INTRODUCTION
This gang, the Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN), has been shouting "Stones Run It" for over three decades. This gang is also unique in that several books have been written about it. However, as this gang profile will show, it has significantly changed over the years. For example, it now has a strong Islamic influence which pervades the various branches of this gang and its internal written codes. It is a gang which since its inception has been based on illegal drug income and violence.
Perhaps what is most interesting about this gang is the fact that its leader --- Jeff Fort, sought to do contract terrorism work for Moammar Gadhafi back in 1986. How close did this gang come to actually carrying out domestic terrorism? Very close is the answer. Jeff Fort had in fact travelled, despite the ban on travel in place at the time, to Libya to offer the services of his gang for terrorist attacks in Chicago.
This updated gang profile therefore examines, among other things, how an American gang can get involved in international terrorism.
METHODOLOGY
The findings reported here come from a variety of sources and data presented are derived from several methodological approaches. The sources include: (1) historical sources, published and unpublished, as well as in-depth oral history interviews with persons having an intimate knowledge of the BPSN since its inception, (2) qualitative sources particularly detailed depth interviews with cooperative current and former members of the BPSN, (3) documents from the BPSN informants, and (4) quantitative data from survey research on BPSN members. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in developing this gang profile.
The most important methodological issue that should be made here is what information was left out. A great many direct primary sources of data were used: interviews. Much of this information was not used here. Also, a wealth of other internal written materials on and about the BPSN gang were collected that have not been presented here. These internal gang documents tended to be historical matters and related to the creed and "constitution" of the gang. Given the length of this particular BPSN profile, these and other materials were not able to be presented here. Clearly, the information developed allowed for an entire book length report on the BPSN. What is presented here is therefore a synopsis of the major important issues about this gang.
WHEN AND WHERE DID THE BPSN BEGIN? LIKE VICE LORDS: IN A JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL CENTER (St. Charles Reform School)
Presbyterian minister Reverend John Fry, who became a close confidant and advisor to the BPSN through his tutelage of Jeff Fort and Eugene Hairston (the two founders of the BPSN), probably got very close to understanding the etiology of the BPSN. One caveat here, Rev. Fry was basically "duped" by the gang and substantial new historical information developed through interviews with other key figures during this time frame will reveal insights that are clearly not indicated in Rev. Fry's "gang apologist" account of the BPSN. Rev. Fry suggested that the BPSN is more like a "prisoners organization", and that it in fact started in St. Charles. St. Charles is a state reform school in Illinois.
Rev. John Fry lives, today, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Rev. Fry left Chicago after the federal investigation into the Blackstone Ranger's gang by federal authorities over the issue of federal funds being abused by the gang.
It is of historical interest that Rev. Fry places the birth of the BPSN in the time frame of 1957-1960. The Vice Lords began during that same time frame, also in St. Charles. The law of natural group opposition formation would hold that some other group had to exist besides the Vice Lords during that same time frame.
The Almighty Latin Kings Nation also traces its birth to this same time.
During the early 1960's the BPSN existed as a small rag-tag group of misfits; juvenile delinquents of the classic type. It was not until the mid-1960's, in fact, until they came into contact with Rev. Fry that the BPSN became a formidable force. The BPSN would grow exponentially with the financial, social, political, and other support from Rev. Fry. This little known aspect of gang life in Chicago is explained elsewhere in this gang profile.
In otherwords, prior to the arrival of Rev. John Fry (who brought federal and foundation funding to the gang), this gang known then as the "Blackstone Rangers", could probably not mobilize more than a dozen teenagers. Their expertise was in street thuggery: stealing, vandalizing, shoplifting. In the early years of the "Blackstone Rangers", they were simply an informal group of delinquents living in close geographical proximity to each other; some of whom knew each other from the "Audy Home" (Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center) and "St. Charles" (the Illinois Department of Corrections state juvenile institution).
Another account of the origin of the BPSN comes from the book by R.T. Sale (1971, The Blackstone Rangers: A Reporter's Account of Time Spent with the Street Gang on Chicago's South Side, New York, Random House). Sale described the process by which consolidation, alliances, and mergers took place to allow the BPSN to grow to be a menacing force in Chicago:
"He told me then how, back in 1959, there had been a small street clique on 66th Street that had a modest ten members. Jeff Fort was the man at is head and controlled a turf known as Jackson Park. But there had been a rival gang, a small one as well...on 70th Street....the gangs clashed...They fought together many times. When they found that neither one could inflict a final, decisive defeat, they came together and talked. A short time later they combined" (Sale, 1971: pp. 63-64).
The federal indictments against the El Rukn leadership from an April, 1987 federal Grand Jury indicated that the gang really got off the ground and was up and running in the year 1966. This would be consistent with viewing it as a criminal gang at that point in time. The reasons will be made clear later in this gang profile, when we examine how the gang was able to rapidly increase its membership during the same time frame.
A gang training document for the Illinois Department of Corrections states that the origin of the name "Blackstone Rangers" began in 1959 because then Jeff Fort lived at 6536 South Blackstone and his clique gathered nearby at the corner of 64th and Blackstone. This IDOC document is not believed to have reflected a great deal of debriefing sources, but rather extant literature references.
Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the idea of having his own "mob" did begin in 1969: other gangs did get up and running at that time (like the Vice Lords). It is also reasonble to assume that the area that is still dominated by BPSN today (65th and Blackstone on Chicago's southside), like many other gang formations, provided Jeff Fort with the idea of a name for his gang: "Blackstone". And in the early 1960's, clearly, Jeff Fort was on these streets with a small "Level I" (informal organization) gang that was up and running.
WHO ARE THE BLACK STONES?
Members of the Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN) ride under the "five pointed" star, they are therefore "Brothers" or "People". The BPSN was first known as the Blackstone Rangers gang. In the Blackstone Rangers there were two gang leaders: Jeff Fort and Eugene "Bull" Hairston (AKA "King Bull", and "King Ball"). Only Jeff Fort survived. This helps to explain how Jeff Fort today is in fact the undisputed leader of the BPSN. Many gang experts thought Jeff Fort's group, the El Rukns, was "put out of business" and that his gang involvement ended when Jeff and many of his "generals" gained federal prison sentences in the late 1980's. Untrue. Jeff somehow took over control of the BPSN after the series of convictions against the El Rukn's.
The Black Stones today are the Black P. Stone Nation. It includes several branches all of which trace their history to the original Blackstone Rangers. These branches include: (1) Gangster Stones (led by "Moose") who control the southside, (2) Jet Black Stones, (3) Rubinites (AKA "Rubes"), (4) Future Stones, (5) P.R. Stones, (6) Corner Stones, and (7) the Almighty BPSN (led by Wakeeta, Jeff Fort's son). The Almighty BPSN is the largest branch. Another name the BPSN uses for "Jet Black Stones" is "Jack Black".
Prior to Jeff Fort's 1976 coup over the BPSN, there was also a separate group known as the "Titanic Stones" that had been considered BPSN. That is, until Jeff Fort ordered them killed. Also, the Mickey Cobra Stones were a founding branch of the BPSN, again until Jeff Fort had their leader killed, and the Mickey Cobras then splintered off from the BPSN.
COBRA STONES: SPLINTERED FROM THE BPSN, BECAME MICKEY COBRAS
The "Cobra Stones" were a part of the BPSN at one time. The Cobra Stones was from the beginning of the BPSN to 1977 an official branch of the BPSN, and this gang faction was led by Mickey Cogwell. In the early days of the BPSN, Mickey Cogwell as in fact a founding member of the "Main 21" and was therefore a leader within the BPSN. Cogwell was one of those convicted in 1972 for defrauding the federal government grant of $927,000 (U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity) that helped the BPSN get a jump start on gang organization in Chicago in connection with Rev. Fry's church sponsored "gang program". This gang experienced the "Splintering effect" when Jeff Fort had Mickey Cogwell killed on February 25, 1977. At this point the gang became a separate entity that is today known as the Mickey Cobras gang. The Mickey Cobras refused to join the "El Rukn" leadership of Jeff Fort.
In fact, in 1976 Jeff Fort declared his intent to kill Mickey Cogwell in a large BPSN gang meeting. Shortly thereafter (February 25, 1977), Cogwell was in fact killed. Cogwell had been working as an organizer for a southside union at the time of his death. In 1970 the commander of the Gang Intelligence Unit for the Chicago Police Department portrayed Cogwell as the link between gangs and organized crime. According to one high ranking BPSN informant (among the many interviewed for this profile): "they was at war with us in 1994", thus the early history of friendship is not a guarantee of civility in relationship with the BPSN. Today the Mickey Cobras are "People" or "Brothers" in gang nation alliances, just like the BPSN. However, the Mickey Cobras exist in areas of the southside that compete for membership with the BPSN. And no one could say that just because both the BPSN and the Mickey Cobras today are a "people" or "brothers" gang that they are in any sense cooperative or friendly towards each other.
This is a good example of how gang alliance systems involving competing criminal offenders are not likely to be readily manipulated for purposes of "gang truces": the enmity between these gangs that should theoretically be "together" in an alliance against rival gangs is a long standing problem that has festered over the years. Still, today few seem to recognize that gang apologists and representatives of the gangs themselves who attract mass media attention with their claim of being able to "create gang peace treaties" are basically hustlers exploiting public ignorance on these rather complex issues.
Today the Mickey Cobras are known formally as the "Kingdom of the Mickey Cobra New Movement", AKA "Almighty Cobra Nation", AKA "Almighty Mickey Cobras Nation". In their original identity, they were known as the Egyptian King Cobras. In their third generation, they now like the BPSN, have a strong Islamic influence. The Mickey Cobras now have their own unique written constitution and by-laws. These documents show a strong Islamic influence, just like those of the modern-day BPSN. So what we have here are basically two Black gangs operating under some variety of Islamic beliefs that are in an armed struggle with each other. The NGCRC does maintain a file on the Mickey Cobras, like almost all gangs that have been tracked since 1990, but it is not a gang whose force strength and threat analysis ratings currently justifies a separate "gang profile" in this journal.
