The organization known as the Knights of the Black Circle is created for the same reasons any youth gang forms, for protection from other gangs and a sense of belonging for those who didn't belong anywhere else.

Like many gangs do, the organization started purely defensively,

but whether or not the gang ever moved to the offense

and became its own source of problems as speculated only in rumors.

The Knights were formed at the end of the 70s in the village of Northport, New York.

They were made up of mostly teenage hippies who just wanted a little protection over their weed-selling business.

Even though they lived in a relatively small village, the village was on the north shore of Long Island, so other villages, towns, and even New York City itself all bled together relatively close by.

Even just a few kids selling joints to friends and family brought the attention of larger and much more dangerous organizations.

The Knights first formed in a place called Cow Harbor Park, which due to a combination of zoning problems and outdated laws was a place where police were technically not supposed to patrol.

The neighboring town of Huntington owned the park, but it was on Northport property, so it fell out of either jurisdiction.

Northport police could walk through the park, but any arrests made would bring on a litany of legal problems.

Because of that, anyone and everyone who wanted to do or deal drugs went to Cow Harbor Park.

On warm days, over 100 people would be there.

The park sat along the harbor and had days over 100 people would be there.

The park sat along the harbor and had a playground, a gazebo, and a few chess tables.

But on the other side of the harbor was a patch of woods.

Those who wanted a bit of privacy could go into the woods to smoke or drink.

But really because of the legal headache that would have come with arresting anyone,

many teenagers and adults alike opted to smoke weed or drop acid in plain view of anyone walking by. The teenagers who would eventually form the Knights had their home base just a bit into the woods, at an old round table where they would roll their joints.

Sometimes police would walk through the park just to remind everyone they could and the knights would cover their work with guitar cases pretending to just be playing music, but really they didn't even need to do that much.

Sometimes the cops were coming to the park to buy weed themselves.

The Knights got their name from the round table they worked at

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