New York City Street Gangs 1970s

Various NYC Street Gangs from the 1970s
Some images watermarked by Corbis
Music: www.bensound.com
''Royalty free music from Bensound''

[@colonsteven8881]

I WAS A YOUNG IMMORTAL BACK IN 1971 CALLED SLIM 7 AT 13 YEARS YOUNG,I REMEMBER THE DAYS AND YEARS WASNT ALL STREET BATTLES ME BEING ONCE UPON A TIME BEING WARLORD BUT ALSO MUCH FUN WITH THE FELLAS DOWN THE BLOCK IN HOUSE PARTIES AND GATHERING TOGETHER PLAYING HARDBALL AT THE HANDBALL COURTS NEAR SOUNDVIEW PROJECTS! BACK THEN YOU HAD NO CHOSE BUT TO BEIIN A GANG UNTIL I WAS OLD ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF I MOVED ON TO A BETTER LIFE NOW A RETIRED ARMY VET AND CIVIL SERVANT THANK YOU JESUS IM A TRUE SOLDIER OF GOD AMEN! GOD BLESS ALL MY SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN JESUS NAME////1

[@severusscorpus1175]

My father's gang were the majestic brothers south Bronx.

[@nelsonnelson6763]

You still look immortal. I'm taking you to Stephen King ! 🤣😳

[@colonsteven8881]

@@nelsonnelson6763 YOU GOT JOKES :D

[@nelsonnelson6763]

@@colonsteven8881 🥳

[@nelsonnelson6763]

Now you in a Gang, with a license! 😳 🥳

[@f.mazz.459]

So cool, what a time period. NYC gangs were so unique compared to the rest of the country. Hispanic and Black gangs from L.A have a completely different gang culture in comparison

[@Anonymou357]

I agree. New York and Chicago back then had completely different looks than LA. New York had their MC type jackets with their patches and Chicago had modified High School Varsity Sweaters with patches

[@nelsonnelson6763]

Mentally! They were kind of respect, and protection. Not for abuse.

[@Studioladya]

Very different. Ours were against crime. Our were vigilante types. N against the political establishment. LA is gang in gang then to now. N bms r against latins. Which is why California government will continue to rule the ppl n keep them under control. Nyc ppl are about cash money. N we had very little small gangs. N it was for teens not grown men n women for generations. Todays nyc kids r mislead n confused n copied bs in rikers from n cali dude who got kicked up. Real Gangsters nyc did not tolerate wild gangs n got rid of them.

[@SupremeManiax]

The real Gangs of NYC☠️

[@nelsonnelson6763]

Yeeeep!

[@nelsonnelson6763]

100%

[@yawasapisrael1640]

Absolutely. And original to NYC. None of that West Coast brands. That could not exist here back in the 1960s & 1970s. We didn’t bite on nothing West Coast. We were originals. War-Lords 1970-1972, Dynamite Brothers 2nd Division 1972-1973, Deadly Tomahawks (Bed-Stuy) Division 1973-1977. The 3 street gangs I banged in during those times in Brooklyn NYC. That real street Outlaw Culture. CUT SLEEVES & FUR COLLARS

[@markogarcia7578]

DOPE VIDEO THIS IS WHERE HIP HOP IS FORMED FROM. THE STREETS OF NYC... GANGS TO CREWS.

[@jamesjones2173]

New York was a scary place back in the 70s.im glad I didn’t lived that era

[@nelsonnelson6763]

I did! I can write a few books, about it!

[@jamesjones2173]

@@nelsonnelson6763 how was NYC back then

[@nelsonnelson6763]

@@jamesjones2173 I grew up with the biggest gangs. I had to put my whole life , music, personal, to confront the streets. I was a one man gang.

[@TheUnapologeticAdventurer]

It was an awesome time. We had a blast growing up in the Bronx

[@lunapasquale]

Best time

[@DonRay138]

amazing pictures!

