Chapter Eight Black Organized Crime
Introduction • “Black” is an imprecise term that includes many diverse groups, domestic and international, and “black organized crime” encompasses a variety of criminal groups who may in fact share only their race • Black opportunity in organized crime (OC) has roughly paralleled opportunity in the wider legitimate community
Introduction Cont. • Important black criminal entrepreneurs were operating in the United States in the early decades of the twentieth century • African-American criminals dominated the numbers (illegal lottery) racket in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago until they were overpowered by violent white gangsters
Introduction Cont. • A variety of black criminal groups exist throughout the United States; some are homegrown, such as Chicago’s Gangster Disciples; others, such as Jamaican posses, are imported • Important black criminal organizations have been active in the heroin business
Frank Lucas • • In 1946, Lucas arrived in Harlem from North Carolina as a teenager with a serious criminal history In the early 1970 s, the famed “French Connection” was coming apart and although he had never been to the Far East, the brazen, streetwise Lucas, traveling alone, quickly made contact with sources of heroin
Lucas Cont. • • Leslie (“Ike”) Atkinson set up the drugsmuggling operation with a group of partners dubbed the “Black Masonic” club The stateside Country Boys organization was restricted to blood relatives and friends from rural North Carolina who actively trafficked the Lucas “Blue Magic” brand of heroin
Lucas Cont. • In 1975, Lucas was convicted of drug violations and although sentenced to a federal 40 -year term, was subsequently released in 1983; he had provided the government with valuable information • In 1984, Lucas was convicted again; this time for arranging to sell one once of heroin and sentenced to seven years
Nicky Barnes • • • Barnes cultivated a public image A street-level drug dealer working for Dominicans, in 1959 Barnes was convicted and sent to New York’s Green Haven Correctional Facility Paroled in 1962, three years later, Barnes was back in Green Haven for possessing $500, 000 worth of heroin
Barnes Cont. • From Madonna, Barnes got the idea of establishing a council of major traffickers in Harlem • Barnes, set up a council that consisted of seven lieutenants, each of who controlled a dozen mid-level distributors, who in turn supplied about forty street-level dealers • Became known as Mr. Untouchable
Barnes Cont. • In 1976, Barnes’ supplier, Matthew Madonna, was arrested by federal agents during a key handoff and the following year Mr. Untouchable was convicted by the first federal trial to use an anonymous jury and sentenced to life imprisonment • Barnes became a government informant leading to the conviction of fifty dealers and their associates
Gangster Disciples • The bureaucratic model was adopted by Chicago’s best-known African American crime group, the Gangster Disciples • The congruent processes of social and spatial mobility that allowed earlier disadvantaged inner-city residents to succeed in society do not apply to large numbers of African Americans today
Gangster Disciples Cont. • The Gangster Disciples (GD) was formed as the result of a merger of two South Side gangs, one headed by Larry Hoover (Supreme Gangsters) and the other by “King” David Barksdale (Black Disciples)
Gangster Disciples Cont. • • • In 1973, Hoover, born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1950, was convicted of planning and ordering the murder of a man who had held up a GD drug house Hoover has been incarcerated ever since, serving a 150 -year sentence After Barksdale’s death from kidney failure in 1974, and despite his imprisonment, leadership was assumed by Hoover who was able to merge the Disciples into his organization now called the Gangster Disciples
Gangster Disciples Cont. • While they dabbled in community activities and local politics, the GDs remained active in selling cocaine and heroin throughout Chicago, a number of suburban areas, and in several states including Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia
Gangster Disciples Cont. • Independent dealers who have achieved a level of success are typically approached by GD representatives and told to choose from three alternatives – Join the Gangster Disciples – Stop selling drugs – Die
Gangster Disciples Cont. • Lower-ranking members who actually sell the drugs at the retail level keep most of the profit they make • The GDs have been able to pool drug profits, street taxes, and membership dues to establish and operate legitimate businesses including apartment buildings, sometimes for the purpose of money laundering and to serve as centers for illegal operations
