” as a defense throughout the trial based on those intricate rules of the Skyline Bloods and his rank within the gang.

Because he was considered a “baby gangster” and Mr. Daniels was the leader, Mr. Evans said, he had no choice but to follow his co-defendant’s command that summer day on East 48th Street. It was payback, the prosecution said, for Mr. Daniels’ belief that the victim had fired shots — or at least knew who did — at his sister’s house earlier that day.

If he hadn’t faced the possibility of severe punishment himself for not following the command, Mr. Evans told the jurors, “Mr. Patton would be alive today.”

Defense attorney John McDougal said it was “disappointing” that jurors hadn’t considered the type of pressure Mr. Evans received from his co-defendant.

“The problem is,” Mr. McDougal conceded, “that (Mr. Evans) shot someone 10 times.”

Mr. McDougal and Jesse Dalton, who represented Mr. Daniels, said appeals will be filed in both cases.

“Mr. Evans taking the stand hurt us greatly,” Mr. Dalton said, adding that Mr. Daniels still maintains he never told anyone to kill the victim.


http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/17/chattanooga-two-sentenced-life-gang-trial/?local

The Ñetas Association (Spanish language Asociación Ñetas, or simply Ñetas) is the name of an organization or gang of convicts in Puerto Rican prisons.

The Ñetas, ("new birth"), began around 1979 in the Oso Blanco Prison, located in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico[citation needed]. They formed as a mutual protection group, ostensibly to defend themselves against another prison gang called "G'27" ("group 27"), or the "Insects".

The organization was started by Carlos Torres Irriarte, who went by the name La Sombra, ("the shadow"). He professed to believing that the rights of inmates were being violated by prison officials. On March 30, 1981, Irriarte was shot in the chest, most likely by the "Insects".

The Ñeta are said to yell the word "Ñeta" three times on special occasions, including the birth of a child, and every 30th day of the month to honor the passing of Irriarte.

Some reports claim Neta originated In 1980, while others claim it was founded earlier, perhaps in the 1970s sometime. It was originally founded in Oso Blanco Prison, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, then also known as "Asociacion Pro-Derecho Al Confinando." It then spread to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Carlos Torres, who had allegedly lived in poverty and gotten in trouble since he was a young boy had intentions of forming the gang since 1974, and eventually succeeded while an inmate at Oso Blanco prison in 1980[citation needed]. However, Torres never was able to witness the rise of the gang that would within a few years become the largest prison gang in Puerto Rico, and he died in prison in 1981[citation needed]. Fellow alleged member John Rodriguez said that Torres created Neta to further the rights of prisoners and "extended his efforts to help his fellow inmates understand the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were committed against our communities" (11 February 2003, EFE News Service).

The gang split into two factions in 1995, one following the original ideals of founder Carlos Torres and the other going independent. Recently, however, efforts by members to reunite the estranged factions has begun to increase[citation needed].

According to the EFE News Service, the gang attempts to promote the rights of prisoners and "help fellow inmates understand the fight for Puerto Rican independence and other abuses that were committed against our communities" (11 February 2003 EFE News Service). Much of the work by faithful members involves teaching Hispanic culture and education, some of which includes experiences from inside prison, and many members claim they are strictly part of an inmate-rights group. Like most culturally-based street and prison gangs, Ñetas have reportedly become the voice of marginalized, Latino youth, and actively recruits teenagers from streets across the country. However, members insist it be called an "organization" rather than a gang. Perhaps many of their activities do fit into this category, but the stigma generated by a handful of aggressors sheds the gang of any legal credibility.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Chen, quoted in the New York Post in 2001, "The Neta women's role [in prison], traditionally, was to take care of the inmates, collect funds and do public service." According to ... the Neta's "Code" does not include killing, unlike the codes of many other major prison and street gangs.

According to the New Jersey Department of Corrections, the Ñetas lack a hierarchy, and thus remain a loosely connected group of individually run gangs (26 April 2005 The Daily Journal).

Anyone here read the Stanley "Tookie" Williams book?

