ROGER BOWMAN BLACK PANTHER PARTY/P-STONES LEADER FBI WANTED POSTER *PLS OFFER*

Description

UP FOR AUCTION IS EXTREMELY
HARD TO FIND
FBI POSTER OF THE REPUTED BLACK PANTHER AND BLACK LIBERATION ARMY MEMBER
RONALD STANLEY BRIDGEFORTH.  THIS FBI WANTED POSTER WAS ISSUED JULY 27th, 1972.  HE IS EXCEPTIONALLY RARE, AND
IS HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER BY COLLECTORS.
PLS MAKE US YOUR BEST OFFER, WE WILL ACCEPT ANY REASONABLE OFFER
The Black P Stone story goes all the way back to the year 1959 in the
Woodlawn
neighborhood on Chicago’s south side.  The Black P Stones’ creation was a result of poverty, racism and the rising up of gang activity in
Woodlawn
.  The
Woodlawn
neighborhood was a mostly white neighborhood up until the 1950s, as the mostly white community battled since the turn of the 20th century to stay almost all white.
Woodlawn
did whatever it could to keep black families from moving in but this program did not work and by 1960 89% of
Woodlawn
was African American.
Eugene Bruce Hairston was born May 1
st
, 1944 in Columbus Ohio to Bruce and Lena Hairston.  His family nicknamed him “Lil Bull.” Lil Bull was the oldest of two sisters and two brothers.  Lil Bull’s family first settled in the Low End (east side of
Washington Park
runs north-south between cottage grove/state street and east-west from around 55th/47th…towards Roosevelt) for a very short time before they moved to
Woodlawn
(The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, Moore, Williams). They were forced to move out because that area was having several older homes torn down to make way for public housing.  They moved in somewhere over by Stoney Island Ave in
Woodlawn
sometime around 1956.
Jeff Fort was born February 20
th
1947 in Aberdeen Mississippi.  He was the son of Annie and John Lee Fort, Jeff was one of 10 children that included three sisters and 6 brothers (The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, Moore, Williams). The Forts moved to Chicago in 1955 to 6536 Blackstone Ave (65
th
Place and Blackstone).
El Rukns, late 1970s
Jeff Fort 1968 or 1969
The Fort 39th and Drexel, 1980s
1980s
Early 1980s, Jeff Fort in the center wearing black and gold, his brother Andrew Fort is directly to the left of him
1980s
The Fort
1969
1969
1969
1969
1969
1969
1969
Top generals 1980s
1969 in a parade
Black P Stone hang out 1980s next to Jazz mural
Here is what most people do not know.  The Forts and the Hairstons knew each other before any of this gangbanging happened.  The two families used to hang out back in the mid-late 1950s and Jeff and Lil Bull were friends.  In the later 1950s the two boys often were getting in trouble in school and even on the streets, especially Jeff Fort who was getting in trouble at home too.  By 1958 The
Vice Lords
had begun their takeover of the
North Lawndale
streets and it was at this time that Jeff Fort was 11 years old and getting into more trouble at home.  He would often go to the west side (
North Lawndale
) to see his older cousin
Leonard Calloway
who was a co-founder of the
Vice Lord
nation between 1957 and 1958 (The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, Moore, Williams).  By 1958 The
Vice Lords
had just hit the streets after being in juvenile detention and were plotting on 100% takeover of
North Lawndale
.  Both Jeff and Eugene would go over to
Calloway’s
place and listen to all the
Vice Lords
make all their plans (The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, Moore, Williams).  The two boys were heavily inspired by the
Vice Lords
and wanted to run gangs of their own.  These boys were family with the
Vice Lord
founders.  Jeff Fort was cousins with
Leonard Calloway
and
Bobby Gore
and Bull was cousins with
Edward “Pepilow” Perry
.  So it was all in the family from the start to form these super gangs and it was all a precursor for the later
People Nation
to form.  The
Vice Lords
acted as mentors for Bull and Fort, teaching them all about the ways of gang life and building an empire.