THE BPSN, LIKE OTHER GANGS, EXPLOITED LIBERAL CONFUSION
The BPSN got a major boost from sympathetic liberals willing to help the gang. One keen observer described it this way:
"These white liberals were awed by the potential political power of the Mighty P. Stone Nation, and they attempted to translate this power into constructive activities. While this in itself was noteworthy, the romantic image many had of the street gang made it difficult for them to realize the magnitude and complexity of the problem." (Useni Eugene Perkins, 1987, Explosion of Chicago's Black Street Gangs: 1900 to Present, Chicago: Third World Press).
As discussed later in this gang profile, the largest help to the gang came from a member of the clergy. A Presbyterian pastor named Rev. John Fry was the culprit. Rev. Fry basically turned over his church and the churches resources to the gang. If that meant using the church's money for bailing out gang leaders, fine. If that meant allowing the gang to hold its citywide meetings in the church, fine. For a description of the significance of this error of large scale gang meetings, one of the most dramatic accounts is that provided from one of the youths who attended one of these events and who later attended Columbia College: "D to the Knee ! Stone to the Bone!" by Dino Malcolm (Best of Hair Trigger: A Story Workshop Anthology, pp. 81-91, Chicago: Columbia College Writing Department). It describes how the very appearance of gangs being able to use a large church to hold a large gang meeting adds an important resource to the benefit structure of the gang as an organization. Most gang analysts today recognize that a gang will predictably exploit any resource it can. Thus, in a true zero-tolerance policy no such resource should be made available to a gang that could make it stronger or more organizationally effective (i.e., increasing its ability to recruit youths, adding to its legitimacy, etc).
Unfortunately, many Americans have yet to realize this important lesson about the history of gangs. For example, when Wallace "Gator" Bradley (the chief political spokesperson for the Gangster Disciples and their political wing known as "21st Century V.O.T.E.") was able to go to the White House and personally meet with President Bill Clinton on January 24th, 1994, subsequent pictures published in newspapers of this "photo session" with the President of the United States (see Chicago Tribune, Friday, February 18, 1994; section 2, p. 6) expectedly added much new momentum to the GD's political movement in Chicago. Apparently, Gator had the audacity to introduce himself to President Clinton as representing a group called "Better Growth and Development": i.e., using the "put on" that they are not Black Gangster Disciples (BGDs), a criminal drug gang, but are something "pro-social". But, historically at least, many liberals have been sucked into the beguiling language used by gang leaders as will be evidenced by the important role of Rev. Fry in the historical development of the BPSN.
ESTABLISHING THE BPSN AS A STREET GANG GOVERNMENT
Rev. Fry selected as the director of the First Presbyterian Church's(1) "Ranger Staff" one Chuck Lapaglia. Rev. Fry's 1973 book explains how they helped the BPSN (Jeff Fort and Bull Hairston) deal with their sudden expanded membership base, particularly their fear of police informants. As described in the 1973 book, Fry and Lapaglia took Fort and Hairston to a luncheon to discuss organizational advice to the BPSN. Lapaglia advised Jeff Fort and Bull Hairston to "age grade": create a two-tiered organization, one level for younger members, and one level for older "reliable" presumably more hardcore "Stones".
As described in Fry's 1973 book, the two gang leaders immediately took this advice to heart. Jeff Fort headed up the younger faction. Bull Hairston headed up the older faction (see Fry, 1973: pp. 16- 23).
Throughout both of Fry's self-aggrandizing books, he recognizes that gangs like the BPSN are dangerous and armed offenders. How then do we account for the fact that Fry and his assistants in the church and its programs helped the BPSN to become a "street gang government". Which would mean an armed criminal street gang government, capable of exercising the most formidable power in the African-American communities in which the BPSN existed. What kind of unique spiritual insight did Fry have to think that it would be a good idea for the African-American communities of Chicago to have "more organized street gangs"?
Our latest intelligence is that Rev. Fry has assiduously avoided any media interviews regarding these issues for a very long time. Further, our information is that he is currently working in a remote area of the USA that is virtually untouched by the aftermath of helping gangs to become more organizationally sophisticated. The need to debrief persons like Fry remains an important element of developing gang knowledge, so anyone who would be interested in this type of assignment, please contact the NGCRC.
THE GANG SYMBOLS OF THE BPSN
The crescent moon and the five pointed star are today important symbols used by the BPSN because of the strong Islamic influence in this gang. The pyramid with one side showing twenty-one small rectangles that could be "bricks" is another important symbol that also refers to the "Main 21": the founding fathers of this gang. Jeff Fort was one of these founding fathers. Most of the other original "main 21" are dead. The "main 21" was like a commission for organized crime and still functions today. When someone on the "main 21" makes a mistake or gets too close to competing with OG's like Jeff Fort, they just seem to die violently, and someone new takes their "seat" on the "main 21".
Other symbols associated with the BPSN include their code words: such as "C.S.A." which stands for "Cold Soldier Army". The name of their "set" or "hood" is also commonly used in their graffiti: an example would be "Terror Town", which refers to Chicago's southeast side. In this area of southeast Chicago, you cannot miss the clear language when you enter the neighborhood, and this gang graffiti has existed in this fashion for many years: the slogans on the garages and buildings, everywhere, reads "TERROR TOWN". An expression of solidarity for this gang is also commonly used: "Stones Run It", meaning the BPSN are "in control" or are "very powerful".
The two word phrase "Chief Malik" will often appear in BPSN graffiti. This phrase ("Chief Malik") refers to one of the aliases of Jeff Fort. Jeff Fort is known to the BPSN as "Chief Malik" (pronounced "malique"). Jeff Fort's earlier AKA's included: "Black Prince" and "Angel".
Contemporary BPSN members can often be identified at a distance: they like to wear their hair in braids.
THE ORIGINAL MAIN 21 MEMBERS
At the top were Eugene "Bull" Hairston (#1) and Jeff Fort (#2). Other early "O.G.'s" in the Black Stones included the following members who are not listed in any order of hierarchical power (see: Chicagoland Monthly, June, 1979):
#a George Rose (AKA "Watusi", "Mad Dog")
#b Lee "Stone" Jackson (DECEASED)
#c William Troop (AKA: "Sweet Pea", "Sweet Jones") (DECEASED)
#d Melvin Bailey (AKA: "Lefty")
#e Herbert Stevens (AKA: "Thunder")
#f Lawrence White (AKA: "Tom Tucker")
#g Adam Battiste (AKA: "Leto")
#h Sylvester Hutchins (AKA: "Hutch")
#i Charles Franklin (AKA: "Bosco")
#j Theotis Clark (AKA: "Thee")
#k Henry Cogwell (AKA: "Mickey") (DECEASED)
#l George Martin (AKA: "Porgy") (DECEASED)
#m Andrew D. McChristian (AKA: "A.D."
#n Fletcher Puch (AKA: "Bo Peep", "Old Man")
#o Edwin Codwell (AKA: "Little Charlie", "Caboo")
#p Leroy Hairston (AKA: "Mr. Maniac", "Baby Bull")(2)
#q Charles Edward Bey (AKA: "Benbolaman", "Bear")
#r Herman Holmes (AKA: "Moose")
#s Moses Robert Jackson (AKA: "Dog")
#t Paul Martin (AKA: "Crazy Paul") (DECEASED)
#u Lamar Bell (AKA: "Bop Daddy")
#v Johnnie Jones (AKA: "Cool Johnnie")
#w Bernard Green (AKA: "Droop", "The Colonel")
SPORTSWEAR AND GANG CLOTHING
When the "Blackstone Rangers" first appeared, their distinguishing clothing was a red felt beret.
When Jeff Fort returned to Chicago from Milwaukee after his first federal sentence and started the "Moorish American" group (circa 1975-76) that would evolve into the El Rukns, their distinguishing clothing item was a red fez cap.
BPSN members wear an assortment of highly stylized, expensive air-brushed gang designs on t-shirts and sweat shirts and hats. There are numerous examples of these in the National Gang Cultural Artifact collection maintained by the National Gang Crime Research Center for its gang training services. Most typical is a BPSN gang argot expression such as "ALL IS WELL" or a logo symbol such as the use of the pyramid.
One of the most popular items of gang apparel for BPSN members today is their sportswear line. This particular style of clothing is clearly gang designed. It has the large words "Black Stone" on it, but between these two words is the crescent moon with a five pointed star. Underneath this rocker reads the words: "ATHLETIC WEAR, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles". These are three of the larger cities where the BPSN operates today. A casual observer would look at this t-shirt and never figure out the put-on.
THE HISTORY OF THE B.P.S.N.
The BPSN may have started in 1959, making it as old as the Vice Lords, but it did not really become a strong and institutionalized gang until the mid-1960's. It existed side by side with the Devil's Disciples. The BPSN first gained strength up and along Blackstone Avenue on Chicago's southside. Their main enemy was not the Vice Lords who had existed since 1959. Rather the main enemy of the BPSN was the Devil's Disciples, who existed in closer proximity and competed for gang loyalty among disaffected southside youths. The Devil's Disciples would later become three gangs: the Gangster Disciples (led by Larry Hoover), the Black Gangsters (AKA: New Breed, led by Booney Black), and the Black Disciples (led by Jerome "Shorty" Freeman).
SACRED CALENDAR DATES FOR THE BPSN
A sacred day for the BPSN is August 8th. Jeff Fort selected August 8th as the "anniversary celebration day" for the BPSN. August 8th is also called the "feast day" for BPSN members. The first annual "feast day" occurred on August 8th, 1976. It was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The reason Jeff Fort selected August 8th as the "feast day" or time for the annual gang celebration is that it commemorated the anniversary of planning the murder of Chicago Police Officer James Alfono.
