Spanish Cobras

The foundation of the Insane Spanish Cobras dates back to the year 1958 in the streets of Bridgeport on Chicago’s south side.  In the late 1950s Puerto Rican people began to move into the Bridgeport Homes housing projects located near 31st and Halsted.  Bridgeport had a very long history of gangs and gang violence that goes back to at least the 1850s.  Bridgeport gangs were predominately Irish, Italian or Polish since the 19th century.  The Irish gangs of Bridgeport and Canaryville were very well-known to cause racial conflicts with groups of African Americans from nearby Bronzeville.  Bridgeport was the home of the Daley’s and much of the Chicago machine of politics.  Gangs in this neighborhood had been connected to Chicago politics since the beginning which gave them for leeway to flush out any groups they deemed undesirable.

By 1958, Bridgeport was filled with greaser gangs that were bad enough to make newspaper headlines and many of them reflected the same prejudicial beliefs as the rest of the community.  Bridgeport residents at the time preferred their community to be a white neighborhood and did not take kindly to black or Hispanic people moving into these borders.  The local projects were the one area of the neighborhood where black and Hispanic people could possibly move in due to public housing rules.  The projects were built during World War II for impoverished white work time workers but by the late 50s many of those residents had moved out not needing public housing anymore leaving more room for people of color to move in.

As the first Puerto Rican people moved into this complex, they were not very welcomed to the neighborhood and faced many acts of discrimination not documented in newspapers etc…  The gangs of Bridgeport were brutal and in order to stand up to this gang element these Puerto Ricans of the projects needed to form their own group.  A group was organized geared toward protecting the Puerto Rican populace of Bridgeport that was called Loco De Culebro or in translation Crazy Snakes or Insane Snakes in 1958.  The group was not large in size and was not a household name used by Bridgeport residents, all they may have noticed was a group of Puerto Rican young men hanging out together and fighting back against greasers as a group.

In the year 1960, the group renamed themselves the Spanish Cobras for a reason I am not sure of at this time but could have been because Mexican people were moving into Bridgeport for the first time that year and Cobras perhaps wanted a name that would attract Mexican youths too to fight in their ranks.  After this name was born the Spanish Cobras now became a little more known in the Bridgeport community.  This was also the time when some more youths joined the group which grew the club just a little larger.  The Cobras now had a club house at 3219 S. Morgan Street, that they would maintain until the mid 1970s when they left the area.

In the year 1969 three brothers nicknamed the “Twinkie Brothers” moved out of the Bridgeport projects and settled in the East Humboldt Park neighborhood in the area around Maplewood and Potomac/Campbell. Two of the brothers were named Emilio and Nelson.  When the Twinkies arrived, they got involved in neighborhood baseball and played alongside Puerto Rican youths in the neighborhood.  In the midst of this the Twinkies taught the youths in the area like Godfather (Wee Wee), Teddy of the Latin Invaders, Jimmy, Hector, Slim, Mr. Mike, the Marty Twins, many of which were part of the Rosado family the ways of Spanish Cobras.  These men became the first East Humboldt Park Spanish Cobras that would eventually evolve into the ISCN we know today.  Many of these men like Teddy were Latin Invaders and the entire Latin Invaders gang became Spanish Cobras which basically means Spanish Cobra of Bridgeport concepts were combined with Latin Invader concepts; however, the Latin Invaders’ name would vanish.  The original colors of the Bridgeport Cobras were black and maroon but when the Cobras came to East Humboldt Park, they changed the colors white and purple.  The first piece of turf was at Hirsch and Artesian but that was short lived before they migrated to Maplewood and Potomac/Campbell.

In the early to mid-1960s Puerto Rican migration began growing in the West Town area of the city.  Puerto Rican youths were often targeted and bullied by white gangs because they were viewed as outsiders, and this caused many Puerto Rican youths to start gangs in the early and mid-60s.  One such gang was the Latin Invaders that formed at Campbell and Division in the East Humboldt Park neighborhood.  Teddy and his brother Horse were some early members of the Invaders.