By 1959, the two boys went their own ways with the gangbanging.  Jeff Fort started his own 10 man gang between 63
rd
and 65
th
street and Cottage Grove (Mainly at 64
th
and Blackstone at Walter Scott Elementary School which was demolished in the mid-1990s).  The boys would hang in these streets and try to claim
Jackson Park
as theirs.  The gang was called the “Blackstone Raiders.” Eugene Hairston no longer wanted to be called Lil Bull he was now known as “King Bull” as he was now the leader of the “Harpers Boys” that dominated the corridor of Stony Island between 63
rd
street and 67
th
street.  The Harper’s Boys also tried to claim
Jackson Park
as theirs and that is how the two gangs began fighting it out,
Hairston and Fort became best enemies for the next 2 years.  In 1960, Jeff fort very badly wanted to take over the street corner of 63
rd
and Stony Island that he nicknamed “The Enchanted City” (Brune and YLISELA, JR, Nov 1988, The Making Of Jeff Fort).  This was a corner that was full of hookers and crime and of course King Bull’s gang the Harper’s Boys ran this corner.  The two gangs fought over it between 1960 and 1961 until the big truce was drawn in 1961. The gangs were evenly matched and each gang started with just about 10 members but as the next two years went by the two gangs grew in size until each of their gangs became the biggest gangs in
Woodlawn
by 1961.  It was that same year that CPD got fed up with the Raiders and the Harper’s Boys and began rounding them up and bringing charges on them, whether the charges were good or not it did not matter, they found a way to charge the kids.  Fort and Hairston were both then convicted and sent to St. Charles correctional facility (Illinois Youth Center St. Charles).
It was behind the walls of St. Charles corrections that the two boys decided to follow in the
Vice Lord’s
footsteps and stop their war, both gangs merged to form the “Black Stone Rangers.”  The
Vice Lords
would visit
Woodlawn
and hang out there as early as 1959, they were there to help young Bull and Fort run their respective organizations and even after the Black Stone Rangers came about by 1962.
Vice Lords
and Stones were allies that fought against the
Devil’s Disciples
(
East Side Disciples
).  What else is interesting is that the Stones and
Vice Lords
somehow met up with the
Latin Kings
way back in the early 1960s and became allies to fight against this
Disciple
issue.
In 1962 the two boys returned to 63rd and Blackstone with their newly formed merger and made their presence well known over there.  When the Black Stone Rangers hit the streets they clashed right away with the
East Side Disciples
led by
David Barksdale
that had now grown out of their original neighborhood by
Kenwood
and Hyde Park.  The
East Side Disciples
(
Devil’s Disciples
) were also hell bent on becoming a super gang and were aggressively expanding their operations all along the Southside and trying to expand westward.  The
Disciples
and Rangers clashed because both gangs had the same goal of dominating the whole South side, the biggest fight was over the
Englewood
neighborhood.  The Blackstone Rangers rapidly recruited over 200 members by 1965.
In 1965 the Rangers met with Reverend John Fry. Rev. Fry helped the Rangers receive federal funding to help the organization develop and he helped to guide Fort and Hairston to operate a street gang government like structure. He advised them on how to organize and collect government funding in order to greatly expand their empire, and he advised them on how to handle a large number of soldiers. Hairston mainly commanded the older Stones while Fort mainly headed the young Stones.
