NBA Players With Gang Ties

for many basketball was a way out of a dangerous and poverty-stricken environment before some stars made it into the league they're faced with serious adversity they had to overcome including ties to gang culture the former mvp has always been known for his sensational performances day in and day out mostly known for his coveted step back three heart has been lighting up the scoreboard for years now a lot of people don't remember this but just a few years back arden was seen throwing up gang signs during an nba game years back when james harden was playing against the san antonio spurs harding was running up and down the court throwing up hand signs that uh made a lot of people think he was claiming to be a blood during the early part of his career james harden grew up and played basketball in lakewood california the bloods were founded in the early 1960s located in los angeles california the bloods are infamously known for trying to recruit young african americans to the gang whenever they get a chance the street gang was known for making a prom in the streets and making money by whatever means necessary from selling guns to drugs blood members identify themselves through various gang indicators such as colors clothing symbols tattoos jewelry graffiti language and hand signs now james harden has befriended various rappers that have ties associated with the bloods the most well known would be lil wayne james harding would send out a tweet that said come to the next game we got seats 45 apparently the most commonly used blood symbol includes the number five the five-pointed star and the five-pointed crown these symbols are meant to show the blood's affiliation with the people's nation a large coalition of affiliates created to protect alliance members within the federal and state prison systems these symbols may have been seen in tattoos jewelry and clothing that gang members wear as well as in gang graffiti which is used by the bloods to mark territory a couple of rappers were going to criticize hardin for the gang behavior slump thug and lil duvall would give their opinion on the situation saying he's not about that life and as of now james harden isn't thought to have any serious connection to any gang but so this doesn't cause any problems in the future demar derozan has been getting used to his new mba team these past couple of seasons but the spurs knew they added a franchise player demar derozan plays with raw emotion and passion every time he's out there on the court he's had to overcome obstacles and bad habits early in his life but thanks to determination hard work discipline talent and of course a bit of luck demar derozan went from the streets of california to an nba superstar demar won't ever forget where he came from that's why at the start of his nba career derozan would throw up gang signs showing he was affiliated with the crips born and raised in compton california derose now to overcome one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the entire united states contempt is known for its roots bringing up hip hop but has some of the worst gangs and criminal activities ever basketball is what saved demar derozan at an early age demar was already an oppressive young talent with his ability to attack the room quickly becoming one of the most desired assets in california basketball ranked top five in the nation while attending compton high school derozan grew up in a hostile environment with several members of his family shot dead the proximities of his own house although it was his known talent that made all the thugs in the neighborhood protect the talented athlete and his remaining family members constantly cheering and encouraging him to get better and better and demar became the ultimate pride of compton back in 2010 demar derozan went to twitter and tweeted out hashtag in high school i wore blue every day the crypts are a gang based in the coastal regions of southern california they were found in los angeles california in 1969 and his members traditionally wear blue the cribs are one of the largest and most violent associations of street gangs in the united states with an estimated 30 000 to 35 000 members in 2008 they've been involved in murders robberies and drug dealing among other crimes the crips would have to have strength in numbers because just around the block was the other gang they hated which happened to be the bloods the biggest obstacle demar had to overcome was when his best friend was shot and killed during a dice game at the age of 17. while the rosen's managed to stay away from the life of crime the guard has never shied away from representing his past and throwing up his fair share of signs during an interview with espn demar derozan's past was brought up he responded by saying people ask me what i would have done if it wasn't for basketball i can never give a good story because honestly i don't know i had no other options paul pierce has been retired for a few years but when looking back he always played with crazy intensity and always strived to win early in his career pierce has some gang-related issues that cost him major fines in almost his life pierce was born and raised in oakland california his family later moved to englewood california where he attended inglewood high school california was known for two of the most violent gangs during his nba career pierce would flash blood gang signs on november 25th 2000 pierce was stabbed 11 times in the face neck and back not a bottle smashed over his head while at the buzz club a nightclub in boston theater district he had to undergo lung surgery to repair the damage witnesses say that pierce was attempting to separate fighters when he was stabbed tony betsy pierce's teammate at the time along with batea's brother saved him by rushing him to a nearby hospital apparently a legit gang member stabbed paul pierce but after almost losing his life pierce would play all 82 games the following season pop pierce would eventually talk about the situation and per espn he'd go on to say i stabbed 11 times i feel like i was trapped in a box i couldn't go nowhere i battled the pressure for a year the only thing that saved me was basketball weeks after the stabbing took place pierce was still getting death threats and even wanted to say so now i'm really paranoid i don't want to go anywhere police sat in front of my house for months i was a mess i think that's the reason i got back on the court so fast me sitting at home thinking about the stabbing didn't work i went to every practice sat on the sideline for hours because that's why i felt safe i didn't want those practices to end because now to go back out there in this world that really scared me now eight years later when the celtics are making their nba championship run pierce would look upset with al horford at the time flashed him a gang sign the commissioner was upset and the nba fight appears 25 000 for the gang affiliate to sign al horford would talk to reporters after the game and he'd say i don't know anything about the gesture i don't know what that is nowadays pop popular strives to stop the gang violence while helping the inner city youth whenever he gets a chance steven jackson played for nine different nba teams during his nba career jackson was mostly known for his performance during the 2003 nba season where he won his only nba championship at the san antonio spurs retirement has been good to jackson but before achieving the nba