Mau Maus

Mau Maus was the name of a 1950s street gang in New York. The book and the adapted film The Cross and the Switchblade and biography Run Baby Run document the life of its most famous leader, Nicky Cruz. Their name was also featured in the 2001 Spike Lee film, Bamboozled.

History

The Mau Maus were a Brooklyn Puerto Rican gang operating from at least late 1954 to around 1962. Some members of a street gang called the Apaches broke away and created the Mau Maus, according to Israel Narvaez, one of the gang's founders. The Apaches had succumbed to heroin while Narvaez and others were more interested in fighting and maintaining territory. They also asked permission from a rival gang called the Chaplins to start a Puerto Rican gang in the area. Eventually the gang was called Mau Mau Chaplins.

The Mau Maus were feared by other gangs and the police alike. They were particularly violent, always looking for fights with rival gangs. Some gangs that the Mau Maus constantly clashed with were the Bishops, the Phantom Lords, the Viceroys, and the South Brooklyn Boys^[1], Garfield Boys, the Butler Gents, and The Wanderer. A prospective member was initiated either by standing against a wall without flinching while a gang member threw a knife at him or by passively undergoing a beating from five of the toughest gang members.

Around January 1958, a Bishop member and a candy store owner were stabbed to death by some of the Mau Mau gang, supposedly in retaliation for the Bishop's knifing and killing of Mannie Durango, a member of the Mau Maus.

One of its best known members was Nicky Cruz, who was President, Vice President, and Warlord at different points during his tenure. Cruz said he stabbed 16 people while a member.

Cruz and his best friend Israel Narvaez became born-again Christians in July 1958 after hearing David Wilkerson preach. However, Narvaez became disillusioned with Christianity and eventually rejoined the Mau Maus. He became their leader again and on February 23, 1959 Narvaez, along with Carl Cintron, Carlos Reyes, and Melvin Torres, shot and killed Anthony Lavonchino, a member of the Sand Street Angels, one of the Mau Maus' enemies. Lavonchino had apparently beaten Tico, a Mau Mau, for walking with his sister.

Carl Cintron photographed after his arrest.

Cruz would later write a book about his experiences called Run Baby Run. Eventually Israel recommitted his life to God and wrote his own book called Second Chance: The Israel Narvaez Story. David Wilkerson's biography, The Cross and the Switchblade and the film that was based upon it were partially about Cruz's Mau Mau years.

Salvador Agrón, another member of the Mau Maus,^[2] later led another gang called the Vampires, who were responsible for a well-known New York tragedy. On the evening of August 29, 1959, the gang arranged a fight at a playground located in Hell's Kitchen after an Irish gang member had beaten up a friend of theirs. Agrón and Luis "Tony" Hernandez took a taxi downtown to meet five other members of the gang. Agrón wore a cape and carried a 12-inch Mexican dagger, both borrowed from another gang member. Hernandez carried a black umbrella with a sharp metal point. When they arrived at the location, the Nordics, the gang they were set to fight, didn’t show. Agrón and the rest of his gang mistook six teenagers who were not affiliated with any gang for their enemies and descended on the area yelling, "Where’s Frenchy?" Three of the teenagers escaped without harm, one was seriously wounded, and two were killed. Anthony Krzesinski and Robert Young were stabbed and beaten to death with sticks and pipes and the gang's other weapons. The murders would become known as the Capeman Murders after the costume worn by Agrón. Paul Simon's Broadway musical The Capeman was based upon the life of Agrón.

Mau Maus

History

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