Green Street Counts
The Green Street Counts were a street gang in Philadelphia, Pa. The gang's turf centered at the corners of 21st and Green St. where their numbers were usually seen. They specialized in armed robbery, kidnapping, and weapons dealings.
According to Detective Captain James Kelly, they were, "the most menacing gang of teenagers" in Philadelphia. The Green Street Counts were active in the early 1950s. Around the same time (early to mid-1950s) another group of teenagers in Philadelphia took the name Green Street Counts (West). This group of teenagers led by Carlos were operating in a West Philadelphia neighborhood extending from 38th to 47th Streets and Walnut Street to Woodland Avenue. The Green Street Counts (West) were not affiliated with the Green Street Counts originally from the Fairmount section of Philadelphia.
Among the gang, Joseph "Blackie" Battel, would go on to serve a life sentence for a robbery murder. This put the Green Street Counts in local and national headlines. Along with his co-defendants, Blackie would receive a commutation from the PA Parole Board after serving a lengthy amount of time at the Eastern State Penitentiary. After their release the Counts would later connect with the K&A Gang of Philadelphia's Kensington section.
"The urban gang syndrome had just begun, led by the infamous Green Street Counts, and Bell repairmen would not go into some parts of the city after dark ...The vicious saga of the Green Street Counts hit headlines in the summer of 1953. Where the tragedy of the Head Hunters resulted from a more or less casual association, the Counts were a formalized, cold-blooded organization comparable to mobs of adult racketeers. The gang, with headquarters in the congested area of the city a few blocks north of city hall, had its rigid discipline of obedience to the mob will through fear (one boy was purposely shot in the leg after showing weakness in a robbery executed by the gang). It also boasted an arsenal of firearms. To these familiar attributes of criminal mobs, were added the juvenile touches of a written constitution, in which were designated such officers as "Secretary of War" and "Keeper of the War Chest". Last week- end another gang was discovered by the police in North Philadelphia with the same sort of constitution and by-laws. In August, the Counts boldly entered a taproom in North Philadelphia, intending to hold up the bartender and patrons at the point of a gun. Panic stricken when their plan failed in execution, they shot their way out. The bartender was shot and instantly killed. One of the patrons was injured. Five boys, ranging in age from 16 to 20, were indicted. Another extremely troublesome situation which gained prominent newspaper notice was gang rowdyism on central city public transportation. In the fall of 1953, members of the Transport Workers Union employed by the Philadelphia Transportation Corp., complained that on trolley lines servicing students at two central city high schools and one junior high school, gangs of boys had vandalized trolley cars and even robbed motormen. The union officials threatened to stop trolley line service on these important central city communication lines unless immediate steps were taken. It was necessary to station police iu the trolley cars ; and. also at the trolley stops near the schools. Since that was done no new outbreak has occurred. Less than a month ago, juvenile gang warfare, between two gangs known as the Pandoras and Exiles, resulted in a boy being shot from a racing automobile by a teen-age gunman. Arrests swiftly followed, but the problem is not alleviated. These gang situations have proved extremely serious. The office of the district attorney has recommended that a Youth Commission be established by the city of Philadelphia. One of its important functions would be to strengthen social work activities with members of these gangs, in order to turn their energies into constructive or nonharmful recreational activities. Additional functions of the proposed youth commission will be discussed below. Despite the above, the magnitude of the problems treated in juvenile court or the nature of those problems must not be misunderstood. In 1953, juvenile delinquency comprised but 1.9 percent of the juvenile population from 7 to 17 years of age. (In 1952 the rate was 1.7 percent.) Moreover, all the cases which come into court are not concerned with young hoodlums who differ from their adult criminal counterparts only in the differences of age. As a matter of fact, the majority of the cases arise from backgrounds of proverty. family maladjustments, racial prejudice, excessive parental discipline or the lack of it. parental alcoholism, or immorality, or any of the other unfortunate circumstances which may engulf children. Cases involving runaway or disobedient children do not require the stern measures necessitated by gang cases or the cases of juvenile armed robbery and the like. In many ways, the former cases are more important for here. Mr. Bobo. I notice in your statement you submitted to Mr, Goff, that you spoke of the Green Street Counts and the arsenal that they had. Would you go into that problem? I believe your office was the one that handled that particular problem. Mr. Gomberg. Well, it started in the juvenile court. However, in our Juvenile Court Act, anyone over 14, if the act is sufficiently severe and the juvenile court feels that a jury trial would be in the interest of justice, can certify the case down to the criminal court. In that particular case the act was so severe that the court did certify the case to the criminal court, although some were juveniles under 18. In that case, we had a situation where some of the boys up around 21st and Green Streets, which is a distance not so far from here, had gotten together and organized a gang. They did some amazing things. They appointed officers ; they had a keeper of the war chest, a secretary of war. They had a written constitution. They had recently merged with some other gang and had formalized that by a written document. But they were not juvenile at all in the way they approached the robbery of the taproom. They went into a taproom up in North Philadelphia and they had a lookout and so on, but because they were juveniles I think very nervous something happened in the course of their robbery, they killed the bartender and injured one of the patrons in the bar. All of the people in that gang have been tried. They have all been sentenced to life imprisonment, with one exception, who will be tried shortly. That was a very serious situation...."[1] [2]