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| Founded | 1942 |
|---|---|
| Founding location | Manzanar, California, United States |
| Years active | 1942 – 1996 |
| Territory | Manzanar, and in later years,San Francisco, California |
| Ethnicity | Japanese Americans |
| Membership | ~200 During Internment, over 500 post Internment |
| Criminal activities | murder,arms trafficking,extortion,loan sharking |
| Allies | Jackson-SideWah Ching |
The Tokyo Boys was a Japanese American gang founded inManzanar Concentration camp during World War II. They were split into three groups/ranks, The Kibei Boys (Japanese-Americans from Japan), Issei Boys (1st generation Japanese-Americans), and the Nisei Boys (2nd generation Japanese-Americans).
DuringWorld War II, then current American presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt passedExecutive Order 9066 which infamously criminalized the being of any Japanese person or person of Japanese ancestry, and forcefully relocated allJapanese andJapanese-Americans intoconcentration camps, and stripped them of American Constitutional Rights. The most infamous of these camps wasManzanar, where over 100,000 Japanese Americans were jailed. Due to the cruel, unfair, and harsh conditions, a group of rebellious Japanese youths and adults quickly formed a gang. At first there was a power struggle between other gangs in the camp, however, after theManzanar Riots, almost all gangs united into the Tokyo Boys a.k.a. Manzanar Black Dragons.[1][citation needed]
Throughout the lifetime of the camp, The Tokyo Boys were not involved in high-level crimes, but rather trivial offenses such as stealing extra rations and harassing non-Japanese prisoners.
After the Japanese-Americans were released from Manzanar, many went to California to work legally and reintegrate into American society. However, due to the time period (1940s-1950s), many Japanese Americans couldn't find work, and even if they could, it wouldn't be enough to support themselves and their families. This combined with the scars of internment and rampant racism has caused many Japanese-Americans to this day remain under the poverty line in places along the West Coast (California, Nevada, and Oregon). Due to their socio-economic position, many members of the Tokyo Boys continued their lifestyle of crime after their release, however, as time progressed, so did the severity of their crimes.[1]