hoping to maximize their drug profits. Those who were initially skeptical of the benefits of JBM membership were persuaded through violence, threats, and intimidation. The JBM attempted to organize under a single umbrella with networks in North, North Central, Northwest, and Southwest Philadelphia. What began as a loose criminal association quickly evolved into a lucrative drug network, with a total distribution estimated at 100 to 200 kilos of cocaine per month at its peak. As the JBM began to take shape, the fledgling organization formed a board of commissioners composed of all the original members. Although board members in theory shared power equally, and decisions were to be based on consensus, informants state that Aaron Jones quickly assumed a dominant role on the board, becoming the de facto chairman. The board determined whom to admit to membership and whom to exclude and attempted to resolve disputes. Potential members had to be recommended by an original member and approved by the board. The primary criterion was that prospective members had to have drug networks capable of moving large quantities of narcotics. Each member was responsible for distributing drugs to CII network of people. The networks varied in size and capacity and serviced different areas of Philadelphia. JBM members shared considerable knowledge of the clients and the workers of each other's networks. It was believed that this common knowledge was intended to reduce friction based on inadvertently soliciting clients or workers claimed by other members. Members often had a second-in-command for their own operation, to provide for continuity in leadership in case of arrest. From the earliest days of the JBM, members and associates of the old Black Mafia served as mentors to various JBM members and are known to have played an important advisory role in the formation and development of the Junior Black Mafia. Many believe it was younger relatives of the original Black Mafia. The JBM cooperates with associates of the Italian-American Bruno-Scarfo Mafia crime family in the distribution of cocaine and appears to have modeled its criminal methods after that LCN organization as well as the original Black Mafia, relying heavily on violence and extortion to further its drug enterprise. In accordance with this, one theory suggests that the original members of the 1970s-era Black Mafia organized African American youths into the JBM to thwart the Jamaicans Yardie control of drug distribution in the affected areas in Fort