East Coast Gangs
Introduction to
East Coast Gangs
by Sergeant Lou Savelli, Vice President,
East Coast Gang Investigators Association
With some of the world's
most lucrative drug markets, the East Coast is ripe for
gangs to flourish. There is plenty of opportunity, potential
recruits, and money for savvy gang members to gain fortune
and power. Influences from the West Coast and the Midwest
("Super Gangs" such as the Bloods, Crips, Latin
Kings, and Gangster Disciples) have become prevalent throughout
the eastern United States.
GANG HISTORY
Gangs have been in existence for thousands of years. The
word thug dates back to India in the year 1200 A.D. and
refers to a gang of criminals (Thugz) that roamed the country,
pillaging towns along their path. These Thugz had their
own symbols, hand signs, rituals, and slang. In the United
States, we grew up with tales of our own form of thugs like
pirates and gangsters, therefore, gangs, undoubtedly, are
not a new concept.
Throughout the 1800s, Americans
were fascinated by gangs and gang members. The James Gang,
Billy the Kid, and other outlaws ruled the Wild West according
to legend. As the late 1800s roared in, the new generation
of gangs and gang members was created by the new immigrants.
Irish gangs like the Whyos, Dead Rabbits, and Plug Uglies,
and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang terrorized New
York City streets. The most notorious gang during this era
formed in New York City during the late 1890s and early
1900s. This gang, called the Five Points Gang, because its
home turf was situated in the Five Points (Bowery) section
of lower Manhattan, would change the mold of the American
outlaw.
The Five Points Gang, led
by Italian immigrant Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli, also known
as Paul Kelly, and his second in command, Johnny Torrio,
was the most significant street gang to form in the United
States to this point. Johnny Torrio, who became a significant
member of the Sicilian Mafia (La Cosa Nostra), recruited
street hoodlums from across New York City to the Five Points
Gang. The Five Points Gang became the "major league"
to many young street gangsters, and a farm club for the
Mafia. The most notorious recruit into the Five Points Gang
was a teenaged boy of Italian descent who was born in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents. His name was Alphonse
Capone, but he was better known on the streets as "Scarface."
He became a member of the James Street Gang, which was a
minor league, of sorts, to the Five Pointers. One of Capone's
childhood friends, and a fellow member of the Five Points
Gang, was another street thug named Lucky Luciano.
In 1919, while being sought
by authorities in connection with a mob-related murder in
New York, Al "Scarface" Capone moved to Chicago
when summoned by Johnny Torrio, who needed his assistance
in maintaining control of Chicago mob territories. Capone
eventually became the most violent and prolific gangster
in Chicago, if not the United States, of that era. The "Al
Capone" style of gangster has molded the American gang
experience, and continues to influence America's street
gangs.
As street gangs, influenced
by mobsters such as Capone, flourished during the 1920s
and 30s, gangs became a symbol of lower income neighborhoods
and ethnic ghettos. America's new immigrant communities
and ghetto neighborhoods saw their youth forming gangs.
African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics made up the majority
of street gangs that sociologists studied during this period,
but the majority of large American cities were experiencing
street gangs to some degree. During the early 1900s, Mexican
street gangs formed in the western U.S., and during the
1940s and 1950s, gangs like the Latin Kings and Vice Lords
were formed in Chicago. During the 1960s, street gangs,
with names like the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage
Nomads, formed in New York City. Another New York Street
gang which was created during this time period was the Rampers.
One Rampers member who has now achieved name recognition
across the U.S. is Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.
By the late 1960s and early
1970s, Los Angeles and Chicago-based gangs had become violent
and entrenched, and gangs from these cities, including the
Bloods, Crips, and Surenos (Los Angeles) and the Latin Kings
and Gangster Disciples (Chicago), had formed. These gangs
would go on to evolve into "Super Gangs" during
the 1980s and 1990s, serving as the models for street gang
culture around the United States. Gang culture had spread
even to the most rural areas of the U.S. by the end of 1999.
SUPER GANGS
Super Gangs can be defined as gangs with a large membership,
and whose normal operations meet the following criteria:
Membership exceeds 1,000 members nationally.
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The gang can be documented
in multiple states.
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The gang maintains
extensive drug networks.
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The gang exercises
aggressive recruiting strategies.
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The gang has a multiethnic
membership.
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The gang has advocated
ambition for power and massive membership.
