Cointelpro created the LA gangs

Eddie Dane

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Eddie Dane
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Aug 18, 2007
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Or so it is claimed in the documentary Why We Bang about the Crips and the Bloods.

It mostly goes into gang culture, but also gives a short historical introduction in which the following is claimed:
  • The FBI infiltrated the Black Panthers and effectively destroyed the party from within.
  • Many former members set up new organizations. But these were without the political goals and discipline (gangs).
  • The FBI introduced crack into the black neighborhoods.
  • The FBI introduced automatic weapons into black neighborhoods (this is implied, not stated).

Now, I think that most of this is shifting the blame.
I actually saw a guy in one interview claim: they are bringing guns in so that we kill each other. 'It must come from outside, there are no Uzi factories in South Central'.
But look at all the stupid and immoral stuff that went on under Cointelpro. And the FBI's infiltration of Marcus Garvey's organization decades earlier.
I suspect there is a grain of truth in the claims.

My question: what is this grain of truth?
 
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I thought it was the CIA that brought cocaine into the country and local "entrepeneurs" who turned it into crack on their own.

As to the other statements, I have no knowledge or firm opinion except that the FBI most likely did infiltrate the Black Panthers.
 
The FBI did inflitrate the Black Panthers, and considering the violent rhetoric they were losing , they had legititmate reasons for doing so,just as they did the KKK at the same time.
But the whole The FBI created the LA Gangs theory is just crap.
U
 
I have always been curious about this. I do recall hearing about the Bloods and Crips being an off shoot from the Black Panthers...Something about one set of Black Panthers wanting to use legit means of funding their gangs and one set willing to sell drugs, steal and murder...I could be wrong about this though, as it's just one of those rumors floating around.

As far as Co Intel Pro, they did infiltrate tons of activist groups during that time, the Black Panthers included. They also spied on Women's Lib groups, Civil Rights Groups and various anti-war activists.
 
dudalb said:
The FBI did inflitrate the Black Panthers, and considering the violent rhetoric they were losing , they had legititmate reasons for doing so,just as they did the KKK at the same time.
But the whole The FBI created the LA Gangs theory is just crap.
U
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"Create" is probably a stretch. But there are many instances where secret services hamper or destroy political organizations, only to lead to the creation of more radical or nihilistic offshoots.

Note how we tend to think of Fatah as a reasonably acceptable "peace partner" now that we have to deal with Hamas.

The establishment thought MLK was a radical until the got to listen to some Malcolm X speeches.

They did infiltrate peaceful anti-Vietnam demonstrations and provoke violence to discredit the movement. I don't know if they did something similar within the Black Panther Party.

I agree with you that in the case of the Black Panthers they had every reason to infiltrate. And I doubt that the Panthers needed outside influences to fall apart.
 
I think it was one of my Feral House books that had the "secret documents" showing the "proof" right down to the loose-fitting gang clothing as uniforms for urban warfare.

Man I miss my gullible youth sometimes. :o
 
Myron Proudfoot said:
Yeah, if there was one thing Hoover's FBI wanted, it was a bunch of angry black men with guns!!!
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I think the assault weapons only made it on the scene after competition over crack dealing became important. So that would be, mid eighties?

By that time even Hoover was out of power and probably didn't fit his favorite dress anymore.
 
Poverty + Segregation + Access to Narcotics = ???

I don't think the FBI needed to set up anything. Formation of violent criminal organizations can be a natural and expected offshoot of the above.
 
JoeyDonuts said:
Poverty + Segregation + Access to Narcotics = ???

I don't think the FBI needed to set up anything. Formation of violent criminal organizations can be a natural and expected offshoot of the above.
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Exactly,

I have not heard anybody stating that the FBI created the Capone or Lansky gangs in the 20's. They arose out of the formula quoted by Joey above with the slight modification of replacing Alcohol with Narcotics. Being as alcohol was illegal at the time it was not much different from modern narcotics anyway (at least as far as the formula is concerned).

It is not a coincidince that the gangs of the 20's and 30's were comprised mostly of newly immigrated minorities (Italians, Irish and Jews), who lived in the poorer sections of urban areas and were segregated from the rest of society. Even today most active gang activity comes from the newly-imigrated groups such as Asians, Latinos and eastern Europeans.

Blacks are the exception to this part of the pattern, but a history of racism has left them in the same socio-econimic strata of society as newly immigrated groups, so it is not suprising that the same forces that entice young people from immigrant communities into gangs also entices young black people.
 
Eddie Dane said:
I was wondering if that gangster was implying just that.
' The damn Jews made me shoot my neighbor!'
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I'd honestly be surprised if he meant actual UZIs or knew they came from Israel. The idea that gangbangers would favor something as bulky and expensive as an UZI is pretty much fiction. From my (admittedly limited) experience, they tend to prefer small and cheap "throwaway" guns made by companies like Lorcin and Jennings.

Which, incidentally, at least until recently, were made in and around LA.
 
Rogue1stclass said:
I'd honestly be surprised if he meant actual UZIs or knew they came from Israel. The idea that gangbangers would favor something as bulky and expensive as an UZI is pretty much fiction. From my (admittedly limited) experience, they tend to prefer small and cheap "throwaway" guns made by companies like Lorcin and Jennings.

Which, incidentally, at least until recently, were made in and around LA.
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I once read that young US males can identify a great number of guns, just from the silhouette. However, Gangbangers live their lives within the radius of the territory they control and probably aren't readers.

I bet they can tell an AK from a MAC-10, though.
 
As an aside:

I read Sagan's and Dryan'sShadows Of Forgotten Ancestors. It deals with the evolutionary roots of human behaviour. He writes extensively about primates and Chimpanzees in particular.

I came away with the idea that gangs are the most natural and basic form of humans social organisation. Sagan goes as far as saying that once humans are in a gang or in jail, they basically act like chimpanzees.

  • Strong hierarchy within the group, established trough violence.
  • Alpha males lay sexual claim to females within the group.
  • Females within the group grant sexual favours to alpha males for protection and status.
  • Constant territorial war with nearby groups.
  • Constant testing of nearby groups through skirmishes.

There's even a chapter called Gangland, written from the perspective of a "gang member". Only at the end do you realise she is actually a chimp.
 
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