Officer Alfono was a Gang Intelligence Officer doing surveillance in a car around 67th and Stoney Island, when the BPSN shot out the street lights, and then shot through the trunk of the car with a high-powered rifle, killing Officer Alfono instantly. It was a basic gang assassination: the gang knew the police would "cruise by", the time frame of urban unrest set the tone for a great deal of hostility towards police, and the gang plotted how to send a message to the "establishment". Back then, it was clearly a "gang crime". Today, unless there was evidence that Jeff Fort ordered it and everyone approved of it a "gang meeting", it would probably not be considered a "gang crime" today unfortunately.
In spring of 2000, when Los Angeles and New York City eliminated their gang units, Chicago followed this new trend. Thus, for over a year there has not been much "gang crime" in Chicago. Gang crime specialists still exist, although a lot of them have left or retired, but those who remain also get other duties at the district level. Police officer Eric Lee was killed in late August 2001: shot by a Gangster Disciple (GD), when the shooter and his colleague GD were on "S" (security) for the GD drug house the officer arrived at, in a GD neighborhood. The GD shooter and his GD buddy were beating a third person in a gangway of the building (a GD drug house where drugs were confiscated after the killing), and Police Officer Eric Lee responded to a "disturbance" call. But when the GD shot and killed Police Officer Eric Lee, Chicago municipal authorities did not consider this a "gang crime".
And it is still not classified as a "gang crime". That is life under the new policy of not having a centralized gang unit in Chicago: gang crime will just "disappear"; if by no other method than "if it ain't written down, it didn't happen".
ALLIES OF THE BPSN
The BPSN has always been a "people" or "brothers" gang. It therefore rides under the five pointed star if it uses any star. It is most closely aligned with the Vice Lords and Latin Kings, owing to the prison connection for gang alliances. It is clear, though, that some other "people" gangs like the Mickey Cobras are dedicated enemies of the BPSN even though both had the same background. As will be explained, the Mickey Cobra's are no longer "Cobra Stones", due to the gang splintering phenomenon. In fact, the Mickey Cobra's remain mortal enemies of the BPSN even though both gangs are "people". But for all practical purposes, the main day to day enemy or rival of the BPSN are members of the Gangster Disciples gang.
THE ROLE OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN THE BPSN
None of the previous books written about the BPSN describe the role that Islamic religious beliefs play in this gang. This is partially a problem of timing, the books are older and predated the development where Jeff Fort's influence over the BPSN brought about this religious influence. It is important to note, however, that this is not regarded as a legitimate religious influence. Rather the role of religious beliefs in the gang serves a two-fold purpose: (1) it gives a cloak of legitimacy and social acceptability for an organization that at its core is basically criminal in nature, and in correctional settings is often necessary for purposes of holding "gang meetings", thus having religious beliefs as the outward appearance of the gang gives it certain protective powers, and (2) the religious beliefs add to the level of social control that the gang exercises over its members, and it also provides an ideology useful for purposes of "moral neutralization" (i.e., the beliefs help members to justify their criminal activities). Thus, like a cult, the stronger and more extreme the beliefs, often the more the members are pressed into submission to the centralized authoritarian organizational structure of the gang.
What Jeff Fort learned from his association with Rev. John Fry was that having some association with or appearance of a religious operation was very functional for an effective gang organization. The other gangs that have come to have such a religious component to their internal belief system may have simply copied the tradition started by Jeff Fort. This is another way in which gangs exploit a free society: they know that religion is a "sacred" aspect of society that most do not want regulated, inspected, monitored, or investigated. So the ability to predict the future organizational styles of gangs comes from knowing that gangs will exploit the "rights" and "freedoms" that any society offers.
The BPSN have adopted a decidedly Islamic belief system. Elsewhere in this gang profile we will examine, in detail, some of these aspects of the Islamic influence. The one question we can answer here relates to WHY Jeff Fort began this tradition. It would appear that Jeff Fort was looking for a way to overcome the federal parole restrictions about "gang association" when he was first released from his first federal prison sentence after being put away for embezzling federal monies in the Rev. Fry "gang program".
A gang training document in use by the Illinois Department of Corrections states(3):
"The El Rukn Moorish Science Temple of America's name appeared in March of 1976 coinciding with the release of Fort from the federal prison. Fort tried to join the Black Muslims and the Regional Church of the Moorish Science Temple of America. Both groups rejected him and his followers. Fort then started his own religious organization."
EARLY INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS
During the "El Rukn" phase of the BPSN developmental history, the gang was similar to other Chicago gangs in trying to get involved in electoral politics. The El Rukns established an organization called the "Grassroots Independent Voters of Illinois". The involvement continues today, but as will be seen later in this gang profile, by a new name and a new organizational identity.
THE HISTORY OF JEFF FORT AND THE BPSN
Jeff Fort must be understood in terms of the different phases of his gang development: (1) his original years in relationship to getting liberal do-gooders to obtain foundation funding and government grants for him to abuse, (2) his stint in federal custody as a result of that early activity, (3) his return from living outside of Chicago and organizing the Moorish American "group" and his involvement in an anti-nazi protest group on Chicago's southwest side called the "Martin Luther King Movement", (4) his subsequent organizing of the "El Rukn" gang in 1976, (5) the federal prosecution of his "El Rukn" gang, and (6) the aftermath of the federal prosecution of El Rukns and his current ability to continue to reach out to gang troops in Chicago.
History of Black Stones and Jeff Fort: Their Help From Rev. John R. Fry (1965-1971)
A Presbyterian pastor named John R. Fry had an earthly mission but was beguiled by gangs into helping them grow stronger in Chicago. Reverend Fry was perhaps the first major American gang apologist. His two books describe this well: Fire and Blackstone(4) (1969, J.B. Lippincott Company, New York) and Locked-Out Americans: A Memoir (1973, Harper & Row, New York). Rev. Fry became the pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago in 1965. Under his spiritual leadership the congregation studied such books as Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (a leftist classic) and thus this church took a decidedly political turn: where the City of Chicago was trying to suppress the gang problem, the church thought it could coopt and reform the gangs.
What happens in 1965-1971 under the influence of Rev. Fry later becomes an expensive historical lesson about gangs. Obviously, with federal funding and foundation funding and private donors, the money did come in that allowed Rev. Fry's church to start its gang program. The church had a close relationship with TWO (The Woodlawn Organization), indeed Fry's 1969 book claims the church was vital in getting TWO started. So the gang program was based at TWO. The gang program accomplished two things: (1) it gave existing gang leaders like Eugene "Bull" Hairston and Jeff Fort further legitimacy and influence in their community, and (2) it provided direct financial support to the gangs through the payroll system that would later be the basis for federal convictions. The community did not benefit, but the gangs did benefit. The community got weaker, the gangs got stronger.
The gangs were not coopted, nor reformed. What did happen is now a historical fact: the influx of money and the added benefit of being able to add the legitimacy of a mainstream religious institution (the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago) to the defense of the gang and its leaders did one thing --- it institutionalized the Black P. Stone Nation in Chicago and gave impetus to other gangs. Sadly, the historical record is clear here: this was tantamount to an insidious "experiment" on the African-American community that feels the most immediate effects of violence from gangs such as the BPSN and the Devil's Disciples (which would later become three separate gangs: Gangster Disciples, Black Gangsters, and the Black Disciples --- See respective gang profiles in Journal of Gang Research, Volume 3, Number 1 through Volume 3, Number 3).
The BPSN did not "fade away" into prosocial legitimacy under the tutelage of Rev. Fry. Fry indicated, in fact, that "between April, 1966, and the end of the year, the organization grew from 500 to 1,500 members. During the twelve months of 1967 the number doubled" (Fry, 1973: p. 15). So the BPSN did in fact rapidly flourish from such economic, political, and social nourishment is what Chicago history shows.
Both of Rev. Fry's books make him appear saintly and persecuted. Not surprisingly, he has some bitter words for law enforcement officers. The legacy of Rev. Fry's unconditional positive regard for the welfare of gang members can still be seen today in Chicago. It allowed a small gang group to become further organized and even more powerful. As this gang profile will also show, Rev. Fry totally failed in any proselytizing mission: this gang today is very Islamic. What gang leaders like Jeff Fort did learn in this early formative stage was that the cloak of religion gave legal and social benefits to the gang. So there was an enduring impact from Rev. Fry. Unfortunately, it was completely detrimental in the long run.
One other very important fact needs to be repeated here that is discussed elsewhere in Chicago gang history (see An Introduction to Gangs, 2000, 5th edition). Many mistakenly recall this aspect of Chicago's gang history as having an important connection to the University of Chicago. That is not true. Rev. Fry existed on the geographical fringe of the University of Chicago but had nothing to do with the university per se, other than hiring some staff from its students. There was no official connection. Rev. Fry was an independent actor who basically turned his church over lock, stock and barrel to the Blackstone Rangers (i.e., BPSN).
History of BPSN and Jeff Fort: His First Federal Sentence for Defrauding the Chicago "Gang Program".
