Memphis, Tennessee serves as the Southern headquarters for Chicago based street organizations in the Southern United States calling it for states like Mississippi and Arkansas. Chicago and Memphis (as well as Mississippi & Arkansas) have deep ties dating back to the great migration of Southern Blacks relocating to Chicago. At one point there was such a high volume of Southern Blacks migrating into South Chicago particularly the community was referred to as "Bronzeville" the color Bronze representing the skin of Black people. Jeff Fort aka Chief Malik founder of the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, Donise "King David" Barksdale leader of the Black Disciples Nation formerly known as the Black Gangster Disciple Nation as well as Larry Benard Hoover founder of the Gangster Disciples 3 of Chicago's largest black street organizations all hail from Mississippi. Memphis, TN sits on the bluff of the Mississippi River which runs North directly into Lake Michigan off the bluff of Chicago, IL perfect pipeline. According to the Shelby County Sheriff's Department in 2010, there were approximately 182 gangs with 8,400 gang members in the county.
YG QT [400 Murda Gang]For every four men in Memphis, two will eventually join a gang. Despite Memphis being home to larger nationwide gangs such as the Crips (Hoovers), Bloods (Pirus), GDs, BDs, Vice Lords (Four Corner Hustlers), and Black P. Stones (Mickey Cobras), Memphis also has smaller splinter factions or groups whose origins are within the confines of Shelby County Memphis, Tennessee.( The majority of these groups are considered independent or renegade splinter groups whose members are persons with affiliation to the same larger gangs. In some instances, a group is composed of members with affiliations to various larger gangs. For example, King Gate Mafia (KGM) are considered to be renegade Gangster Disciples who are known to war with other GD decks. Here are some ether examples: Trap Squad Mafia (T$M) TVLs & UVLs, Murda Squad (M-Squad) Majority GDs but there are also Grape Street Crips and Vice Lord members. Gorilla Mafia and NFL Mafia (GMF-NFL) run hand & hand which consist of all gangs but orchestrated with UNCLES & NEPHEWS. Shotta Fam (SF) all 52 Hoover Gangster Crips, Ten Mile Mafia (TMM) aka Sleepy Gang all 108 Avenue Piru Gang, Douglass Maab Gang (DMG) Eastside 92 Bishops with a few GDs in the mix, Hyde Park Gangsters (HPG) 87 Kitchen Crips, Grape Street Crips and GDs, Binghampton neighborhood is dominated by the Grape Street Crips and TVLs, Orleans Family 62 BRIMs, Young Mobb Military (YMM) ,Snake Gang,108 & 109 Avenue Piru Gang, TVLs and Mickey Cobras, Stack Squad 108 Avenue Pirus and GDs, Raleigh Mobb aka Da Taliban all UVLs, Rich Lord Cartel (RLC) / Junk Yard Dawgs (JYD) all TVLs, Trap Mob majority GDs, Timberlake Mob majority GDs with Grape Street Crips, Spring Valley Miliatry (SVM) majority GDs with Grape Street Crips, Trulla Mafia (Trullaz) majority Grape Street Crips, Concrete Cartel all CVLs, 4way Gaston Park (4W/GP) majority GDs, Wealth Stones (W/5) Land of Cairo all Black P. Stones, Gunz Money & Bitches aka Ghost Mob Brothers(GMB)all UVLs, Finese Gang (FG) Majority UVLs, Castalia Mob UVLs, Neighborhood Crips & GDs, Dixie Homes Murda Gang (DHMG) Majority 47 Neighborhood Crips with a few Vice Lords, Not Uh Game (NUG) All 83 Hoover Criminals, Fed Gang all 107 Hoover Criminals, Northaven Gangsters (NHG) GDs and Grape Street Crips the TVLs identify Northaven as "Lordhaven", Kney St aka Fye Kney majority Four Corner Hustlers, Speed N Henry (SHG) all TVLs, Double Tree Money Gang (DTMG) All Piru set,92nd Bishops,Vicelords Rivacide Rich Rollin Neighborhood 90s Crip, GBI Green Briar Boyz, FVM Mobb NOW known as FMG (Family Money & Gunz), Fast Cash Boyz (FCB, Gwap Team all Elm Street Pirus, Westwood Bottom Boyz (BBz) Majority Tree Top Pirus, Peda Roll Mafia (PRM) Dust Town Hoggz (DTH) all Grape Street Crips other less dominant gangs in Memphis are the Black Disciples, New Breed Black Gangsters, 111th Neighborhood Crips, Rich Rollin 60's, Avalon Gangster Crips, Menlo Gangster Crips and the 102 Raymond St. Crips and well as many more. With a growing presence of Latino gangs like La Raza Nation, MS-13, Mexican Mafia, Latin Eagles, Maniac Latin Disciples and Latin Kings. In 2010, 26 gang members faced deportation after they were arrested with ties to the Vatos Locos and Sureno-13 gangs.The Piru Blood gang has spread over time and took over a majority of the Memphis streets. Crips tend to fight amongst each other leaving room for other groups to expand. Memphis California-based Crips and Bloods identify with local neighborhood street names and parks in addition to the traditional set name. Example: The Legends Park Rich Rollin 40s originally out of Dixie Homes who are plugged from the 47 Neighborhood Crips in Los Angeles. The Rollin 20 crips a.k.a Zone 20 also DuecesWxld, are plugged with ex drug dealer turned rapper Calico Jonez of BMF "Black Mafia Family" and YoungScoop Long Beach 20s. Riva Cide Rich Rollin 90s Neighborhood Crips who rivals are the Kansas St. 83 Hoover Criminals. Other examples are the Douglass Park 92 Bishops and the 62 Orleans Family BRIMS.....The Chicago-based Memphis organizations are no different. Prime examples, here the Conservative Vice Lords are known as "Crete Mob" the Unknown Vice Lords are known as "Ghost Mob" the TVLs are known as "20 Mob" there also exist sub-sets within the Vice Lord branches...Prime example of a TVL deck/sub-set are the Schoolfield St. TrapSquad TVLs. There no longer exist universal GDs, VLs, Crips Ltv and Bloods everything is now fragmented with cliques. There exist a deck of Black P. Stones in Klondike neighborhood off Montgomery St. known as the "Cairo"
