I think your kids may react to being disciplined the way they have always reacted to being disciplined. The way they were disciplined was abusive. They reacted by threatening, by hitting and yelling back, by threatening to call and report child abuse. With their mother, this got her attention. With you, this is driving you crazy.
I think maybe a family meeting is in order. Explain a few very basic rules and the very basic consequences. Explain that you don't want them to ever think that they will be torn down or told they are "bad" or worthless, that they are wanted and valued and loved members of your family. If they follow the basic rules, and you know they can because they are great around their little sibling, then the consequences will NEVER be put into place. If they do break a rule, they will be told that they have earned consequence whatever. It is important that it be an EARNED consequence, not a GIVEN consequence. There is power in that word, power for THEM. You are giving them the power in the situation. Power to CHOOSE what they want to do. If they keep breaking the same rule, they will earn the next consequence up because they are not learning, and they need to learn not to do whatever it is. Occasional forgetfulness is different.
If they break or damage things, they will have to do chores to earn the money to fix the things. Then they can paint and Spackle and fix whatever they damaged. Youtube teaches how to repair a lot of things. They can learn. And buy the supplies because they broke it. You pay them minimum wage or a set fee that should, if they work at a reasonable pace, earn them minimum wage. At their age, that is a good wage. It gives them a sense of pride to fix something they broke. If they refuse, esp up front, to fix the damage, or to work off the debt that the materials cost, then you call the cops and report them for damaging property.
You might deal with the threat of calling CPS the way I did. I lived in a city with big billboard aimed at children trying to get them to call if parents spanked them. I told my kids they were welcome to call CPS at any time, for any reason. They better have a bag packed when CPS got there, because they were not coming back home. They were not part of my family. That means they lost the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.... too. It kept Wiz from calling, or even threatening. I know he thought about it, but he didn't want to lose the grandparents. At least when he was mad that was his worry. He was about 6 at the time. He was still a sweet little kid most of the time, but he had a temper that could get away from him.
I would tell the boys that calling CPS would mean that they would lose the family. They could go back to their mom if she would take them, because CPS would place them with her or maybe with strangers. Foster care is not going to keep a kid that rages when they are told no. Not for a minute. They are going to end up in a group home or juvenile jail. You can ask to have a cop come help you explain this to your kids if you want. Most are more than willing to explain the realities of life to kids who are acting out.
