Gangster Disciples

The Gangster Disciples are a drug gang with affiliates operating in the Birmingham area.

The gang originated in Chicago's south side. Former "Supreme Gangsters" leader Larry Hoover formed an alliance, the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, with David Barksdale's gangs in 1969. They jointly opposed the Black P. Stone Rangers and also began operating as a community organization with numerous social programs. The alliance broke down under a flood of drugs in the early 1970s. After Barksdale's death, Hoover (then serving a 150-year sentence in Illinois State Prison) and Jerome "Shorty" Freeman were candidates to succeed him, but ended up splitting into the Gangster Disciples and Black Gangster Disciples in 1978. Hoover's Gangster Disciples then formed the nucleus of the Folk Nation, which grew to include several Latin-American street gangs.

The Folk Nation broke up into inter-alliance warring in the early 1990s. As a result of the fighting the Black Gangster Disciples dropped the first word of their name to distinguish themselves from the Black Disciples. In 1993 Hoover, addressing a large gathering in Kankakee, Illinois from prison, announced that the focus of the Gangster Disciples would shift from illegal activities to "Growth and Development".

Members of the gang dress in blue and black and wear hats with brims cocked to the right. The letters "GD" or the cipher 7-4 (or 7-4-14 for Gangster Disciple Nation) are seen in their graffiti tags, which often feature a heart with wings or a 6-pointed star (to honor "King David") along with spread pitchforks.