Gangster Disciple Nation: The Merge That Rewrote Chicago History | The Original OGs ht

 

Hey,   hey,   hey.   again. We’ve been walking back    in time to find the original story   of the Gangster Disciple Nation.   We want to clear up a lot of the mess   that’s been attached to it. You   gentlemen lived it and shine a little

 

  light on the truth of it. Bobby Long   Street had a Bible in his hand and Bobby   used to read the Bible all the time and   he looked and he said, “You know what?   We’re going to call ourselves disciples.   We’re going to help the neighborhood,   help the peoples in the neighborhood so   it won’t be like this.

 

” And that’s what   we started off as a drum and bugle core   protecting the neighborhood and stuff   cuz Bobby and Leverne Long Street was a   little older than us. And that started   from there. Became the disciples.    What was first? Black disciples or    devil disciples?    Devil disciples.    Yeah. Give me some history on that.

 

   Group that were affiliated with us.   Like we had uh 3D   maniac dudes,   devil disciples and deeds.   That was the beginning of a period of   time where we control   whatever we were in.    The disciples   began to register and [clears throat]   legitimately become an organization.    Mhm.    And who gave you the information or you   guys that    a guy named Michael Shane, he was older   brother smart.

 

 He used to be hanging   with Jesse Jackson in the Cosmopolitan   Chambers once. This guy was a pimp. I   don’t know what all Mike was. And he   taught you how to    address myself, how to talk to people,    how to create an organization legitimate   organization. The first title, the first   charter we had was in black disciples   name. Wow.

 

   You know, we got cooperated.    So now we have four and five different   organizations    pushing toward the same goal.    But we haven’t gotten into the insanity   of life yet.    No, we haven’t. It was a brother told me   u we used to go to school together named   Charlie Atkins you know he say man    we going to have an organization man we   going to have a meeting and uh we going   to meet you know he was a dear friend of   mine you know say I want you to come you   know so I said okay you know cuz   everybody was all over all parts of wood   you know and stuff so when I you know go   to this basement said yeah man say this   is uh Bobby Lever, you know, handsome   guy, built, you know, and spoke very   powerful and articulate, you know. Now,   the basement, it probably couldn’t   accommodate no more than like about 150   people.    Okay.    But at the time we get into the

 

  basement, there’s about 500 people   crowded up in there, you know, like   sadines, you know, right?    I said, man, you [laughter] know,    what’s really going on?    Yeah. I said, man, I said, this is   magic. if a a brother in the   neighborhood could rally 500 brothers,   you know, right? Soldiers, you know,   they was there, you know, I was like,   I’m sitting there looking like he got up   and he started speaking, you know, and   I’m looking at them and stuff,    you know, and he’s speaking and   brothers, they got this obedient   attention, you know.    The devil disciples was out. It was one   of the number one branches outside of   the speed kings. My brother Pluto was   running the speed kings.    Okay.    Um as the king at that time, which I   didn’t know.    Okay.    Um a brother named Leverne Long Street   has started the devil disciples that I   later found out um was the original

  starter and leader of that.    Okay.    Disciple idea.    Mhm. And a as we develop that, what   becomes the foundation of of the   disciples?    Bobby Long Street and LeBron Long   Street. LeBron was the leader of the   disciples back then.    But temp Harris,   uh, Leverne Long Street,   they introduced they were disciple   within the organization.

 

   This this was a fact. So now Leverne   Long Street,   he stayed where the where the Dan Ryan   is at now on 54 where that Dan Ryan at   that’s where his people stayed.    Okay.    So when they start tearing the Dan Ryan   down, Leverne and Leonard, they moved to   Inglewood.    Okay.    And Leverne started the six Trey Cobas.

 

  That’s what they were at first. They   were six Trey Cobas. Okay. They went   from racing all the way to Woodline.    Okay.    One of them was East Side Cobra, West   Side Cobra.    Charlie Atkins kind of got into it with   Leverne Long Street and Bobby Long   Street.    And he knew David was getting ready to   come home.

 

 And he picked the argument   with Leverne Long Street and them and   said, “Well, we going to pull away from   y’all and we not going to call ourselves   the disciples no more. We’re going to   call ourselves devil disciples.”    Okay, that’s how that came along. A lot   of us didn’t go for that name and by him   being our leader, we kind of had to go   for it a little bit.