During the first four years the Spanish Cobras existed in East Humboldt Park they were a very small group of street warriors that weren’t very notorious quite yet as other gangs don’t recall their existence before 1973 and there was no news articles either from this group before 1973.

The south side Cobra group may have expanded to 46th and Lawler in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood but by 1974 both Bridgeport and 46th closed down which ended these south side Cobras until they returned to have some south side territory in the mid-1980s or later.  This group of Midway area Cobras started in 1971 after the Centurions left the area of Vittum Park.  These Cobras were short lived.

By 1973 Richard Medina became a well-known member of the Spanish Cobras and perhaps this is when he began going by the nickname  King Cobra.

“Caballo” opened Artesian and Potomac in 1973 and became the leader of that section.  Artesian and Lemoyne also opened these two sections called themselves “Young Spanish Cobras” and in later years Artesian and Potomac Cobras became legendary gunners.

A bond developed between Spanish Cobras and Latin Disciples, and this led some Disciples and Cobras to call themselves “Almighty” back in the early 1970s.  The Latin Lovers were also Almighty when they formed in 1973 but this all was short lived after the Disciples started “Maniac” concepts for their senior members in 1973.

In the year 1973, Richard “King Cobra” Medina was running his own section at Campbell and Potomac.  Soon these Cobras spread to Haddon and Washtenaw.  Then eventually Division and Maplewood down to Maplewood and Potomac as Division and Maplewood became the headquarters.

In 1973, Richard Medina became the new leader this renegade group of Spanish Cobras at the age of 14, his younger brothers Jaime and William also were given rank. At this point in time in the mid-1970s the Spanish Cobras found a new enemy the Insane Unknowns. The Insane Unknowns set up shop at the legendary street corner of Leavitt and Schiller in Wicker Park. Even though this corner was the motherland and birth place of north side Latin Kings it came under Insane Unknown control by 1973 because many Kings there flipped to Unknowns and that started a war between IUK and LKs. Anyway, now the Spanish Cobras and Unknowns were at each other’s throats.

The main reason for the war with the Insane Unknowns was the creation of the “Insane” concepts that King Cobra created in 1973 after he opened territory in East Humboldt Park/Wicker Park area.  He called these new Cobras the “Renegade Cobras” when he opened this turf in 1973.  In 1973 Medina created the “Insane” moniker and developed those concepts in the early years.  1973 was also the year Medina developed the black and green colors which became the permanent colors for the whole nation eventually later on.  A short time later the Unknowns became known as the “Insane Unknowns” and this infuriated Medina.  He demanded the IUKs drop the Insane from their name, but they refused and that is what started this war between the two.

In 1976 Richard “King Cobra” Medina took over control of all the Spanish Cobras at age 17.  Richard immediately reached out to the Latin Disciples street gang because he knew the Disciples were having a major problem with the “U.F.O” (United Five Organization) which was the alliance of white power gangs the C-Notes, Gaylords, Taylor Jousters, Chi West, and PVPs or PVRs that had been going on since 1973 and was growing stronger. There was also the Latin Kings that were really large in size and trying to take over everything. This new unity became known as the “Young Latino Organization” or “YLO.”

It was during this “Capone era” during King Cobra’s time that Spanish Cobras expanded further as they now landed in West Humboldt Park in 1976 at Ridgeway and Thomas and Springfield and Hirsch.  Back to East Humboldt Park, a new section opened at Fairfield and Lemoyne and Evergreen and Washtenaw.  The Evergreen Hustlers were at Evergreen and Washtenaw and flipped to Cobras at this later part of the 1970s.  1976 is when Spanish Cobras became “Insane Spanish Cobras” and adopted black and green colors for the whole nation and not just for King Cobra’s section.

In 1978 YLO opened its doors to the Imperial Gangsters and Latin Eagles to create the “United Latino Organization” or “ULO.”

