The Black Spades was one of the largest Black street gangs in New York City in the 1970s. It was reported that there were 29 divisions or chapters in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn. The Black Spades started out as the Seven Angels, I believe, sometime between 1967 and 1969.

Other's said Black Spades (arised out of the Savage Seven, because of the increasing number of members). HISTORY OF HIPHOP http://www.angelfire.com/va2/hiphop/hiphophist.html "In the year '68 seven teenagers who named themselves the "Savage Seven" started to terrorize their neighbourhood and with their activities they laid the groundwork for something that domineered the Bronx during the next 6 years: Streetgangs. Within shortest time gangs appeared on every street corner and names like "Black Spades" (arised out of the "Savage Seven" because of the increasing number of members), "Savage Skulls", "Seven Immortals", "Seven Crowns", "Savage Nomads", "Ching Aling", "Black Skulls", "Latin Kings", "Young Lords" and many others could be seen everywhere. After the gang activities reached their top in '73, they died out one after the other. The reason for this turn can be found on different levels. On one side gangs got rotten out by other gangs, got involved into the drug misery or got that big that their members didn't want to be involved anymore. On the other side times were changing in general and people of the 70ies went to (block-) parties and clubs and loved the music and the dance more and more. But the number of gangs mainly also decreased because more and more people (especially also former gang members) got involved in the Hip Hop culture and found there a new activity. http://www.angelfire.com/va2/hiphop/hiphophist.html

Regarding the Savage Nomads and Savage Skulls, both gangs were infamous throughout the seventies. Nabidus told me that he saw a Nomad 30th Anniversary mural (in 1997) in New York. I was surprised to learn that the Savage Nomads actually started in 1967. They were one of the earliest 1970's gangs along with the Black Spades, Peacemakers, Ghetto Brothers, Savage Skulls, etc. There were other early gangs (those starting in the mid to late sixties, some even had survived from the fifties, or even resurrected from the fifties, such as the Golden Guineas, and the Flying Dutchmen).

Gangs present at the Hoe Avenue peace meeting: The all-Black gang called the Black Pearls, wearing their huge, soft-brimmed purple-and-white hats; Savage Skulls wearing their sleeveless denim jackets with a skull and crossbones on the back; the Turbans with their black-and-gold jackets and black caps with gold pompoms; the Young Sinners, Javelins, Dutchmen, Magnificent Seven, Dirty Dozen, Liberated Panthers, and Peacemakers. Inside the power structure was much in evidence. Presidents, vice-presidents, and warlords sat on folding chairs in a circle in the middle of the club's gymnasium. Gang members took seated in the bleachers, while wives were made to wait outside the building in the cold. Only two females were permitted inside--the presidents of the all-girl gangs, the "Alley Cats" and the "Savage Sisters"--and their folding chairs were placed in the last/fourth row, behind those of the warlords. Also, there were Seven Immortals, Black Spades (the backs of their jacks were decorated with a huge black spade pierced in dead center by a pair of crossed knives [see foto album called "Colors" in the Yahoo! NYC Gang History group ]), the gangs in disrepute, each had an arrest for the murder. Source: The Compound, Chap. 5, pp. 88-89. At this first Brotherhood [Brothers of the Ghetto, according to Yellow Benjy] meeting, the Flying Dutchmen were the only white gang represented, this according to one poster at the "NYC Street Gang, 1960, 1970 and 1980" site: http://hometown.aol.com/savagenomadsny/ny-street-gangs.html

In 1972, Black and Puerto Rican gangs in the Bronx, called the Savage Skulls, Black Assassins, Ghetto Brothers, Reapers, Immortals, Young Sinners, Savage Nomads, Mongols and (Black) Spades. Source: Book Review: Brooklyn Kings..., by Martin Dixon. How Did The early Hip Hop Scene of the '70s Kick Off? "It started coming together as far as the gangs terrorizing a lot of known discoteques back in the days. I had respect from some of the gang members because they used to go to school with me... There were the Savage Skulls, Glory Stompers, Blue Diamonds, Black Cats and Black Spades. Guys knew me because I carried myself with respect and I respected them." Quote from Davey D's Hip-Hop Corner http://www.daveyd.com/koolherc.html

I was thinking about the 1970's. How the various gangs have their own music. They walked ("bopped") around with a box radio blasting their favorite hits. For example, the 25th Division of the Black Spades (East 184th Street and Marion Avenue, in the Bronx) had "Fire," by the Ohio Players as their tune. "Jungle Boogie" the Black Spades and other gangs liked this song also! Every gang or crew in the 1970s had a song or musical group that they listened to and was their "theme song."

Video/Movie: "The Education of Sonny Carson"--Struggle was an everyday event for a black youngster on the streets. Very good movie! Features Rony Clanton, Don Gordon, Joyce Walker, Paul Benjamin, Thomas Hicks. Four real street gangs acted as extras in the movie: they were Jolly Stompers, Tomahawks, Black Spades, and Pure Hell. (1974, 104 mins.)

The Black Spades later became the Zulu Nation in the late 1970's, and then the Universal Zulu Nation, in the 1980's.

External links and Sources

• NYC Gang History Yahoo! Group