 

   And didn’t nobody really want him to be   the leader and he kept a lot of stuff   up.    Okay.    So when he got into it with Leverne,   what Lever did was he changed the name   to Six Straight Devil Disciples.    Oh, okay.    That’s what they were. They were six   straight devil disciples.    Okay.    You had East Side, Six Trade Devil   Disciples. You had West Side.

 

 you know,   disciple and they call this devil’s   disciples, you know,    and it was some other, you know, other   organizations, you know, like and the   Ravens, you know, periphery to that, but    they was the central, you know, and   that’s that was the beginning.    Question    in that basement, is that the creation   of the name devil disciples?    That was the Genesis.

 

   That That’s where it    That was the Genesis. Yes. which will   become their disciple.    Okay?    You know what I’m saying? So by him and   in the duce he uh chosen David to be the   leader.    Who did?    Leon.    Okay. Long Street.    Yeah.    Okay.    And Champ Harris.    Okay.   They   the one that initiate that   you know they didn’t want it   but they they needed someone in the   spirit to protect to protect one.

 

 You   know what I’m saying? So this is where   devil disciple come in recreated you   know from a group to a mob to a gang. He   used to have a habit of saying we going   to be united. We’re gonna love one   another because that’s how we came out   with D from the knee, love from the   heart and stuff and we gonna treat all   the elderly peoples and the peoples in   the neighborhood with respect and we   going to help them if we can and stuff.

 

  So that’s how that began from the devil   I mean from the disciples to just loving   one another. When I met David, he wasn’t   he wasn’t nothing, you know. It was no   devil disciple,   you know. AJ boy 63rd Street Boy.    Okay.    You know what I’m saying? So by me being   introduced to David and the rest of the   guy who spent the night at my on the   house, you know, I became familiar with   them.

 

   Then progress went on. Um David Boxdale   took over. Okay. So my brother and all   um got behind David Boxdale while we was   Gonzato. We were still holling devil   disciples. Okay, it’s a deep thing.   Cypo, you know, we were still    saying that. And my brother went on to   be disciple.    King David play a part.

 

 Where where does   he enter?    Very powerful personality,   you know, was able to command obedience.    David was a egotistic man. A lot of   people say, “Oh man, David’s a good   guy.” No, David was [ __ ] So David   had the power to command rebellious   spirits, you know, [laughter]    that’s what made him King David, right?   You know,    but   they love, you know, he’s still for   [snorts]   he’s still for righteousness, you know,   he want to take people on a different   path.

 

 He he’s a guy that you want to be   around. You know what I’m saying?   because he uplift the spirit, you know,   he take the homeless and make it and   make them a home. You know what I’m   saying?    Up under King Dave once, it was about   the people, the communities, our   families, and um harmony. We didn’t   steal from each other, fight each other.

 

  Um we couldn’t do none of that without   permission,    right?    We refused to let peoples come into our   communities and um steal, rape, robbery,   anything like that. My memory of him is   is that we didn’t always agree. You   know, we had some disagreements, you   know, some friction sometime, but the   love was never lost, right?    You know, we seen each other in private.

 

  We embraced one another.    Was he at that meeting?    No, he wasn’t there at that. Okay.    No.    Somebody had wrote a letter and saying   that David said he’ll be home in maybe a   couple months or something like this.   When the disciples started, he was in   IYC, Illinois Commission. And Charlie   Atkins was our leader then and David was   locked up and Charlie got resentment   because he knew David was really our   leader in the way of speaking when we   was kids.

 

 David was the toughest and the   baddest man and that’s [clears throat]   who used to be the leader. Whoever can   outbox anybody or do things    disciples and they tell their literature   they say the three kings you know three   kings is Charlie Atkins lever long   street and David Boxdale. Lever Long   Street and Charlie Atkins are Kobas.    So would you say about this time you   everybody begins to gravitate toward   Devil Disciple?    Yeah.