The foundation and government funding in the 1960's was as confused then is it is today regarding the role of active gang members. Rev. Fry's influence in the late 1960's allowed funding specifically to hire active gang members. The first "heat" came in 1968 when the United States Senate began an investigation into such a "Job Training Program". In March of 1972 three BPSN members were convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government. Jeff Fort was one of these, and he got his first federal prison sentence. When Jeff Fort finished his federal sentence, he relocated temporarily to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jeff Fort continued to have a strong connection to Milwaukee even after this time period.(5)
To be able to understand the societal benefits of targeted prosecution against gang leaders, one must understand the pressure that was building due to the fear that gangs like the BPSN were able to generate on the streets of Chicago. Fortunately, there is a book available on this topic. It is the 1971 book by R.T. Sale: The Blackstone Rangers: A Reporter's Account of Time Spent with the Street Gang on Chicago's South Side (New York, Random House). Sale's book about the BPSN is 186 pages of a "novel or narrative" informal writing style. It makes no effort to really understand the larger literature on gangs, therefore it is not a professional contribution. It does describe the flow of government money, particularly Rev. Fry 's involvement with the BPSN. It provides an accurate summary of how Senator McClellan headed the committee to investigate allegations of wrongdoing with the federal money that did wind up in the hands of the BPSN (Sale, 1971: pp. 86-87). It also documents the angst of Chicago's civic leaders in response to the BPSN being able to benefit from federal funding. The record is clear on a related point, however, that Jeff Fort and another gang leader (Mickey Cogwell) were in fact invited to the inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1968.(6) Some speculated this might have been due to the BPSN helping republicans. The record indicates that Jeff Fort did not attend, but sent one of his henchmen instead to the inauguration.
What is also an interesting part of the true history of the BPSN, as documented by Sale (1971: pp. 66-67) is how tension was induced between street gangs like the BPSN and the Black Panthers that were operating in the same areas of Chicago's southside. The evidence seems to be that Jeff Fort's gang were in fact paid by someone to engage in conflict with the Black Panthers, thus preventing the Black Panthers from effectively operating in certain areas (i.e., distributing/selling Black Panther newspapers, etc). No evidence has yet been reported on who exactly provided such funding to the BPSN to covertly suppress the Black Panther operations in Chicago (see: Knox, An Introduction to Gangs, 2000 for further background information).
However, it established a clear pattern of behavior for Jeff Fort's gang: a willingness to do "dirty tricks", for a price. Jeff Fort moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin upon his release from federal custody. This is significant, because later evidence would show that the El Rukn gang that he would form after the "Moorish American" transition period (when he returned to Chicago), would in fact be involved in drug sales operations in Milwaukee. Coincidentally, Rev. Fry's "gang director", Charles LaPaglia, was working in an educational program in Milwaukee at the time Jeff Fort was released from Leavenworth on March 12, 1976 and had some role in Jeff's parole plan.
Jeff Fort's Return to Chicago: A Moorish American Fighting Nazis in Marquette Park
Jeff Fort returned to Chicago, Rev. Fry was long gone, but Jeff now had his own "religious" identity. Jeff Fort adopted the cloak of a religious front: the Moorish American (AKA: MSTA, Moorish Science Temple of America). Today, this religious group has been adapted as a "front" for other prison inmates throughout the USA and is regarded in many correctional facilities as an STG. The time frame here was middle 1970's. It was during this period (circa 1976) that Jeff Fort's mob adopted the use of the large red fez caps, similar in appearance to those worn by Shriners.
Jeff Fort had returned at a time when a Neo-nazi group led by Frank Collin (National Social Party of America, NSPA) had established its operations in the southwest side neighborhood of Marquette Park. Jeff Fort started the Martin Luther King Movement as an umbrella organization to fight the nazis: protesting the nazi presence, marching on Marquette Park, etc. Jeff Fort at the time had use of a small warehouse in Englewood that was used as a staging area for these protests.
Jeff Fort's El Rukn Stage of Gang Involvement
In the El Rukn stage, Jeff Fort focused almost exclusively on "gang business": selling illegal drugs. This allowed him to buy a building that became known as the "Fort", or his own personal "Mosque". Jeff Fort's gang members in the El Rukn's were a hardcore group of older felons. Once becoming an El Rukn, the gang member changed his name by adding the "-el" suffix. In this fashion, to illustrate by example, gang member "Shay Bilker" became "Shay Bilker-el". The gang members used this name in everything they did: any paperwork, student loans, applying for government programs, welfare, etc. Thus it became easy to "pick off" the El Rukns on a computer in the late 1970's and throughout the 1980's, all one had to do was search the last name field in any file for the character string "-el". This was, therefore, not necessarily the smartest gang leader to have: one that would make it easy for government to identify all of the members under his command. But, then again, most gang members are not really known for having advanced critical thinking skills.
Jeff Fort's El Rukn gang also had operations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was simply an extension of the Chicago-based drug sales operation. The evidence for this is clear. As described in the gang profile of the Black Disciples (Journal of Gang Research, Volume 3, No. 3, Spring, 1996, p. 48): Louis Hoover (an El Rukn) "was one of two generals who ran El Rukn's Milwaukee drug operation in the late 1970's and 1980's (source: Chicago Tribune, May 27, 1992, section 2, p. 9, Matt O'Connor).
The best source of information places the birth of the El Rukn identity at an April, 1976 event. In April, 1976, according to federal indictment information, Jeff Fort held a large meeting for members of the BPSN at which he announced that the name of the organization was from then on to be known as the "El Rukn's" and that he, Jeff Fort, was the sole leader of the El Rukn Nation. The meeting has held at a site the gang called "The Camp" (located at 4233 South Indiana Avenue in Chicago). Also at this same large BPSN meeting involving all branches, Jeff Fort basically abolished the Main 21 as leaders and replaced them with his hand-picked generals and his top cronies. These new management staff for the gang included: Felix Mayes, Jake Crowder, Alan Knox, Derrick Porter, Floyd Davis, Walter Pollard, Edward Williams, Roger Bowman, Bernard Green, Thomas Bates, Fred Giles, Eddie Franklin, and Andrew Fort.
So in April, 1976 Jeff Fort basically achieved a complete coup over the BPSN. Jeff Fort at the meeting declared Mickey Cogwell, who had been a founding member of the "Main 21", to be an enemy. Jeff Fort made clear the need to murder Mickey Cogwell because of disloyalty to the "Main 21". Further, on February 25, 1977 Mickey Cogwell was in fact killed.
On April 14, 1978 the El Rukns formed their own corporation to purchase a number of apartment buildings and hotels in Chicago. The corporation was called the "El-Pyramid Maintenance and Management Corporation". One of the first buildings to be purchased was the property at 3945 - 3959 South Drexel in Chicago, previously it had been the "Oakland Square Theater" building but under Jeff Fort's ownership became known as the "El Rukn Grand Major Temple of America", AKA "The Fort". The "Fort" was demolished in June of 1990.
Many gang experts did not realize, then, that El Rukn empire was basically the top leadership of the BPSN. Thus, putting the El Rukn leadership out of business through federal prosecution would still leave intact a vast original organization known as the BPSN. In fact, today Jeff Fort still rules over the BPSN. Further, it will be shown in this profile that Jeff Fort continues to micro-manage the gang even from behind bars in the most secure federal correctional facility in America today!
The Prosecution of the El Rukn's
What appears to have brought an abrupt end to Jeff Fort's El Rukn drug-selling empire was the fact that he made overtures to a hostile foreign nation about contracting to carry out acts of political terrorism. This involved Libya's leader Moiamar Khadafy (see Bert Useem and Peter Kimball, 1989, p. 77, States of Siege: U.S. Prison Riots, 1971-1986, New York: Oxford University Press). The idea was Jeff Fort would be willing to blow up some planes in America for a large price.
To understand the complexity of the situation where a modern American street gang would be willing to perform terrorist acts for a hostile foreign government, we really need to return to the very first issue of this gang journal (Volume One, Number One, 1992: Views From the Field, "The Future is Here Today: Street Gang Trends", pp. 87-90, by Robert W. Dart). As Dart explained (then commander of the gang unit for the Chicago Police Department, and now director of security for the Chicago Transit Authority):
"In the summer of 1986, Libyan operatives from Colonel Moammar Gadhafi met for the first of two clandestine meetings in Panama with Chicago street gang representatives. Speculation about the purpose of these meetings ranged from negotiations for asylum from prosecution in Chicago to seeking money to carry on terrorist activities. It was then that they (i.e., the El Rukns) purchased a LAW missile from FBI agents with the intent to create terrorism by targeting a law enforcement facility or specific gang officers, or both. Later it was reported that this gang sent members half way around the world to Libya and other middle east countries" (Dart, 1992: p. 89).
This was obviously the turning point for the El Rukns. And the beginning of their demise, that is in that form. Hence with clear gang involvement in terrorism, federal prosecution came swiftly and strongly. Jeff Fort received an 80 year federal prison sentence for plotting to engage in acts of terrorism in the U.S. on behalf of Libya. If he ever did serve all the federal sentence, he would still face a consecutive sentence of another 75 years in Illinois' prison system for a 1988 murder conviction. So thanks to effective federal and state prosecution, Jeff Fort is never going to see the streets again.
The El Rukn Prosecution Aftermath: The Federal Prosecutor is Fired
We probably should have mentioned that some problems from a defense point of view did emerge during the federal El Rukn prosecution. The issue was about allowing government witnesses certain "privileges" even though they too were in custody. The lax supervision accorded some of these witnesses resulted in allegations that the prosecution witnesses were able to consume drugs and engage in sex while in federal custody. The bottom line: the leading assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted and won convictions against over fifty El Rukns including their leader Jeff Fort, William R. Hogan, Jr. was fired on April 11th, 1996. Fifteen El Rukns who had been convicted were able to win retrials and many others were able to plea bargain for lighter federal prison sentences, because their defense attorneys petitioned a federal judge that there was prosecutorial misconduct. It was never clearly established that the "misconduct", if any, was attributable to U.S. Attorney Hogan. The only factual issue made public, because of the secrecy being maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice on this issue, was the existence of a 1989 memorandum from another federal attorney that mentioned possible drug abuse among some of the governments witnesses that were in custody. The judicial issue here was that of suppressing evidence.
The untold story about the aftermath of the El Rukn prosecution is that Jeff Fort is still in the drivers seat and continues to have remarkable influence over street gang activities even from behind federal bars. The new evidence accumulated for this gang profile may force some serious effort to reconsider ways of dealing with gang leaders in custody.
