Speculation About Why Julian "Funny Moe" Anderson Is Called "Funny Moe"

Creative stock photo, blog post by John Hoff

Julian Anderson, known as "Funny Moe" and 15 years old at that time he allegedly participated in the murder-by-gunfire of 5-year-old Nizzel George, has been revealed by this blog to be the second alleged shooter arrested by authorities, but not yet NAMED by authorities nor, for that matter, any other media source.

Obviously, there's no way "Moe" is a nickname for Julian, or for Anderson. So why is Julian Anderson called "Funny Mo?" Well, considering this kid allegedly...


...raised up a gun at a convenience store in response to somebody talking about him, saying he was from the "other side" (of a gang conflict) it would appear Funny Mo doesn't exactly shrug things off. He's a little bit off. So "Funny" might mean odd, strange, funny in the head. Then again, maybe Funny Mo actually has what is considered a sense of humor in his social circle. So maybe he's funny THAT way. Or BOTH things may be true. Or there could be some other explanation for "funny" that doesn't occur to me.

Fair enough. Julian Anderson is "funny" in some way, enough that it's his nickname.

But what about "Mo" or "Moe?" (I have seen it spelled both ways) Clearly, "Moe" is not a derivative of "Julian" or "Anderson" in any way, shape, or form.

Participatory Media Strikes Again

Well, behind the scenes one of my regular readers (who also does a little bit of research and kicks the results that way) came up with some interesting connections. I don't know if this is the answer. But I know the connections are mighty interesting and since my source isn't going to write this speculation himself or herself, I'm going to be the one to write it.

Turns out there is a gang based out of Chicago called Almighty Black P-Stones. But there are a number of nicknames for this gang, and one of the nicknames is "The Moes." Click here to check out the ChicagoGangs Dot Org website's information about this gang. By the way, I absolutely loathe their layout, which is hard to read and looks like some kind of website dedicated to, I don't know, Satanism or bloodletting fetishes or something. Mention of "Moes" as a nickname for the gang is listed under the "AKAs" for the gang on the website linked above.

Moe Equals "Moorish"

In summary, there was a guy named Jeff Fort who was deeply, incredibly involved in gang activity but then he went to prison. When he got out of prison in 1976, he'd been influenced by Islam and wanted to join the Moorish Science Temple. But the Temple didn't want him. So Fort decided to start his own temple, called the Moorish Temple of America. "Moe" is short of "Moor" or "Moorish." The expression "What up, moe?" is common among members of this gang but, of course, this expression is now so common that even trendy people use it.

However, according to a gang profile Published by the National Gang Crime Research Center, "A common coded ritual of greeting for Disciples is 'All is One', just as 'All is Well' is the greeting of Peoples or Brothers gang members. More common to the GD's is the greeting ritual of 'What's Up G?', just as 'What it Be?' is common among Brothers/Peoples gang members. 'What's up moe?', being a common greeting ritual of Black P. Stone Nation gang members."

It should be noted the document linked above contains some very harshly worded copyright notice. To which I say, "I will link to what I damn please if it's found on the internet."

Real Or Wannabe? Well, The BULLETS Were Real

The question of who is affiliated with who and how to trace it back is so confusing that gang members literally can't understand it themselves. Seriously. Check out this video if you don't believe me.



Of course, no matter how INTERESTING this may be, the obvious question is, "Did Julian 'Funny Moe' Anderson actually have some affiliation to the Almighty Black P-Stones? The answer this blogger would offer is "I kind of doubt it." I would tend to think this is more of a "wannabe" gang affiliation.

Then again, even wannabes might have some kind of "farm team affiliation" with actual gang members. And getting the attention of the big boys may involve committing violent acts.

If North Minneapolis Chips In $72 For Doughnuts, Can We Have Our Gang Strike Force Back?

How is it not surprising that following the decline and fall of the Metro Gang Strike Force, what appears to be gang activity by known and named gangs (or those who try to claim their brand name, take your pick) is on the rise?

In any case, while Nizzel's death may have been a tragic accident wrought by wannabe gang members who "only" meant to shoot up a house, the use of the nickname "Moe" by one of those gang members and the long history of that nickname's association with a Chicago-based gang hardly appears to be a coincidence.

Bring back the Metro Gang Strike Force.