 

 It was like Kilroy, Roy Dawson,   Mickey Jenkins and stuff. They didn’t go   for that name and they got into it with   Charlie about that name. We had a big   meeting and stuff, you know, and they   wanted to go back to Disciples. Charlie   knew David was coming home and at St.   Bernard Hurricane used to give dances   around at St. Bernard Church. Mhm.

 

   back in the day. And that’s when Charlie   jumped up in front of Mickey’s face and   said, “Y’all going to be dead or   something.” And then, you know, hey,   what you talking about? Charlie called   herself splitting the club up because of   that cuz David was coming home and he   wanted to still be the devil disciples   and everybody else wanted to be just   disciples because we was losing the   meaning of that word disciples, you   know, to help peoples and stuff.

 

 And   devil disciple when you put that devil   on it, that mean Exactly. You renegade,   you bad spirit, right? So yeah, and and   that’s when the club split it up from   Charlie Charlie Atkins.    David beat up Charlie and that’s how   David got the disciples. That’s how he   got the six straight disciples. Once   David beat him up, David became the   leader.

 

   Okay?    You know what I’m saying? And David was   a more aggressive leader. David was one   of them real guys. You know what I’m   saying? He was nothing to play with.    But he and Charlie stayed together.    No, Charlie fled. You got King David   involved with this organization.   When does Mr.

 

 Hoover come into play?    If these brothers called themselves the   Supreme Gangsters, they was on this side   of H Hallstead. The Devil’s Disciples at   that time, that’s what we were called   was on the other side of Holstead.   And the disciples was a much larger   organization. No disrespect to, you   know, races, but they were a much   larger, much more powerful organization,   you know, and   they were interested in expanding.

 

   When does   David come into play?    And Larry,    wait. Well, like I seen some earlier   about Davis where we went to Larry’s   house and says, “No, it’s been a lot of   different stories about how Larry and   and David got together, blah blah this   like I said, I wasn’t with Larry 24   hours a day, seven days a week.

 

” So,    right,    whenever he did,    you know, mess with David or David mess   with him, you know, I wasn’t around. And   then if I was around, I’ll walk away cuz   I didn’t really trust him.    Did you   have a personal relationship   with King David or and or Mr. Hoover?    Yeah. Both of them was personal friends.

 

  It’s always the mentality of a organizer   to unify more people. The more people   you have, the more influence and the   more political power you have. And so I   think that that that was even if it was   not conscious but that was saying the   unified    and these two organizations they were   going at it.    How do you devise supreme gangster?   Well,   naturally by the time we 15, 16,   we started making little noise in the   community cuz David and Jeff them was at   us cuz we was the upand coming,    you know, new organization and we   refused to be a Nothing wrong with them   organizations.    Where does   Mr. Hoover come into play?    Later on, they were Supreme Gangsters.    Exactly. And we used to fight the   Supreme Gangsters cuz they had killed   one of our buddies, Solomon.    Okay.    And uh   it wasn’t that many of them, but they

 

  holded their grounds on 68 in Host, 68   in Peoria.   He was invited to jail,   okay, center. And we sitting in there   and you know teenagers, everybody black   in school, everybody knows it this and   that.    Mhm.    And then all of a sudden the doors open   and you know how the light come in in   the auditorium,    right?    Everybody got quiet    and we looked and Jeff stood there.

 

   I knew it was Jeff then. He stood there   for about 10 seconds.   And then the first step he made, they   stood up. Larry looking at me. I’m   looking at him. What the hell?    And uh he Jeff came in was quiet, took   his position, said we had to say and   they did, you know, all they represented   this and that.

 

 And uh Larry was truly   impressed,    right? I was kind of bewildered because   what the hell this little funny looking   dude [clears throat]    and he was small that before you know he   went to the joint teenage    but wow his prison knew Jeff Ford before   he came to prison.    I knew him through his relationship with   me and my organization and my   relationship with him and their   organization.

 

  It was a brother by the name of New   Jeene Harrison, they call him Bull.   Abraim was his holy name.   He was the original leader of the   Blackstone ring.    Whatever proposal Jeff brought to Larry,   I wasn’t there. But we talked about it   this and that.    Give me a little bit more about the   relationship between the disciples and   the Black Stones.