In April, 1978 Larry Hoover, the leader of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation created the Folk Nation alliance behind prison walls. His goal was to immediately unite the BGDs and Black Disciples and to also unite with Latino and white gangs. The Spanish Cobras were one of the Latino gangs that were asked to join the Folk Nation along with some other allies like the Imperial Gangsters, Latin eagles, Orquestra Albany and the Latin Disciples. The Spanish Cobras were also allied with the Simon City Royals and the Almighty Insane Popes.

The Spanish Cobras had become highly organized at this point in time which is known as the “Capone era,” and a lot of that was credited to King Cobra and maybe that is why his praises went so far that he was accredited as the founder of the Spanish Cobras. Realistically he was just the founder of a more organized Cobra gang. His Brothers Jaime and William moved up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and started the Milwaukee chapter of the Spanish Cobras. These three men knew how to organize and had charisma and that is why they were legends to the organization.

Early in 1979, the Medina brothers moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin and founded the Spanish Cobras in the state of Wisconsin and in the Milwaukee area.  Jaimie “Jimmy” Medina and William were incarcerated together for a murder/robbery in March of 1979.

In the late 1970s, the Spanish Cobras absorbed the “Crazy Ricans” gang that was located at Haddon and Washtenaw making the Cobras even larger in size.

Tragedy struck on April 12, 1979 when Richard King Cobra Medina had just pulled up at his residence at Maplewood and Division with his girlfriend and their new born baby. Richard could smell something in the air and somehow knew something bad was going to go down. He told his girl to take the baby and hurry up and get inside. Richard began unloading the baby car seat and as he did a car pulled up and fired several bullets into his body and he was found slumped over the baby seat and was DOA at the scene, he was 20 years old when he died.  His family wanted to move him to Milwaukee too to get him away from gang violence but he refused to move with his brothers and soon after was killed. The Leavitt and Schiller Insane Unknowns were to blame for the murder in retaliation for the killing of Ruben Perez an original Insane Unknown. The Cobras were now full of hate and ready to kill.

Anibal “Tuffy C” Santiago took over as the new leader of the Spanish Cobras. A few days later the Spanish Cobras got their revenge and shot up Ramon “Papo” Cruz who was shot dead at 1053 N. Springfield Ave (Thomas and Springfield). The Spanish Cobras shot him 9 times making this murder a bloody mess. Police arrested James Rosado, at the time 19 years old, for the murder and claimed he shot him with .25 and .38 caliber handguns. This went down the same day that King Cobra was killed. The Spanish Cobras wasted no time in getting revenge; they would not even sleep on it before going out for a murder. After this more murdering went down, the Insane Unknowns got their revenge for Papo’s death, and then the Cobras retaliated. By April 22nd there were two more murders as the Insane Unknowns put bags on their heads and blasted 4 kids that claimed they were not Spanish Cobras, nevertheless, the Unknowns opened fire on all 4 youths and killed two brothers. This occurred at 3848 West Hirsch (between Avers and Hirsch and Springfield and Hirsch). At that point 6 people had been killed due to this bloody gang war and this does not account for the several beatings, gang fights, graffiti, and other destruction and violence that occurred during this war. The bloody saga continued, and this brought attention from all of law enforcement and Mayor Jane Byrne. The gang war became well published, as many newspapers published the murders I listed in issues of the 1979 Chicago Tribune, which is where I got this info, and the Spanish Cobras now reached a new level of infamy to the world.

The intense war with the Unknowns did not fizzle out a little until 1981, regardless, the Cobras made it a point to kill at least one rival every anniversary day since King Cobra’s death in 1980, 1981 and 1982 until law enforcement cracked down on it on April 12, 1983 when they spotted Spanish Cobras chanting gang slogans at Richard Medina’s grave. They were all arrested for disorderly conduct which caused no shooting to happen that day. It was also in 1981 that Tuffy C was convicted of the October 7 for the murder of Juan Gomez at the corner of Monticello and Cortland in Logan Square, which he is still doing time for, he was 23 years old at the time (People vs. Gutierrez, 1985).

It was between 1979 and 1980, during the major ISC and Insane Unknown wars that Spanish Cobras opened in the Logan Square community for the first time at Cortland and Mozart.

