The Black Legion was an offshoot organization of the Ku Klux Klan and operated in the midwestern United States in the 1930's. The organization was founded by William Shepard. [1] The group's total membership was estimated between 20,000 and 30,000, centered in Detroit, Michigan.

Members wore black uniforms with skull and crossbones insignia and were allegedly responsible for numerous murders of alleged communists and socialists, notably Earl Little, Malcolm X's father.

The Black Legion was also the name of a 1937 Humphrey Bogart film, featuring a fictionalized version of the group.

The Black Legion is also the anglicized name of the "Crna Legija", also known as the 1st Ustashe Regiment, formed in Sarajevo by Major Jure Francetic in September of 1941. They were so named beause they wore black uniforms rather than the usual tan Ustashe uniforms. [2] It was the most successful and most notorious of the axis aligned Croatian anti-Partisan units. The Black Legion operated in eastern Bosnia until September of 1942, when it was disbanded. [3]

External link

• FBI FOIA page on the Black Legion
• The Murder that Brought Down the Black Legion