The book examines three periods of African American history: (1) early policy numbers gambling that surfaced in New York City between 1920 and 1940; (2) the African American criminal groups of the 1940-70 period that operated in the ghettos; and (3) the status of African American gang activities that have occurred from the 1970s to the present and are now firmly embedded in their neighborhoods and have expanded nationally. The discussion begins with an account of organized crime in general and then traces the major post-Civil War migrations that flowed into the major northeastern and north central cities. The analysis concludes that organized crime among African Americans may be understood primarily as informal or illegal strategies to meet basic communal and individual needs. This form of crime did not emerge spontaneously and was not an outcome of a confluence of compellingly irresistible events. Figures, tables, chapter reference notes, and index