In 1979, the Spanish Cobras came up with the idea to divide the ULO in a friendly way.  The Cobras proposed that “Insane” and “Maniac” would be two separate entities and the closest allies to the Cobras or Latin Disciples would chose to be Maniacs or Insanes.  There was no war between Maniacs and Insanes and it was even seldom tagged on the walls, it was just a way to divide Cobras from Disciples in a friendly way.

In the year 1980, Spanish Cobras colonized the Chicago suburbs as they settled in Bensenville and Wheeling which became their strongest suburban settlements.  The Spanish Cobras were also one of the first Chicago based gangs to settle the Du Page county suburbs.  The Cobras would also be early settlers in Lake and Kane counties settling in Elgin, Deerfield and Waukegan in 1980.

In the early 1980s, the Spanish Cobras made a conquest to the Noble Square neighborhood as they opened at Bosworth and Lemoyne.  This put them on the map in yet another neighborhood.

Cobras would also spread into the Albany Park neighborhood in the 1980s for the first time.  In this neighborhood they became one of the more dominating gangs over time.

Some legendary sections to open in the mid-1980s in Logan Square where Central Park and Dickens and Francis and Stave (1985).  Shubert and Avers would open in 1990.

In the year 1984 the Spanish Cobras arrived in the Hermosa community as they settled at Keeler an Dickens.  When they arrived they fought against the Gaylords and Stoned Freaks so hard that Freaks and Gaylords ended their war because these new Cobras were so fierce it became a major burden for Freaks and Gaylords.  The Cobras then kicked off a war with the Imperial Gangsters in this neighborhood until the Imperial Gangsters could no longer deal with it and flipped to Cobras in 1987.  The Spanish Cobras from this area would eventually overcome the Stoned Freaks in 1994 taking away all their turf.

In the 1980s the Spanish Cobras continued to grow and kept their Folk Nation allies close to them and avoided interalliance wars. The Cobras also had very strong connections with the Black Gangster Disciples and the Latin Disciples and showed the pitchfork in all their literature and spray painted gang symbols.

Beginning in the year 1985, bad blood first started brewing within the north side Folks which began the background for what would later come as all ULO allied gangs would eventually split.  In the year 1985, Imperial Gangsters began to feud among themselves as Spaulding and Armitage IGs began conflicting with IGs from Kimball and Cortland.  Imperial Gangsters from Kimball and Cortland under the leadership of Tea Bags were put together when they collaborated with Crazy Willie of the Spanish Cobras to open a section together known as Cobra Gangsters or CGs.  This did not sit well with IGs from Spaulding and Armitage, so Fat Jose from the Spaulding and Armitage IGs worked with Pee Wee of the Maniac Latin Disciples to create the Gangster Disciples or GDs (no relation to the Gangster Disciples gang).  This was a brief war that resulted in the SGD board stepping in to resolve this issue in 1986.  Even though this was resolved it started the beginning of bitterness between the ULO allies.  As a result of this Talman and Wabansia MLDs were formed and Western and Cortez Imperial Gangsters were formed in the aftermath.

starting in 1987, newer Spanish Cobras and Latin Disciples did not get along as well as the older members of each gang.  Fist fights would break out and other kinds of drama between both gangs that older members completely avoided, instead the older members organized the conflicts.  The older members would bring the younger members into a school yard and let them have a big brawl to get all the frustrations out then after that there was peace.  It was sort of like being a parent having young siblings that don’t get along, make them fight it out and then shake hands afterward.  This was a great way of keeping YLO/ULO Folks in tact but it was still concerning that the younger members of Cobras and Disciples were having these conflicts to begin with but for these next 5 years this is how conflicts were effectively resolved.

In this same year of 1987, perhaps because of these small conflicts with Maniac Latin Disciples the Spanish Cobras discontinued using the pitchfork as a symbol.