[@Anonymou357]

Yes, whoever the photographer, or photographers were, they did a great job.

[@soulfulricansouldjkurtist2358]

Turbans,Reapers,Javelins,Black Spades,Savage Nomads, Savage Skulls ,7 Immortals ,Bachelors,Tomahawks, Homicides, Devil Rebels.

[@stone5578]

homicides and sex boys is what warriors movie are based off

[@francesca0276]

Hello!! On mark 7:04, my Uncle Willie is the one with the Afro on the left & Felipe is on the right with the back of The Ghetto Brothers” jacket showing. I have this photo of my uncle. He passed away back in 1989 & believe it or not, today is his 68th Birthday! All of my uncles and aunt were in a street gang, including my Dad. We are from The Bronx! I grew up hearing stories of fights and community service. Some had motorcycles, but mostly hung out in the neighborhood. Cool video!! Thanks for sharing!

[@Anonymou357]

Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing that information.

[@francesca0276]

@@Anonymou357 Thank you! So much history in this video!

[@Anonymou357]

@@francesca0276 You're welcome. Thank you for liking the video.

[@BlackPwr]

You look just like him 😢❤❤

[@francesca0276]

@@BlackPwr Yes! We both have the chinky eyes and same smile! Thank you🩷

[@kzfive]

Was only 1 gang where I grew up. The Seven 7 Crowns. No other could exist in my 20 block radius. Funny thing is the mayor of NYC was a Seven Crown.

[@aceboog1983]

The warriors will forever be my fav movie

[@EJAXK13]

Seven Crowns? You have your fair share of street fights?

[@Xycomm]

So it really was like the warriors

[@Anonymou357]

Pretty much, just with less ridiculous looking gangs

[@Xycomm]

@@Anonymou357 yeah I wouldn’t have thought any self respecting gangster would wear those goofy ass outfits some “gangs” had

[@amackert.1960]

NYC had a much higher violent crime rate in the 70s and early 80s than today. The city was truly dangerous, scary and depressing then. I think the song from that era that represents NYC the most is "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty which was hugely popular in 1978. A song full of fear and melancholy from a fearful and melancholy era. No wonder Gen X'ers growing up in that era turned out to be pissed off and angry at the world.

[@jknumber5138]

Before Hip Hop music(Black Spades n Savage Skulls)🗽🍏💯

[@joeblo5804]

Back in the 70’s I was a member of the feared JA’s ( Jewish Accountants) gang and man we ruled the roost. We did all the tax returns for the major gangs in Brooklyn and with the swipe of a pen stroke, these guys either owed money, or got a return from the most feared gang in the Country………. The IRS. We did not f **** around and if we wanted your ass, you owed big time whether you did or not, and we’d rat you out faster than shit moving through a goose. My name is Shlomo Kleinfeld & you didn’t want to mess with me in those days.

[@Anonymou357]

Funny, Unsettling and very true.

[@clh2192]

Jolly Stompers, Seven Crowns, Black Spades, Ghost Shadows, Savage Nomads, Immortals, Tomahawks, and Savage Skulls were the big ones. From previous eras the Fordham Baldies (50s), Bishops (50s, 60s) and Chaplins (50s, 60s).

[@Anonymou357]

Thanks for the knowledge

[@maximus3160]

Halsey Bops were big in the '50s as well

[@stone5578]

dont forget THEM Chigalings gang . they a biker Mc today

[@chriszenko6355]

Say what you want about those guys they settled most of their scores with their fists not many drive by shootings they went toe to toe

[@ndogg20]

Thats NYC for you. Drive by's would be almost impossible in NY's crowded streets or they surely would have done it. But whether they were using fists, knives or even guns New Yorkers always get up close and personal, as that is all the terrain allows. No open streets or freeways to jump on like in LA. But the end result is NY has the better harder street fighters.

[@nelsonnelson6763]

🎯

[@OldRunt]

Cool music.

