By the late 1970s the organizations had tens of thousands of members, and according to Amberin Zaman, the Turkish authorities had lost control over it. During the political violence between 1976 and 1980, members of the Grey Wolves were involved in numerous assassinations of left-wing and liberal activists, intellectuals, labor organizers, Kurds, officials, and journalists. The organization became a death squad engaged in "street killings and gunbattles". According to authorities, 220 of its members carried out 694 murders of left-wing and liberal activists and intellectuals. In total, some 5,000 to 6,000 people were killed in the violence, with the Grey Wolves responsible for most of the killings.