It explains how he wanted to be recognised, so he set up extortion rackets at his school. As he grew older, he met Raymond Washington, and together they founded the Crips - called the Cribs first, but when drunk it could'nt be pronounced. Members of the Crips split and made the Bloods.
"Tookie" is dead now - executed, while Washington was shot dead years ago.
Today, both gangs have no less then 3000 members each. Today they have a combined strength of the 1950's NYC Mafia Families.

The movie based on Tookies life, Redemption, is a great film.

The Crips and Bloods have been around for a very long time now. I never wear Red, so I guess, I'd be down with the Crips.

"Shadow Warriors" - not a street gang, an "Organized Street Mob" - you'll all fill in the blanks in due time....

Ah, but you have to remember that Blood and Crip gangs aren't one cohesive organization. It's more like a federation really, but theres alot've infighting. See, you can set up a gang on 13th avenue in LA or something (hypotheticly) and you'll have to choose which side to go into because of the gangs that surround you (maybe they're all crip affiliated, or sureno affiliated) and you'll just join that one. Not to mention Crip sets are notorious for in-fighting, it's rumoroued that crips are more responsible for other crips dieing than the bloods combined.

Then again the bloods sometimes fight each other, from what I've read though it's supposedly less than what the Crips pull off, maybe because of size, there aren't as many Blood sets as there are Crip sets.

Then again thats a characteristic of street gangs in general, infighting. Ever since Jeff Fort got canned Blackstone has kept going downhill.

So, numericlly they may have more members, but its also far far easier to join/leave a gang. There are no "books" to open, no Red poles who have a set quota of members they need, you have a ranking system but really theres no set limit on membership. Most of the time potential recruits are coerced into joining, that could probably explain it as well.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/NEWS02/80912068

Black Mafia Family leaders sentenced to 30 years

BY DAVID ASHENFELTER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The leaders of a large scale nationwide cocaine trafficking ring known as the Black Mafia Family were sentenced in Detroit federal court today to 30 years in prison.

Brothers Terry Flenory, 38 of Los Angeles and Demetrius Flenory, 40, of Atlanta, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn.

The brothers, formerly of southwest Detroit, pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise involving the high volume distribution of cocaine throughout the U.S. from 1990 through 2005.

Authorities said they started operating in Detroit in the early 1990s and eventually extended their activities to Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California and Texas. They used vehicles equipped with hidden compartments to transport cocaine and cash.

Since 2000, authorities have seized more than 476 kilograms of cocaine and $5 million in cash. Members of the ring used drug proceeds to buy luxury cars, real estate and jewelry. They also purchased winning Michigan lottery tickets from the real winners to conceal the source of income.

Some 65 people have been indicted in the case. Most have pleaded guilty and half have been sentenced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The government has seized more than $19 million in assets from ring members, including 13 homes, 35 vehicles, over $5 million in cash, and millions of dollars worth of jewelry.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dawn Ison, Michael Leibson and Julie beck.

The best-known defendant in the case is celebrity Manhattan jeweler Jacob Arabov, 43, who was sentenced in Detroit in June to 2-1/2 years in prison and fined $50,000 for lying to federal agents about the true ownership of jewelry seized from the ring.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/METRO/808180346/1409/METRO

Ex-hit man, once hunter, now hunted
He brought down '80s gang, but says feds won't protect him now that he's released from prison.
Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News

If Nate Craft had his way, he would be living under a new name in a new city far from Detroit.

Instead he's stuck in his Michigan home, peering out the window, wondering whether the next person he sees will try to kill him.

In 1994, the former hit man testified against a Detroit drug gang in return for prosecutors reducing a first-degree murder charge for the killing of a drug dealer.

Released from prison in April, Craft thought he would enter the Witness Protection Program. Not only was he rejected, but his probation requires him to live in Michigan for the next two years.

By forcing him to live in the same place as the people he testified against, many of whom were paid killers and already have been released from prison, Craft said his probation amounts to a virtual death sentence.

"You might as well pull the trigger and shoot me now," said Craft, who doesn't want to say where he lives in Michigan because he doesn't want to be found.

The handling of his case raises questions about just how far prosecutors should go to protect criminals, even murderers, who help convict other crooks, legal experts said.

