The Original Blood Brothers is the largest and most violent street gang in Hamilton. The
22-24 founding members refer to themselves as 'original' while the 30 or so 'associate' members are Oriental, mostly Cambodian, and refer to themselves as the Oriental Blood Brothers.
Members of the OBB have been linked to crimes such as car theft, home invasion,
drug trafficking and murder. Crimes have escalated in nature over the years, starting off with fights to
trafficking heroin and home invasions. They were responsible for a brutal machete attack on a group of high
school students in Fall 1999 at Felker's Falls in Hamilton.
Recently OBB members killed a Burlington teen, Matt Daly. He was beaten to death when OBB members were turned
away from a house party.
Police have been aware of OBB since about 1996, but they probably existed before that. In '96 most of the
members were about 14-15 years old; today the oldest member is 22. Of the approx. 55 members, 75% are asian.
Members have lived in apartment complexes near Centennial Parkway and went to school at
Orchard Park and Saltfleet high schools in Hamilton. Members wear 'OBB' tattoos and
wear red, such as bandanas; in asian culture red means prosperity.
Although the seriousness of the offences OBB commits has been escalating, usually members graduate out of this
street gang into more serious lines of crime. It's kind of like a criminal prep school.