Affidavit Places Spotlight On Gang

"I think you do have some who generally want to educate and want to teach the guys, but . . . you have a certain group or certain faction that's all about the criminal element," Smith said.

Traditionally, the gang's members have been older prisoners, in their 30s and 40s, who are serving longer sentences, Smith said. They remain its leaders, but as the group has branched out into Baltimore, it has recruited younger members as well, Smith said. "You have to have your foot soldiers who you need to do the work," he said.

Like other prison gangs, it is also enlisting people without criminal backgrounds who can, for example, obtain jobs in prisons, Smith said.

"I strongly believe that the majority of our staff are good," he said, "but it only takes a few bad seeds to make everyone look bad."

Organized along paramilitary lines, the BGF has a charter, code of ethics and oath of allegiance, according to government documents.

Brown recently published "The Black Book -- Empowering Black Families and Communities." According to the publishing company's Web site, the book is designed to make people "aware of the vision of comrade George Jackson" -- the founder of BGF -- "and the struggle that he lived and died for."

A BGF member who is cooperating with investigators told them that the book is a ploy to make the group appear legitimate, according to an affidavit filed in support of the charges.

When the crowd dispersed from Druid Hill Park on Monday, police found copies of "The Black Book" and a gun.