JEFF FORT'S INFLUENCE OVER THE BPSN WHILE CURRENTLY IN FEDERAL PRISON
We don't know how he does it, all we know is what we see: Jeff Fort is still able to influence the BPSN even while currently in federal prison. One BPSN informant gave us a current photograph of Jeff Fort that shows Jeff in his cell: his cell is adorned with an Islamic picture, he has a entire "rack" of commissary goodies in his cell in the photo suggesting he is not wanting for much. And the photo shows Jeff holding his right hand up where the first index finger is pointed upwards. This is actually a fairly new gang hand sign for the BPSN that few gang experts seem to recognize: it means "we are one". Jeff Fort appears very muscular in this photo. This photo of Jeff in his federal prison cell has been copied and recopied many times by BPSN members who keep it as a memento of their leader.
Subsequent to the publication of the first gang profile of the BPSN in this journal, there was news media coverage of how the Federal Bureau of Prisons had "cracked down" on Jeff Fort's attempts at using his unique language code in letters and telephone calls to continue to influence gang activities on the streets.
JEFF FORT'S LETTERS TO THE BPSN TROOPS: NEW LITERATURE AND STARTING A NEW POLITICAL FRONT ORGANIZATION IN ILLINOIS
A letter bearing Jeff Fort's current BPSN gang name (Khalifa-Abdul Malik) and dated 3-13-95 demonstrates how the gang helped the GD front group "21st Century V.O.T.E." to stage protests in Chicago as well as how quickly the BPSN then were able to start their own political front group. Here is the full text of the letter:
"In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful.
As-salaam Alaikum.
Wali! It is a good demonstration as far as the assistance you have been giving 21st VOTE. But, I feel we should have our own political base, that we can call our own. We should train our own brothers and sisters, even the ones that are not into organization's.
I want you to start training our brothers and sisters, but we must first get a political base and choose a name for our base before any training takes place. We should also reach out to our allies heads to get their support. I want Wai-keeta, Jack Black and Sandman, also Moose to support our movement. I want each one of the four to put up one hundred members each, which make a total of four hundred to be trained by you. I want Musambay to work with you. Get back with me about this! 3-13-95."
Why was Jeff Fort jealous of the GD political front group (21st Century V.O.T.E.)? Because one of the main operatives of 21st V.O.T.E. (Wallace "Gator" Bradley) was able to meet with President Bill Clinton in the White House's oval office in early 1994, and this legitimacy given to the GD gang provided a lot of political momentum that allowed the GD's to run several candidates for local elections in Chicago in 1995 as well. What happened to the BPSN after this letter from the Chief Malik? Well, things happened fast.
A typed memorandum addressed to "All Mahdi's" appeared quickly to provide new marching orders to the BPSN troops. Mahdi's are BPSN with any rank. The "Chairman" here is the outside BPSN leader who manages the BPSN members for the Malik. We are providing this memorandum in its entirety here:
"To: All Mahdi's
From: The Chairman
Re: Programs and Projects
Date: April 13, 1995
Before starting let us say 20 to the Honorable Body of Mahdi's.
As Chairman for the next 3 years I want to first outline a few Programs that will be Implemented throughout this City, throughout this State and throughout this Country, that will produce the Political, Economic and Social Growth of Our Nation.
As Responsible members of the Governing Body, it is your duty and responsibility to Plan, Organize and Implement Proclamation 1-A and Any and All Additions and/or Attachments to it.
Through unity, political action and community service, we can and shall reach our goals.
We all bear witness to the indisputable fact that "In unity there is strength and in people (numbers) there is power". Therefore, when we pull all of our people together and we all aid and assist in the following programs and work towards the same goals, we will have the political power to influence the decisions that are made that affect our everyday lives. This will be done through voter education & voter registration.
We will have the economic power to open and operate legitimate businesses, real estate and provide jobs for our people.
We will also develope social power by instilling pride, self-respect, honor and love, truth, peace, freedom and justice in the hearts and minds of the membership.
Our Nation will be networking with organizations all over the City. Representatives must be selected, groomed and prepared so they can be dispatched to establish lines of communication and working relationships in the areas of politics, business, jobs, peace in the communities and any other area that contributes to the uplift of the Afro-American people and community.
Our first network and relationship has been established with an organization called C.R.E.S.T. (Citizens Responding to Emergency Situations Today). They are lawfully chartered and headquartered at 2440 E. 75th Street (75th & Phillips). They will be holding a membership drive seeking volunteers to aid and assist in implementing their programs through political action and community service.
The board of directors of C.R.E.S.T. has offered us an office in their headquarters through which we can operate out of to plan, organize and implement the programs and projects in Proclamation 1-A. We will have community meetings every 2 weeks with all community leaders.
Through and with the assistance of C.R.E.S.T., we can be about improving the image of our community and lead our community leaders into the light of legal, strong and clean image.
Leadership is responsible and accountable for the implementation, establishment and teaching of Proclamation 1-A. The outpost of C.R.E.S.T. is there to assist you in all affairs, and you must be available to assist C.R.E.S.T. in its legitimate aspirations. Your cooperation in making C.R.E.S.T. a success is and should be mandatory and one of your top priorities. The phones are not on as of yet, but are anticipated to be on soon. The number will be made available to you when service is on.
I want to thank you in advance for any and all aid and assistance you have given and will give in the future.
My brothers & sisters, it takes finance to uplift the Nation, therefore, we shall establish an account with the local banking industry, so any and all financial donations and/or contributions can be sent to the treasurer.
To our brothers and sisters who are incarcerated, letters can be sent to the same address, as C.R.E.S.T. has a program geared towards maintaining family ties between those incarcerated and their families.
I welcome and encourage any positive, legitimate ideas, plans and/or programs geared towards the uplift of our Nation, the Islamic community and the Afro-American community as a whole.
Peace,
The Chairman"
Obviously, C.R.E.S.T. was formed rather quickly. Other documents were also analyzed from BPSN informants about this development. These documents show that C.R.E.S.T. did in fact gain a legitimate official state charter as a not-for-profit corporation in the State of Illinois. Other documents show C.R.E.S.T. to be very similar in nature to the front group used by the Gangster Disciples (i.e., 21st Century V.O.T.E.): they are really concerned about street gang violence, school drop outs, unemployment, the rising number of people going to prison, teenage pregnancy, etc.
The internal written gang document cited above called "Proclamation 1-A" is actually signed by Chief Malik (i.e., Jeff Fort) and dated 4-23-93. We feel it is useful to provide all of this internal written code of the BPSN in its entirety here:
"Proclamation 1-A.
To all brothers of the B.P.S.N. who recognize me as their Chief Malik and who for whatever reason are not at this time inclined toward the true religion Al Islam, this is my request.
As of this day each leader of each branch of B.P.S.N. will be referred to (title) Al Akbar, which means servant of the Greatest and Allah (God) is the Greatest.
His function as the leader of his particular branch will be to keep in touch with the following.
1. All Al Akbar's (leaders) of each branch will be responsible and in charge of their own finances.
2. Each Al Akbar must seek to have more communication with the other Al Akbars to demonstrate unity of strength of purpose, and this love and understanding must be filtered down throughout the body.
3. Brothers who are in Aliens as well as in society are to be friends and aiders of the muslim community who follow the sunna of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) and work hard to prevent any conflict between the two organizations.
4. The Chief Malik is the only one over each of the Al Akbars, however my Amirs are to be respected in terms of considering their (Amirs) suggestions and adhere to all instructions that comes to you, from me, through them.
5. I do not insist that you attend Jumah (Friday Prayer) at this juncture. I do ask you to recognize Allah as God Almighty and that you discontinue the consumption of the swine (Pork) because it is an abomination and hazzard to your health.
6. The flag of the Masjid Al Ka'bah and the B.P.S.N. will continue to be Red Black and Green, the only difference will be that the B.P.S.N. flag will have those initials on it written in gold and the Masjid Al Ka'bah will have that name and the name of Allah written on it. The Red represents the blood we have shed, the Black represents our people and the Green represents the land we must obtain and the growth we must produce. The B.P.S.N. symbol will still be the Pyramid with a five pointed green star in the center of the Pyramid with Almighty written over the top of the sun with Black P. Stone under the pyramid and the word Nation at the bottom of the circle.
7. In our efforts to bring the city together to promote peace, success and financial security for our people, we must reach out for our Allies and other groups that want to attach (Stone) to the end of their name and bring them into the Nation.
8. All leaders of Allies and groups who agree to embrace the Nation will still maintain their leadership status of their particular groups and their leaders will be called Al Akbar also.
9. The Lords and Latin Kings are independent Nations who have been our long standing Allies. This proclamation does not refer to them nor does it change the relationship that we have always held with them.
10. In all Aliens, only the Amirs will choose who will be Al Akbars regardless of what organization or group you are in as long as your particular leader has given allegence (sic) to the Chief Malik. This is necessary in order to maintain peace and the recognition of leadership inside the aliens.
11. All Al Akbars are free to appoint leadership positions under them.
The Chief Malik extends his love to all the Al Akbars and to all the members of B.P.S.N.
We love each other more as we grow.
(signed) Chief Malik, 4-23-93"
At this point in the BPSN profile the reader should realize, of course, that "Chief Malik" is and always has been Jeff Fort. In 1993 Jeff Fort was in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or "Aliens" as he refers to correctional institutions. Jeff Fort learned during his leadership of the El Rukn gang that requiring members to modify their name was a way to increase the solidarity of the gang members: i.e., requiring an El Rukn member named Jimmy Jones to become "Jimmy Jones-El" basically helped to increase the gang identity in a cult-like fashion. Of course, it meant these persons could be picked off easier on a computer name search of public records as well. Such persons would apply for jobs in the name of "Jimmy Jones-El", own property or obtain licenses and execute legal documents in the same vein. By modifying the persons name, the members become "married" to the gang identity. Any gang that does this is a sophisticated organization in this respect in that it exploits the psychology of human identity.