 

   It was ugly at [clears throat] first. It   was real ugly. They was recruiting   peoples and you you had to be you have   to join the Blackstone Rangers in order   to live where you living at and and they   what they call so-called neighborhoods   or hoods or whatever.    We didn’t do that and like I stated   earlier we had some friends that moved   over east and it was a lot of guys over   east start hanging with the guys that we   knew that come from our area. Right.

 

 So   they started the East Side Disciples.   Okay. And that’s what my brother was   saying. We kind of got into it with the   Blackstoneone range when we first got it   because they got mad because we was   growing so much in numbers and stuff and   we was doing and I heard a statement   they saying how can them rag tales young   guys do anything. Yeah. They Yeah.

 

 But   they got fooled on and by them in High   Park East    and we in Englewood and I I don’t know   David Smart I don’t know if he heard   that they was talking to her with it   because you know Jeff at the time was   recruiting and eating up everything east   and the project all that    and I used to tell Jane Harrison I wish   we can get along some kind of way though   but y’all need to stop trying to recruit   our guys them east side disciples you   know Jeff didn’t want to hear nothing to   me he remind me of Charlie Atkins. Okay.    You know, looking for power and madness   and stuff. No, we didn’t get along with   the Blackstoneone Rangers at all. And   that a lot of guys got killed by and all   that. That’s how the Blackstone Rangers   came in play and that’s how the   disciples we came to fight them and   stuff.    There we were conversating with uh Jeff.   It was a different how we feel because   of that.    Mhm.    So that mean if you talking to Jeff,   he’s trying to recruit you into his   organization

 

   in your mind.    Yes. And so people was under impression   that L the chairman was involved.    It’s like this   Jeff   and David   to us was, for lack of a better phrase,   the ideal next generation then of   black mafia. Larry idolized Jeff because   the stones was tight, regimental,    right?    Uh like the vice lords on the west side   was economically in tune.

 

   Exactly.    You know what I mean? The stones over   here was economically in tune. No store   going to do nothing if we ain’t    if we don’t sanction it.    And I I long for them days because we   had black gas stations. We had all that   type of stuff there.    Hoover and Ike Taylor.    Okay.

 

 you know, and um I Taylor was um   second in command. You know, Tennessee   was the prince.    Okay.    You see, um King Dave was our king.   Oldtime was our prince.    Okay.    Charlie went and   that’s we had Larry shot. Once he had   Larry shot, you know what I’m saying?   Larry asked for justice. That’s why they   talking about Larry was the stone.

 

 He   wasn’t. Larry asked for justice. He came   to Mick.    Okay.    And he asked for justice. And I know   Mick liked it. Charlie, he didn’t get   Larry that Justin. So Larry went to Jeff   and he told Jeff, “Jeff, if you make me   a main 21, I’ll bring my nation to you.”    Right?    Well, Jeff didn’t do that.

 

 Jeff like,   “No, man. I’ll make you a second main   body.”    Right?    You know what I’m saying? Larry said,   “Fuck that.” And he left and he went and   took it over.    Right.    He took it over by himself. He just took   it over. He wasn’t even with Dave where   all the cos was at. Larry took that.    A lot of those guys became    uh they became gangster disciples.

 

 Well,   they became supreme gangsters at the   time. Okay. They weren’t gangster   disciples at they were supreme   gangsters.    We were gangster in the hunt.    Mhm.    Remember I was telling you how the three   organization    move like they move.    So Larry had the gangsters,    right?    So he was going around to get everybody   that want to be a gangster.

 

 Let’s all   get together. like you couldn’t be no   disciple if you weren’t a part of Davis    disciples    it can be uh uh it can be east side you   couldn’t be a part of the stones unless   you was a part of Jeff with the    21   you know what I mean    yes sir    so    back in the black days right so that’s   how    it worked    okay so    so when that start coming South.

 

   Okay.    That’s when I met him.    Okay.    Cuz I was with Rusty West.    Okay.    Okay. Him and Larry was jam. But    Rusty was    my guy.    So when they met,    Larry’s guys, you know, there with him.   Larry, our thing. I’m with whatever he   said. I’m going this way.    Right.    Well, we all hooking up with Larry.

