Who’s Tougher: You or the Bad Hombre?
by Mark Hatmaker
Let’s talk “Scarface” Al, Gangs of New York, dirty tactics, boxing and wrestling, and the focused “training of the bad element” that is, people who have a vested interest in training harder than much of the dabbling some of us allow to pass for mock hardness.
First, a bit of info passed along to me by more than one friend in the law enforcement profession. [Names of officers and contemporary gangs will be excised from this tale. But, all 100% Bonafide true stories.]
Beginning, oh, a decade or two ago friends on this side of right have related to me that upon raiding various and sundry biker hang-outs, gangbanger residences and like abodes that in addition to what is considered contraband they often find fight training material. [At a Boot Camp sometime, ask me about a couple of curious encounters I had with certain elements who wanted to schedule something a little less…just ask me, but do it in person.]
I was told these stories by Law Enforcement Pros because some of my DVD titles were there. I always inquired who else, and the laundry list of squared away cadre always included a stable of straight-talking sorts with an eye on reality.
What was not included: Anything sportive, traditional, flashy, showy or that reeked of choreography.
Now myself, and these other gents whose titles found their way to these dens/clubhouses/Halls of “Learning,” we offer our ministrations in aid of self-defense on the right side of the line, self-edification, and, in my case, a bit of historical recreational fun.
I mention all this not to say, “Yay! Biker Endorsement!” But for what philosopher Nassim Taleb would call “The Graveyard of Invisible Evidence.”
I asked what other titles were included not for ego props but to see what the enemy has an eye on.
It is never in-depth kata material, internal kung fu, systema, and seldom is it sport oriented beyond an MMA title or two.
Almost invariably the consumption is rough-around-the-edges street-ready material.
This telling bit of Intel lets us know that those in the trenches of perpetrating mayhem have little to no use for theory and or bounded domains [sport applications.]
If [If] we proclaim ourselves street/reality focused, we would be well advised to take heed of our enemies’ tastes.
I now draw your attention to the fact that this phenomenon is nothing new.
Gangs, gangsters, motorcycle clubs on the fringes, and all of the other pockets of borderline behavioral association value hardmen, able scufflers, or as one Scottish lawman told me, “They value bonny fechters.” [Good fighters.]
Possession or Use
Now mere possession of a training implement does not make one adept. We all know that.
We all have YouTube tutorials available on every possible subject in our pockets and yet I see no corresponding rise in actual ability. Mere possession of information is nada.
Let’s look to the waters we law-abiding training ones swim in. There are faaaaaaaar more consumers of the aforementioned YouTube fight tutorials than folks who ever swing a fist at a bag.
There are copious members/commentors of the “Squared Away, Fight All the Way!” league tapping away at keys on social media forums for more seated rounds than ever pound bags, hit the mat, or swing a cudgel.
How many of these do you think put ass on mat? Hand in glove? If any time at all, how often? How long is that training session?
You get my drift, and if you’ve been alive and awake in these waters you are cognizant that on the right side of the justice line there are more in the theory-laden and sportive end of the pool than in the deep waters of “OK, this is real” and even fewer who test that reality off of high-dive platforms.
Use and Utility Over Mere Exposure or Possession of Information
The key info to know when eyeing an enemy is what armament do they possess?
In today’s lesson we are discussing the unarmed armament.
Question #2…
How adept are they at using that armament?
With adept we must never forget the fact that often mere use of said armament, any use at all, is often way more than the defender has ever had.
Gun shy, trigger-wincing, “How will this go in the mix?” never goes away, but it is diminished by exposure.
With that said, who do you think has been in tougher spots more often, the law-abiding reality-combat student, or the on-the fringe-biker gang member?
Who do you think has experienced more confrontations, the person who has read numerous essays on the OODA Loop or the ambitious kid from South Central?
To Know Wicked Tactics, Look to the Wicked
I have discussed the remarkable overlap between kosher tacticians and outlaw players of the seemingly same game but with violently different adjustments many times. In mob parlance, some of the able adjusters were called Street Dentists.