Craft, 51, admits he was no angel.

He was one of the most ruthless members of the vicious Best Friends, a hired hit man who killed 30 people in the mid 1980s. He was never charged with the other deaths.

Now the tables have been turned. The hunter thinks he is hunted.

Craft's federal and state probation officers also believe he's in danger.

"He's in a situation where he's vulnerable," said George Murphy, a Michigan probation officer. "It's not surprising reprisals would be sought by others."

For Craft's safety, both probation officers visit him at home rather than make him travel to their offices.

Still, it didn't take long for Craft's old running mates to learn he was out of prison.

On his second day of freedom, he was walking out of a grocery store when a man called out his name. He turned around to spy a former accomplice.

The man said he would tell Craft's old cohorts that he was back on the street.

Witness protection denied

During his 17 years in federal prison, Craft was in the Witness Protection Program, kept separate from the general population.

Upon his release, he applied for the next phase of the program, which would give him a new name and new life somewhere in the United States.

But his request was rejected by the Justice Department, which didn't give a reason. A department spokeswoman declined comment.

Bill Soisson, an assistant U.S. attorney who supported Craft's request, said a Justice Department official told him the reason Craft was rejected was that he had told a prison psychologist he was going to blow up a federal building.

Soisson didn't know which building or why Craft made the threat.

Craft said he never made such a remark.

"Why would I say something that ignorant?" he asked. "Do I look like a fool? I ain't no fool."

If anyone thought Craft was a fool in the mid-1980s, they kept it to themselves. He was an imposing figure: 6-foot-1, 300 pounds, bald and bearded, with a permanent scowl.

By age 10, he committed his first robbery, records show. By 21, he was a twice-convicted felon. By 35, he had spent nearly half his life in prison.

In 1984, Craft caught the eye of brothers Reggie and Terry Brown after winning a Toughman boxing contest at Cobo Center.

The Browns were the leaders of a burgeoning drug gang, Best Friends, which was about to ignite a ferocious drug war in Detroit, prosecutors said.

They wanted to know whether Craft could help prepare them for the battle that would follow.

Tables have turned on Craft

Best Friends began as enforcers for drug gangs, later ripped them off and finally killed some of them, Soisson said.

Its 25 members didn't know each others' names, only their nicknames: Boogaloo, Ghost, KO, Lunchmeat. Craft was known as Boone because, like Daniel Boone, he was good with a knife.

Flush with cash from the sale of crack cocaine, they drove around in Volvos, BMWs and Corvettes. They drank $100 bottles of Dom Perignon.

Craft said he tried to instill some discipline in the gang, who often got high before attempted murders, and then go on wild shooting sprees that left holes in each other's clothes.

"They would fire 15 shots and only hit the person with one," he said. "They would be throwing their gun around and shooting innocent bystanders."

Craft taught the gang how to set up a hit by learning the target's daily travel patterns. That way, they could ambush the victim as he left or arrived at home or at work.

Dressed in bulletproof vests and body armor suits, they packed M-16 and AK47 rifles and Uzi submachine guns.

The gang killed 80 people, which included snitches, competitors, customers who owed money and sometimes family members, prosecutors said.

Members received $10,000 to $30,000 per murder, depending on how much the Brown brothers wanted a target dead.

If the price was right, Craft said, he would kill anyone.

But then he turned on the gang after it killed his brother over a drug debt.

During his 1994 testimony against Best Friends, Craft said the gang kept a running list of the people it wanted to kill.

"There was a whole big list of them," he said. "Half the time I wasn't paying too much attention to it. We would just go out and start popping people."

Craft's testimony helped end the decade-long dominance of the gang, Soisson said. Dozens of gang members and associates were convicted of offenses ranging from peddling drugs to murder.

When he was trying to get parole in 2002, an assistant Wayne County prosecutor wrote a note on his behalf to the state Department of Corrections.

"He provided invaluable assistance, at great risk to himself, in achieving convictions of a number of individuals in a notorious murder for hire case in federal and state courts," wrote Bob Donaldson.

After his rejection for Witness Protection, however, law enforcement officials said there's little they could do for him.