[@MrRockzilla86]

The Savage Skulls are having there 56th Anniversary party! Date, January 7th 2020.. Place, 247 City Island Avenue Bronx, NYC. Time 8pm-Until?! Admission, $10 with patches $15 without. 50/50 raffle, food while it lasts. See you there! 🔥☠🔥

[@markogarcia7578]

Everyone thinks they know the history but only those that lived it in NYC know what realy happen.

[@spikesification]

The diablos, the shamrocks, the mau mau’s…..hang on , I think that was hill street blues…

[@pabst2093]

Somebody please help me identify the music

[@Anonymou357]

The music came from www.bensounds.com. I can't remember the exact song titles though.

[@TheBhattman]

Hello! I am a freelance production coordinator currently working for the Japanese TV program and we are currently producing an urban street program (FOR BREAKING EPISODE) for Japanese viewers. I would love to use this clip for about 15-30seconds in our edit so TV hosts can watch. Is it ok to use this clip for our show?

[@Anonymou357]

Sorry for the delay in my reply, yes it is ok for you to use this clip.

[@nelsonnelson6763]

Buy me a 12 pack, and we think about it! 🥳

[@nelsonnelson6763]

How are you? How can I get intouch with you?

[@TheBhattman]

@@nelsonnelson6763 hi! thanks for your reply! unfortunately, we have decided not to use your footage since we couldn't get your reply at the time of editing... Thanks anyway tho!

[@stevekells7283]

How many got drafted and never made it home

[@Nixkrude79]

Coming from the warriors i see where the Santans Mothers got their look from the Savage Skulls

[@jenniferyule8786]

Coolest photos. I am so far away from this world, but I tell you what I see that is missing now and will NEVER come back, community. Love how their children and babies are here with them , not left at home. The movie The Warriors, which we loved, was not so much made up as just expanded on, judging by these great images.

[@Anonymou357]

The photographers did a great job.

[@dannylesbile8592]

We didn't pose for pictures

[@edgaravelar8860]

In the 70s Black spades biggest gang/Toma Howks 2nd biggest gang/Savage nomas 3rd biggest gang/The Assassinators 150 members Smallest gang/Golden guines good fighters/

[@danielbrown3461]

I'm glad they had a gay ranking system.

[@MrAngelroc]

@@danielbrown3461 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@dirkdiggler8794]

They looked like motorcycle gangs, but not s single motorsickle in sight...

[@Anonymou357]

I think that, was what inspired their look.

[@R.J.1]

All I see is unity. Black, Brown, White, etc

[@BIGGDADDYNY64]

Spent allot of years with some great brothers from the skulls In nysdoc , in the 80s

[@zovergames]

How did they make the patches?

[@Anonymou357]

Not sure. A knitting mill perhaps. That is how the Chicago clubs and gangs got theirs made.

[@filolovejoy]

Caaaaaaaannnnnnnnn youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu digggggggiiiiittttt !!!

[@guymandudely324]

The Savage Skulls had thousands of members.

[@Anonymou357]

They are definitely one of the more notorious clubs, that get mentioned, when people talk about the clubs of that era.

[@arnettfiles340]

The Warriors was a documentary.

[@wcacique39]

Savage Skulls, Savage Nomads, Ching-A-Ling, and Hollywood Bachelors, then after in the new generation of the 80s to 90s was the Power Rulers Possie on 150 St and Union Ave. Forever BX

[@Anonymou357]

Thanks for the info

[@MrGrimeyOneNY715]

Where were the Hollywood Bachelor's turf located at?

[@cruz25617]

I see gun's in the video. But were they used as much as melee and improvised weapon's? I heard back then everyday items like chain's and knives were the norm. Whatever wasn't bolted into the ground really.

[@Anonymou357]

Guns were used on occasion, but bats, chains and knives were used much more.

[@severusscorpus1175]

My father's gang were the majestic brothers south Bronx.