Gangs in the Memphis area are concentrated in high crime neighborhoods like college park Hollywood, Hickory Hill, Parkway Village, Westwood, Raleigh, Frayser, Orange Mound, Whitehaven and Binghampton; but their presence is also felt in the suburbs of Tipton County, Tennessee. Millington, TN better known as "MillVille" to some is a small rural city just North of Memphis though still in Shelby County that is home to the notorious "MillVillainz" group that is comprised mostly of Vice Lords, Black P. Stones, Four Corner HUstlers and GDs (although a few Crips & Bloods in the city claim affiliation to the group as well) the gangs in Millington are majority plugged from the Raleigh-Frayser area as well as Smokey City all neighborhoods and communities in North Memphis. The "MillVillainz" also have neutral members who have no affiliation to other larger nation-wide/city-wide gangs. The "MillVillainz" originally known as "MTB" Murda Town Bound was created by brothers from Harold Projects, Bill Knight Gardens, Mudflats and the Hall Ground all neighborhoods within the Millington City limits protect as well as combat against students that were being bused to Millington Central High School that were from neighborhoods like Northaven, Horton Gardens and Frayser due to Westside High School being shut down making MCHS the closet High school within their district. At the time Northaven (NHG) "North Haven Gangstaz" were majority GDs and Grape Street Crips who all majority banded together claiming affiliation to the "FVM MOB" umbrella which is a independent gang that dominated a housing development in Frayser known as Ridgecrest Apartments which is considered "FVM Mob" now known as "FMG" headquarters warring with the local Unknown Vice Lords and Traveling Vice Lords in Frayser at Trezvant High School. Although in recent years the Four Corner Hustlers, 107 Hoovers, Neighborhood Rollin 90s Crips and Traveling Vice Lords have made significant inroads within "NHG" territory in Northaven which was traditionally at one point predominately GDs and Grape Street Crips. Millington is also home to a large volume of displaced residents originally from the now demolished Cleaborn Homes, Foote Homes, Dixie Homes and Lemoyne Gardens by whom all received vouchers to relocate.Last but not least MHV a Mitchell Heights Gang mostly Dominated by the Grape Street Crips and a Few Gd's the MHV hood has two blocks the 700 block of Pope and the 1800 block of National rather known as Nutty Blocc.
After a series of gang related robberies at Tom Lee Park on the river bluff in downtown Memphis, the Memphis Police Department said that "they often feel powerless to control these out-of-control teens." In May 2013, high school students warned Memphis City Schools against a proposed school merger of Booker T. Washington High School and Carver High school. "It's like putting the Crips and Bloods together in a national convention."
In 2013, Memphis City Council and Memphis Mayor A C Wharton cut funding for Blue CRUSH, the gang division of the Memphis Police Department.
Video Gangs in Memphis, Tennessee
Sex trafficking
In 2013, The FBI arrested Gangster Disciples Folk Nation members on sex-trafficking charges and forced child prostitution.
Maps Gangs in Memphis, Tennessee
Neighborhoods
According to the Governor's Public Safety Forum on Tennessee Gangs, gangs operate in Memphis rural communities like Millington,Mason,Northhaven and in predominantly black neighborhoods of North Memphis, South Memphis, Frayser, Whitehaven, Binghampton, Orange Mound, Hickory Hill and Riverside.
Famous Memphis gang activity
- Craig Petties, brother of DJ Paul, was on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list before he was caught in 2008.
A member of the Gangster Disciples and allegedly the biggest drug dealer in the history of Memphis, getting drugs directly from Edgar Valdez Villarreal of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel and funneling millions of dollars to the Black Mafia Family. In 2011, he pleaded guilty to 23 counts of violent crime and racketeering after working with the Sinaloa Cartel to build a drug trafficking empire in 5 states.
- In 2008, the Lester Street Murders, a gruesome mass murder in Binghampton, Memphis, Jessie Dotson, a member of the Crips killed his brother, Cecil Dotson, a member of the Gangster Disciples and his family.
- In 2010, Lorenzen Wright a Memphis basketball star with a connection to drug kingpin Craig Petties was found dead after being shot multiple times.
- In February 2013, the Grape Street Crips announced their partnership with Bradley Jenkins, the Imperial Wizard of the United Klan of America, a branch of the Ku Klux Klan in Atlanta, to protest in a planned rally in Memphis.
- In 2014, a mob of 100 to 125 teenagers attacked people at random in a Kroger parking lot during a knockout game-style challenge, They shouted the words "Fam Mob," which is a Memphis-based gang. The incident was captured on video that went viral. Eleven people were arrested. According to the police, it was "a flash mob that got out of control."
- In 2015, The cousin of Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham was targeted in a robbery/homicide. On May 29, 2015, a group of gangster disciples murdered a recent graduate of Memphis University School. During this time an over two-year undercover operation by a multi-unit task force was taking place under the name of Operation 38 Special. The multi-state operation was brought to close on May 4, 2016.
In mainstream culture
Music styles that originated from Memphis gangsta rap culture include Southern hip hop and crunk, made famous by Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, and Hypnotize Minds. In the 2000s, the music genre gained acceptance after winning an Academy Award for the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow.
See also
- Crime in Memphis, Tennessee
References
External links
- Memphis Gangs on Facebook
Source of the article : Wikipedia