THE RISE OF GANGS AND THE INMATE RIGHTS MOVEMENT: WHY WE NEED TO MOVE FROM "ZERO TOLERANCE" ON GANGS TO "NEGATIVE TOLERANCE"
Gang leaders behind bars, or "Aliens", as Jeff Fort calls prisons, quickly learned that hiding behind a religious identity was a way to adapt, improvise, overcome and persevere in a correctional environment. This was due to the lifting of the "hands off doctrine" in courts regarding inmate rights. Beginning in the 1960's and well established in the 1970's, prison inmates obtained a large number of new "rights". Inmates tend to know their legal rights and how to exploit them. Gang leaders are most adept at exploiting a free and open society that extends rights to the individual.
We need to recall these are rights extended to the individual and not to the gang or any organization that represents a security threat. Gangs and gang leaders since the 1970's have systematically exploited these inmate rights to be able to more effectively operate behind bars. We also need to realize that in explaining the rise of gangs inside correctional institutions and their ability to operate behind bars in the last two decades must be understood in the context of the inmate rights movement. When the judicial branch of government decided it could micro-manage the executive branch of government the inmate rights movement probably did increase the well-being of individual inmates, but it did so at the expense of increasing the ability of the gang to operate as an organization and entity even though its leaders were behind bars. Many gang experts point to state prisons like those in Illinois where gang leaders like Larry Hoover have been able, in this context, to continue to manage their gang from behind bars; however, this gang profile shows that federal prisons also must face such criticism.
Some correctional institutions today, whether operated as a part of a state government or as private proprietary contractors, allow gang members to wear gang clothes behind bars. These conditions which can be said to have an atmosphere of "positive tolerance for gangs" that this author has seen over the years have one thing in common: the administrators are typically very ignorant about the threat of gangs or gang members and therefore the gangs typically operate right under the nose of such officials. Obviously, these gang members are therefore enjoying more rights than children in a lot of schools where such restrictions are now in place. The reason that many schools and some correctional facilities and court rooms have prohibitions against the wearing of gang clothing is that from a zero-tolerance perspective it is clear that wearing gang attire creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation: and any administrator that tolerates this does potentially face some legal liabilities.
Zero tolerance means not allowing any gang activities and having policies in place that prohibit the ability of the gang or gang members from instilling fear and intimidation. Zero tolerance with regard to gangs is a concept going back to 1991. A more proactive approach is probably justified today: negative tolerance for gangs. A policy of negative tolerance for gangs would not simply prohibit such gang activities, it would attach sanctions and penalties to such behavior.
Correctional administrators have a long way to go towards dealing with the modern American gang threat. However, the smartest idea would be to move towards a "negative tolerance" policy on gangs. In the zero tolerance policy, laws or regulations are established to the effect that gangs are not tolerated, in other words it amounts to an admonition against gang activity. In the negative tolerance policy, some "muscle" is added to the zero tolerance policy to act as a deterrent to gang activity. The way to keep gangs out of a community, or from increasing in threat level, is to simply begin with a negative tolerance policy not a zero tolerance policy. The crime threat from individuals is different from the crime threat posed by a group or organization (i.e., a "gang"). To deter a gang, one needs to increase the "cost" side of the equation when gang members can benefit and gain in a situation of exploiting individual rights in a free and open society such as our own.
THE FUSION OF ISLAMIC RELIGION AND THE GANG IDENTITY IN THE B.P.S.N.
Jeff Fort learned from Rev. Fry that any time a gang can attach itself to a legitimate social institution such as a church, one can increase the power of the gang. The reason this is true is that it confers of legitimacy to the gang and therefore shields the gang in the same community.(7) Jeff Fort's career up to the present demonstrates this lesson and provides a blue print we can probably expect to be followed by other gangs. Jeff Fort first applied this when he was in his Moorish American stage and then had his empire of "El Rukns" where he had his own "temple" or "mosque" with an MSTA type of identity. On the fringe of religious sects, anyone is free to establish their own religious identity in America and to do so unchallenged.
Today, what also makes the B.P.S.N. unique is the fusion of an Islamic religious identity with regular gang operations. This is apparent in the internal written document of the BPSN entitled "Addition to Proclamation One & One A". This is provided in its entirety here.
Cloaked in the use of Islamic phrases, the BPSN gang grossly perverts Islamic religion by using this quasi-religious identity as a vehicle for gang organization and covert communications. Jeff Fort early in his career became an expert in code-switching: using special terms and phrases that have a "double-meaning", allowing him and his indoctrinated gang members to communicate criminal plans by the use of special phrases and terminology, which if heard or intercepted by someone outside of his gang might seem innocuous.
(1.) Abdul, is our Nations family name, The B.P.S.N. is our Nation. There are two sides which make up the membership of this Nation. The "Masjid Al-Ka'Bah" makes up the religious side of our Nation, yet there is only one nation!
(2.) If a brothers name is stated as Abdul "Tye" Ka'bah this speaks of two things. It states his being a member of the B.P.S.N.. He attends the Masjid Al-Ka'bah for Fridays Jumah Prayer Service. Also this brother attends the Nations meeting as a B.P.S.N. member. He shall refer to me as, "Imam Abdul Malik Ka'bah".
(3.) If a brothers name is stated as Abdul "Pawnee", it states that this brother is a member of the B.P.S.N. and he has yet to decide on attending Jumah prayer services. He shall refer to me as "Chief Abdul Malik". I shall not and will not judge the Government Body nor members by whom attends Jumah or does not attend the services. But by those whom know only one God, that being "Father-God Allah", and those whom Pledge their allegiance to me and strive for the upliftment of our Nation. Should a brother desire to embrace the teaching of Islam, I look for him to attend the Masjid Al Ka'bah. Whenever one of our brothers passes to the heavenly plane and burial services are given, we want an Islamic minister present to speak in terms to our love for that divine brother. This can only be done with the permission of family & relatives. We have dealt with the way all B.P.S.N. members will carry their titles example: Abdul and their second name as they so choose.
This now concerns the Government body of the whole Nation. This is the correct way the Government body titles are to be stated. Should a brother state his title as being: Al Akbar Prince Abdul "Kimani". Then such is correct. All Generals titles must be: (1.) General (2.) Abdul ( 3.) the name they choose. All Officers (1.) Officer (2.) Abdul (3.) the name they choose. So these names without "Ka'bah" are our brothers who do not yet attend Jumah. And no one is to attempt to force any of these brothers to attend services. Important is the factor of our names being "Abdul". It states a Family being one. We are one!
Now all Amirs are to function as Amirs in their full confirmation within "Masjid Al Ka'bah", yet in the Nation they shall function as Al Akbars. All Mufti's shall function as Mufti's within the "Masjid Al Ka'bah", yet in the Nation they shall function as Generals. All Sharieff's will function as "Sharieffs's" within "Masjid Al Ka'bah", yet in the Nation they shall function as Officers.
No one is to get upset or angry with neither a Government member nor member of the Nation. We must display Love and Unity amongst our brothers. We must strive to building our Nation together.
Your Imam Abdul Malik Ka'bah
MIXING THE GANG ROLES WITH RELIGIOUS ROLES: HIDING BEHIND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION TO PLAY OUT GANG ROLES
There is another internal written document of the B.P.S.N. called "Attachment to Proclamation's 1 & 1A". It basically shows how ludicrous these internal written gang documents can be today. For example, here is a centralized authoritarian organization that enforces compliance with the threat of violence or death to members and demands such members to change their name and then has the audacity in its written documents to imply a value of autonomy in a statement deriding "robots". This is a gang that has found a way to try to conceal its organization as being a "gang" by using a religious "front". In the document entitled "Addition to Proclamation One & One A" we saw that religious meetings are held: but gang roles are clearly defined inside such religious meetings. In the document entitled "Attachment to Proclamation's 1 & 1A" we will see more of how the BPSN structures itself so as to conceal itself as a gang organization. We also see how its own version of Islamic "religion" is differentiated from the genuine version of Islam: BPSN members have been granted certain exemptions in terms of behavior from their "Chief Malik": their gang leader is the head of their religion.
(1.) Within the A.B.P.S.N. within society each branch shall have an Al-Akbar. This Al-Akbar shall appoint three generals and three officers. The "Malik" is also putting together a group called the Main 21.
(2.) The Government body of the A.B.P.S.N. consists of Al-Akbars, Generals, Main 21, and Officers. The total body in general will be called "Mahdi"...just as the Government body of the Masjid Al-Ka'bah consists of Amirs, Muftis, and Sharieff's. This government body being called Iquaams.
(3.) Together the Iquamms and Mahdis represent the entire body of this Nation.
(4.) Within the Aliens, the Iquamms are responsible for placing the "Mahdis" in positions within the Aliens..Then in order to place more Mahdis in position. It shall be did through the sanctioning of Mahdis within both society and the Aliens. Yet within society it is strictly the decision of both the Iquaams and Mahdis in their positions.
I want both the Iquaams and Mahdis to seek out for righteous Brothers to be a part of this movement. If we see the Elders and our youth being taken advantage of, we must stop that.
We must never ask of our brothers and sisters to do anything that we would not do ourselves.
We must live in accordance to our principles: Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom, and Justice.
None of us are to give the impression that our Nation is a gang. We are in no way a gang...we are the Vanguard of our people.