Spanish Cobras would also end up in a major conflict with fellow ULO allies the Latin Eagles starting the night of September 9, 1989. The Latin Eagles threw a party at Caguas Nightclub which used to be located at 2444 West North Ave in the Logan Square neighborhood. The Eagles invited allies from the Spanish Cobras, Maniac Latin Disciples and Campbell Boys to the party. As the night went on a fight broke out between a Latin Eagle and a Spanish Cobra, eventually someone pulled out a gun and started firing it off. The crowd panicked and ran out the door in a hurry. Outside the fight turned into a massive brawl that ended up resulting in the beating death of a Wrigleyville Latin Eagle named “Lil Rook” with a two by four piece of wood (Illinois People vs. Johnson, 1995).

After this beating death of the Latin Eagle war ensued between Latin Eagles and Spanish Cobras putting a dent in the ULO coalition.  Only Kenneth/Kostner and Armitage Latin Eagles stayed out of the war, but the rest of the Eagles now hated Spanish Cobras.

In the year 1990, the Francis and Stave Cobras opened up the Kosciuszko Park (Koz Park) and took the intersection of Shubert and Avers.  This became a legendary section.

In the year 1981 some Ashland Vikings moved to Kenosha and would eventually recruit a youth from Kenosha named Fernando.  This was the year that the Ashland Vikings first began to branch out outside of Chicago.  In the year 1990, Fernando was incarcerated and in 1992 he was transferred to Racine correctional facility where he met Jaimie Medina.  Jaime offered Ferando control of all of the Kenosha and Racine and south east Wisconsin area as long as he flipped to a Spanish Cobra, Fernando agreed and the Spanish Cobras were started in southest Wisconsin with Kenosha and Racine as the heart of this region.  Fernando then took in his nephews who were 14-16 at the time and gave them 1st and 2nd seat YLOC rank.  These boys were the ones that actually gangbanged on the streets of Kenosha and Racine and officially brought it to the streets and recruited 30-40 members.  All this led the incarceration of the nephews of Fernando because of heavy police attention in 1994.

In 1992, the skirmishes between Insanes and Maniacs became even more frequent and it boiled into the first major war between Cobras and Disciples as a series of shootouts happened for two days straight that was bad enough to make it on the news.  The war was stopped once older members put an end to it.

In the aftermath of the 1992 war, the Insane and Maniac families made their organizations more official than ever before and intensified the divide.  Now Cobras went by “Insane Spanish Cobra” while Latin Disciples now went by “Maniac Latin Disciple” at all times.  This divide now caused their allies to back up Cobras or Maniacs whenever there was violence going on against each other.  Another group splintered out of ULO known as the “Almighty” alliance.  The Simon City Royals, Insane Popes, Latin eagles and Imperial Gangsters went that route.

The Maniacs took in the YLO Disciples, Maniac Campbell Boys, Maniac Latin Stylers, Maniac Jatin Jivers, Maniac Latin Lovers, and the Maniac Milwaukee Kings. The Spanish Cobras and Insane familia took in the YLO Cobras, Insane Orquestra Albany, Insane Ashland Vikings, Insane Deuces, Insane Campbell Boys, Insane Dragons and the Insane Harrison Gents. In response to all this the Imperial Gangsters and Latin Eagles refused to take either side and refused to be taxed or ruled by either alliance so they started their own called the “almighty family.” This alliance originally consisted of Almighty Imperial Gangsters, Almighty Simon City Royals, Almighty Latin Eagles and the Almighty Insane Popes (North side). This of course meant a 3 way war between all these alliances.

In 1992 things got real bloody between the Cobras and the Simon City Royals. Now the Cobras were at war with two of the Almighty families and soon a third Almighty family would have conflict with the Cobras, the Imperial Gangsters.  As soon as war began with Imperial Gangsters word spread among Spanish Cobras lightning fast and within no time that day there was 10 car loads of Cobras at the intersection of Fullerton and Drake stopping traffic looking for Imperial Gangsters while dropping their gang sign in disrespect.  Eventually they found an Imperial Gangster and shot him then all hell broke loose.

