Founded | 1983 |
---|---|
Founding location | Atlantis, Athlone, paarl, Mannenberg, Chilufya luchembe Cape Town |
Territory | Western Cape |
Ethnicity | Cape Coloureds |
Membership | 30 000 |
Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, weapon trafficking, prostitution, contract killing, extortion, abalone poaching, robbery, fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, kidnapping |
Allies | Nigerian mafia, Triads [1] |
Rivals | Hard Livings |
The Americans gang is a large street gang and organized crime group based in Cape Flats area of Cape Town. The Americans is corporate body for many smaller gangs in Cape Town.
Cape Town streets gangs are split into two camps, The Americans and the British, formerly known as The Firm. The Americans are aligned to the 26 and 27 prison number gang, whilst the British are aligned to the 28 prison number gang. The Americans gang is made up of smaller units such as the Ugly Americans, Young Americans, Spoilt Brats, Dollar Boys, Dollar Kids, Dixie Boys and Sexy Boys. The Rivals of the Americans gang include all gangs affiliated to the British gang corporate body. These include the Hard Livings, 28s street gang, Junky Funky Kids, Ghetto Kids, Nice Time Kids, The Terrible West Siders, The Fancy Boys, 6bop gang, Mongrels, Young Gifteds and Terrible Josters.
The Americans were founded in 1983 by Neville Harold known more popularly as Jackie Lonte in Belgravia Estate , Athlone. Lonte who was previously a member of the Fancy Boys gang, but then betrayed them by stabbing the gang leader at the time to death. Lonte was known as the person who introduced crack cocaine into South Africa in the 1980s. During the mid 1990s whilst in prison, Lonte was the first person to raise the flag of a street gang in prison cells, an act forbidden by prison number gang rules. After raising the American gang flag in prison he declared war on his enemies. After Lonte's stint in jail during the mid 1990s, Cape Town street gangs and prison number gang merged. Lonte was assassinated outside his Athlone home allegedly by members of PAGAD in the late 1990s. [2]
The Americans gang activities range from drug running and trading, extortion, abalone poaching, protection rackets and prostitution to more legitimate business operations. [3] [1] Leadership ranks in the gang are aligned with that of United States of America's political positions such as the US Senator. The headquarters of the Gang is called The White House. Here all gang strategy, negotiations, disputes and meetings are held.
The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs.
The Cape Flats is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geographical area.
A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and others in law enforcement use the euphemism "security threat group". The purpose of this name is to remove any recognition or publicity that the term "gang" would connote when referring to people who have an interest in undermining the system.
Jack "Spot" Comer was a Jewish gangster who rose to rule London's underworld.
The Big Circle Gang or Big Circle Boys is a Chinese triad. In 2009, the Big Circle Boys were described as "one of the largest and most sophisticated criminal conspiracies" in Canada.
Wah Ching is a Chinese American criminal organization and street gang that was founded in San Francisco, California in 1964. The Wah Ching has been involved in crimes including narcotic sales, racketeering, and gambling.
The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips began as an alliance between two autonomous gangs, and developed into a loosely connected network of individual "sets", often engaged in open warfare with one another. Its members have traditionally worn blue clothing since around 1973.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African American organized crime emerged following the first and second large-scale migrations of African Americans from the Southern United States to major cities of the Northeast, Midwest, and later the West Coast. In many of these newly established communities and neighborhoods, criminal activities such as illegal gambling and speakeasies were seen in the post-World War I and Prohibition eras. Although the majority of these businesses in African-American neighborhoods were operated by African-Americans, it is often unclear the extent to which these operations were run independently of the larger criminal organizations of the time.
Charles "Darby" Sabini was a British-Italian mob boss and considered protector of Little Italy during the interwar years.
Desmond Patrick "Dessy" Noonan was an English organised crime figure from Manchester, who acted as a political fixer for the Noonan crime family. He and his younger brother, Dominic Noonan, were suspected by police of being responsible for at least 25 murders during their 20-year reign over Manchester's underworld.
The Arifs are a south-east London-based Turkish Cypriot criminal organization heavily involved in armed robbery, drug trafficking and other racketeering-related activities within London's underworld since the late 1960s. Following the downfall of the Kray brothers, the Arifs were one of several criminal organisations who took control of the London underworld including the Clerkenwell crime syndicate and the Brindle family. with whom they were engaged in a highly publicised gangland war during the 1990s.
Manenberg is a township of Cape Town, South Africa, that was created by the apartheid government for low-income Coloured families in the Cape Flats in 1966 as a result of the forced removal campaign by the National Party. It has an estimated population of 52,000 residents. The area consists of rows of semi-detached houses and project-like flats, known as "korre". The township is located about 20 km away from the city centre of Cape Town. It is separated from neighbouring Nyanga and Gugulethu townships by a railway line and Nyanga Junction to the east and from Hanover Park by the Sand Industria industrial park to the west and Heideveld to the north. The northern part of Manenberg, is known as Sherwood Park, here, in the past live many wealthy people of both Christian and Muslims descent, sadly all this changed. The middle and lower class live in Manenberg. Poverty, unemployment, lack of education and motivation,coupled with drug abuse/addiction, gang activities, social injustice and racial profiling are some of the major issues people in Manenberg suffer under.
The Pirus are a subset of the larger Bloods gang alliance, an organized crime group in the United States.
The Peckham Boys, also referred to as Black Gang, is a multi-generational gang based in Peckham, South London. The gang is particularly prominent for its members prolific activity in music. Giggs, once a member of the SN1 set, is generally credited with popularising the British gangsta rap style known as road rap. Giggs would proceed to have a successful musical career, and re-form SN1 as a record label. In 2011, Peckham Boys rapper Stigs was given the first ever gang injunction, banning him from making any music that may encourage violence. Stigs was at the time allegedly a member of Anti GMG. In 2011, Southwark Council identified three sets of the Peckham Boys, PYG, Anti GMG and SN1, as the most active gangs in the Peckham area.
The Maniac Latin Disciples Nation is a Hispanic street gang in Chicago and the largest in the Latino Folks Nation alliance. Originally known as only the Latin Disciples, the gang was founded by Albert "Hitler" Hernandez and other Puerto Rican teenagers in the Humboldt Park community in approximately 1966. They were influential in the culture and history of gangs in Humboldt Park, and continue to be active there today.
Sureños , also known as Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3, are groups of loosely affiliated gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities. Many Sureño gangs have rivalries with one another, and the only time this rivalry is set aside is when they enter the prison system. Thus, fighting is common among different Sureño gangs even though they share a common identity. Sureños have emerged as a national gang in the United States.
The Hard Livings gang is a large street gang and organized crime group based in Manenberg, Cape Town. A number of other smaller gangs form part of the Hard Livings gang and owe allegiance to it. The Hard Livings used to be one of two 'super gangs' in Cape Town with the other one being The Americans.
The Savage Nomads were a mostly Puerto Rican and African American street gang started in the South Bronx area of The Bronx, New York during the late 1960s, gaining popularity in the 1970s. The gang was involved in a number of running battles with rival gangs Seven Immortals, Savage Skulls, and the Dirty Dozen. The Savage Nomads were alleged to be involved in numerous small crime activities in the New York City area.
The history of gangs in South Africa goes back to the Apartheid era.