Organized crime is a phenomena that transcends borders and cultures; a universal, nefarious practice that's as diverse as it is common. Gangs exist all around the world, often violently at odds with one another over turf and money. They're so interesting that they're the subject of movies, music, and television shows, and pop culture does a good job of illustrating what gangs are willing to do to their rivals. From offing the competition in a drive-by shooting, to putting their heads in a vice until they talk, the details of what gang members do can be extremely shocking.
What is underrepresented, however, is what people do to get into gangs. These young recruits are willing to do whatever it takes to show their loyalty, which often means subjecting themselves to injury and humiliation. These gang rituals are frequently just as horrifying as the transgressions they commit on their rivals. As this list shows, often times these brutal gang initiations are more violent and f*cked up than you could imagine.
The 10 Most F*cked Up Gang Initiation Rituals,
In London, Gangsters Either Stab Someone Or Eat Their Own Feces
The UK criminal underworld is known for its creative violence, largely due to the lack of guns, which are much more ubiquitous among American gangs. What this often means is more brutal stabbings and slashings.
One anonymous London gangster described to Britain's The Independent newspaper how in order to join his gang he was offered the choice of stabbing another boy or eating feces. In a show of compassion or simply nerves, the young man chose the latter, which while perhaps noble left him sick and hospitalized.
The Junky Funky Kids Face A Gauntlet Of Pain
Cape Town, South Africa's Junky Funky Kids - or the less fun sounding JFK's for short - are a large and active gang in the Lavender Hill neighborhood of the capital city. As the JFK's seek supremacy in the area's drug trade, it find itself frequently at war with the rival Bostons and Corner Boys gangs over turf, oftentimes resulting in violence and death.
The initiation rite for the Junky Funky Kids prepares recruits for this endless turf war by making them venture through a unique obstacle course. During this ritual, current members stand in two parallel fines, facing each other, holding belts, chains, and wooden planks, while the new members are made to run through this gauntlet, absorbing the gashes and beatings they receive along the way.
The Bloods Cut Someone's Face So Bad They Require At Least 150 Stitches
The United Blood Nation is a coast-to-coast crime organization founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s. The Bloods, known to be clad in all red, is one of the nation's largest and most well-organized gangs, excelling in drug dealing and racketeering through strong-arm business practices.
Entry to the Bloods, like other large gangs such as the Crips or Latin Kings, can require different initiations regionally, but New York's admission ritual seems to be a cut above the rest. New recruits in NYC are required to dole out a "Buck 50" to a rival or stranger's face, which is the act of slashing one's cheek with a box cutter requiring they get at least 150 stitches.
To Become A Knights Templar You Have To Eat A Human Heart
The Knights Templar are one of Mexico's most gruesome drug cartels. The criminal organization is one of the more violent participants in the nation's ongoing drug war, and is known for its affinity of public decapitations and boiling its enemies alive. While the atrocities committed against this cartel's adversaries are quite horrifying, it's the initiation process for its own members that is truly on another psychopathic plane.
The initiation process of the Knights Templar has evolved from simply murdering and dismembering rivals a culinary cannibalistic experience. New recruits to the Knights Templar are required to digest an entire human heart in front of their peers, a gastronomic gesture that symbolizes their boundless loyalty.
The Latin Kings Will Gang Rape A New Member's Girlfriend
The Latin Kings - sometimes known as the Almighty Latin Kings - is one of America's oldest gangs, their origins dating back to New York City around the 1920s. This predominatelybLatino organization remains an incredibly violent and active gang, with somewhere around 25,000 members nationwide, all draped in the gang's signature black and gold colors.
Because it's such a sprawling organization, entry to the Latin Kings can require different things in different places, most commonly involving getting "jumped in," which is getting beat up by other members. There is, however, a more heinous initiation that sometimes occurs with new recruits: the offering up of their girlfriends, who are then gang-raped by four or more existing members.
To Get Into The Numbers Gang, You Draw Blood From An Officer Or Agree To Be A Sex Slave
The Numbers Gang is a prison gang in South Africa's Western Cape prison system consisting of three groups: the 26s, 27s, and 28s. These gangs, according to some, go back as far as 1812 and retain to this day a legacy of brutality and violence. Ranked in a hierarchy of violence, the 28s are the bloody zenith of the numbers gang, and new recruits are offered two ways of climbing the ranks: the first career track is the "Gold Line," for those willing to advance by drawing blood from the correctional offers; and the second is the "Silver Line," for those who are "willing" to be sex slaves for the higher ranking members.
The Aryan Brotherhood Requires You Kill A Rival Gang Member
The Aryan Brotherhood is the US's oldest white supremacist prison gang. Originating in the mid-1960s by bikers looking to protect themselves in a newly desegregated prison system, the Aryan Brotherhood - also known as A.B. or Alice Baker - is still going strong today with an estimated 20,000 members.
The Aryan Brotherhood requires a bloody rite of passage to attain membership known as "making your bones." To make ones bones is pretty simple: it means murdering a rival gang member or corrections officer, and, somewhat poetically, making them into bones. The A.B.'s motto is "blood in, blood out," and making your bones satisfies the first part of that - the second part comes to be when you leave the gang, which only comes by death.
New Chinese Triads Members Drink Blood - Sometimes Their Own
The Chinese Triads is a umbrella organization responsible for a number of secret Chinese criminal enterprises, dating back some 3,000 years. Operating in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, as well as mainland China, the Triads are known for their work in prostitution, gambling, extortion, and money laundering.
Joining this clandestine criminal group requires a very visceral commitment. New members are expected to drink from a goblet containing animal or human blood (sometimes their own, sometimes not), and recite the following blood oath:
"If a member of this society finds himself in difficulty, all will rush to his aid. If I, as a future member of this association, break this oath, the swords will descend and kill me."
The Taitung Crime Syndicates Throw Lit Fireworks At New Recruits
In Taitung County, Taiwan, local crime syndicates have long engaged in illegal practices like money laundering and racketeering. They adhering to the standard hierarchical "bosses" and "subordinates" roles found in any other form of business. Beginning in the 1970s, however, these local organizations began using an interesting new interview technique to see who was cut out to be a mob boss.
The Taitung tradition known as "Bombarding Master Handan" is a centuries-old practice where locals throw fireworks at a shirtless man assuming the role of the deity. Dressed in a mask with little other protection, the inductee is subjected to the firecrackers as a way of honoring the god and ensuring wealth and prosperity.
What is surely a painful display for the inductee is seen by local crime bosses as a way of weeding weak people out. Whomever lasts the longest gets a promotion, and probably some burns and hearing loss.
The Hell's Angels Make You Bathe In Poop
The Hell's Angels are a household name when it comes to organized crime. The legendary motorcycle club boasts some 2,500 members in 26 countries, and has a reputation of racketeering, money laundering, drug trafficking, and murder. Though the club steadfastly denies any criminal ties, entrance to the motorcycle gang is not easy, and involves a ritual that implies a future involving some dirty work.
New members of the Hell's Angels are required to engage in an incredibly unhygienic baptism. Existing club members put fecal matter and urine into a bucket, and said bucket is poured on the new Angel's head.The newly soiled soldier cannot wash or change clothes for the duration of the evening.