Another bad incident happened in April of 1992 when MLDs accused Orlando of the Spanish Cobras of selling them bad drugs, MLDs swiftly got vengeance by shooting Orlando to death which started a major riot in the streets between Cobras and Disciples that went on for two days and even made the news.  The Kedzie and Barry MLDs were the ones involved on the Disciple side.  The guns blazed all around Logan Square for those two days as both gangs were hitting each other hard back and forth until it was resolved.

In November of 1993 the friction between Maniacs and Insanes boiled over some more after conflict exploded at a party at a corner house at California and Cortez in the East Humboldt Park neighborhood.  The Spanish Cobras and all their Insane family allies decided to throw a massive party that went into the late hours of the night.  The party was mainly thrown by Spanish Cobras, YLO Cobras, Insane Campbell Boys and Insane Dragons.  A live DJ was spinning that night and a dance floor was full of activity as the DJ spun away into the night while everyone was drinking and having a good time.  As the night progressed Maniac Latin Disciples from Talman and Washtenaw (Murder Town MLDs) heard about the party since they were just a few blocks away.  The Disciples felt they had ownership of California and Cortez and figured they can crash any party they want at any time and that’s exactly what happened.  These MLDs came to the party uninvited and began dancing on the dance floor in cocky way while waiving pistols in the air and showing them off.  All the Insanes were bothered right away by this cocky behavior and began griping to each other about how it was disrespectful but these MLDs felt it was disrespectful to have a party in their territory without an invite.  Some main members of the Spanish Cobras now gathered at the doorway which prompted one of the MLDs to act even more cocky while waving his pistol around.  The Cobras then threatened the MLDs and this prompted MLDs to gather reinforcements of their own and from allies, the Cobras followed suit.  Soon several members of the Spanish Cobras, YLO Cobras, Insane Dragons and Insane Campbell Boys gathered with guns in hand on one side of the street, while several Maniac Latin Disciples, YLO Disciples, Maniac Campbell Boys and Latin Jivers gathered on the opposite side of the street with guns in hand too.  Both sides gathered up while hurling insults and shouting at each other until there were about 150 gang members on each side of the street on each side, totaling 300 gang members in total!  By 3:30 in the morning the shouting conflict got violent as the guns started sparking and a violent gun fight ensued that last five minutes.  One of the Insane Dragons even began firing an Uzi at the Maniacs.  Store windows were being shot to pieces and cars roved the intersection doing drive by shootings at the crowds, the scene was total anarchy and chaos to the point that the Chicago police were too scared to show up. The crowds soon disbursed as they continued to blast at each other and this broke the violence into pockets all around the vicinity as you could hear gun shots echoing from all around.  It took the police nearly an hour to show up just after the Insane Dragons made another trip thundering down California looking for more MLDs to shoot at.  Several people were shot that night and the bad blood was becoming worse between Maniacs and Insanes, however, surprisingly after this gun battle peace came back upon the Maniacs and Insanes.

In 1994 relations with Maniacs worsened when the Insane Campbell Boys shot and killed Nelson “Wolfie” Vargas who was a Maniac Latin Disciple.  The Disciples blamed the Cobras for the shooting even though it really was Cobra allies.  The shooting was done in front of Roberto Clemente School in broad daylight in front of everyone and since a Spanish Cobra was standing next to the shooter.  After this incident the Spanish Cobras forced the Insane Campbell Boys to close their operations immediately and many flipped to Spanish Cobras or Insane Dragons.

On June 29, 1994, the Cobras defeated the Simon City Royals at Jensen Park in the Albany Park neighborhood and took it over.  The Royals planned on hitting the Cobras back and it resulted in the fatal shooting of Jacobo Lozada on the night of July 1st when, according to the court case of the People vs. Georgakapoulos three Royals emerged from an alley near the park and shot Lozada while he was riding a bicycle.  They only fired one bullet but the shot was accurate and enough to kill Lozada.  This started a permanent war between Cobras and Royals.

In late 1994 or maybe early 1995, another war sparked off between Spanish Cobras and Maniac Latin Disciples that lasted two weeks and once again it was squashed but again this was another example of how relations were crumbling.

