The United Blood Nation, also known as the East Coast Bloods, is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of di ...

and

prison gang A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and ot ...

active primarily in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

. It is the east coast faction of the California-based

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includ ...

street gang.United Blood Nation history, terminology, background

WSOC-TV WSOC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with ABC and Telemundo. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside Kannapolis-licensed independent station WAXN-TV (channel 64). Both stations s ...

(May 18, 2017) Their main source of income is the

trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

and sale of illegal drugs.

History

The United Blood Nation was formed on July 16, 1993, when incarcerated gang leaders Omar "OG Mack" Portee and Leonard "OG Dead Eye" McKenzie allied several gangs – including the

Nine Trey Gangsters The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) (also referred to as Bentley's or Billionaires) are a violent set of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coas ...

, GKB, and Blood Stone Villains – to protect members from the dominant

Ñetas The NETA Association (Asociación Pro-Derechos del Confinado, "Association for Prisoners' Rights", Asociación NETA, or simply NETA) is the name of a gang that began in the Puerto Rico prison system and spread to the United States mainland. Altho ...

and Latin Kings gangs. The UBN was established as the New York branch of the California-based

, to which its members are loosely affiliated with, and the gang spread along the East Coast as members were released from prison. The UBN became the dominant gang on the East Coast during the 1990s, outnumbering the rival

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...

. The gang's meteoric rise to the top of the gang hierarchy was halted in 2001, however, when founder Omar Portee was arrested and later convicted of federal

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

(RICO) charges. Portee was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment and is currently incarcerated in the federal supermax

ADX Florence The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pri ...

prison in Colorado. In the years following Portee's incarceration, the UBN has splintered somewhat, with infighting among the gang's subgroups being reported. The UBN's co-founder and once-prominent member, Leonard McKenzie, has allegedly retired from the gangster lifestyle.Bloods Street Gang Intelligence Report

Virginia State Police The Virginia State Police, officially the Virginia Department of State Police, conceived in 1919 and established in 1932, is the state police force for the U.S. state of Virginia. The agency originated out of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehi ...

(November 2008)

Organization

The structure of the United Blood Nation is hierarchical, with each member being designated a specific rank within the gang, which comes with specific duties and responsibilities. The UBN uses a ranking system often disguised with code names to label the leadership structure. The gang's leadership is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and the New York prison system. The UBN hierarchy, or chain of command, includes a national council ("the Council") consisting of members selected from the leaders of the gang's subgroups ("sets"). All UBN subgroups are governed by a common set of rules originally written by founders Omar Portee and Leonard McKenzie. There are 31 UBN rules known as "The 31." Examples of the rules are: Individual gang members are to operate and conduct themselves as defined by "The 31"; Procedures for infractions or disciplinary actions; "Snitching," or cooperating with law enforcement, is strictly prohibited. Dues are collected from each member for the benefit of the organization. A portion of the dues is saved and utilized locally, while another portion is sent up the chain to gang leadership.

Membership

Members of the gang are mostly

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

males. Some sets have Asian-, Hispanic- and White-American members. While some sets allow female members, their status varies between sets. To become a member of the United Blood Nation, one must be introduced by an existing gang member or prove to be the most dominant. A potential new member is "beat in" (physically beaten for 31 seconds by gang members a very minute amount of time compared to most violent gangs) and provided with a copy of the UBN history, oaths, and the 31 rules which must be memorized (these traditions reflect social fraternal clubs and are not typical of most Bloods). This process is referred to as being "brought home", alternatively referred to as "Bumming Home". All gang members are required to "put in work," meaning that they must carry out the orders and activities as directed by gang leadership. Old Skool gangs didn't provide domestic services or follow regimes mandating blue-collar labor. As of 2005, membership was estimated at (an inferior faction in the larger scope of organized crime in America), with 5,000 of those in the

area. In 2017, the head of the United Blood Nation was alleged by federal prosecutors to be Pedro Gutierrez, who allegedly directed the UBN despite being imprisoned in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

while serving a murder sentence. This fact reflects the prison system's lack of ability to 'control' gang activity even while gang members are in full confinement.

Symbols

United Blood Nation factions are identified by the local

telephone area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, r ...

