Black Disciples

Black Disciples

Founded	1966 (1966)
Founded by	David Barksdale
Founding location	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Years active	1966–present
Territory	Chicago
Ethnicity	African-American
Membership	9,000-12,000
Criminal activities	Arms trafficking, burglary, extortion, drug trafficking, illegal gambling, kidnapping, money laundering, murder, racketeering, robbery, theft
Rivals	Gangster Disciples Vice Lords Black P. Stones Mickey Cobras
Notable members	Chief Keef Lil Durk Lil Reese King Von Fredo Santana

The Black Disciples (often abbreviated as the BD's) is a large street gang based in Chicago, Illinois.

History

In 1958, a group of young teenagers from Hyde Park, Englewood, and Kenwood came together as friends to create an alliance to combat their enemies. The founders—Richard Strong, David Barksdale, Mingo Shread, Prince Old Timer, Kilroy, Leonard Longstreet, Night Walker, and others—named their new organization the "Devil's Disciples." By the beginning of 1961, David Barksdale, also known as "King David," took sole leadership of the Devil’s Disciples, and appointed different members to oversee various areas within the neighborhoods.

Barksdale's goal was to claim small gangs around the area, and turn them into factions of the Disciples. In 1966, in order to help increase recruitment and counteract threats from other gangs, David Barksdale created the “Black Disciples Nation,” which helped boost recruitment numbers into the thousands.

In 1969, Larry Hoover, the leader of the rival gang “Gangster Disciples,” agreed to a merger with Barksdale to create a unified gang called the “Black Gangster Disciples Nation.”

Soon after the alliance was formed, Larry Hoover and a member were charged and convicted for the murder of another member and received 150–200 years in prison. With Larry in prison, Barksdale was fully in charge of the gang. Barksdale later died due to kidney complications at the age of 27 on September 2, 1974.

The death of Barksdale led to problems within the Black Gangster Disciple Nation (BGDN). The majority of the BGDN believed in becoming more unified after the passing of Barksdale, but some were opposed to the sentiment. The ideological differences led to the creation of two distinct factions: the "Black Gangsters Disciples" and the "Black Disciples." This brought about a rivalry between these two gangs, as there was bloodshed in the streets immediately after they were created.

Mickey Bull took over the Black Disciples, and made peace with the Gangster Disciples. Bull’s leadership brought about a temporary lull in the violence, until he was murdered in the streets by Gangster Disciples in August 1991. Immediate backlash from Black Disciples culminated into a rampage, and three Gangster Disciples were killed on August 7, 1991. Between 1991 and 1994, the rivalry between the Gangster Disciples and Black Disciples intensified. The contentious rivalry came to an end after Marvell Thompson intervened.

Murder of Yummy

Main article: Robert Sandifer

The murder of the 11 year old member of the Black Disciples gave the gang international attention. Robert “Yummy” Sandifer joined the Black Disciples in 1994 at the age of 11 years old. He was given a 9mm semiautomatic pistol by his gang chief, and was sent out to kill some rival gang members. While aiming for his rivals, a stray bullet from Yummy's gun hit and killed a 14-year-old female pedestrian, Shavon Dean. This brought much-unwanted attention to the Black Disciples from local and national news.

The gang leader sent out two brothers, Derrick Hardaway and Cragg Hardaway, to get rid of Yummy. The two brothers lured Yummy into an underpass, and shot him twice in the back of his head. They were later convicted of murder, and more undesired attention was brought upon the Black Disciples - despite their efforts to cover up the gang’s involvement.

Gang Structure

As of 1974, the Black Disciples had over 300 sets in Chicago, with around 30 to 40 members in each set.Unlike the Gangster Disciples, the Black Disciples are structured more like a religion than a criminal organization. In each set or dynasty of the BDs, the lowest ranking members are soldiers or representatives. The permanent leadership ranks include: Minister, Assistant Co-Minister, and the Demetrius. One rank above the ordinary members is the "First Demetrius". One rank above the First Demetrius is the "Assistant Co-Minister". Above this in each set is the "Minister". All sets revere "King David" at the head of their organization, even though "King David" is dead. The living top boss of this mob is "King Shorty", also known as the "crowned king" (Jerome Freeman). Each set or dynasty also has the following temporary positions of rank that exist underneath the First Demetrius: (1) Chief of Violations, (2) Chief of Security, and (3) Assistant Chief of Security.

Events Inside the Gang

King David's birthday is a time for one of the most important yearly rituals of the Black Disciples in which they hold a picnic. The BD's celebrate his birthday with a large gang picnic, usually on May 24th or May 25th. At Ogden Park at 63rd and Racine, a public park on Chicago's southside, every May 24th there is a picnic in honor of the memory of "King David". It is common to also find an assortment of other parties and celebrations occurring in individual residences at this important date in Chicago. The "King David" commemorative t-shirt is often worn at these events. It is a professionally made full size picture of King David. The BDs are similar to other gangs in Chicago like the GDs in that the BDs hold large scale "picnics" for their members at least once a year. In 1995 a Black Disciple picnic was held in which members were transported on commercially leased busses.

Female Involvement

Female involvement in the BDs fits the pattern of the chivalry hypothesis: "sisters" can be full fledged members, but are unlikely to rise to prominence in the male dominated authoritarian cult-like organization. In some sets of the Black Disciples, up to 30 percent of the members are females. Generally, females are not "sexed in" as an initiation ceremony, which may be due to the fact that most of the sets are very provincial in nature: sometimes covering only a one block area of "turf". Leadership positions are, in theory, open to women. However, no women are known to have had major positions in the BDs over a long period of time.

Similar to other gangs, the BD's have a separate "wing" in their membership for older or hardcore female members. Called the "Daughters of the Universal Star", It is a female branch of the gang. As one informant described it: "They have their own sessions; they have their little meetings; they have to appoint a chief over them; you respect them and their rank; they make decisions, and if you are asked to do something and get it cleared, you have to use your judgement, they will mislead you....they sell drugs, they kill, they give violations, just the same as the men do". Still, there is limited realistic opportunity for "rank advancement" for females in the Black Disciples as it is a predominantly male gang.

Enemies of the Gang

The main enemies of the Black Disciples are the Black P. Stone Nation, Mickey Cobras, and Vice Lords. Some Black Disciples are also found to have rivalries with Gangster Disciples, mostly from an ongoing gang war between Insane sets that do not follow the code of the overall gang, or turf used to distribute illicit substances, the main source of income for the gang.

See also

• Gangs in Chicago
• Folk Nation