 

   Okay.    Okay. From my understanding,   a lot of the Stone guys didn’t want him.    Didn’t want Larry.    They want Larry to be one of the prince.    Oh, okay.    You know what I mean? To fit within the   21 structure or whatever they make.    I ain’t no stone. I can talk gangster,    right?    You know what I mean? Can’t talk   disciple,    right?    Talk gangster, dancing disciple, black   dancing disciple, right? You follow what   I’m saying? I I get it.

 

   Never was an ambassador   to Blackstone Rangers.    Larry.    Larry. In fact, no, not just Larry. All   the original Supreme Gangsters.    Okay.    Never was Blackstone.   Even though we was cool because we had a   common enemy,    right,    with Jeff them supposedly. Right.    Right.    But we didn’t have too much interaction   with Jeff them till they started coming,   you know, West and put up like the same   levels on 59, right? and uh you know   carpet to loomers up in there and they   had little branches here and there but   you know we was concentrated in   Englewood    taking in with Jeff for being a member   which it wasn’t true    you got Jeff   and you got David doing their thing    right when we got to fighting back they   didn’t realize one thing we was   organized and we was all born born and   raised in the city and come up together

 

  even though Laren F was born in the   south. We all started   fighting the disciples back and somebody   say, “Man, the way them little dudes   act, they act like gangsters.”    And it stuck.    And next thing we know, the SG went from   Supreme Gent    to Supreme    to Supreme Gangster.      I want to kind of step back a little bit   and talk about why did there have to be   a merge between   the organizations to become   [clears throat] one.

 

 Marriage had to   come from within because you had   individual   endeavor disciples and you had   individual and gangster   who say no they didn’t want the murder   but the merge had to come because we   were shooting at each other. You know   what I’m saying?    Mhm.    And    at what time did   Larry   and King David start having that   conversation? It was in ‘ 68.

 

   Merge of King David   and Mr. Hoover.    The merge,   it was a good thing and a bad thing.   That’s a uh the good chairman of Larry   H.   They they created   their organization in ‘ 66   and the devil came out in 64.   So   you in the same area, you know,   Inglewood [clears throat]   and   what you trying to do? You trying to   step up and be known.

 

 You’re trying to   get that number one spot. You know, then   again, you just might   get the spark to protect your little   vicinity.   But I doubt that because he grew   overnight.   Well, confident came became uh   against a disciple, devil disciple and   supreme gangster   Larry Hoover and David Box there. But   it’s so many rumors about who introduced   who to who   first they said what the prince   of spring games of Tennessee made rest   in peace. Introduce Lar to David Box.

 

 I   don’t know how true that is. So I’mma   throw my hands up on that.    Tennessee was in jail with David.   They was in the house of correction.    You know what I’m saying? So they were   gay, but they was cool up in there,    right?    So when Tennessee came home, he he   brought it to Larry.    What was Tennessee at that time?    Tennessee was a he was a supreme he was   a high supreme gangster.

 

   High supreme gangster.    Then you had Dee Andrew Howard. Uh him   and David were inseparable.    Dee he was he was a 68 street co.    Okay.    That’s Larry number. That’s Larry Rappy.    That’s Mick first cousin.    Okay. messing with Dee.    Okay.    We was 6 days Kobas cuz we come up 68   street.

 

 So, and Dee Rich’s Kobas,    right?    You know, so we were 68 Street Cob plus   Kas always have been allies to the   disciples,    right?    You know, so fell in place and we were   68 Street Cobas for a minute, but by   Larry being a natural leader. When David   did get to talking there, it made more   sense because we was becoming young   black revolutionary soul brothers    because they had started televising the   civil rights movement on TV    at some point.

 

 you know,   the other organization   decided that they wanted to merge that   they thought that it would be beneficial   to merge or e be mutually beneficial to   emerge, but it was a compromise.    That’s when David said that both of them   would have the title of king,    right?   Uh, it became black against Disciple   because then we was all into this   cultural   awareness piece.

 

   Okay.    In the 60s,    right?    You you follow I’m saying?    Okay. So, that’s how that happened,    right? Now, Larry was a supreme   gangster.    He was a gangster,    right?    You know, he he was a supreme gangster.   Everyone else was a gangster. We added    black was dropped and black disciple and   uh supreme was dropped from the gangster   and so they became gangster disciple.

