South Brooklyn Boys

South Brooklyn Boys (abbreviated as SBB) is a famous New York City street gang . In the 1950s, various Italian-American gangs were formed in South Brooklyn, NY, and came together under the moniker of "South Brooklyn Boys" sometime around the 1970s. The gang has a mostly Italian American membership.

At the time of its origin, SBB consisted of several smaller neighborhood greaser gangs that were located in the South Brooklyn area of Brooklyn made up of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Red Hook and Boerum Hill. Some of the gangs that made up the original South Brooklyn Boys were The South Brooklyn Devils, the Garfield Boys, The SB Angels, SB Diapers, The Wanderers, the Degraw St boys, the Sackett St Boys, The Butler Gents, The Gowanus Boys and the Kane St. Midgets. The label South Brooklyn Boys represented the loosely connected affiliation that all of these neighborhood gangs associated under.

The 1962 book, All the Way Down: The Violent Underworld of Street Gangs by Vincent Riccio and Bill Slocum, featured real accounts of the Gowanus Boys. The gang was located in the Gowanus section of South Brooklyn, and was one of the earlier neighborhood crews that would evolve into the larger, loosely affiliated South Brooklyn Boys street gang.

Reputed Lucchese mobster, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso was a famous member of the early South Brooklyn Boys.^[1][2]

Since the 1970s, South Brooklyn Boys has represented not only the original 1950s gangs, but many generations of kids growing up in the South Brooklyn area, most specifically the Italian section of Carroll Gardens. The term has not only been used as a gang association, but also as a loosely connected affiliation for which many neighborhood kids felt a kinship. From the 1980s to the present, a new incarnation of the South Brooklyn Boys has been very active. Currently about 50 members ages 17 to 28 years of age.

Gang sets

The South Brooklyn Boys consisted of 10 different gangs.^[3]

• South Brooklyn Angels
• South Brooklyn Diapers
• The Wanderers (featured in the film The Wanderers)
• Degraw Street Boys ( Degraw Street )-Cobble Hill
• Sackett Street Boys ( Sackett Street )- Cobble Hill
• South Brooklyn Devils (Union Street and 4th Ave.)- Parkslope
• Garfield Place Boys (Garfield Place and 5th Street)- Parkslope
• Butler Street Gents ( Butler Street and 9th Street from 4th Ave to 7th Ave )- gowanus
• Gowanus Boys (Hoyt Street) - Gowanus
• Kane Street Midgets / Kane Street Boys ( Kane Street ) - Redhook
• Little Gents (5th Avenue between Union Street & 9th Street)
• The West Street Boys(West Street And Ave.U)
• The Ave W Crew (Avenue W)

See also

• newyorkcitygangs.com, a website about New York City gangs from the 1950s
• stonegreasers.com, South Brooklyn Boys turf and history page

References

^[4]