Men who were able boxers, able wrestlers, able scufflers, but something a bit more than that.
From the early days of rough and tumble to now, boxing+, all-in scuffling, boombattle, etc. are valued knowledge, valued skills.
Concerted Deliberate Practice
We would be on somewhat level playing fields if our gangbangers who possessed instructional material approached it in the same manner than many fight GIF swappers approach their own training but…
My selfsame law enforcement insiders tell me that the possession of the material is not the end. It is utilized. It is honed.
To keep current names out of the game, let us look at a few historical examples of outlaws honing illegal tactics in a most decidedly organized manner as one would expect from organized crime.
Let’s talk Al “Scarface” Capone.
The short version of the story is Capone came up brawling in the Five Points Gangs of New York. He was noted for slinging hands, busting heads and his “boxer’s feet.”
This abridged version of the tale leads us to believe that natural ability and simply engaging in street-scufflin’ is all one needs for improving a skill-set.
Let’s dig a little deeper.
Capone did indeed engage in numerous street scuffles as a member of the early rough and rowdy gangs of New York.
His actual gang was a smaller outfit called the James Street Gang. This gang was headed by a young Johnny Torrio, also of later mob notoriety.
If you’ve seen Martin Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York you are likely familiar with the largely Irish gangs—the Dead Rabbits, the Plug Uglies, and the Whyos.
Another large and powerful gang was the Five Pointers which was predominantly Italian.
It was headed by one dapper individual named Paul Kelly.
Not exactly an Italian name there. Kelly’s actual name was Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli.
Kelly/Vaccarelli was an experienced and successful bantamweight prizefighter. He used his winnings to bootstrap and bolster his criminal enterprises.
Kelly was also idolized by many young hoods, Johnny Torrio and Capone among them.
Kelly offered tips and tactics of the legitimate fight game in which he was well skilled—a Bridgeport Herald newspaper article of 1897 refers to him as one of the "fastest and cleanest little boxers in the business."
He could fight clean but…
Kelly also made additions that made the game street-ready for the “thrash in the street” that was commonplace to the gig of being in a gang. The Five-Pointers were noted for their eye-gouging in the clinch tactics.
[Keep in mind, the story I am telling is not isolated. The history of boxers, wrestlers, rough ‘n’ tumblers evolving and expanding the game in methodical ways to aid and abet the less than savory are numerous. We are telling merely one tale in timeline today.]
Capone was part of this eager-to-learn cadre of young hoods, he avidly participated in these lessons.
Capone would go on to perfect his game working as a doorman, bouncer, security enforcer and labor slugger. [There are many tales to tell here but…another day.]
Flash forward to Capone becoming the biggest gangster in Chicago. Capone no longer had a need to get his hands dirty, but he still did on occasion—the infamous Indian club incident comes to mind. [The story has been altered to say Capone wielded a baseball bat, as we see in the film The Untouchables. Those in the know say, “Nah, it was an Indian club.”
A piece of exercise gear. Why was that on hand?
Capone, like his idol Paul Kelly, well, according to crime journalist Fred Pasley, at Capone’s headquarters at the Metropole Hotel in Chicago, there were two rooms equipped with punching bags, horizontal bars, trapezes, rowing machines and other such devices that his staff was expected to get a regular work out within.
“They followed a schedule of training as methodical as that of college football athletes...”
He goes on to say…
“Experience had taught him [Capone] that their professional value, based on that quality commonly described as nerve, was in direct ratio to their physical fitness. It might be only the imperceptible tremor of a trigger-finger, or the slightest moment in any of a score of unforeseen emergencies; yet the cost of the lapse would have to be reckoned in lives and money.” Al Capone: The Biography of a Self-Made Man [1930]
There is a contingent within the less than savory side of life that takes mayhem seriously. Both the training and the education of this mayhem.
To confuse this version of boxing, wrestling, and scuffling with the version we law-abiding squares often mistake for “fighting dirty” is a grave error indeed.
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