Dead Man Inc. or DMI is a predominantly white
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
enterprise. It was founded in prison and has members in many
correctional facilities
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...
and streets throughout
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, as well as other states in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
Origins
DMI was founded by Perry Roark, James Sweeney and Brian Jordan in the late 1990s in the
Maryland Department of Corrections
The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) is a government agency of the U.S. state, State of Maryland that performs a number of functions, including the operation of state prisons. It has its headquarters in Towson ...
. Roark was a close associate of the
Black Guerrilla Family
The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF, also known as the Black Family, the Black Vanguard, and Jamaa) is an African-American black power prison and street gang founded in 1966 by George Jackson, George "Big Jake" Lewis, and W. L. Nolen while they wer ...
and received permission from them to start an organization to unite white inmates in the system. The group grew in size quickly due to infiltration by a man named Michael Quinn, who had joined to secure protection for himself. He recruited anybody who wanted to join in every location. Sweeney sought numbers as opposed to quality as he felt secure with numbers and thought numbers brought strength.
Identifiers
*Members often refer to each other as "''Dawgs''", an acronym meaning "DMI Against World Government"
*Tattoos include the grim reaper, pit bulls, DMI, the numbers 4, 13, and 9 (4=D, 13=M, 9=I), and the pyramid with a severed
eye of providence
The Eye of Providence (or the All-Seeing Eye of God) is a symbol that depicts an eye, often enclosed in a triangle and surrounded by Ray (optics), rays of light or Glory (optical phenomenon), glory, meant to represent divine providence, whereby ...
.
*The mark of the dead man, an upside down cross for either stabbing or killing multiple people in the Maryland correctional system.
*Skull tattoos with the eyes inked in red also identify a killer. These tattoos are worn strictly by O.G. members typically in high ranking status. Any member with red eyed skulls in a visible area, typically on the forearms or hands, denotes they killed a very high ranking member of a rival gang or a staff member of the prison system.
*Although members usually don't wear particular colors, some have recently started to wear black and white bandanas in their left pocket.
Structure
The gang hierarchy is divided into many sections, with the Supreme Commanders (SC) at the very top. These are the gang's founders Perry Roark, James Sweeney and Bryan Jordan.
DMI members in each facility are collectively called a "unit". Each unit is led by a commander, followed by lieutenant, field general, sergeant-at-arms, and a finance officer. Around 2007, a new position known as the "elders" has been established between the Supreme Commanders and the units, in order to help direct orders down the hierarchy.
Criminal activities
Initially, DMI worked for the BGF, but soon began offering those services to other gangs by targeting rivals and correctional staff. This led to entry into drug trafficking and other crimes to advance their own agendas as their size and power increased.
The once tight-knit structure of the group has broken down with the explosion in numbers, as members compete with one another leading to violence between members. Fueling these internal divisions is the fact that leaders disagreed about the direction of the gang. Perry Roark wanted to return the gang to its former position alongside the BGF, while other leaders like James Sweeney want to adopt a
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...
ideology.
A federal grand jury in Baltimore has charged 22 defendants with conspiracy to participate in a violent racketeering enterprise. All but one defendant are also charged with conspiring to distribute drugs. The indictment was returned on October 6, 2011, and unsealed upon the arrests of seven defendants and the execution of seven search warrants. Eleven defendants were previously in custody and four defendants are still at large.
The highly secret organization has begun to recruit members on the streets of Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel County. Moving operations into small communities like Dundalk and Essex, MD, and taking advantage of the drug trade and murder-for-hire business where they are employed by other gangs for protection and "hits".
See also
*
Prison gangs in the United States
A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system, that has a corporate entity, exists into perpetuity, and whose membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Political scienti ...
* ''
Gangland''
References
{{Organized crime groups in the Americas , state=expanded
Organizations established in 2000
2000 establishments in Maryland
European-American gangs
Prison gangs in the United States
Gangs in Maryland
Gangs in Virginia
Gangs in West Virginia
White American culture in Maryland