 

  That was the compromise you know for the   merge. I thought it was like like a kind   of step back, you know, and because,   you know, I think that whenever you try   to redefine yourself and say, “No, we   ain’t we’re not gangsters, you know, we   have grown.” But that was uh that’s how   that merge came about.    I used to tell David all the time that   Larry is too close to us cuz we had   heard that he went over there and tried   to get with the Blackstone Rangers cuz   he didn’t have no clout with us.

 

 It was   too many of us, you know,    and Jeff didn’t make him a main 21. Told   him he can be ambassador and Larry told   him to kiss his ass. See if I can say it   like that. He came back and we found   that out. And I told David, you ought to   send somebody up there to talk to him,   man.

 

 This unnecessary fight even though   that kid, the man is right next door.    Yeah. Larry Hoover. I said, just think,   David, if Larry was with us, we had a   whole south side of Chicago tied up.   And I guess it was Kero Poochie   convinced David to do that.    You know what I’m saying? And the scene   went to David, you know what I’m saying?   And they hooked that up.

 

 The black exit   disciple.    Oh, okay. So they now they merge with    they merge, right? And that’s how they   man. Well, at the time at this time   Jeffnim was the biggest thing in the   city,    right?    Them stones.    Mhm. But Jeff was moving in another   direction at this time and a lot of   people didn’t know that Jeff was moving   in this direction.

 

   Okay?    You know what I’m saying? Toward this   Moish American where he he was going in   that direction. You know what I’m   saying? And so they what they used to do   was call the disciples little boys, man.   Them little boys, man, they stopped   fighting them. They like, “Man, forget   them little boys.

 

” You know what I’m   saying? And they was they had Jesse in   their pocket. They had a lot of people   in their fight.    You know what I’m saying? And what   happened was   the disciples and the vice lords got to   fighting downtown.    The vice lords and who got fighting? Got   into    and and and the GDs. It was downtown. It   was downtown.

 

 They was marching with uh   Jesse Jackson.    Okay. and they got to they got to uh   fighting each other downtown and they   started fighting and that’s what brought   the fight out south between the Lords   and the GDs and they said the GDs start   coming well it was the souls the black   souls originally black souls you know   what I’m saying they was Roman saints at   first you know what I’m saying they went   from Roman saints to black souls okay   and they was in Ktown    okay    so the black souls start taking over   Ktown    you You know what I’m saying? And if it   wasn’t a black soul, it was Supreme   Gangster.    If I had to label those relationships,   I would put them as some of the most   profound relationships I’ve had in my   life.    Wow.   That’s powerful.    I fought Larry.   I sometime went against Jeff who was   Chief Malik.

 

  I sometime went against uh David.   I’ve sometime went against Don. I   sometime went against uh Gino, the Latin   Kings. But I’ve always had respect    for their organization.    Yes, sir.    Sometime the men might do things that I   disapprove of or I object to,    right?    And I would give my opinions about it   and it wouldn’t set track with some of   them, right?    And we would have our words back and   forth.

 

 But we always had enough respect   for our organizations   to respect each other’s opinion. It’s   all right to disagree   but at the same time agree. And at some   cases we had to go to fight.    They be like, “Man, I need to talk to   that guy.” You know which guy? A le    Okay.    You know, and this was his thinking.   the same thing in that uh neighborhood.

 

  If you merge together, we’ll be the big   organization in the city. So, you know,   like I said, that was a good idea and   bad idea because they were disciple they   resented that and against they resent   that, you know, but the majority rule,   you know what I’m saying? Then as a   leader, you got to convince your guy the   meaning and the concept why   same as lever have to do with this guy.

 

   The merge   a lot of people like I can’t accept   that.    Okay.    You know what I’m saying?    I get it.    You was a man who were around the corner   hiding but [ __ ] jump.   You know what I’m saying? So make you a   cow. You eradicated from the program   [ __ ] get away. But anyway,   that was a good thing.

 

 You know, cuz it   the conflict between the two end.    When the merge did happen,   David and Larry were joined together.    Yes. David like I’m king. Leah Hub king.   And if something happened to me, you   follow.    The disciples   uh brother Malik    Jeff with the stone.    Mhm. and uh Larry Hoover were gangsters.   47 Street there was like   the mecca of the street life on the   south side.

