Manitoba Warriors

From Rap Dictionary

The Manitoba Warriors {MW},Winnipeg 1323

The Manitoba Warriors began as an exclusively Aboriginal based criminal organization and prison gang founded in 1992 by incarcerated Native inmates to rival traditional Biker/Aryan gangs and to protect Native inmates from Biker aggression. Upon release, members of the prison gang began recruiting young Aboriginal youths in their respective neighborhoods thus bolstering their numbers. Police estimate that membership of this gang range in the hundreds and span across at least two Provinces. Over the years, The Warriors established themselves as a well organized conglomerate, less likely than other groups to be involved in low-level and mid-level street crime. Their members mark status levels by tattoos and ranks. The gang has a president, vice-president and sergeant-at-arms, and would-be members must serve an apprenticeship, called "striking," just as in Biker gang culture. Winnipeg's gang unit database had 300+ active and 143 inactive members, almost all adults, in 2000. Traditionally, the M.W.s have been challenging the Hell's Angels over Winnipeg's drug distribution network, the only Aboriginal street gang able to do so. The Manitoba Warriors are known to associate with other criminal organizations known as the CENTRAL, and Most Organized Brothers, distancing senior members of the gang from daily criminal activity and police scrutiny. As a prison gang, the Manitoba Warriors have been reported primarily in the Edmonton Institution, Headingley Correctional Institution and the Stony Mountain Institution. Neighborhoods frequented by this gang include The Maples, West End, West Kildonan, Weston, West Broadway and Tyndall Park, but their main territory's are located in the Central and North End neighborhoods of Winnipeg. The Warriors are also represented in other cities and Provinces by other organizations adopting The Warriors banner such as the Alberta Warriors and Saskatchewan Warriors. Their enemies include the Native Syndicate, Hell's Angels, Redd Alert, Indian Posse and the Zig Zag Crew.