the East Coast Bloods were born on Riker’s Island in 1993 when Omar “O.G. Mack” Portee and Leonard “Deadeye” McKenzie began recruiting African-American inmates to challenge the then-dominant Latin Kings gang for control of a particularly tough unit at the jail. Using the template of the notorious Los Angeles Bloods street gang, the pair developed gang codes, hand signs, rules and regulations, and a rank structure. Once the gang was established at Riker’s, they began grooming a generation of “OGs” (Original Gangsters) to take their philosophy to the streets of New York’s five boroughs. The result was eight original “Sets” of the United Bloods Nation (UBN). Each was built around an existing crew with a reputation as a tough presence in the crack cocaine wars then raging on New York’s streets. Portee’s own crew, based around 183 St. and Davidson Avenue in the Bronx became the One-Eight-Trey bloods. McKenzie’s Harlem-based drug crew took on the Blood Code and the name Nine-Trey Gangsta’s. Rollack, who spent much of the early 90’s in and out of Riker’s on drug and gun charges had been identified as one of the most promising recruits. By 1995 Rollack was locked in a North Carolina jail facing federal drug charges after he was caught with a carload of cocaine in a Charlotte suburb. From his jail cell, Rollack agreed to link his Soundview crew to the nascent UBN. “They chose him because he was already the recognized leader of a gang,” said Lou Savelli, a retired NYPD Sergeant who founded the department’s gang unit not long after the first UBN sets hit the streets. “He was tough, he was a shooter, and he was a very charismatic leader.” The Bloods’ franchising efforts were successful in building a national brand. According to Savelli, now a private security consultant, taking on the mantle of the Bloods allowed neighborhood drug crews to expand their reach and strength, tapping into the aura of power and menace associated with the LA gang’s newfound notoriety via the emergence of Gangsta Rap. “You had people who were already in gangs, who were already criminals, but now instead of four or five guys in your crew you’ve got 35,” said Savelli. “They wanted that national identity because they felt they could get respect from it.” For the Sex Money Murder gang, the blood affiliation transformed a relatively small drug crew into veritable street army. Drugs were transported around the East Coast in vehicles provided by a gang-owned leasing company, allowing members easy access to clean cars and ensuring that vehicles seized by police would make their way back to the gang. A record label gave SMM access to the world of hip-hop celebrity. The gang’s exploits were recounted in graphic (though coded) detail by artists like Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz. From his jail cell Rollack penned lyrics for major rappers that Savelli said, served as coded hit-lists directing members to take out suspected snitches and in one notorious case, a Bronx homicide detective.