As of 2006,
parole and probation officers report the gang may have around 500 members in the Oregon prison system. EK members have a propensity for violence and are one of the most powerful gangs within the Oregon Department of Corrections. The group was founded in 1998 by David Patrick Kennedy and another inmate of
Eastern Oregon's
Snake River Correctional Institution. Membership in the EK is nearly exclusively male, and membership is restricted to those with no more than one-sixteenth Native American ancestry. The group has a formal structure, rules, and ritual. It is highly secretive. The gang has a reputation for
extortion, assaults, moving contraband goods throughout the Oregon correctional institutions, and
dog fighting. New members are encouraged to "earn their bones" (their membership) through hostile action consistent with the group's cause. A 2016
BBC documentary show entitled "A Black and White Killing" focused on the trial (and eventual conviction) of an EK gang member accused of the murder of a young black man. The documentary interviewed an ex-gang member, who stated that EK operates an unbreakable policy of 'Blood in, Blood out'. This rule requires that all potential new gang members must 'shed blood' as a condition of entry to the gang, typically in directed attacks made against members of rival gangs ('blood in'). The former member went on to explain that an attempt to leave the gang is seen as a betrayal of the 'brotherhood' of all remaining gang members - even those who are members of other gangs. The price for attempting to leave the gang, once inducted, is one's life. The spilling of the deserting gang member's blood (during their subsequent murder) constitutes the requirement for 'blood out'. There is no documented information indicating EK members attack prison guards. Outside of prison, EK members appear to be involved in the distribution and possibly manufacture of
methamphetamine. EK members mark their membership with the initials
EK in a shield on their right calf or on other parts of their bodies. Women are associated with the group, but are marked with the initials
FW. The initials represent prison slang:
F stands for "feather", prison slang for female, and
W stands for "wood", prison slang for a caucasian. Released members are attempting to recruit new young members in prisons, jails and on the street. According to the
Portland Tribune, EK members claim that they use high schools in the
Portland, Oregon area to find new recruits. ==Notable crimes==