Groups in the Northeast
which fit this criteria include:
ALMIGHTY LATIN KING
AND QUEEN NATION (AKA LATIN KINGS)
Started in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1940s, this group
is made up primarily of Hispanics. By the late 1970s, the
Latin Kings were one of Chicago's largest and most violent
gangs. The group spread to the East Coast in the 1980s through
the prison system, where two inmates in a Connecticut prison
created the Almighty Latin King Nation of Connecticut. They
fine-tuned the concept of the Chicago Latin Kings and created
a well-written King Manifesto, which incorporated prayers
and religious beliefs. This gang, which spread throughout
the Connecticut prison system, quickly became the largest
gang in Connecticut. In 1986, the manifesto was added to
in the New York prison system, and a group called the Almighty
Latin King Nation was formed at the Collins Correctional
Institution. Within a few years, the Latin Kings had spread
through the New York state prison system, and onto the streets.
By the early 1990s, New York City had hundreds of Latin
Kings members, and this population grew into the thousands
throughout New York State and nearby New Jersey within a
few years. From 1995 to 1999, the ALKN were the target of
a series of RICO investigations, which resulted in the arrests
of hundreds of ALKN members in charges connected to racketeering
and drug distribution. Today, the Latin Kings on the East
Coast remain loosely connected to the Chicago chapters.
The Latin King Nation struggles for unity and is seemingly
finding difficulty in reorganizing to its previous size.
BLOODS/UNITED BLOOD
NATION/EAST COAST BLOOD NATION
The Pirus first evolved in Los Angeles during the 1970s
as a black street gang which formed for self-protection
from the Crips gangs which predominated in Los Angeles during
this era. The Pirus were later known as the Bloods, because
they claimed the color red. Blood gangs began to spread
across the United States during the 1980s, and were frequently
portrayed in music, movies, and other media formats.
The United Blood Nation,
simply called the Bloods, formed in 1993 within the New
York City jail system on Riker's island. Prior to the formation
of the Bloods, the Latin Kings were the most prevalent and
organized gang in the NYC jail system. The Latin Kings and
the Netas were large Hispanic gangs, who began targeting
African American inmates with violence. The African American
inmates, organized by some of the more violent and charismatic
inmates, formed a protection group which they called the
United Blood Nation (UBN). UBN emulated the Bloods street
gangs in Los Angeles. Several of the leaders of UBN then
formed eight Blood sets to recruit in their neighborhoods
across New York City. By the mid 1990s, thousands of members
of Bloods street gangs were establishing themselves as a
force among gangs and were continuing steady recruitment.
At this time, the Bloods were more violent than other gangs,
but much less organized. A common ritual among these gangs
involved shedding blood, through stabbings or slashings,
as an initiation ritual. By the year 2000, the Bloods have
become the most violent gang on the East Coast.
CRIPS
The Crips gangs originally formed in East Los Angeles during
the 1960s and 1970s. By the mid 1980s, offshoot Crip gangs
could be found in most major cities around the U.S. During
the 1980s, several Crip and Blood gangs developed in Belize
(Central America). Gang-affiliated youth from this country
immigrated to the United States during the late 1980s, especially
into East Coast states like New York, New Jersey, Florida,
North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. In 1989, Belizian
immigrants in New York City formed the Harlem Mafia Crips
in Harlem, as well as several other Crip sets such as the
Rolling 30s Crips, 92 Hoover Crips, and Rolling 60s Crips.
During the late 1990s, Crip gangs were well-established
in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut,
Florida, Pennsylvania, and other East Coast areas.
GANGSTER DISCIPLES
According to Gang Specialist John Guzman of the Chicago
Police Department, several gangs in the Englewood area of
Chicago formed the Gangster Disciples (GD) "nation"
of gangs in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1990s showed an increase
in the Gangster Disciple presence on the East Coast. Data
gathered by the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC)
indicates that Gangster Disciples can be found in most East
Coast states. The Gangster Disciple's recruitment strategies,
drug networks, and large membership make the GD a force
to contend with around the U.S. When incarcerated, GD are
called Brothers (or Sisters) of the Struggle (BOS). Gangster
Disciples is the largest Folk Nation gang in the U.S.
THE FUTURE
Oddly enough, while crime
rates are down across the United States, gang membership
is flourishing. Even more odd is the rapid increase in gang
membership in suburban and rural areas. Gangs have reached
across geographic, ethnic, and racial boundaries. Gangs
are no longer true to their origins, but their traditions
and identifiers have been distorted, diluted, and changed
as they have relocated across the U.S. Gangs no longer match
their media stereotypes, and law enforcement professionals
need to take the time to understand their individual community's
unique gang problem. The face of the gangster has changed,
and we must be prepared to change with it.
Sergeant
Lou Savelli is the co-founder and Vice President of the
East Coast Gang Investigators Association, an 18 year veteran
of NYPD, a former member of the Broward County Sheriffs
Department (FL) and Hollywood Police Department (FL) and
a published author.
Copyright © 2000
Louis Savelli. All rights reserved.
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