In May of 1966, Fort and Hairston met with a group of gang leaders that headed different gangs that were rivals or allies of the Rangers. The two offered the gang leaders a truce and to also form a council. The council would be named The Main 21. This meant that all the gangs would unite into one alliance. They named the alliance the Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN). This alliance is very similar to the
People Nation
that exists today. Each gang within the Main 21 BPSN was a brick in the 21 brick pyramid. The top Stone or Brick was the Black Stone Rangers. The other Bricks or Stone leaders were: Eugene Hairston (later that year Jeff Fort) head of the Black Stone Rangers, George Rose (AKA “Watusi”, “Mad Dog”), Lee “Stone” Jackson (now deceased), William Troop (AKA: “Sweet Pea”, “Sweet Jones”) (now deceased), Melvin Bailey (AKA: “Lefty”), Herbert Stevens (AKA: “Thunder”), Lawrence White (AKA: “Tom Tucker”), Adam Battiste (AKA: “Leto”), Sylvester Hutchins (AKA: “Hutch”), Charles Franklin (AKA: “Bosco”),
Theotis Clark
(AKA: “Thee”),
Henry Cogwell
(AKA: “Mickey”) (deceased commander of the
Mickey Cobras
), George Martin (AKA: “Porgy”), Andrew D. McChristian (AKA: “A.D.”), Fletcher Puch (AKA: “Bo Peep”, “Old Man”), Edwin Codwell (AKA: “Little Charlie”, “Caboo”), Leroy Hairston (AKA: “Mr. Maniac”, “Baby Bull”), Charles Edward Bey (AKA: “Benbolaman”, “Bear”),
Herman Holmes
(AKA: “Moose”) (head of the
Gangster Stones
), Moses Robert Jackson (AKA: “Dog”), Paul Martin (AKA: “Crazy Paul”) (deceased), Lamar Bell (AKA: “Bop Daddy”), Johnnie Jones (AKA: “Cool Johnnie”), Bernard Green (AKA: “Droop”, “The Colonel”).  This alliance stretched all way from 31
st
street down to the South Shore neighborhood and now there were 1,500 members of the Black P. Stone alliance.  Then by 1967 the BPSN doubled in size to 3,000 members.
Power was more or less shared among the Bricks; However, if one of the other Main 21 council members developed a massive amount of power they would mysteriously end up murdered and replaced. This is also how the first Stone symbol was adopted which was/is the 21 brick pyramid. On June 6, 1966 Eugene Hairston was sent to prison on drug charges. In the infancy of the BPSN, they had not become able to run a gang with a leader behind bars; therefore, Jeff Fort became the new and undisputed leader of the BPSN at the age of 19 on the streets; however, there was still a promise made to Hairston to reclaim his throne when he was to be released.
Fort fell in love with the power he had and the potential to pull in large amounts of money.  Fort also wanted to control the Heroin trade going on in the south side in the black neighborhoods.  Eugene Hairston was highly against the drug trade and refused to let his Stones get involved with the
Italian Mafia
that was bringing in Heroin, in fact, Hairston was ready to smash any Italian
Outfit
members that came in trying to get the Stones or anyone in the drug business.  Now that Hairston was locked up, Fort reached out to Milwaukee mob boss Frank Balistreria, and from there the Stones were connected with the
Mafia
in getting the Heroin needed to flood the streets.
In 1968 Hairston’s top spiritual leader Paul “Profit Paul” Martin was executed by the Rangers when he was led down an alley and shot in the back of his head three times, he was 34 years old. The killing of Paul Martin enabled Fort to ensure that Hairston could not take back power; however, in 1968 Hairston was released from prison and managed to regain some of the nation back under his wing because much of the BPSN was Hairston followers, especially the Titanic Stone branch. Just as Hairston was gaining back some momentum he suffered a setback for conspiracy to commit murder charges for ordering the shooting of 4
Devil Disciples
gang members, he was now going back to prison.
In the late 60s the BPSN grew into incredible power for that point in time numbering 5,000 members by 1968. They were at heavy odds with the
Disciple Nation
(
Black Disciples
) and the
Gangster Nation
that was when Stones wore red berets while the
Disciples
wore black berets. In order to have the one up on the war with the with the
Disciples
and others, Fort and his mob needed money and guns; therefore, to the public eye Jeff Fort was able to disguise his mob as a group of Do-gooders that were a charitable group raising money to help the community they lived in. The Stones also used extortion tactics to extract money from small business owners by threatening violence if the store owners ignored the charities set up by Stones. Gang apologists and Liberal politicians fell for it and helped Fort raise money for his organization from the federal government.
In 1969, Jeff Fort was invited to the inauguration of president Richard Nixon. Fort did not attend but sent one of his men and also
Henry “Mickey” Cogwell
to it. In 1968 the federal government found some suspicious activities within a job training program headed by the Stones which was the beginning of the FBI surveillance into BPSN operations.