. Gang

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

often includes the letter "C" crossed out, the abbreviation "CK" (for " Crip Killer"), the number "031", the letter "S" crossed out (as "Slobs" is an offensive nickname for Bloods). Gang tattoos often use three dots representing a dog paw,

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.

Investigations and prosecutions

United Blood Nation founder

Omar Portee Omar Portee, also known as OG Mack (born c. 1969) is an American gang leader, known for founding the One Eight Trey Gangsters and United Blood Nation while serving time at Rikers Island. Background In the early hours of August 16th, 1987, Por ...

was among fifteen members and associates of the gang indicted on racketeering charges in

on May 8, 2001, following a joint investigation by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice ...

(FBI) and

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

(NYPD). Portee was convicted of ten counts of criminal activity, including racketeering, murder, conspiracy, credit card fraud, and drug trafficking on August 27, 2002. On April 14, 2003, he was sentenced to fifty years' imprisonment. More than sixty people were arrested on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, or drug crimes on July 25, 2006, during a crackdown on the

(NTG) faction of the UBN in New Jersey. The indictments were the culmination of an eleven-month investigation, called Operation Nine Connect, involving around five hundred law enforcement officers from federal, state, and local agencies. Fifteen people linked to the UBN in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

were indicted on February 25, 2009, on federal drug conspiracy and other charges arising from their participation in a cocaine, heroin, and marijuana distribution ring. The prosecutions followed a six-month-long investigation by the FBI and

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) is the police department of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States, which includes the City of Charlotte. With 1,817 officers and 525 civilian staff as of 2020, covering an area of wi ...

(CMPD). Operation Heat, an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, uncovered a conspiracy in which the UBN's Nine Trey Gangsters faction entered into an alliance with the

Lucchese crime family The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon know ...

to smuggle drugs and pre-paid cell phones into

East Jersey State Prison East Jersey State Prison (EJSP) is a medium-security prison operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections in Avenel, Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. It was established in 1896 as Rahway State Prison, and was the first reformatory in N ...

, and led to the arrests of thirty-four members and associates of the Lucchese family's Jersey Crew in May 2010. Dwayne Spears, a "five star general" in the NTG, was among those indicted. Twenty-eight members of the UBN in North Carolina were arrested on May 18, 2012, and charged with racketeering and related charges, including drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, armed robbery, and murder conspiracy. All twenty-eight were convicted on various charges, the last of whom was sentenced in October 2014. The case was investigated by the FBI in cooperation with the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...

(ATF), the

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is a state-level law enforcement agency in North Carolina. Background The SBI provides investigative assistance to local law enforcement agencies when requested by police, sheriffs, district ...

and local police departments. On May 18, 2017, eighty-three members of the Nine Trey Gangsters faction of the UBN were arrested and indicted on federal racketeering conspiracy charges and charges related to murder, attempted murder, violent assault, narcotics distribution, firearms possession, and

Hobbs Act The Hobbs Act, named after United States Representative Sam Hobbs ( D- AL) and codified at , is a United States federal law enacted in 1946 that provides: Section 1951 also proscribes conspiracy to commit robbery or extortion without refere ...

robbery. A number were also charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft related to financial crimes. The arrests were made during a series of coordinated raids involving over six-hundred federal, state and local law enforcement officers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New York and Florida. Eighty-two people were convicted as a result of the investigation, including Pedro Gutierrez, the "Chairman" of the UBN, who was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment on September 4, 2018. Over forty people were arrested in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia on December 6, 2017, as a result of Operation Tin Panda, an investigation by the ATF, FBI, and local agencies into UBN-related crimes in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...

. Firearms and thousands of grams of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and THC were seized during the operation. Thirty-nine of the defendants were convicted on federal firearms and drug charges. Tarvell Vandiver, the leader of the UBN subdivision Imperial Gangsta Bloods (IGB) in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

, was sentenced to twenty years in prison in October 2018.Virginia leader of Bloods gang gets 20 years for drug trafficking and gun crimes

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/ MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also s ...

(October 29, 2018)

References

{{Organized crime groups in America Organizations established in 1993 1993 establishments in New York City Bloods sets Prison gangs in the United States Gangs in Baltimore Gangs in New Jersey Gangs in New York City Gangs in North Carolina Gangs in South Carolina Gangs in Virginia African-American history in New York City