[@MrGrimeyOneNY715]

I've heard of the majestic Brothers from West 176th Street & Davidson Avenue right

[@MarlonMierMARLON913]

Look like the main characters of the videogame ''The Warriors ''

[@Anonymou357]

The movie was filmed when they were still active. The director should have taken inspiration from how they looked, instead of coming up with some of the ridiculous designs that they did. It would have made the movie more authentic.

[@christhecowboy1999]

it wasn’t just a video game 😔

[@ernestsaldivoire95]

@@Anonymou357 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oni2gKdmmLKkqck

[@MrRockzilla86]

Coney Island was The Dirty Riders turff.. They were active during the time of the movies filming.

[@user-mi8qt1gq7o]

A lot of the situation's in NY were a lot worse than those pictures that are shown, and the black spades later on became the zulu nation out of Bronx River projects, in which their rivals were the 5 percenters, but from the mid to late 70s a lot of the gangs stopped wearing those jackets with the gang signs them, because they didn't want to be identified by other gangs or the police

[@Anonymou357]

Thanks for the history. I heard about the Black Spades becoming Zulu Nation. The gangs not wearing their jackets anymore after the late 1970s, is very similar, too Chicago gangs, not wearing their sweaters anymore, or at the very least, not as often in public, because of the police confiscating the sweaters and keeping a lot of them, for their own private collections.

[@luistheeditor1810]

My grandpa was in reapers

[@taytayrazors9033]

I Wonder them people in picture are still living in the Year 2021🤔

[@Anonymou357]

Hopefully some of them still are

[@brooklynred6762]

As for the dirty ones yes I know a few from those pics alive well and family men also still members

[@harolddejesus9160]

In Brooklyn Sunset Park, back then...the Dirty Ones, the Assassinators, the Turban Saints, La Familia, 69’ers, Maceteros, Horny Bejacs.

[@lisasheba4615]

yess! grew up with most of them,,,,good times!

[@NaturalMeAmerica]

Also the Jr gangs like the young leopards

[@NaturalMeAmerica]

And the biggest rumble that almost was on 5 ave,between 49 st and 42 st. It was intercepted by the police right at the corner of 5 ave and 44 st

[@user-fg2ec7gd9t]

Am outlaw Manny former member of the savage skulls I ve seen how these New Jack's get down nothing to to be compared to the 1970s these new gangs now are pathetic

[@ivelisseledesma6594]

Old school Puerto Rican s

[@thedevilisupinyou8381]

Now a days it's the alphabet gang

[@edwardlopez438]

See them Tattoo's where about something and only a few hade them back then..a tattoo now a days are just trendy

[@markogarcia7578]

Who was doing all this filiming. Some said they were kids when they started Hip Hop not teenagers Then they said they were balling Making lots of many. So why didnt you buy a camera....

[@Anonymou357]

News and media crews and Photographers took most of the pictures and filmed most of the footage. Not sure why they didn't buy their own camera's, maybe they just weren't interested. Who knows.

[@robertafierro5592]

Electric Coffins

[@AwaitThy]

the gangs where mostly just teens

[@seamusohoulihan666]

4:50 what movie?

[@Anonymou357]

That's not a movie, just pictures that were taken by photographers. Their is some news and media crews footage in their as well.

[@mariogcia91]

None of these gangs exist anymore. LA and Chicago at least have the same old gangs around still active ...

[@Anonymou357]

I don't know why the younger generations in NY didn't continue with these gangs, instead of copying off other cities like LA and Chicago, by becoming Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings and Gangster Disciples.

