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The other day I looked at some of my files for a homicide in Harlem in the summer of 1956 involving a gang called the Politicians.\u00a0 A few years ago I had marked the case as being gang-related, but I couldn’t find the reference in the files.\u00a0 Sometimes that happens where I forget something that I haven’t looked at recently.\u00a0 That’s understandable though because I have over 18,000 files, some of which are hundreds of pages long.\u00a0 There are probably about 25,000 pages of information in the 18,000+ files.\u00a0 So you can see how I forget some information which is why I go over what I have periodically to keep it fresh in my mind.<\/p>\n
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So I laboriously pored through my files on this case and finally after looking at the second last file in my folder, found the reference to the Politicians.\u00a0 The case itself involved Willie Parker, Adolphus Reid (aka “Dutch”) Clarence Lowman (aka “L.C.”) , Eugene Williams (aka “Ace”), Edward Miles (aka “Sonny”), William Bingham (aka “Roosevelt”) who stabbed and killed a man outside of a bar on Lexington Avenue between 127th and 128th Streets in Harlem called the “Mona Lisa.”<\/p>\n
The attack started when the victim Alfred McMullen, who was drunk, made a pass at one of the girlfriends of the Politicians who were hanging out in the area.\u00a0 An argument broke out, words were spoken, a brick was thrown and bottle tossed.\u00a0 McMullen slipped on the slick street (it was raining) or he was knocked down.\u00a0 While on the ground, he was viciously stomped as well as stabbed by\u00a0 Ace and L.C.\u00a0 McMullen, who was 30 years old, died on the way to Harlem Hospital.\u00a0 He was stabbed on the right and left side of the chest, the right arm and on the right eye brow.<\/p>\n
All the boys except for Willie Parker were members of the Politicians.\u00a0 L.C. was the war counselor, while the others were regular “rank and file” members, although Dutch was supposedly a member of the Sportsmen, a brother club with the Politicians.\u00a0 When Willie Parker was questioned by police, the following questions and answers took place:<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 After they stabbed him what did you do?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 I didn’t do nothing after that but I stayed there and looked.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 You watched them stab him?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 You didn’t try to stop them?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 There was nothing to do.\u00a0 He wanted me to join the club.\u00a0 They’d do me in.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 What club is that?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 The Politicians.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 Who was trying to get you to join the club?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 Larry, the war counselor.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0 You mean L.C.?<\/p>\n
A:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Some gangs in New York City had an initiation process for members that wanted to join.\u00a0 This was a way for them to weed out boys who didn’t have the courage or guts to fight for the gang.\u00a0 After all, if they went into a fight and someone “chickened out,” it could mean injury or death.\u00a0 There were different initiation processes for different gangs.\u00a0 For example, the Crowns’ gang from the Bronx never had an initiation.\u00a0 They all grew up together and knew each other well enough to know what each individual was capable of.\u00a0 However, they engaged in sham battles with each other to stay sharp.\u00a0 Usually the sham battles were in a school yard and didn’t involve weapons.\u00a0 The battles were short, but some got bruised or even knocked out.<\/p>\n
Other gangs would require prospective members to run a gauntlet to join the gang, or to fight one of the toughest members in a one-on-one fight to see if they could fight well.\u00a0 A gang not too far from the Politicians called the Harlem Lords had an initiation process of their own.\u00a0 Click here to read details on how the Harlem Lords did initiation<\/a>.<\/p>\n So after reading the question and answer with Willie Parker above it appeared that they wanted him in the gang and even though the fight and killing was spontaneous, it was basically an initiation into the Politicians.\u00a0 Parker confessed he joined in the fight by kicking McMullen, but didn’t stab him.\u00a0 No doubt he proved himself as being worthy of being a Politician for doing his part in the killing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before you get to the article\u2026 On February 23, 2018, my book on the Mau Maus and Sand Street Angels, who were two Brooklyn youth gangs from the 1950s, has been completed.\u00a0 It took 15 years of research and writing … Continue reading