By 1995 the followers of the Maniacs began to realize that being a Maniac was not what was right for them as they disagreed with MLDs’ taxes and rules and then declared war on them.  The Latin Jivers broke from the Maniacs and became Insane for maybe a year then went independent and went to war with the Cobras.  The Latin Lovers also dropped Maniac but they went over to Insane and stayed there. The Milwaukee Kings also broke away from Maniac but then stayed independent. The Cobras also experienced conflict with their own Harrison Gents, although it was not initially the Cobras’ fault that the HGs were leaving, it was because Ashland Vikings and HGs could not get along and the HGs left the Insanes in favor of the Almighty family where they remain today. The Cobras found a replacement for the Gents, the C-Notes who previously were an independent organization and a part of the UFO alliance.

On February 13, 1996 the Spanish Cobras made front page news when members of the Talman and Wabansia MLDs attempted a mass execution of members of the Spanish Cobras at three street corners in the East Humboldt Park neighborhood. Johnny “Don Loco” Almadovar ordered the murders of random Spanish Cobras to avenge the murder of a Maniac Latin Disciple member “Hi Lo” earlier that month. The shooting was carefully planned accept for the fact that the victims all survived the brutal executions. Initially, small groups of Cobras got revenge by shooting some MLDs on the streets and that was seen to the public eye as the revenge, but in reality the Cobras had a bigger, more behind the scenes, and patiently planned attack against the MLDs.

Spanish Cobra leaders met at a Day’s Inn Hotel on Mannheim Road near O’Hare Airport to plan a counterattack. The Cobras then picked out who they were going to kill and when. The hits would be coordinated with a police scanner. The Cobras also called up their allies to do the murders, the Insane Deuces, Latin Lovers etc….. The murders were carried out in various locations such as: Logan Square, East Village, Hermosa, Albany Park, Ravenswood section of the Lincoln Square neighborhood, Ukrainian Village section of the West Town neighborhood and the suburbs of Waukegan and Aurora. High ranking members were carefully executed by allies of the Cobras and these did not make headline news as tied together. The Cobra retaliation was indeed far more superior and clever than the Godfather Style hits by the MLDs in Humboldt Park (Hagedorn, The Insane Chicago Way, P. 193 and 194).

After the shootings war ensued for a few months until peace was established once again between Cobras and Disciples by the time the weather got nicer in 1996.

In 1997, the war went into permanent effect after the YLO Cobras shot and killed “Omski” from the MLDs in an Aldi parking lot on Armitage Avenue.  Omski was putting groceries in his car alongside his wife when he was “Lil Minor” a known YLOC gunner spotted him and gunned him down.  Omski was the chief of the Beldon and Kenneth chapter of MLDs and had a run in with Lil Minor and Omski pistol whipped Lil Minor some months prior, so Lil Minor was seeking revenge.  This sparked the MLDs and Spanish Cobras into permanent war that could only be frozen during the annual Puerto Rican day parade.

It was also the same year of 1997 that the Spanish Cobras kicked off into full fledged war with the Latin Eagles in all sections after Cobras killed “Mono” of the Eagles.

In the spring of 1999, the Maniac Latin Disciples and Spanish Cobra leadership decided it was finally time to end this vicious war between them and hold a peace conference at the YMCA located at 1834 North Lawndale Ave in the Logan Square neighborhood. Leaders of both Maniac street gangs like MLDs, YLO Disciples, Maniac Campbell Boys and Latin Stylers showed up, and leaders of the Insane family such as Spanish Cobras, YLO Cobras, Ashland Vikings, C-Notes, Insane Dragons, Latin Lovers and Orquestra Albany showed up. Peace was agreed upon right away and the bitter 1990s war of the Insanes and Maniacs was finally going to end; however, not all MLDs felt like it should end. The renegade group of MLD supports led by “Little Bum” did not attend the meeting instead they drove around the meeting and set up lots of teenage soldiers outside the meeting. When peace was announced the teens began screaming out gang slogans and screaming about how they wanted no peace. The leaders of the gangs then left the meeting in a hurry because bad stuff was about to go down. One MLD leader got stranded “Carlito” as he exited the meeting alone and when he stepped out from of the YMCA Thomas “Outlaw” Ross, a member of the MLDs, gunned him down. This brought the end not only to peace talks for the warring families but also for the whole SGD/La Tabla That June day of 1999 and brought the end of the old school gang ways as we know it and the SGD (Hagedorn, The Insane Chicago Way, P. 206).