[@mariogcia91]

@@Anonymou357 there are some original gangs from ny but they Mexican or patria the Dominican gang. The rest famous but they not even original they copy cats from Chicago and LA

[@blueskyy43]

@@Anonymou357 That's incorrect street organizations such as Zulu Nation & 5 % percenters transformed themselves into hip hop artists & some where street pharmacist on the low, Peter Noel (RIP) journalist from the Village Voice was the first to expose the New York Bloods LA. Gangs where influenced inside Rikers Island Jail in 1993 by two men Dead Eye & OG Mack they where reading books on LA,CA. gang culture they created the NY Bloods as to unite All the Black/African-American gangs from the Latin Kings because there was a lot of racial riots & assaults against the Black Gangs when both of them return to the street they form the Blood gangs mostly in the Bronx & Brooklyn so basically besides the decepticons in Brooklyn.New York had a empty space for 10 years without major gangs being visible in New York.

[@Anonymou357]

I get what your saying, but they still could have created their own original organisations instead of just copying off the Bloods and Crips from LA and the Latin Kings and Gangster Disciples from Chicago.

[@rightguy200000]

@@Anonymou357 probably because these types of gangs wouldn't be able to keep up with the shoot-first style of modern gangs.

[@fypsfd]

The warriors

[@kman24]

the Cosby kids 😅

[@Black_unity597]

Only a back shot of a Black gang Black Spades ♠️

[@alessandrodesouza6003]

Alessandro de Souza

[@randysmith2866]

East LA gangs of the 70's make these guys look like wannabees!

[@stone5578]

lol

[@1050Bridge]

Was that girl blind?

[@Anonymou357]

What girl ?

[@hazuone]

"all over until they get drug and be drug addicts",😢

[@mattf.1233]

Their parents must be so proud 😒

[@colonsteven8881]

MOST OF THE TIME PARENTS DIDNT KNOW MAYBE :) MATT

[@hollytrinity8012]

INDEED!!!

[@barrynelson5212]

No, your parents are the proud ones. 🤔

[@OldRunt]

These guys were all poor and hungry. They were stick up kids. Nothing to idolize. You watch too many movies.

[@Anonymou357]

What are you trying to say ?

[@Black_unity597]

All of this is not from the 70s either great editing though

[@xxmayhemxx6662]

Damn y’all graffiti art sucks 😂😂😂

[@raphael7280]

🤣🤣

[@ProfessorKenneth]

You would think these gangs would become up with a better sounding name and logo for their gangs ...like hells angels. ...hell fire club warriors. Something like that. Even in the movie the fake gangs had cooler names..🤷🏻‍♂️

[@blueskyy43]

Pupil K you're comment is sarcastic back in the early 70's gangs where rough no matter what place you were at from east coast to the west coast 50 years ago most major cities were infested by drugs mostly heroin & other drugs the youth during that time mostly young people had to learn how to fist fight you had to be good with your hands to get respect, also most neighbors watched out for each other regardless if you come from a dysfunctional family.

[@stone5578]

theres a old white boy gang in Chicago called THE GAYLORDS and guess what . they weren't to be played with . they rep the 5 too. they name is they name

[@handbanana9774]

Lol...posers

[@Black_unity597]

With nazi Symbolism! 🤦🏿‍♂️ type of shit is that oh but we were buddy buddy!

[@Anonymou357]

It wasn't a racist thing, it was to shock and intimidate people. Most of these gangs had both Puerto Rican and Black members.

[@bxdale83]

Black gangs wore swastikas too

[@n.montana1858]

Puerto ricans rocking rebels flags and swastikas 😂😂😂😂

[@stone5578]

blacks wore them too . they all felt like rebels back then . had nothing to do with fascism or race

[@n.montana1858]

@@stone5578 😂😂😂👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾

[@stone5578]

@@n.montana1858 it’s what it is . Sorry your butt crack is hurt lol 😂

[@coolfaiq8057]

​@@n.montana1858it's hard to believe but this black's and latinos gang actually rock the n@zi,confederate and communist symbols to make them more cool/edgy and to increase "fear" factor,and it had nothing to do with racism.

[@MrAngelroc]

@@stone5578 🤣🤣🤣🤣