 

   Mhm.    So old brother Tennessee they got   together   and convinced Larry   to go with David.    Right.    So when Tennessee came home, he he   brought it to Larry.    So we had a big meeting in the church on   64th from Peoria. the church we had. I   thought it was just a little man. I must   have been a 500 of them supreme   gangsters come down to the church,    right?    You know, and uh David thought, well, he   said, “I ain’t going to just give you no   leadership.

 

 I’m going to make you a king   next to me.”    And he had this little thing that he put   on Larry’s head, said, “Now you a king.”   So, it’s two kings. And we not going to   call ourselves just the black disciple.   We’re going to call ourselves the   gangster disciples. So, y’all can still   keep some of y’all name cuz they was the   supreme gangster.

 

 And then we was a   black disciple. So it became GD,    right? It became GD. This is when this   mega powerhouse    begins to get into play.    It was in ‘ 69 that Larry Hoover became   the king    of the gangster nation.    Oh, okay.    Crowned by King Dave. The sense to it   was that if um they did emerge, it would   be a good move because um long as Hoover   was there and we was fighting them, they   actually had us closed in,    right?    You know, so um Jeff wouldn’t give Larry   what he wanted.

 

   Okay. So, um Larry wanted to rule his   own peoples,    right? And Jeff was taking that from him   because Jeff wouldn’t allow him to be a   main 21.    Right.    So anyway, the talks was going on and   Hoover came on with it.    Wow.    And he became to be the king of the   gangster nation.    Larry and David come together.

 

  Now you got those two forces   being one force,    right? And you still got   Jeff doing his thing.    Jeff had a nation.    But now back to the to the murder.   It stop it stop violent against family   between BD and GD.   So [snorts] that was a good thing which   I said that was a good thing because   David never broke   his hope. He said, “You part of me.

 

 One   half be my hope.”    Okay. So, we’re here   in one of the birth places. Can I say   that?    Yeah. Exactly.    Of this idea. Okay. And we’re here   on Harold Harold Baskin’s Street.    Exactly.    This is St. Steven’s Church. This is the   parish here.    Mhm.   This was the first place we had and the   preacher, he was white, stayed here and   we needed a meeting place and stuff, you   know, and I used to come talk to the   preacher all the time and stuff.

 

 So he   said, “Oh, geez, say I’ll let y’all have   it just long as y’all take care of the   parish and stuff, you know, and so we   can have our activities going on in   here, you know, cuz we did a play. The   first thing we did, we did a play in   here about the Blackstone Rangers and   Disciples and stuff, you know.

 

 It was a   play. We had the little shortage.   Renegades and stuff was in the play, you   know, and we used to have our meetings   here and stuff, you know. So, we had   little activities going on in here. And   this is the birthplace of the Black   Gangster Disciples. The Black Disciples   and the Supreme Gangsters merged   together uh back in 1969.

 

   Yes, sir.    You know, we was talking for two or   three years trying to put it and   formalize it and put it together. And   when it came together, this is where we   merged together. And it wasn’t just   black disciples. It won Supreme   Gangster. It was black gangster   disciples. Wow.    And that’s how it started.

 

   I remember coming out cuz one of the   shortest came out and said, “Man, look   at all these peoples coming down the   street.” And we was waiting on them.   They must have been 4 500 people coming   down the street. Supreme. Supreme.   Supreme gangsters. Supreme gangsters.    This is where downstairs it was like a   little auditorium and stuff,    right? And Larry and David was on the   stage and Dee introduced   Larry and David to everybody and David   said, “Larry is going to be the king of   black gangster disciples. I’m a king.”   It was two kings back then. It was Larry   and it was David, you know. It was no   split. It was none of this. It was two   kings and always have been two kings.   One king died and it’s still a king.   That’s [clears throat] Larry Hoover, you   know. So this is where it started at.   This is how the black disciples and the   supreme gangster merged at right here in   St. Stevens.    So now Ike,   take me back there   in the moment when that happened where   my brother just left off.    So the night of the meeting, we was all

 

  sitting downstairs and Dave was talking   and they was taking a vote. David said,   “We going to take a vote. We going to be   black gangster disciples or we going to   go our separate ways.” So he asked Larry   for a vote. Larry stood up. We had been   haggling back and forth for the last   year or two, right?    So David said, “We going to take a final   vote on this gangster disciple thing.

