Kumi African Nation Organization, generally referred to as 415 or Kumi 415 is a predominantly

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

prison gang A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and ot ...

that was originally formed in

Folsom State Prison Folsom State Prison (FSP) is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, U.S., approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehab ...

in the mid-1980s, and the founding members were mainly from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Overview

Along with the

Crips The Crips is an alliance of street gangs that is based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips were initially a single alliance ...

and

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African-American street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn by its members and by particular gang symbols, includ ...

, Kumi 415 members have recently provided recruitment pools for the

Black Guerrilla Family The Black Guerrilla Family (BGF, also known as the Black Family, the Black Vanguard, and Jamaa) is an African-American black power prison and street gang founded in 1966 by George Jackson, George "Big Jake" Lewis, and W. L. Nolen while they were ...

, a gang with similarly large numbers in the Bay area and Northern California. In the Monterey County Jail, brief alliances have been reported among the Bloods, Crips, and Kumi 415 during period leading up to Stanley Williams' execution. Kumi is the Swahili word for the number ten, and the sum of 415 is ten. 415 also refers to San Francisco's area code. They have been reported in: * Folsom State Prison * Lerdo County Jail * Monterey County Jail *

Pelican Bay State Prison Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about to the west. Facilities The prison is located in a detached section of Cre ...

Pleasant Valley State Prison Pleasant Valley State Prison (PVSP) is a minimum-to-maximum security state prison in Coalinga, Fresno County, California. The facility has housed convicted murderers Sirhan Sirhan, Erik Menendez, X-Raided, and Hans Reiser, among others. Hist ...

Coalinga, California Coalinga ( or ) is a city in Fresno County and the western San Joaquin Valley, in central California about 80 miles (128 km) southeast of Salinas. It was formerly known as ''Coaling Station A'', ''Coalingo'', and ''Coalinga Station''. The ...

* Salinas Valley State Prison * Selected areas across

East County, San Diego East County is a region of San Diego County, California, east of San Diego. Geography East County does not have an official geographic definition, although East County boundaries are unofficially drawn by the County of San Diego for its second d ...

* Solano County Jail

Tattoos and culture

Kumi African Nation Organization, also known as 415 or Kumi 415, often incorporate African symbols—including pictures of the continent itself—in their tattoos. For example, a popular tattoo among members of Kumi 415 depicts a yero, or African Warrior, rising up out of an outline of the continent of Africa. In his left hand he holds a machine gun, and in his right he holds a flag bearing the numbers 415. These images reflect the African orientation of both the Black Guerrilla Family and the Kumi African Nation Organization, which both encourage their members to learn Mau Mau history and words drawn from the Swahili language, which they use to communicate with each other in ways that will not be accessible to outsiders.Goldberg, Lina
Gang Tattoos: Signs of Belonging and the Transience of Signs
/ref>

Notes

References

Organized Crime in California Annual Report to the California Legislature 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumi 415 Organizations established in the 1980s 1980s establishments in California Prison gangs in the United States African-American gangs Gangs in California Gangs in San Francisco African-American history in the San Francisco Bay Area