Thug- noun – a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thug)

If you’re in college, you definitely saw them in high school; they are widely known as thugs. For some time now I’ve been quite fascinated with a documentary series titled Gangland which airs on the History Channel. Each hour-long episode addresses a different gang’s history as well as their colors, themes, city origin, code of ethics, leaders and distinct slang. From street gangs like the Latin Kings to biker gangs like the Pagans, the program sucks you into a violent subculture. While viewing Gangland, I began to ponder about the self-proclaimed “thugs” I encountered in high school. What also came to mind was a scene from the movie “SLC Punk“, in which the main character Stevo, a punk rocker, described a poser. By Stevo’s criteria, posers were people that look like punks but they did it for fashion.

Now, I personally don’t categorize punk rockers as gang members, but I wondered if Stevo’s definition of a poser could also be applied to high school and even college thugs. Are these particular thugs applying the fashion of what’s considered “thugged out,” as it was called in my high school? Is the individual driven by ostentatious motives? Well, throughout Gangland, I had the privilege to learn, from a safe distance, what a thug really is; they don’t all wear jewelry, sag baggy pants, wear du-rags, sport grills, wear t-shirts that hang down to the knees or listen to rap all the while being surrounded by video ladies. There was one gang that really stood out to me as possibly the most vicious of all, the Aryan Brotherhood (aka The Brand).

Most gangs started in a city. For example, the Crips began in Los Angeles. The genesis of the Aryan Brotherhood was in the prison systems in California. During the 1960s, the U.S. prison’s social environment started to become segregated. You only hang out with those of your own skin color. These changes sparked violence that was often racially motivated. To thwart that, convicts established gangs to protect their own. One of those gangs was the Aryan Brotherhood.

Only in recent time information has been leaked, courtesy of gang defectors. To this day no one knows the exact number of members in The Brand. Members perceive themselves as outlaw cowboys living in a world unable to embrace them. According to a former Aryan Brotherhood enforcer named Casper Crowell, “It was the most prized sought after soldiers by the Italian mob for hit men were members of the Aryan Brotherhood when they step out of prison because of the ruthlessness.” We are talking about a gang encompassing less than one percent of the U.S. prison population that contributes to 18 percent of the prison murders.

Founding members of the gang were Irish American bikers in the penal system. However, as the Aryan Brotherhood evolved into an established criminal organization, people of mixed racial backgrounds were allowed in, the most surprising being Jews because the gang uses Nazi and white supremacist ideals to gain members. This strategy proved well for The Brand, upgrading them from the portrayal as racist thugs. Plus, it allowed versatility to crimes they could commit, like extortion and ID theft.

Joining the Aryan Brotherhood is treacherous. I would describe the journey as Spartan training fused Naziism; recruits experience intense physical training and even reading lists to produce a warrior’s mind-set. As Richard Valdemar, a retired LA county Sheriff Gang Unit, member, shares, “they read Niche, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Prince Machiavelli. These guys read these things; they’re intelligent people.” Things that can attract The Brand to a potential member incline violence, fighting ability, intimidation and even a military background. Also, once you’re in the gang, your membership is etched in stone. The Aryan Brotherhood is one of the gangs that employs the concept of blood in/blood out, meaning you kill to join and die to leave.

Another testimony on the fear surrounding the Aryan Brotherhood involves people who have requested their protection upon incarceration. One well known example is mob boss John Gotti, who entered prison where his power was substantially less. Casper Crowell explains, “these guys [The Brand] are the true untouchables; fuck, the Typhoon Don John Gotti ain’t got shit on these guys.” The next man was Charles Manson himself. Manson feared being attacked by black convicts and desired the Aryan Brotherhood to counter the attacks. Although the Brand found Manson’s crimes to be insulting to their honor code they protected him still so they would have access to his cult of girls to sneak in contraband.

I haven’t shared all the details regarding the Aryan Brotherhood, but I believe it’s fair to classify their members as thugs. The gang really doesn’t have a dress code, unless you count prison state blues, and that’s really the point of reading all of this. Do you see the difference between the fashion thug “poser” and The Brand? Ex-Aryan Brotherhood member John Greishner boasts, “I could get 20 guys that been in the fire, been on those battlefields, and you can get a thousand guys that are just scrap, just dudes talking the talk but not really walking the walk, and them 20 guys will just decimate them.” Also not an advocate for gang propaganda, so please don’t commit crimes and label me inspiration. No one is born a thug, and Casper Crowell would agree, “Everybody in here, good, bad and the ugly were all once somebody’s little bundle of joy. Every parent had hopes and dreams, they didn’t see killers who would perpetrate some of the most heinous crimes against their fellow man staring back at them. This is all taught, it’s all taught in this system. It’s all taught out there.”

Pictures from:

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/images/news/00015331.jpg

http://nahright.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/slim-thug-paul-wall.jpg

http://quizzandquon.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/thug.jpg

http://static.open.salon.com/files/aryan_brotherhood1242904897.jpg

http://s.bebo.com/app-image/9796298520/7625371519/PROFILE/i.quizzaz.com/img/q/u/08/07/30/AryanBrotherhood6.jpg

Video from: Greyhound17 on Youtube

Tags: Measure, Measure of a Thug, radford, Radford University, Thug, Whim

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 11:48 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.