Genesis - The Evolution & Rise Of The Gangsterdisciples

Genesis: The formation and rise of the Gangster Disciple Nation

The history of the Gangster Disciples is one of

many facesÐ'... in order to understand the whole story; one must understand

that it is in reality the telling of three different stories, all of which took place at the same time. The story of David Barksdale and Mac

Aurther's "David's and Devil's Disciples", The story of Larry Hoover and Andrew Howard's "Supreme Gangster Nation", and the story of Jerome

Freeman and Harold Walker's "Black King Cobras". These are the Fathers of the Black Gangster Disciple NationÐ'...

David and Devils Disciples:

Also known simply as the Devil DisciplesÐ'... D.D.D. was formed on the south side of Chicago in a hood known as Englewood in July of 1961. The president and vice-president of the group Mac "Blue Devil" Aurther and Donise David "Big D" Barksdale, they had formed the small gang as a way to protect themselves from the growing Vice Lords gang, which lived in the surrounding area and also heavily occupied Lawndale and Woodlawn. The Vice Lords were an extremely violent gang that controlled most of the other gangs in the area. David was very close with many of the other gang leaders in the area including Eugene "Bull" Hairston of the Black Stone Rangers and Jerome Freeman of the Black King Cobras.

The Devil's Disciples gang grew in numbers very quickly due to the oppressive nature of the Vice Lords. The attitude of the Vice Lords at

that time was one of forcing the other young men in the hoods to join with them. Many sought out the Devils Disciples and joined their ranks for protection. The whole thing with gangs back in those days was territory not money or power as it is now. In 62 the Devils Disciples began having conflicts with the Black Stones over this very

issue. The violent acts that went along with this difficulty were many

and bloody. During this same year David and Mac began to take a strong

interest in political activism and social reform. Because of the fact that the Black King Cobras were highly interested and

involved in the actions of the Black Panther Party and the leader of the BKC were close friends with David, (Jerome) the Devils Disciples began to also take interest in the actions of the Black Panthers.

In 1963 the leaders of the 2 gangs began attending political rallies on Black Nationalism together. This brought the two gangs very close. It was at one of these rallies that David met Donald "Kill Will" Durkey.

Durkey was a high-ranking member of the Black King Cobras and good friends with Harold. He was also good friends with a man named Andrew Howard (who with Larry Hoover would lead the Supreme Gangster Nation in 1964). This is how David eventually met Hoover. In 1964 the Devils Disciples and the Black King Cobras started joining together to fight their common enemy the Black Stones. (By this time the Black Stones had begun calling themselves the Black Peace Stone Ranger Nation, or just the Black P. Stone Nation.) The Vice Lords had begun ailing themselves with the Black Stones and another much smaller gang known as the Latin

Kings. The three gangs together were too much for the Devils Disciples

to handle so David and Mac also turned to the Black King Cobras and the

Clovers for help.

The Clovers were another small south side gang that numbered about 75 to 100 members. The leader of the Clovers was a young man named Greg

"G-Shell" Shell. Mac convinced Greg that it would be in both gangs best

interest if they were to make the Clovers in to Disciples. One of the female members of the Clovers was Didi "Sheba" Akins. At this time Barksdale was Dating Didi, they had a very close relationship. Didi

was Shells cousin and constantly counseled Shell to join with the Disciples so that they could become one gang. The Clovers became members of the Devils Disciples, and with the help of the Black King Cobras they began to win the fights with the three gangs that were causing them problems. In July of 1965 the Devils Disciples and the

Black King Cobras attended a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King and

became a part of what was then known as the "Chicago Project": whose basic goals were to improve the life of inner-city youth, such as the gang members.

The Black King Cobras:

The Black King Cobras were also formed in the Englewood area of Chicago. They formed in August of 1960, and were lead by Jerome Prince "Shorty" Freeman and Harold "Money" Walker their history is very similar to that of David's and Devil's Disciples, because they were

such a close group from the start. Being formed for much of the same reason and having such a similar history to that of the Disciples I will only touch on a few important parts of their history.

First: they were the first gang in Chicago (Quite possibly the whole USA too) to ever using gang signs. The sign was the formation of 2 hands in the shape of a Cobras head.

Second: in 1962 a young man named Larry Hoover had sex with Jerome's then girlfriend. This would be the start of a resentment that would last for three decades.

Third: Jerome was always really big on Black Rights and Political activism. He began to teach both Harold and Durkey about the Black

Nationalism Movement, after a while this moved to include many others,

among them where David, Mac, Shell, and Howard just to name a few.