The Black Mafia is one of the bloodiest crime syndicates in US history. Known in its legitimate guise as Black Brothers, Inc., it emerged in the 1960s as a rabble of street toughs in the Philadelphia ghetto and grew into a ruthless, disciplined organization based on terror. Its ferocious crew of gunmen, led by the fearsome Sam Christian, held regular meetings, appointed board members, executives and enforcers, and controlled drug dealing, loan sharking, armed robbery and extortion.
Author Sean Griffin, an ex-Philly cop turned university professor, reveals for the first time the the gang's close ties with the influential Nation of Islam and its rivalry with the Italian Mafia. He tells how the Black Mafia carried out more than 40 killings, including the horrific massacre of seven people on one awful night, and uncovers how they exploited prominent lawyers and civil rights leaders to extend their malevolent influence. Jail terms eventually shattered their strength, only for the crack-selling Junior Black Mafia to emerge in their wake.
Based on scores of interviews, wiretaps and secret FBI files, Black Brothers, Inc., is the most detailed account ever of an African-American organized crime mob, and a landmark investigation into the modern urban underworld.
REVIEWS
"A richly detailed narrative of the murderous history of the city's first African-American crime syndicate." KITTY CAPARELLA, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
"A great, sprawling epic." PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER
"Searing, unrelenting and ruthlessley precise." HENRY SCHIPPER, PRODUCER, AMERICAN GANGSTER TV SERIES