In regards to our brothers within the Masjid Al-Ka'bah, we must be aware of those whom strive to lead our Muslim brothers down the path of trouble and disunity. We have some Muslims whom teach that rapping, singing, dancing, and etc. are forbidden, yet we the members of the members of the Masjid Al-Ka'bah, are believers in the teachings of Allah, we are human beings, we sing, we rapp, and we dance. This is just so long as we dance where it is not in a profanatory and seducing manner. What the people of our Nation are not, are Robots.
We shall never use "Racist" slurs in regards to other nationalities, nor in speaking in terms to ourselves.
Imam Abdul "Malik" Ka'Bah...Chief Abdul "Malik".
HOW A GANG LEADER THAN CANNOT CORRECTLY SPELL "COLLEGE" WANTS TO OPERATE HIS GANG ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES
One of the newest areas of training services that the National Gang Crime Research Center has had to focus on is in the college and university arena. We have provided such gang awareness, identification, and policy development training to judicial officers: these are the persons in higher education who face the issue of dealing with discipline against errant college and university students. Today it is not uncommon that such incidents calling for the role of the judicial officer (theft, assault, intimidation, drugs, etc) on college campuses involve gang members. Gangs do operate and recruit on college and university campuses throughout the United States.
But it is rare to find hard direct evidence of serious gang involvement on college campuses as a matter of an overall design or plan by the gang to extend its influence from being a "street gang" to being also a "campus gang" as well. The internal written materials of the BPSN made available from a BPSN informant, however, demonstrate exactly that: an intent from the BPSN leader, Jeff Fort (while currently serving time in federal prison), to organize on college and university campuses. Apparently the gang leader does not have to be able to correctly spell "college" to accomplish this goal. We have verified such BPSN gang members on campus from the Chicago area to as far south as Mississippi.
The internal document we are referring to here is a letter from the Chief Malik himself. The letter is transcribed exactly as it appears in its hand-printed style.
In the name of Allah, Most gracious, Most merciful.
Amir-Abdul Rasheem Ka'bah.
As salaam Alaikum!
Amir, I want you and Prince-Abdul The Sheik Ka-bah, Imam-Abdul Saber Ka'Bah, Akbar Prince-Abdul Raheem, and Akbar Prince-Abdul Wali to go to Imam-Abdul Hasamadeem Ka'Bah house and Imam-Abdul Ka'bah house and see Imam-Abdul Raymoe also Imam-Abdul Ben. I want you to express to Hasamadeem, that I have resituated everything and put it in proper order. Let him know that he "is not" to present himself as the Prince of the ABPSN. We have Madhis over the ABPSN. The Iquaams are to put Madihs in place through out there particular collage. Make sure the Iquaams get copies of that 2nd letter. I don't want anyone to second guess what I say.
It is six chairman over the meetings of the madihs. I want the appointed chairman who are Akbar Princes to establish close ties with the Madihs at all collages (sic) as the madihs put them together. I want one Akbar-Abdul in every major and junior collage. The madihs that seek counsel from the Iquaams are to be clear on how the Khalifa wants it to be carried. I want the Iquaams to push forward so that the Masjid Al-Ka'bah Nation can push forward for the ABPSN. But guard against Iquaams or Madihs who try to make brothers there (sic) own personal solieders (sic) as far as using brothers for there (sic) own personal gain. That won't be allowed. I want the Iquaams and Madihs to go to every major collage (sic) within a three month span. To make sure the Khalifa program is clear.
Make sure copies be made of this letter and sent to all of the collages (sic) and all the collages (sic) where Imam-Abdul Omar Ka'bah and Sheik-Abdul Reeco Ka'bah attens (sic) collage.
Extend my salaams to all of the brothers and sisters of the Masjid Al-Ka'bah Nation also extend my stone love to the brothers and sisters of the ABPSN.
Khalifa-Abdul Malik Ka'bah,
3-26
THE SOCINT PROFILE OF BPSN MEMBERS
A sample of BPSN members was able to be identified from Project GANGPINT (see the Project GANGPINT report, 1995, NGCRC, the first national needs assessment for gang prevention and gang intervention that systematically analyzed nearly 2,000 gang members in many parts of the USA) for a quantitative look at BPSN members. Using this data provides a comprehensive social, behavioral, psychological, and developmental lifespan profile of gang members. A sample of N = 41 such BPSN members in the much larger Project GANGFACT national sample was available for the social intelligence profile here.
Most were interviewed in Chicago (Audy Home, Cook County Jail, an Alternative High School) but others came from sites in the following areas: Gary, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Ohio juvenile correctional system; and a private program in Rock Island, Illinois.
Here is the age developmental lifespan analysis:
Age Gang/Risk Developmental Factor Over the Lifespan
9.1 First heard anything about gangs and met someone in a gang
10.7 First saw someone killed or injured by gang violence
10.8 First "bullied" by someone else in school
11.1 First joined the BPSN gang
11.6 First fired a pistol or revolver
11.8 First "bullied" someone else in school
12.0 First got their own real gun
12.2 First got a permanent tattoo
12.7 First arrested for any crime
15.7 Average age today at time survey for this profile
25.4 Age they expect to get legally married
26.6 Age they expect to quit the gang
The average or mean ages are shown above. Thus, the typical BPSN member profile is very predictable in terms of life events. It is clear the BPSN, like most gangs in America today, exploits young children in a systematic criminal fashion. It draws its new recruits from "pee wees", children still in elementary school. Further it does this "at will" facing no known criminal or civil penalties anywhere in the United States: as no state and no federal law exists prohibiting adult criminal gang leaders from corrupting children in this fashion.
Here are some other traits and characteristics of the typical BPSN member:
*** 48.6 percent have been in court-mandated psychological counseling or therapy.
*** 33.3 percent have been in a drub/substance abuse counseling program.
*** Average age of members surveyed for this profile is 15.7 years of age.
*** Typical member last completed the ninth grade in education.
*** Half have permanent tattoos.
*** Most (82.1%) indicate they do believe in God (of which 40 percent expect to go to hell, and 60 percent expect to go to heaven in the afterlife).
*** Half (55%) have been demoted in school.
*** Half believe that some parents benefit financially from having a child who is a gang member.
*** Most (78.9%) have seen friends or family members killed by gangs.
*** Most (82.1%) do not want their own children to grow up to be gang members.
*** Half (57.5%) report someone in their family has a substance abuse problem.
*** Typical member has an average of 10.2 prior arrests. The average age of first arrest for this BPSN sample is 12.7 years of age as indicated in the lifespan analysis above.
*** Most (84.6%) have been suspended from school before. About half (56.4%) have been expelled from school before.
*** Some 41 percent have tried to quit the gang.
*** Most (73.7%) report having held some rank in the gang.
*** Over half (59.5%) have been violated by their own gang.
*** Some 73 percent have fired a gun at someone in the defense of BPSN turf.
*** Half of these BPSN members (48.6%) have been a shooter in a drive-by shooting, typically defending the gang's drug business.
*** Three-fourths of these BPSN members (75.7%) have helped to recruit others into the gang. Thus, they are aggressive recruiters for the gang, perhaps owing to some extent to the religious zealotry aspect of this gang's version of Islamic ideology. Thus, it could pose a genuine threat to college campuses if this gang is indeed targeting college and university environments for its new activities.
*** Over half (55.6%) reported that "in my gang, the things the gang does are approved by a higher up leader".
*** Most (74.4%) report their gang has written rules; and (84.2%) adult leaders who have been in the gang for many years; and that their gang (86.8%) provides money to needy members in or out of jail/prison; and most members report (89.5%) that they have family members who are also in a gang; and that their gang holds regular meetings (73.7%); and that their gang keeps an account that pays for only legal defense (69.4%); that their gang keeps a treasury (67.6%).
Overall, the profile here is very consistent with that of the gang member who belongs to a centralized, organized, authoritarian gang structure. This person has the same profile of an hard core offender: an early start in delinquency, troubled home life, school failure, etc. The gang for them functions more like a trade union guild for hard core offenders.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ILLITERATE CAREER CRIMINALS MIX A LITTLE BIT OF "ISLAM" WITH AMERICAN GANG CRIME?
Actually, there are a number of such gangs like the BPSN operating in the USA today that do this: read a page or two from the Koran, pick and mix a few phrases that can be adapted to their twisted moral code, and they get away "passing" as a semi-religious group of some kind; when in fact, they are nothing more than criminal gangs run by adult career criminals. Their expertise is not following the tenets of Islam, nor in any sense trying to live an Islamic lifestyle other than denouncing pork products; their expertise is in street violence and drug sales. Pushed or pulled to a higher level of violence, as illustrated in the BPSN, they are totally capable of being the true "enemy within": the quisling effect extraordinaire!
American correctional institutions (prisons, jails, etc) are suffering from the abuse of religious rights by inmates who are involved in gangs like the BPSN. They insist on having their own "Islamic cleryman" come in; they get further agitated and become more difficult to manage. Consider this recent report from a Cook County Jail correctional officer:
"I don't know who this guy is that comes in to provide the Islamic services, but when the inmates attend it, they become very unruly: once recently they refused to lock up, that is go back to their cells, and we had a problem on our hands. The kind of religion they are hearing is more anti-American politics than religion, from what I can tell, but the inmates love it. It's like showing porno movies to rapists, they already hate their society, and now at government expense they can get another reason to hate their society".
GANG THREAT ANALYSIS
The BPSN gang is a level 3 gang: it is a formal organization, complete with written internal codes, by-laws, etc; it operates in numerous geographically non-contiguous areas; it is interstate in criminal function; and its tenure and history make it one of the oldest active gangs in the United States today.
On a scale of 0 to 10 this gang would rate a 7.5 or higher in terms of the gang crime severity threat level. This is a high crime threat group. The reason for this designation is two-fold: (1) the top leader of the gang is currently in federal prison for acts of domestic terrorism and is still able to have substantial influence over his gang, (2) the gang dances on the border of being an authoritarian religious cult/criminal organization in its blending of Islamic beliefs and symbols with its crime patterns, and (3) this gang is expected to pose continuing problems for a number of communities throughout the United States.