In 1968, Fort began to beef with Fred Hampton and the Black Panthers, especially since the Panthers worked with the
Disciples
. The Black Panthers were trying to gain influence in Jeff Fort’s neighborhood, and this angered Fort. He then threatened that he would start killing Panthers if they didn’t leave. In December of 1968 Fred Hampton visited Fort at his headquarters to discuss the matter. Jeff Fort showed his power to Hampton by snapping his fingers and 100 Stones come out with shot guns, machine guns, and other guns or other weapons. Fred Hampton was then shown the power that Fort had on the streets even at his young age of 21. The Stones had already killed a Panther before this meeting, that was how the rivalry got heated up. After a while of talking Hampton agreed to pull Panther influence out of Stone territory. The Stones engaged in bloody gang wars from 1966-1968 with the
Disciples
and the
Gangsters
. There were several gang related homicides during these years because of this war.
Jeff Fort brought the Black P Stone Nation incredible power after he took over in 1966.  If you even talked bad about him, Stones would come up and shoot you even if Fort did not order it.  Fort was able to tap into the accumulation of several thousands of dollars’ worth of government funding, but also Fort gained power in other ways as well.
By 1968, Fort had fully tapped into the cocaine and heroin trade on Chicago’s south side black neighborhoods.  Fort took this over by force by wiping out other drug dealers and rival gangs that were not within his network, he also negotiated with the
Italian Mafia
to relinquish these streets, the Italian
Outfit
gladly went into a deal to withdraw because the black gangs even scared many organized crime members by then because black gangs were at the bottom of the barrel poverty levels, which molded vicious gang members on the streets that were willing to kill for a few dollars as they lived among the worst Chicago slums.  The Black P Stones relinquished nearly 100% control of all narcotics trafficking in these communities with the exception of the public housing projects that was run by
Black Gangster Disciples
and
Black Disciples
for the most part.  Controlling the drug trade not only gained a lot of money for Fort and the BPSN it also spread fear in many youths on the street that the Stones were indeed running things, giving truth to their slogan “Stone Run it!” that they used to shout and paint on the walls.
Another factor that gave Fort and the BPSN so much power was the racial tensions of the 1960s as many black youths were in a state of extreme poverty and many young black males found unequal employment and wage opportunities.  South side neighborhoods had fallen into severe disinvestment and redlining practices that caused many businesses in black neighborhoods to close down leaving many blacks out of work and frustrated.  After the Martin Luther King assassination in April of 1968, the Black P Stones took on as major players during the MLK riots as Stones offered an opportunity for young black males to take out their frustrations on the city after they faced too many incidents of job discrimination, wage discrimination, education discrimination and housing discrimination.  The Black P Stones activity marched on the city and caused massive destruction after MLK’s death as they incited to many riots.  The BPSN was all about black power and acted as a militant group that was more geared toward violence than the Black Panthers.
The Stones became very popular and swelled into massive numbers in the late 1960s, making them able to expand their power into the south suburbs into communities like
Harvey
,
Chicago Heights
,
Ford Heights
and
Robbins
.  In these suburbs there were many severely impoverished black youths that were desperate for something to look up to and to fight for them just like city youths.
In the south suburbs many black families were moving in much to the objection of white families in suburbs like
Harvey
and
Chicago Heights
, the Stones would band together and violently attack groups of white youths to show they were not to be victims.  After the Stones began their south suburban chapters they began to heavily clash with
Vice Lords
as both gangs were trying to open territory in these suburban communities, the gang wars soon turned deadly, Stones also fought with other Stone factions in the suburbs.
In the early 1970s the federal government was beginning to close in on Jeff Fort. As I mentioned earlier, in 1968 the federal government began investigating Fort and the Stones for misuse of government funding. The government had given the Stones 0,000 to .4 million dollars for job training programs, and now their investigations began to discover how Jeff Fort was mismanaging government funds for illegal activities. In 1971 John Fry stepped down from advising the BPSN.
