Jean-Pierre Laffont recalls how he photographed the Savage Skulls in the Bronx

Jean-Pierre Laffont described on 30 September how he made his 1972 photograph of the Savage Skulls in the Bronx, New York: after meeting members on Fox Street, he says, they gathered spontaneously against a fence when he asked to take a picture. His account gives readers the story behind an image of young people whose lives were often described through gang violence.

In an interview published by the Guardian, Laffont says he first went to the Hunts Point neighborhood with a French cameraman friend. He had read reports about Bronx gangs and was reluctant to look for the group alone. The members approached their car, he recalls, then invited the visitors to spend time with them once they understood what the two men wanted.

How Laffont met the Savage Skulls on Fox Street

Laffont recalls the members telling him, ‘If you want just to look at our life, you’re welcome.’ He spent that afternoon with them and returned alone the next day, according to his account. The invitation helps explain the proximity of his photographs: he was allowed to follow members through spaces they used in their neighborhood, rather than photographing them only from a passing car.

The group showed him a basement club where they played music and kept weapons, Laffont says. He also saw Savage Skulls tags on walls, doors and trash cans. His description places the photographed members within a small stretch of streets and shared spaces, including a nearby basketball court where he says they spent time play-fighting.

Laffont estimates that the youngest person he photographed was 13 and that none of the others was much older than 20. Those are his impressions, not independently established ages. He recalls the members as mostly Puerto Rican and says they spoke Spanish to one another; he communicated with them in broken English.

What the photographer says about risk and trust

The account also describes the uncertainty Laffont felt around the assignment. He says police warned that they could not protect him, and he recalls seeing members exchange guns in front of him. At another point, he says, the group stopped a patrol car and spoke amicably with its officers. These are scenes from his recollection; the published interview does not independently document each encounter.

Laffont says he never met the gang’s leader during the days he visited because the man was in hospital after being shot in the abdomen. The interview gives no date or independent record for that injury. Likewise, Laffont’s description of the Savage Skulls as the Bronx’s most dangerous gang is his characterization, rather than a verified ranking of gangs in the borough.

The Savage Skulls in South Bronx history

A Fordham University oral-history record supplies a separate account of the group’s origins. The Bronx African American History Project identifies Benjamin Melendez as its founder and says he formed the Savage Skulls while still in junior high school. Its summary describes an interview about his experience of gang life and the early-1970s South Bronx, offering context beyond Laffont’s brief visits.

Fordham says Melendez later helped found the Ghetto Brothers. In the university’s account of his interview, he described that group as developing from a gang into a community-oriented political organization. The summary also says he recalled arsons and other social pressures in the South Bronx. His life story shows why a single gang photograph, however vivid, cannot stand for everything its subjects experienced or did afterward.

Laffont’s own archive places the Savage Skulls around Fox Street and describes the group as primarily Puerto Rican. It also reports frequent clashes with the Seven Immortals and Savage Nomads. Those descriptions come from the photographer’s archive; they add geographical and historical detail but do not independently verify the particular incidents he recounts in the new interview.

Why the 1972 photograph still matters to Laffont

The image later acquired a personal meaning for someone connected to its subjects. Laffont says a woman contacted him last year after her mother died, asking about a photograph in which she appeared among gang members. He recognized the woman in several pictures, including the fence image, and sent large prints for the funeral. The account shifts attention from the gang’s name to the people preserved in his archive.

Laffont had moved from France to New York in 1965 and says he became the first foreign correspondent for the Paris-based Gamma Agency in 1969. He wanted to pursue personal projects as well as photograph everyday life around him. His account of the Savage Skulls follows that approach: time spent with the people in the picture shaped what the camera could record.