North Jersey Firm

The North Jersey Firm (NJF) is a group of football hooligans or ultras who supported the New Jersey/New York Metrostars, which is now Red Bull New York. It was formed in 2003 by members of the Empire Supporters Club, the team's primary supporters club, who felt that the the ESC didn't represent them.
NJF opposed the alleged cliquish snobbery within the ESC, as well as the club's lack of boisterous and rowdy support, however they remained due-paying members. In the early 2000s, NJF started as just a few working class people who were part of the Red & Black Brigade, which was a working class supporters' group predominantly made up of skinheads from North Jersey and Philadelphia, and Anti-racist supporters from the New Brunswick area. Skinheads within the group were mosly politically left wing, ranging from anarchist to socialist. The non-political members were still fiercely anti racist. Terrace banners of "Working Class Pride" and of groups such as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP), Red and Anarchist Skinheads (RASH) and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) used to be waving from all areas of the supporters' section of Giants Stadium.
2006
NJF really kicked off in 2006, due to the purchase and renaming of Metrostars by the international soda company Red Bull, against the wishes of most supporters. The company refused to put New Jersey in the team's name even though the team plays in that state, not New York.
Soon a group of anti-racist, working class (or lower middle class) skinheads, punks and other young people started sneaking in flares, smoke bombs and weapons. They took part in "closed bathroom" fights on opposing team supporters, snuck into travelling supporter territory in pairs and destroying their banners (or in groups to incite terrace wars) and fought with stadia security for reasons such as bad referee calls or being jeered by travelling supporters for losing. The firm has also instigated fights against neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Some members of the other supporters' clubs also adopted the NJF attitude, with beer bottle throwing and smoke bombs being a favorite in the stadium, as well as crowd surfing,jumping up and sown in the stands, and mini mosh pits in the terraces and outside the stadium.
2007-present
In the 2007-2008 season, the stadium and main supporters' clubs had enough of this behaviour, specifically when the North Jersey Firm, with their faces covered with bandanas or scarves, instigated a massive fight and incited a riot on live TV during post-game commentary at a home game against New England, which was aired on FSC.
Twelve members were banned from the stadium for life. The blame went directly to ESC, because the NJF members were also members of their club. The clubs gave verbal warnings to specific NJF hooligans, passing on word handed down to them from the front office. NJF refused to listen to the clubs or the stadium, who were looked upon as enemies for allying themselves with Red Bull, and the firm started another public altercation with a group of DC fans walking around outside in what was known as the home supporters' section of the stadium. There were also random incidents throughout the stadium, mainly in bathrooms, which led to three arrests and seven written behavioural warnings after hooligans tried to invade the security office, which state police halted with arrests.
After that, NJF was warned by stadium security that they would be banned one by one if it kept up. After the DC game, at the next home game, they attacked or provoked random Toronto fans, some who lived in New Jersey or New York themselves. They invaded Toronto's travelling section of the stadium, with a small number initiating a terrace war in which an estimated 25 or more members were waiting idle until it kicked off. The incident was diverted quickly by security catching onto the trend that was becoming weekly, leading to the arrests of three NJF members, one of whom they pinned as being the ring leader of NJF and organizer of other individual unaffiliated factions within the stadium who damaged stadium property.
Giants Stadium security picked up on NJFs card-carrying disguise quickly, and even though 89% of NJF members were banned by this point, security still looked upon the ESC section as having invasive gangs incorporated into it.
As of 2009, the supporters' clubs reformed themselves and supposedly had all those known to be affiliated with the firm banned. Only a handful of members of the firm have not been banned. These members attend games on a somewhat regular basis, sitting on the sidelines to keep up with what new tactics security is up to, and to cheer for the away team.

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