Gangster Disciples Cont. • The size of the GDs requires a level of bureaucracy rarely seen in OC, making the organization vulnerable to prosecution • Inside prison, “legal coordinators” and “education ministers” indoctrinate new members with GD propaganda and assist fellow inmates in their appeals • There has been extensive political involvement by the Gangster Disciples
Gangster Disciples Cont. • In 1995, Hoover and thirty-eight GDs were named in an indictment charging 149 counts of criminal conduct involving their drug-trafficking operations • As a result of the imprisonment or indictment of virtually its entire hierarchy and the conviction of about one hundred members and associates, the gang is having difficulties maintaining discipline and thwarting encroachments by rival groups
Gangster Disciples Cont. • Devoid of the tight discipline of Larry Hoover, the GDs have splintered into dozens of different factions
El Rukns/Black P. Stone Nation • • Chicago’s El Rukns was founded by Jeff Fort As opposed to the exclusiveness of American Mafia membership, the Blackstone Rangers actively recruited and there are indications of violence being used against those who declined a membership invitation
El Rukns/Black P. Stone Nation Cont. • In 1972, Fort was imprisoned for contempt of Congress and embezzlement of $7, 500 in federal funds • While in prison, Fort had an epiphany and founded the El Rukns, a “Moorish“ religious organization, and dubbed himself Prince Malik
El Rukns/Black P. Stone Nation Cont. • The El Rukns established the Young Grassroots Independent Voters • The El Rukns established their own real estate company invested in apartment buildings; there were plans for restaurants and construction companies when, in 1983, Fort was indicted for participation in a cocaine conspiracy
El Rukns/Black P. Stone Nation Cont. • In 1987, Fort and four members of the El Rukns were convicted of plotting terrorist acts on behalf of Moammar Gadhafi of Libya; Fort was sentenced to 80 -years • With Fort in prison, the gang’s headquarters were forfeited and destroyed, and a series of indictments and convictions followed
El Rukns/Black P. Stone Nation Cont. • Remaining El Rukns assumed their former name, the Black P. Stone Nation, and one faction (“Motown”), under the leadership of Jeff Fort’s son, Watketa (“The Prince”) Valenzuela, is estimated to have up to two thousand members, holding sway in the Motown section of Chicago’s South Side
Other Domestic African American Criminal Organizations • • Cultural gangs are strongly grounded in a neighborhood identity, and members may be involved in crime, including drug trafficking Entrepreneurial gangs are organized for the express purpose of distributing drugs
Bloods and Crips • A variety of black street gangs have been expanding their operations and drug markets interstate, in particular the Crips and the Bloods of Los Angeles – Bloods and Crips are heavily armed and quick to use violence – Outside of Los Angeles the Crips are splinter groups composed of former gang members, ranging in age from their low to upper 20 s, who utilize the gang names as a means of identifying their organization – In 1992, it was reported that the Crips, or perhaps older former members of the gang, had developed direct ties with the Medellín cartel
The Black Mafia • Originating in 1968, Philadelphia’s Black Mafia (BM) involved the coming together of fourteen extortionists and hold-up men in their late twenties and early thirties who preyed mostly on illegal entrepreneurs • Fearing a war with the far more numerous Black Muslims, the BM entered into an agreement becoming the extortion arm of the Black Muslims • The single-most important factor in the gang’s downfall was the result of moving away from extortion and, instead, specializing in drug dealing, for which prosecution did not require civilian witnesses
Other Domestic African American Criminal Organizations • A number of other African American criminal groups operate in urban areas throughout the country • African American criminal groups have an inherent weakness: Confinement to the inner city thwarts the development of symbiotic community relationships that promote the survival of indigenous crime organizations • Drug operators prey almost exclusively on their own people and thereby generate organized opposition from within their own communities
African Organized Crime • Several variables have made West Africa attractive for the development of criminal organizations including wide inequalities in wealth, unchecked population growth, and the associated rapid and uncontrolled urbanization • West Africa organized provides an option for individuals seeking to break out of poverty
African Organized Crime Cont. • The structure of African criminal organizations is more closely akin to that of Russian organized crime in the United States: project-based cells organized by kinship along ethnic or clan lines which complete an operation and disperse to regroup at a later date for another transaction • Criminal organizations in West Africa use techniques similar to those of legitimate traders and business people typical of a lineage-based society
