Two Ones

The Two Ones started at the intersection of 21^st Street and Paulina in the Heart of Chicago section of the Lower West Side neighborhood, hence, where they get the “Two One” in their name after 21^st Street.  The founder of the Two Ones was “Champ” and he led the Two Ones for quite some time.  The Two Ones started in the year 1970 which was the same year many new groups started in the Pilsen area.  The original Two One colors were grey and white.  The Two Ones formed not far from the Satan Disciples; however, there was no conflict instead Two Ones battled groups like Latin Kings, Stone Kents, Cullerton Dueces and Bishops.

When Folks and Peoples began on the streets in 1981 the Two Ones remained neutral and opted not to join either alliance.

In the year 1984, an original Two One member named Pepe Padola moved to 21st and Western in the same neighborhood.  Pepe wanted to start up his own group of Two Ones at 21st and Western.  Pepe’s group had new colors of black and green and also heavily associated with the Satan Disciples.  This group of Two Ones then joined the Folk alliance under the umbrella of the Satan Disciples and the Insane family that the Satan Disciples were the heads of.  At the same time when Pepe’s group was getting started in the mid-80s and gaining notoriety in the Pilsen area the original Two Ones of Paulina began to fade.

The Two Ones were also known to hang out down the street in the playground at Pickard Elementary School located at 2301 W 21st Pl (Cermak Road and Western Ave).  Pepe’s Two Ones group found the Racine Boys to be their worst enemy.  Many gang fights and shooting happened in this park because of the Two Ones going at it with rival gangs.  The Two ones biggest hang out was in front of an apartment building at 21st and Oakley and this naturally led the Two Ones to established 21st and Oakley as their turf.

At their peak in the mid-1980s the Two Ones had expanded to conquer the area of: Cullerton Street on the north, Cermak Road on the south, Damen Avenue on the east and Western Avenue on the west.  During this time period I believe the original Paulina group closed down, if not it for sure happened by the end of the 80s.

In the year 1988, the Satan Disciples wanted to connect the 24th and Rockwell SDs with 18th and California SDs and the Two one’s turf was in the way.  This led to pressure for Two Ones to join SDs or to relinquish turf to SDs but Two Ones would not give in to this and chose war with SDs instead.

The wars of the late 80s were viciously fought for the Two Ones and the issues continued into the early 1990s.  In the early 90s the wars brought police attention onto the Two Ones and some key members became incarcerated while many others began to flip to Ambrose.  Eventually Two One territory shrunk to just holding 21st and Western until about 2000.  Before extinction the Two Ones attempted to colonize a northern suburb but the operation did not come together and the Two ones went into extinction.

Please send in 1970s, 1980s and 1990s pics and anything older if they existed!

Questions:

1. What suburb did Two Ones attempt to colonize and why didn’t it work out?  What year did that open?

Known sections of the Two Ones from the past

Heart if Chicago neighborhood Established 1970-2000

Sections of Heart of Chicago

21^st & Paulina Established 1970-1986

21^st to Cermak, Western to Damen Established 1984-2000