 

”   So he asked Larry say, “Uh, Larry   Hoover, how you vote?” So Larry stood,   looked around at his gangsters.   And he say, “Ken David, we be black   gangster disciples.”    That’s it.    Amen.    That’s it.    We We went in   Supreme Gangster, devil disciples.    How did they represent One for the G and   one for the D. That’s how we stack them.

 

   And we cross them.    That’s right. That’s right. There you   go. That’s right, sir.    And from then on, we left here and went   to 68th and Green.    Yes, sir.    I mean, you couldn’t see from one block   to the next.    Just that many people.    It was a black wave of brothers and   sisters.    That’s right.

 

   And we were chatting.    Black Gangster Disciples.    That’s right.    Boss.    Boss. And look, over 50 years, 60 years.   Here we stand. Here we stand    right back.    That’s an amazing thing.    Here we stand.    What type of activities did you have?    All social programs.    We had educational programs.

 

 We used to   feed people here. We danced. We roller   skated. We argued. We fight. And we grew   up here.    When this marriage came about,   it was a good thing. When it broke up,   it became a bad thing. We were good on   one side and bad on the other side   because GD   has the numbers and the power.   So [snorts] they kind of squash the BD   but   in time everything came back in order.

 

   The young adults man can pay attention   because the game is way more wicked than   diabolical.   You brothers out there, learn your   history.   Learn who you talking to and what you’re   about. The 60s, that’s when the black   awareness was   have black peace stone nation, black   dancing disciple nation, black panther.

 

  Uh, everybody had free breakfast.   Everybody was concerned about the safety   of the community because we knew that it   was corrupt police officers that was   coming in either giving the individual   the bag    or taking the tax from the bag. Yes.    So the community was looking to us to   secure    their community.

 

 But you know how how it   go when the dope game came into the   play.    Mhm.    It changed everything.    The vices is there. You know what I’m   saying? You got to choose what you want   or what you believe. I tell brother, you   know what I’m saying? Don’t be faking in   this. You know what I’m saying?   Someone might get hurt.   Then me like education is the best thing   they know.

 

   Mhm.    When the merge happened in 69    Mhm.    and Larry   got that. People have asked, “Well,   where does the BGDN come from?”    Well,   Larry had a right to make some changes,   but if you think about it,    Mhm.    all he did, we were using the word black   anyway. Back then, everything was black.   Black Panthers, black this, black that.

 

  [clears throat]    So, all he did,   he made sure that everything was   [clears throat] right in place. black   gangster, which was them,    disciples,    gang, disciple nation, cuz it was so big   then,    right?    So, it all was wrapped into those four   four words, temple,    right?    He didn’t throw one out.

 

   It was all incorporated.    Black gangster disciple nation    because you got    So, it should all been the same one   thing, right? They had united became the   black gangster disciple nation.    Right.    When that split came, Larry still had   loyalty of those original gangsters.    Devil disciples.

 

   That’s right. Supreme gangsters.    That’s right. Come together as gangster   disciples. Nation. And Larry puts the   nation on it. Thank you.    Power   create enemy.   Jealousy   destroyer.   Every one of these gentlemen that we’re   talking about has somewhere in that   process they had to deal with the mel.    Oh yeah.

 

 If I had to label those   relationships,   I would put them as some of the most   profound relationships I’ve had in my   life. And right today, Larry Hoover is   one of my best friends.    That’s powerful.    Jeff Ford is my little brother. Gino   is the one of the most righteous and and   trustworthy guys you want to find.    From the beginning, it was love all   around.

 

  Even though they resent that, but they   still were love. Black gangster disciple   nation. That’s what it came to.   So when you   understand that,   then you can understand why David chose   L to stop the killing in Englewood   and preserve somebody so they mama won’t   be crying at night. So they came   together and that part save some life.

 

  Heat.   Heat.      Heat. Heat.