African Organized Crime Cont. • While trafficking in persons for cheap labor is the work of small networks, employing ships for this purpose requires significant investment and extensive transnational contacts, often involving different organizations in a cooperative venture; an organized crime enterprise • As a result of stepped up enforcement against drugs entering Europe through Spain and the Netherlands, West Africa has become more attractive to smugglers
Nigerians • Nigeria was granted full independence in 1960, but has been marked by civil wars and coups • In 1999, military rule ended and a civilian government was elected • Through wanton violence, Muslim and Christian militias have created Muslim- or Christian-only enclaves • Inefficiency and decades of corruption continue to hamper this oil-rich country
Nigerians Cont. • The Nigerian police are poorly organized and financed • Nigerian criminal syndicates centered in Lagos • Their organizational structures are quite flexible and fluid, cell-like syndicates that break apart and reform in other criminal initiatives with interchangeable members
Nigerians Cont. • An extensive transnational network of narcotics traffickers extends out from Nigeria, which has become the West African center for drugs and money laundering • Nigerian drug-networks area able to coexist with the more hierarchical, mafiastyle operators who may dominate particular aspects of the drug trade
Nigerians Cont. • The most notorious of the Nigerian operations is the advance fee scam— referred to as 419 s after a section of the Nigerian Criminal Code--in which thousands of unsolicited letters, faxes, and e-mails based on fraudulent representations are sent to people worldwide with the promise of great profits for an upfront cash investment
Nigerians Cont. • The international criminal operations of Nigerian syndicates are the legacy of a history of moving capital and commodities on a global scale • Although Nigeria produces no precursor chemicals or drugs that have a significant impact on the United States, the country is a major trafficking hub and the base for criminal organizations responsible for a significant amount of heroin used in the United States
Nigerians Cont. • Nigerian sea and airports are rife with corruption, and borders are porous to criminals • Organized along familial and tribal lines, highlevel traffickers seldom deal with outsiders • According the DEA, Nigerians dominate the shipment of Southeast Asia heroin into the United States and Latin American cocaine into Europe
Jamaican Organized Crime • Jamaica is a major transit point for cocaine entering the United States and the largest producer and exporter of marijuana in the Caribbean Kingston • – In the poorest sections of the city, criminals—known as rankings—are organized into gangs (posses) that have traditionally been supported and protected by the residents among whom they foster a Robin Hood image
Jamaican Organized Crime Cont. • Those at the top of the rankings’ food chain have strong political affiliations with one of Jamaica’s two major parties, the People’s National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) • In addition to the name, posses developed their style and gunslinger ethos from American action movies, particularly the Westerns popular in Kingston • Posse members were driven to the United States at an opportune time
Jamaican Organized Crime Cont. • Posse members are fascinated with firearms, particularly high-caliber weapons, and prefer to always be armed • Jamaican posses differ from other trafficking groups in that their members are importers, wholesalers and distributors
Jamaican Organized Crime Cont. • At the national level, posses have one or more top leaders, sometimes called “generals” • From headquarters, posse leaders may send “captains” or “lieutenants” to establish operations in new regions • Street-level operations are carried out by managers, couriers, sellers, lookouts, and steerers, most of who are African Americans • The demise of major posses, such as the Shower, was largely a result of their predilection for violence, which helped undermine loyalty
Jamaican Organized Crime Cont. • Although the Shower posse disbanded, by the mid 1990 s, those that remained active apparently abandoned many of the brutal practices that were their trademark and dropped the posse stigma, referring to themselves as “crews” • The source of supply for some ethnic Jamaican gangs has shifted, as well
Jamaican Organized Crime Cont. • • Jamaican criminal groups have proven quite troublesome in the United Kingdom (UK) where they are referred to as “Yardies” Increasing violence in Jamaica in 2001 led to an additional exodus of gang members, driven out by police and soldiers
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