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Melson, Kenneth E, United States Attorney. “Khobar The conspiracy began in March 1985, when Fort
Indictment.” U.S. District Court, Eastern District of offered El Rukns’s services to the Libyan government
Virginia, Alexandria Division. http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/ for $2.5 million, following news that Louis Farrakhan
pr/2001/June/khobarindictment.wpd, May 23, 2001. had received twice that amount from Libya. Members
“A Nation Challenged: The Hunted; The 22 Most Wanted of El Rukns then traveled to Libya and Panama to
Suspects, in a Five-Act Drama of Global Terror.” negotiate. On July 31, 1985, an undercover FBI agent
New York Times, October 14, 2001, 1B.
Walsh, Elsa. “Louis Freeh’s Last Case.” The New Yorker, sold Mayes a rocket launcher for $2,000. The launcher,
May 14, 2001. which had been rendered inoperative, was fixed with a
radio transmitter that eventually led authorities to the
El Rukns weapons arsenal. Five days later, federal
agents raided two houses in southside Chicago and
EL RUKNS
found the launcher, along with nearly three dozen
aka Blackstone Rangers other guns and grenades. Several gang members were
immediately arrested; Mayes, however, remained at
large.
In 1985, El Rukns, one of Chicago’s most notori-
During the trial, Trammel, former security chief for
ous street gangs, contacted the Libyan government,
the gang, turned government witness. Authorities had
offering to commit terrorist acts within the United
recorded numerous phone calls that Fort made from
States in exchange for $2.5 million. The ensuing fed-
jail to El Rukns headquarters in which Fort talked in
eral trial marked the first in which U.S. citizens were
elaborate code. Trammel translated the code—a com-
found guilty of planning terrorist acts on behalf of a
bination of Arabic and street slang—to reveal how
foreign government in exchange for money.
Fort orchestrated the conspiracy from prison. On
El Rukns began as the Blackstone Rangers, a
November 24, 1987, the jury convicted five members
teenage street gang that ruled the Woodlawn district of
of El Rukns.
southside Chicago in the 1960s. Led by Jeff Fort, the
Mayes remained at large until March 9, 1995,
gang, which later joined with other gangs to form the
when he was captured by the FBI’s Chicago Joint
Black P Stone Nation, established its reputation for
Terrorism Task Force. By then, El Rukns had been
extreme violence in battles against a rival gang, the
mostly dismantled through several criminal racketeer-
Gangster Disciples.
ing trials. It is now primarily a prison gang.
In 1977, Fort announced his conversion to Islam and
Although the Libyan government denied involve-
asserted that his gang was now a black Islamic religious
ment, and no Libyan diplomats were named in the
sect, called the Moorish Science Temple of America,
indictment, a 1997 Department of Defense memoran-
El Rukn tribe. (El Rukn means “The Foundation” in
dum about the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 sug-
Arabic and also refers to the cornerstone of the Kabaa
gested that the El Rukns conspiracy was part of a
Islamic temple in Mecca.) Fort changed his name to
larger Libyan plot to retaliate for the U.S. bombing
Malik and became the imam, or spiritual leader, of El
raid on Muammar el-Qaddifi’s headquarters in 1986.
Rukns. At approximately the same time, police and fed-
eral law enforcement agencies began cracking down on See also PAN AM FLIGHT 103 BOMBING; MUAMMAR
the gang. By the mid-1980s, Fort was in jail in Bastrop, EL-QADDAFI; TRIPOLI AND BENGHAZI BOMBING
Texas, on cocaine trafficking charges, and more than
Further Reading
a dozen other gang members were serving time for
serious state and/or federal crimes. Federation of American Scientists. “Terrorism in the
In October 1986, a federal grand jury returned a United States.” http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/fbi_terror95/
50-count indictment against several members of El terrorin.htm.
“Qaddafi’s Goons.” Time, December 7, 1987, Vol. 130,
Rukns, including Fort, Melvin Mayes, and Trammel
Issue 23, 27.
Davis. The indictment charged that from March 1985
until the time of the indictment, members of El Rukns
obtained explosives and weapons with the intent to kill
ELA. See REVOLUTIONARY PEOPLE’S
“unspecified people” and destroy “unspecified build- STRUGGLE.
ings” in the United States on behalf of Libya.