stephen was growing up around gangs jackson's one of the few athletes who openly admit to having gang ties and has been involved since he was just nine years old fights drugs and death were part of growing up in his neighborhood that definitely made an impact on his life he lost his brother when he was just 15 years old because he was beaten to death jackson openly admits to being associated with the bloods and wears red on a regular basis because he claims it's just a part of who he is in his upbringing but back in 2005 stephen jackson was playing for the indiana pacers and he had an accident with some detroit fans apparently it's because of all the red that he wore jackson going to say in an interview i was just raised like that all my friends i don't trip out nobody with no blue rag but at the same time that's what i represent so i represented since i was nine years old all my friends in my neighborhood it was just inherited i ain't banging though although he admits to being affiliated he also made it very clear that he's not involved in the game even though ellis never won an nba championship he'd win the most improved player award showing everyone why he belonged in the nba ellis is always trying to bring his a game whenever he played but towards the end of his career fans were focused on his gameplay they were focused on his tattoos monte ellis had a punch of ink throughout his bottom the only problem was some of his ink would show ellis had gang ties alice was born in jackson mississippi an area with high gang activity the mississippi native sports several tattoos one of which displays the letters gd which is believed to represent the gangster's disciples a mississippi gang the gangster disciples are a criminal street gang which formed to the south side of chicago in the late 1960s but eventually would branch out nationwide making its way to mississippi the predominant symbol of this criminal gang is a six pointed star of david monte ellis also has a tattoo of a six point of star shape which is also used by the gang and is similar to the star of david there's a lot of speculation out there regarding the shooting guards inc however he never commented on him javaris crittenton is an unknown former nba player that only lasted in the league for three seasons he played a couple seasons starting with the lakers and ended his career the next year with the wizards it supported that after joining the lakers javaris decided to join the mansfield gangster crips for some reason and he's gone downhill ever since javaris joined the wizards in 2008 but his gangster mentality stuck with them throughout the conference switch and javaris was cut from the team after pulling a loaded gun on a teammate gilbert arenas in the locker room he was arrested and handed the year probation for the incident and never played in the nba again gilbert arenas remembered that day and he went on to say in an interview the plane lands and now javar says to javale so you're just gonna let me lose my money like that you ain't gonna be real and give me a chance to get my money back arenas would respond by saying javaris i'll burn your car while you're in it then we'll find an extinguisher to help you out and he says i'll just shoot you then i said man i'll bring you the gun to shoot me two days later on december 21st 2009 the locker room confrontation took place and arenas would actually bring four unloaded guns and would tell crittenton hey come pick one javaris responded by pulling his own gun one which arena said was loaded arenas pleaded guilty to a single felony kind of possession of a gun without a license and he was sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house and served two years of supervised probation the trouble with the law wouldn't stop there because currently javaris is now serving a 23 year sentence in prison for shooting and killing a 22 year old woman who's a mother of four his killing of the young woman was not intentional though and he apparently missed his intended target what a lot of people don't know was the fact that before randolph was ever drafted into the nba he was arrested for robbery and battery charges his behavior at a young age was unlike most teenagers that mentality is what led him into a game randolph's mother mae randolph struggled all of her life raising four children without a father figure in their life living on welfare struggling to pay bills and not being able to get the children new clothes was normal for zach growing up right off with the same pair of jeans to school day after day week after week kids called him crusty embarrassed and upset one day he walked into a walmart grabbed a new pair of jeans and tried to walk out the door without paying randolph was caught and spent 30 days in the juvenile detention and that was the start of a familiar pattern years passed and infractions piled up randos basketball talent blossomed authorities placed a 15 year old randolph under house arrest for battery he's placed in juvenile detention two years later for receiving stolen guns in 2002 he was arrested for underage drinking less than a year after being drafted into the nba by portland the problems trailed him there or randolph earned fame and obviously investment of the street gang known as hoop family a gang that was based out of portland who family associated with the crips who've been investigated for murder firearms and narcotics distribution at one point airportedly put a price out on the head of former nba players sebastian tel affair who subsequently found that assault rifle during a search of his premises sebastian said that he appropriated possession of the weapon as a means of protecting himself from said gang back in his rookie days mello was known for throwing up gang signs but he hasn't been involved in a gang carmelo anthony grew up in baltimore surrounded by gangs drugs and violence like most of us he's had friends from when he was growing up anthony was featured in a dvd years ago called stop snitching which is part of a campaign going on in maryland at the time to convince people to stop providing information to police when it comes to gang crime at the time carmelo was young and dumb and he claimed he had no idea he would be in a dvd but regardless that's not something you want to show the youth in the inner city after the campaign took a new level and some tapes were released we were able to see carmelo anthony appear in some of these videos hanging out with some of the most famous gang members of the time gangs violence and drugs just don't have a place in professional sports hey yo dog what are you doing bro you need to click on this video on the screen dude seriously man this video on the screen is is like a marshmallow being roasted you know what i mean it's not it's it's fire that's that's what i'm trying to say okay just click on it

Channel: undefined

Views: 1,830,600

Rating: 4.7424831 out of 5

Keywords: nba, rebound central, basketball, gang, gang ties, crips, blood, red, blue, los angeles, LA, California, james harden, harden, houston rockets, rockets, DeMar DeRozan, DeRozan, San Antonio Spurs, Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Raptors, Carmelo Anthony, Carmelo, New York Knicks, Knicks, Paul Pierce, Pierce, Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, Gangster Disciple, GD, Javaris Crittenton, Gilbert Arenas, Washington Wizards, Wizards, Zach Randolph

Id: 2YGQCPFsyXM

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 04 2020