In 1972, Jeff Fort and some others were brought up on charges for mismanaging government funds, he was then sentenced to do time in Statesville prison until 1974. In 1974 he was transferred to Leavenworth prison until 1976. All funding to the BPSN was then shut down, but it was too late, the BPSN had already established great power and had profited from the money they received in the 1960s. The BPSN had already taken the money they received and turned it into more money. Now that the BPSN was heavily developed, Jeff Fort was able to remain the undisputed leader even while incarcerated in Leavenworth prison.
1965, Jeff Fort in the center, Eugene Hairston on the right learning about how to organize in the community and how to create legit community groups.
1968 Jeff Fort
The Fort getting raided 1990
Outside The Fort late 1970s
El Rukn leadership late 1970s
Late 1960s
Late 1960s
Late 1960s
Late 1960s
Late 1960s graffiti
Late 1960s graffiti
Tag from 1980s Chicago Police manual
The legitimate businesses and clubs the Stones opened in the late 60s thanks to government funding allowed the Stones to operate illegal activities in the back rooms of these establishments.  The selling of drugs, prostitution and other illegal ventures continued to go on, but on the front end there was actually positive activity in these establishments, as GED programs and job training programs were actually helping youths; however, when the raids happened it was decided to shut it all down instead of just shutting down the illegal part of the operations.
While Fort was imprisoned,
Mickey Cogwell
(leader of the
Cobra Stones
, later known as
Mickey Cobras
) was leading the BPSN on the street. In 1974, Fort placed “Thunder” in charge of the Statesville Stones and Hairston was running the Stones in Menard. By 1974 Hairston was up for parole; therefore, he decided to send word to the Titanic Stones branch that he was going to be released and to have some soldiers ready for a complete coup over Jeff Fort and regain the BPSN into Hairston’s favor. Several supporters were awaiting the parole of Hairston mainly all from the Titanic Stone branch. Hairston’s parole was denied and that was when
Mickey Cogwell
was able to seize control of the BPSN and cause more Hairston supporters to follow Fort which meant that those supporters that were awaiting Hairston’s return on the streets were attacked by Fort’s Stones which caused a brief bloody gang war mainly between the Titanics and the rest of the BPSN which caused some TPS leaders like Leroy “Lil Bull” Hairston to get time in prison. Statesville and Menard then fell under total control of Jeff Fort.
In 1975 Eugene Hairston was released from prison after being incarcerated for the solicitation of the attempted murder of multiple
Disciples
back in 1968. Right after his release Hairston set up a small crew of Stones on 70th and Paxton which was where Hairston was taking residence. One day he left his apartment to go to the cleaners on 71st Street when two men jumped out of a car and shot Hairston 3 times. Hairston fled to the cleaners and called for help. Hairston survived the attack then moved to the north side of Chicago in the
Uptown
neighborhood where he set up the north side Black P Stone chapter.
When Jeff Fort was released on March 12, 1976 he traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he tried to convert to Islam and join the Moorish Science Temple; however, they would not accept him. Fort then started his own temple, called the Moorish Temple of America. In April 1976 Jeff Fort merged the BPSN into his new Islamic beliefs that he adopted when he was in prison. He adopted the title of “EL RUKN” that came from a book that was describing shrines in Mecca; this is how the birth of the eye, crescent moon, and five point star emerged in the gangs’ literature. The five point star then was used on the streets but strictly as an El Rukn symbol until 1978 when it also began to be used as the
People Nation
symbol. There was much objection to the new Islamic order.
Mickey Cogwell
who was leading the
Cobra Stones
, objected the most.
Mickey Cogwell
spoke up and objected at this meeting held at “The Camp” which was at 4233 South Indiana Avenue (42nd and Indiana in
Grand Boulevard
neighborhood) even after Fort threatened anyone that spoke up at the meeting would be killed.
On February 25, 1977
Mickey Cogwell
was killed and it was rumored that Fort had him killed. The Black P. Stone gang was still in existence but mainly led by Eugene Hairston and others, the El Rukns were only for strong supporters of Fort.  All El Rukn members had to adopt the suffix of “EL” within their last name. This proved to be a massive problem because authorities were able to go on computer systems in the late 70s and 80s and find El Rukn members easily and red flag them.
