International Journal on Criminology Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2015 | Page 54

Organized Crime Behind Bars
and the Blue Note Crip Organization (founded by Stanley Tookie Williams 132 and J.
Pup King), as well as United Blood Nation and Bloodline. After several unsuccessful
attempts to unite prisoners from the Crips or Bloods, 133 these are the most successful.
These groups readily turn to Africanisms, using, for example, Swahili 134 words in their
rules of conduct. They take the Mau Mau 135 as their reference and sometimes even the
Mungiki. 136
Others gather under an Islamic entity, for example Ansar al-Muhammad
(AEM). 137 This group was founded by a certain Elmore Willie Brown, and became known
to the public and the police force in 1993, when some of its members were arrested for
rape, armed robbery and homicide.
Brown died in 2000, and the gang's hierarchy has since been collegial. The
development of AEM in prisons was very fast. Considering themselves as “warriors,”
AEM members usually have a strict dress code, shaved heads and rigorous behavior.
Previous membership of political or terrorist groups may also promote
amalgamation, consolidation and joint action in prison, under a kind of “prisoners of
war” mentality. Such was the origin of the Neta in Puerto Rico.
Born on the streets, gangs are reconstituted within prisons as fast as their members
are jailed. This has particularly been the case for Street Gangs from Chicago, the Latin
Kings and the Gangster Disciples. 138 For these two gangs, both of whom employ strong
symbolism 139 and maintain a very hierarchical organization, 140 the fact that many of their
leaders are doomed to end their days inside won't get in the way of their continuing
criminal activity.
132
Founder of the Crips in 1970 with Raymond Lee Washington (shot in 1979). Tookie aroused wide
controversy until his execution in December 2005. He campaigned in prison against gang crime,
wrote books on the subject and made a very public series of acts of atonement—he was even proposed
for the Nobel Prize... It was only later learned that he was a founder and one of the leaders of the Blue
Note Crip Organization.
133
For example, after an investigation involving several services, twenty three men and five women,
members of the Bloods gang Tree Top Piru (TTP Bloods or Tree Top Pirettes for women) were
indicted on February 25, 2008 in Baltimore. This gang, created in 1999 in a detention center in
order to organize mutual protection against other inmates, is directly related to the Piru Bloods of
Compton, California. The defendants are accused of five murders, armed robbery, drug trafficking,
weapons possession and witness intimidation. Initiation rites included committing a violent crime
(assault, robbery or carjacking) and submitting to a beating by other members. Members are primarily
recruited in the prisons of Maryland. Steve Willock, leader of the gang, took office from his prison cell
between 2000 and 2003.
134
One of the major languages of Africa spoken from the East coast (Kenya, Tanzania) to the Great
Lakes region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
135
An anti-British rebellion movement in Kenya, active between 1952 and 1960.
136
A politico-religious-criminal group in Kenya, banned by the government, which considers itself the
heir to the Mau Mau.
137
The Servants of Muhammad.
138
Also known as the Black Gangster Disciples, Black Gangster Disciple Nation, and the Brothers of
Struggle.
139
Essentially a crown with five points for the Latin Kings and a three-pronged fork for the Gangster
Disciples.
140
The leaders are “Kings,” “Dukes,” “Counts” etc.
49