It is a sophisticated adult-run gang that aggressively recruits young gullible children. This gang also operates on college and university campuses. This gang, therefore, unlike many law enforcement agencies in the United States does in fact have a strategic plan.
HOW TO EFFECTIVELY PREVENT THE RISE OF GANGS LIKE THE BPSN
Gang leaders want to have their own version of a "government", one that has the real control over the streets of any given community in which the gang exists. Anything any person does to aid or assist a gang or its members will strengthen that gang. This includes not only the obvious: the manifest function of supporting a gang --- by giving it direct financial aid in the form of grants (e.g., the Rev. Fry phenomenon). This also includes indirect activities, or the latent function of support, such as not reporting the activities of local gang members, such as the drug customers who rely on the gang as a source of illegal narcotics. This also includes any level of "negotiating" with the gang, its leaders, or its members, because in negotiating with the gang one is basically acknowledging their legitimate control or influence or status an equal bargaining agent. A gang has no legitimate control. A gang has only that control that is illegal (the power of armed conflict, threats, intimidation, violence, etc), or that control that is surrendered to the gang. It is a major mistake to surrender any control over any resource to any gang or gang member. It is a major mistake of any legitimate social institution to collaborate with a gang or a front group operated by a gang. These are lessons many American communities have yet to learn.
It is also important to point out some issues of civil liability for business and other property owners who provide aid and assistance to gangs: allowing the use of property by a gang converts that establishment into a de facto gang turf, it becomes identifiable first to rival gangs who are always looking for "attack sites", and puts at risk anyone in or near such premises. This is the issue of premises liability: increasingly, third-party law suits are being directed at business owners when gang violence erupts in such contexts (restaurants, rental properties, movie theaters, arcades, etc). Sometimes the gang can corrupt an environment and take it over; exerting undue influence and having a conspicuous presense. When an employee knowingly allows or facilitates this conversion of the property to gang usage, or by not taking immediate action to displace the gang from the area or suppress its acting-out behavior, then the issue of liability becomes very real in terms of law suits from victims of gang violence: such injured parties do not sue the gang, they sue the business or establishment that tolerated this kind of irresponsible lack of due diligence and their failure to protect.
Gang members thrive under weak and naive government policies. In fact, to understand the gang viewpoint on government is similar to understanding the viewpoint of the typical gang member on gun control: there is a double entendre, or double meaning to the issue. One can ask a simple question of a gang member such as "do you believe in gun control" and ask them to write out their answer and invariably you will find someone write something to the effect: "yes...I believe in gun control, if there are any guns around I want to be in control of them". This is not dissimilar to how gang members view government. Gang organizations emulate government and other legitimate social forms. To a gang member "government" means control and authority. They want control, authority, and the power. To have a meaningful national gang abatement strategy we are going to have to systematically remove any control and authority that gangs and gang members illegally use or abuse. Minimally, we are going to have to develop consensus that at least there will be no continuation of the kind of informal "gang development support" that characterized the rise of the BPSN empire in Chicago and elsewhere.
Some gangs like the Gangster Disciples have been able to translate their ability to get close to elected government officials into their own political power. Like a tick sucking the blood of a dog, gangs cozy up to naive politicians and leaders in order gain direct and indirect parasitic benefits. This is not a new phenomenon, this is human history. When the leader of "21st Century V.O.T.E." (Wallace "Gator" Bradley), the political front group for the Gangster Disciples, was able to personally meet with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office of the White House on January 24th, 1994, the GD's gained enormous political momentum in Chicago communities. The GDs gained so much from the positive attention bestowed on their front group's representative that they were able to slate several persons to run for office in the Chicago city council elections. Some gangs like the BPSN have been able to manipulate liberal or "do gooder" members of the clergy in a similar fashion. More responsibly enlightened public education is urgently needed to effectively address this issue.
Finally, we are going to have to rethink the idea that federal prison necessarily neutralizes a gang leader. This gang profile revealed that Jeff Fort has continued to have an active influence on the BPSN up to the current day. Our Nation's prison system was not designed for the kind of calculating criminal adult gang leader like Jeff Fort: there are far too many privileges and rights that can be abused in the name of the gang organization (i.e., the rights to telephone calls, mail, uncensored communication with the press and legal counsel, and today for the BPSN and all other gangs: their abuse of religious rights). It is time to rethink these rights in light of the imminent risk and jeopardy facing not only the security of the correctional institution itself (i.e., inmates and staff), but also the continuing threat to the wider outside community whose judges sent the offender to that very same correctional system. Also, it is timely to remember that we do have "enemies" within our borders who are willing to work with hostile foreign terrorists, the BPSN is documented quite well to fit that picture: what we have to worry about is how we as a Nation have neglected to examine other gangs who might also fit this profile.
Fry, John R. Fry, 1969, Fire and Blackstone(8), J.B. Lippincott Company, New York and Locked-Out Americans: A Memoir, 1973, Harper & Row, New York.
These two books are basically the revision of Rev. Fry's history with the BPSN gang. He portrays himself as a kind of savior to the inner-city African-American community. He blames politicians for meddling in his efforts to help the African-American community by his efforts to take the bang out of the BPSN gang.
Knox, George W., 2000, An Introduction to Gangs, New Chicago School Press, Peotone, IL.
The first full textbook on gangs, now in its 5th expanded and revised edition. Available through: American Correctional Association, call 1-800-ACA-JOIN, ask to be connected to the PUBLICATIONS DIVISION; it can be ordered by credit card and shipped out same day.
Perkins, Useni Eugene, 1987, Explosion of Chicago's Black Street Gangs: 1900 to Present, Chicago: Third World Press).
This is non-technical and useful social history of some of Chicago's Black street gangs. It has not been updated in the last twenty years, but it provides useful historical information.
Project GANGPINT, 1995, National Gang Crime Research Center, Special Report; available at the NGCRC website: www.ngcrc.com
The first massive study of gang prevention and gang intervention issues; examined what conditions would have to be dealt with in order to effectively prevent and intervene with gang problems; what "hurdles" exist; and how differential results might be expected depending on the scope and extent of gang socialization and the nature of the gang itself.
Sale, R.T., 1971, The Blackstone Rangers: A Reporter's Account of Time Spent with the Street Gang on Chicago's South Side, New York, Random House.
This 186 page "novel narrative" style is not a book that cites the social science literature, or even a single previous study of gangs. Describes the government money flow; where regarding John Fry's involvement with the Stones, how Senator McClellan headed the committee to investigate allegations of wrongdoing with federal money (pp. 86-87), and why then Mayor Daley (p. 87) also was involved in this: "Pressure from Mayor Daley helped to explain why McClellan was making such bitter charges, claiming, for instance, that federal money was financing the formation of a new "Black Mafia" (the Stones) which was supposed to be taking criminal control of the South Side", p. 87.
Useem, Bert and Peter Kimball, 1989, States of Siege: U.S. Prison Riots, 1971-1986, New York: Oxford University Press.
An excellent reference work on prison disturbances in the USA, this criminological monograph also documents the role of the BPSN in contract "for hire" terrorist work with Libya. It was this conspiracy to commit terrorism charge that resulted in Jeff Fort's current federal life prison sentence. Jeff Fort is the leader of the BPSN gang.
1. The church is located at 6400 South Kimbark, Chicago, Illinois.
2. This is the younger brother of Eugene "Bull" Hairston. The son of Eugene "Bull" Hairston is BPSN member "Omar Bull" and heads up the Titanics branch of the BPSN.
3. The same, almost identical writing can be found in Chicagoland Monthly (June), 1979: p. 12. The I.D.O.C. gang training materials are notorious for plagiarizing other gang authors. So it is often dangerous to quote from these materials.
4. This book basically provides Rev. Fry's defense of his legacy to Chicago. A good portion of the book simply provides copies of some of his sermons. The sermons are worth reading to understand the psychological profile of this kind of person. For example , in the sermon "The Church and Blackstone" (p. 150) he states: "I am a fallible man who is prone to error. Quite possibly I am crazy. But at least as of now I am your pastor and as such am called to make theological statements". The statements were 99% 1960's style radical leftist critiques of the "Establishment" and about 1 percent biblical in nature.
5. The indicted El Rukn's who were selling or supervised the selling of cocaine in Milwaukee, Wisconsin included: Louis Lomas, Roger Bowman, Lewis Hoover, Jake Crowder, Felix Mayes, and Henry Leon Harris. Also on October 9, 1987 the El Rukn's invaded Hank's Fun House Tap in Milwaukee, firing numerous shots, in order to prevent Henry Leon Harris from cooperating with law enforcement agencies regarding the interstate murder-for-hire of Leroy Barber.
6. Apparently they were invited to the inauguration of Richard M. Nixon in 1969 by then Senator Charles H. Percy.
7. A gang like the Gangster Disciples illustrates this same general historical principle. The GD front group, "21st Century V.O.T.E.", like an aggressive parasite was able to sneak its way into a highly publicized "voter registration" coalition with a major civil rights group in Chicago: the Chicago Urban League. In early 1996 when this became public knowledge, there was much criticism from law enforcement and other responsible public officials. Several months later the Urban League "backed off" and facing public criticism then fully severed its ties to "21st Century V.O.T.E.".
8. This book basically provides Rev. Fry's defense of his legacy to Chicago. A good portion of the book simply provides copies of some of his sermons. The sermons are worth reading to understand the psychological profile of this kind of person. For example , in the sermon "The Church and Blackstone" (p. 150) he states: "I am a fallible man who is prone to error. Quite possibly I am crazy. But at least as of now I am your pastor and as such am called to make theological statements". The statements were 99% 1960's style radical leftist critiques of the "Establishment" and about 1 percent biblical in nature.