Mau Maus

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For the Kenyan rebellion in the 1950s, please see the Mau Mau Uprising.

For the band formed by Rick Wilder, please see The Mau-Mau's.

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

1 History
2 External links
3 References
4 See also

[edit] 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 and Israel Narvaez and some of the others were more interested in fighting. They also asked permission from a rival gang called the Chaplins to start a Puerto Rico 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 their enemy gangs. Some gangs that the Mau Maus constantly clashed with were the Bishops, the Phantom Lords, the Viceroys, and the South Brooklyn Boys^[1]. A prospective member was initiated either by standing against a wall without flinching while a gang member threw a knife at him or being beaten up by five of the toughest gang members without fighting back.

Around January 1958, a Bishop 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 during his tenure was President, Vice President, and Warlord (though not at the same time). Nicky was responsible for stabbing 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 Labanchino, a member of the Sand Street Angels, one of the Mau Maus' enemies. Labanchino had apparently beaten Tico, a Mau Mau, for walking with his sister.

Nicky 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 Agron, another member of the Mau Maus, later led another gang called the Vampires. On the evening of August 29, 1959, the Vampires arranged a fight at a playground located in Hell's Kitchen. A friend of theirs had been beaten up on by an Irish boy and a rumble was arranged. Agrón and Luis "Tony" Hernandez took a taxi downtown to meet five other members of the gang. Agrón wore a cape and held a 12-inch Mexican dagger, both borrowed from another gang member. Hernandez carried a black umbrella with a sharp metal point. They arrived at the playground ready to attack, but the Nordics, the gang they were set to fight, didn’t show. Instead, six teenagers who weren’t affiliated with any gang sat in the playground. The Vampires descended on the area with the battle cry, "Where’s Frenchy?" Three of the teenagers escaped without harm; one was seriously wounded. Anthony Krzesinski and Robert Young were killed that evening, beaten with sticks, pipes, and fists and stabbed with a knife and an umbrella. The murders would become known as the Capeman Murders after the costume worn by Agron. Paul Simon's Broadway musical The Capeman was based upon the life of Agrón.