Contacted by a reporter, Donaldson said he wasn't involved in Craft's negotiations for the Witness Protection Program and that there was little he could do for him.

Soisson, who supported Craft's bid, inquired about a possible appeal but was told by the Justice Department that the chances were remote.

As for Craft, he now knows what it's like to live scared, to live like a snitch, the type of person he would have killed in the 1980s.

Stuck indoors, he said he feels like he's still in prison. For money, he relies on help from struggling relatives.

With the curtains drawn, he sits inside his darkened living room, watching a lot of TV. He occasionally peeks out the window, watching people as they walk by.

You can reach Francis X. Donnelly at (313) 223-4186 or fdonnelly@detnews.com.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxdGS7RBXTuRlPxKP8taVPFeRHDgD937M7GO0

Thousands mob funeral of slain Hells Angels leader

By EVELYN NIEVES – 2 hours ago

DALY CITY, Calif. (AP) — There can be no quiet goodbye for a slain Hells Angel leader.

The funeral of Mark "Papa" Guardado, the 46-year-old president of the San Francisco chapter shot down after a barroom brawl, brought about 2,000 Hells Angels to Duggan's Serra Mortuary in Daly City, most driving the biggest, baddest, loudest Harleys ever.

They came Monday from chapters all over the country, not to mention Stuttgart, Germany, Alberta, Canada, and Melbourne, Australia.

An overflow crowd of hundreds of members sat or stood in the funeral home parking lot for two hours, creating a spectacle that attracted hundreds of gawkers and police from three cities.

The group then led what police say may have been the largest motorcycle procession ever in the San Francisco Bay area from Daly City to the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, creating a deafening uproar of engines and a spectacle that stopped traffic in its tracks on both sides of Interstate 280.

Few mourners were in the mood to talk, especially not to reporters.

"We don't get along with the press," said one member, guarding the parking lot. "And if you stick a camera in someone's face, you're asking for trouble."

Sgt. David Macriss of the Daly City police said there were no incidents aside from minor accidents between motorcycles.

Guardado was shot dead Sept. 2 outside a bar in San Francisco's Mission District, about a mile from the Hells Angels chapter clubhouse, where he lived.

At the time of his death, he was facing assault charges stemming from a beating outside a bar in Petaluma in February.

Police are looking for a member of the rival Mongols Motorcycle Club, whom they believe to be a suspect in Guardado's shooting.

- on the previous post, the Hitman has found out what every rat finds out. even if they rat on you, have pride and honor, never rat. you'll get respect inside and out. you'll feel good about yourself and you won't end up hiding in fear. most people in and out of the game will be on your side.

- on this post, Papa deserved to live a lot longer than he did. prayers to 81. AFFA

According to their facebook page they opened a first Chapter in Europe in France.

Southwest Honkys gang member pleads guilty to meth conspiracy http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profil...-member-pleads-guilty-to-meth-conspiracy

Drug deal gone bad: Buyer gets scammed, shoots and kills swindler, now faces life in prison https://gangstersinc.org/blog/drug-deal-gone-bad-buyer-gets-scammed-shoots-and-kills-swindler-n

New York member of Nine Trey Gangsters gets two life terms for gangland murder spree in Virginia https://gangstersinc.org/blog/new-york-member-of-nine-trey-gangsters-gets-two-life-terms-for-ga

Mexican Posse gang members off to prison for drug and gun crimes https://gangstersinc.org/blog/mexican-posse-gang-members-off-to-prison-for-drug-and-gun-crimes

The crime of hypocrisy: Portland gangster gets 7 years in prison for robbing marijuana dispensary https://gangstersinc.org/blog/the-crime-of-hypocrisy-portland-gangster-gets-7-years-in-prison-f

135 Piru gangsters sentenced to federal prison for their roles in execution of teenager suspected of snitching https://gangstersinc.org/blog/135-piru-gangsters-sentenced-to-federal-prison-for-their-roles-in

Florida Fruit Town Brims gang boss said gun was his girlfriend’s, now gets 6 years https://gangstersinc.org/blog/florida-fruit-town-brims-gang-boss-said-gun-was-his-girlfriend-s