By the year 2001, the elder Cobras and MLDs couldn’t even freeze the war for the Parades and carnivals as the war had gotten that bad.

Known sections of Spanish Cobras past and present

Albany Park neighborhood 1980s-present

Sections of Albany Park

Lawrence to Leland, Avers to Ridgeway

Lawrence & Lawndale

Argyle & Lawndale

Lawndale & Wilson (Jensen Park)

Avondale neighborhood 

Sections of Avondale

Barry to Milwaukee, Elbridge to Gresham

Drake & Wolfram

Belmont-Cragin neighborhood Established 1980-present years

Sections of Belmont-Cragin

Armitage to Grand, Cicero to La porte (Cicero Assassins) Established 1980-present years

George to Diversey, Lavergne to Cicero

Bridgeport neighborhood established 1958 as Loco De Culebro, as Spanish Cobras 1960

Sections of Bridgeport

31^st to 31^st Place, Halsted to Morgan (Bridgeport projects) Established 1958-1974

32^nd & Morgan Established 1960-1974

East Humboldt Park (West Town) neighborhood Established 1962-present years as Latin Invaders, 1969 as Spanish Cobras

Sections of East Humboldt Park

Division to Potomac, Campbell to Maplewood Established 1962 as Latin Invaders, as Spanish Cobras 1969

Haddon & Washtenaw Established 1976

Artesian & Potomac Established 1973

Thomas & Campbell Established?

Artesian & Hirsch Established 1969-1969

Artesian & Lemoyne Established 1973

Fairfield & Lemoyne Established 1976

Evergreen & Washtenaw Established 1976

Garfield Ridge neighborhood established 1971-1974

Sections of Garfield Ridge

46^th & Lawler Established 1971-1974

Hermosa neighborhood established 1984-present years

Sections of Hermosa

Wrightwood to Fullerton, Kenton to Tripp (Killing Fields, Fullerton & Tripp No Love City) Established 1984-present years

Armitage to Bloomingdale, Lowell to Keeler

Kilbourn & Wrightwood (Kelvyn Park)

Diversey & Kilbourn

Dickens & Tripp Established 1984-present years

Logan Square neighborhood Established 1979-present years

Sections of Logan Square

Diversey to Wrightwood, Pulaski to Avers (Kosciuszko Park, Diversey & Avers shared with Orquestra Albany)

Diversey to Drummond, Monticello to St. Louis

Schubert to Wrightwood, Milwaukee to Kimball

Charleston to Armitage, Western to Rockwell

Wrightwood & Monticello

Lawndale from Diversey to Shubert

Dicken’s & Central Park Established 1985

Cortland & Mozart Established 1979

Francis & Stave Established 1985

Schubert & Avers Established 1990

McKinley Park neighborhood Established 1983-present years

Sections of McKinley Park

35^th to 36^th, Western to Oakley Established 1983-present years

Noble Square neighborhood Established 1980-1990s

Sections of Noble Square

Lemoyne from Bosworth to Ashland 1980-1990s

West Humboldt Park neighborhood Established 1976-present years

Sections of West Humboldt Park

Bloomindale to Wabansia, Tripp to Kedvale (Snake Pit) Established 1976-present years

North Ave to Hirsch, Lemoyne to Ridgeway Established 1976-present years

Ridgeway to Hamlin, Division to Thomas Established 1976-present years

Suburbs

Cicero

Bensenville Established 1980

Elgin

Waukegan

Wheeling

Bloomingdale

Deerfield

Elmwood Park

Northlake

Prospect Heights