The new El Rukn order was seen as a COUP that took the Main 21 out of power and instead Fort appointed new leaders which were: Felix Mayes, Jake Crowder, Alan Knox, Derrick Porter, Floyd Davis, Walter Pollard, Edward Williams,
Roger Bowman
, Bernard Green, Thomas Bates, Fred Giles, Eddie Franklin, and Andrew Fort. On April 14, 1978 Fort organized the EL-Pyramid maintenance and management corporation, which made it possible to purchase a piece of property 3945 – 3959 South Drexel (39
th
and Drexel) that used to be known as the Oakland Square Theater, in the
Oakland
neighborhood. When it was run by El Rukns it became known as “El Rukn Grand Major Temple of America” also known as “The Fort.” It stayed standing until June of 1990 when it was torn down.
On November 11, 1978 the El Rukns organized the
People Nation
alongside the
Vice Lords
and
Latin Kings
because the organization of gang wars was needed on the streets. The war would then just be
People
against
Folk
. The El Rukns and
Vice Lords
represented the Islamic side of the
People
alliance while the
Latin Kings
represented the Christian side of the alliance.  The El Rukns,
Vice Lords
and
Latin Kings
invited a few gangs into the
People
alliance in 1978 which included:
Mickey Cobras
,
Latin Counts
,
Bishops
,
Spanish Lords
,
Puerto Rican Stones
and the
Insane Unknowns
. In the early 1980s the invitation extended to more street gangs.
In 1983 Jeff Fort was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison for his connection to a large shipment of drugs in Mississippi; while he was incarcerated he continued to run the El Rukns from behind bars. There was even a pilgrimage to Mecca scheduled and the destination was Libya.
In Libya, Fort’s top lieutenants made contact with Col. Moammar Kaddafi who was an enemy to the United States. During the late spring of 1986 the El Rukns made two trips to Panama City, Panama to meet with Libyan delegates. They worked out a deal with the Libyans to exchange .5 million and an asylum in Tripoli for some high powered weapons. When the EL RUKNS were going to get the weapons they were going to launch a wide scale urban assault on the Police and other government institutions which was to be operation “RUKBOM”. Fort was then tried on terrorist charges, and in 1987 Fort was sentenced to 80 years in prison in another round of convictions, Fort was tried for murder charges in 1988 and sentenced to 75 more years in prison, 50 other high ranking El Rukns were put in prison as well. In 1989 the El Rukn name disappeared and the Black P. Stone name reappeared.
On Thursday September 22, 1988 Eugene King Bull Hairston was shot to death by two unidentified assailants at 3844 S. Vincennes (38
th
place and Vincennes) at 12:30 A.M. Ave near his apartment in the
Ida B. Wells projects
at 548 E. 38
th
St (38
th
and Vincennes).  He was shot in the right leg, abdomen, chest, and in the head with a .357 revolver that was later found by Police discarded at a vacant lot on the corner of Oakwood and Vincennes according to the Chicago Tribune.  The supposed motive was that Hairston did not listen to an order Jeff Fort passed down to him.  Fort or the EL Rukns were never connected of the murder but the murder was suspected to be a set up (Thornton and Blau 1988).  The co-founder and first leader of the BPSN was now dead and a large part of the Black P Stones were infuriated.  Some factions of Black P. Stones began to slightly disassociate themselves with the rest of the nation to a slight degree and there were factions that paid tribute the King Bull.  To this day some factions are still King Bull supporters.
In 1991 to present day the BPS has experienced interalliance wars with the
Mickey Cobras
and
Vice Lords
. BPS still maintains good ties to other
People
gangs accept two gangs mainly (
Vice Lords
and
MCs
); however, in parts of the city
MCs
and BPS are good friends and
VL
factions get along with Stones too. The Black P. Stones have seven branches which is why some gangs tag a pyramid with a number 7 in it.
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR LOOKING.