Starting from humble beginnings as the underdogs of the gang world, the Bloods formed in self-defense to protect themselves from the aggressive and numerically dominant Crips – the largest African American street gang in Los Angeles. Their story is one of overcoming overwhelming odds and adversity – outnumbered 10 to 1 by the ultra-violent Crips, yet still holding their ground, and maintaining their respect in the face of a formidable enemy. The first half of the book gives a comprehensive account of the Bloods’ early history, covering in exhaustive detail how, when, and why they formed what became one of the deadliest, most feared gang alliances. While the Bloods’ history on the streets has been well documented, lesser known is their tumultuous path through the California prison system – where the circumstances were even more dire and dangerous. The Bloods found common ground with the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF), allying with the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist prison gang out of necessity. Taught survival skills and molded into conscious, politically educated convicts by veteran BGF and Black Panther prisoners, the Bloods established their own gang structure behind bars: the United Blood Nation (UBN). However, the imposition of structure on a loose-knit youth gang was met with resistance – leading imprisoned Bloods to divide into two distinct but antagonistic sides: “Kut” (loyal to the UBN) and “No Kut” (loyalty to one’s “set” or neighborhood gang). In The Bloods: Book of Knowledge , author Mbutu Angola Ouagadougou provides an in-depth analysis of the United Blood Nation’s origins in the Blood Module of the Los Angeles County jail – providing the social and historical context for what gave rise to their emergence, and the ideological split that ultimately led to their downfall – proving that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Nearly 3,000 miles to the east, in the megalopolis of New York City – the United Blood Nation would reemerge even stronger when African American inmates at Rikers Island jail banded together under the banner of the Bloods to fight a similar struggle against oppression from the Almighty Latin King Nation, the most powerful gang in Rikers Island at the time. Although not officially sanctioned by west coast Bloods, the east coast UBN took on a life of its own, eclipsing the Latin Kings and all other New York gangs in influence – exercising a brutal reign of terror over the prisons up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States – and eventually exceeding the Bloods in California in size. The UBN’s two co-founders, prison gang leaders Omar “OG Mack” Portee and Leonard “Dead Eye” McKenzie created literature and a code language for the organization – the entirety of which can be found in the contents of this book. Read about how the UBN originated in jail and came out to wreak havoc on the streets of the five boroughs – exemplifying the saying that: “He who controls the inside, controls the outside."