Palatine

Nicknames	P-Town
Settled by	Provide info
Year infiltrated	1988
Crime impact	Part
Worst areas	Far northeast side
Suburban projects	Rand Grove Village

According to the United States Census Bureau the average income for Palatine residents is $93,383 as of 2022. That figure is much higher than the national average salary of $75,149. Although Palatine did not make the top 50 wealthiest Illinois suburbs list, Palatine is still known for higher income living. Ever since I was a kid I was always told that Palatine is a wealthier community. I haven’t spent much time in my life in Palatine, instead I would just hear rumors of how prestigious it was. When I first launched this site, I didn’t think for a moment to make a page for Palatine. I had heard that Latin Kings have territory in Palatine and I watched the news in 1993 when the Brown’s Chicken massacre happened, other than that, I never heard of anything else crazy in Palatine so I never had an interest to even make an attempt at research, but a 1990s picture of Palatine Latin Kings gathered with 24^th and Trumbull Latin Kings at a dance always made me think of Palatine and recently I finally gave a little effort in looking into this northwest Cook County suburb. I was shocked to find out about how pronounced gang life has been in Palatine for decades. I also discovered Palatine sometimes has a bad reputation because of gangs and crime. Any reputation of Palatine being a unsafe community and dangerous place to live is something I would disagree with because all the gangs and the majority of the crime have been focused on the villages’ far northeast side. The rest of Palatine is completely devoid of gangs; therefore, the community is truly safe and ideal. The northeast area is where crime is higher and Chicago based gangs dwell, sometimes shootings happen and property crimes, the trade off is that this area is affordable. Thanks to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald and Mikie Da Poet’s YouTube videos and comments about Palatine gangs, I was able to piece together the story of Palatine gangs. For a northwest suburb, Palatine has a landmark gang element, mostly of the past, that has become worth exploring.

Palatine first came to be when a New Hampshire (Yankee) man named George Ela planned a trip out west. The business manager heard of land out west from the journey of businessman Colbee Benton of New Hampshire that described his time in Chicago in 1833. Ela was dependent on his father’s money and desperately sought independence. George’s father gave his sons $1,000 each for the journey out west and the brothers set out for their fate. It took George Ela several months just to travel away from the east coast and he even needed to take up a job for months in Buffalo, New York. Ela at last arrived in Chicago on September 14, 1835, then moved to Plainfield, IL where he worked for some time. Ela found land in what would later become Ela Township in the fall of 1835. Ela cleared the land and built a house by the Spring of 1836. This land George Ela settled on is River Grove which is currently on the north side of the village in unincorporated Palatine. Ela resided at the intersection of Lake Cook Road and Quentin Road on the southwest part of the intersection. Ela also built a store in the area but he was the only resident within 20 miles. George Ela sent for his wife and in 1837 he had a daughter in this new area. Ela would also become one of the earlier settlers in Deer Park by 1840 as he moved across the street (Lake Cook Road) into present day Deer Park in Lake County. Ela even served in politics and became wealthy. Ela was a Lake County public official and served as an Illinois House of Representatives elected official. Settlers slowly became attracted to the area and built their farms on these lands. These farmers grew potatoes, wheat, corn and raised cattle. By the year 1850, this small community wanted to establish an official township and the decided name of “Palatine Township” was decided upon. In the year 1853 the Chicago and Northwestern railroad laid tracks through Palatine Township. A train depot was built near the intersection of Northwest Highway and Illinois Route 53, around this area is where Palatine, as a town, began. Residents then wanted to call the town “Yankville” based on the origin of the early settlers but instead voted for “Palatine” that was named after a town in New York. In the year 1855, Joel Wood surveyed the land and designed the town of Palatine and this began the settlement of German farmers that came here to work the land. This build up was not much and Palatine remained a rural community with a slight sense of a town. The village was officially incorporated into Cook County in 1866, but even after incorporation this town remained small and rural for many decades. One of the best amenities of this rural town was street lights that were installed in 1871 and men were paid fifty cents to light those lamps all night (Fact sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine,_Illinois, https://www.palatine.il.us/868/Historic-Palatine, https://palatinehistoricalsociety.com/history/, http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/945.html, https://palatinehistoricalsociety.com/history/profiles/george-ela/).

Palatine would remain highly rural well into the 20^th century. Between 1880 and 1940 the town had only grown from 781 residents to 2,222. Slow building began in the 1940s until the population was 4,079 by the 1950 census. This spike in the 1950 census was the early results of the Palanois Park subdivision which became the village’s first subdivision. In the 1950s, the town continued to develop at a faster pace and by 1960 the population reached 11,504. So much more construction was planned for the 1960s to the point where the village had a population of 26,050 by 1970 . A downtown area sprouted up along with many shopping centers in the 1960s into the 1970s. By the 1970s Palatine was becoming a recognized town for suburban settlement and the population continued to grow to 32,166 by 1980. Palatine’s reputation would grow in the 1980s and by the 1990 census the community now had a population of 39,253 (Fact source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine,_Illinois).

By the year 1972, an area north of the Palatine suburb began the buildup of affordable housing. This would be in the unincorporated area north of the village near the border of Arlington Height’s unincorporated area. This is an area that was formerly known as “Palatine Township.” Route 53 highway divides the part of Palatine Township that is part of Arlington Heights from the part that is technically Palatine. This area did not belong to either village, only by address. The Long Valley apartments built along Rand Road were the first of the affordable apartments in Palatine and were constructed in 1972.

After Long Valley, another apartment complex was underway in Palatine Township in 1973 that was specifically designed for lower income housing. In a November 8, 1973 Arlington Heights Daily Herald article, an advertisement for the Rand Grove Apartments pitched out the words “All apartments available on a non-discriminatory basis.” These words make it a point that this complex was meant to be multiracial and lower income from the start. These apartments were built near Rand Road and off Old Hicks Road. These apartments are just east of the original settlement of George Ela, but when these were built in 1973 to 1974 these were in unincorporated Palatine.

According to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald October 11, 1976 issue, Rand Grove Village was “The first subsidized apartment complex in the northwest suburbs.” This shows that Rand Grove has significant history for low income housing in the Chicago area, making this complex more or less like an experiment in public housing in northwest Cook County. The 1976 Herald article mentioned that Rand Grove had 212 apartments and 198 of those were occupied. Of the occupants, 86 apartments housed white residents, 77 of the apartments were Hispanic families, 12 were occupied by African Americans while 10 were “Oriental” and the rest were “Pakistani, Indian or other nationalities.” This shows that the Hispanic population was already strong in the earlier days of Rand Grove but at this time the largest racial group was whites. The article addresses issues with a high volume of police calls and residents that lived near the complex were complaining about issues with the complex but Salvatore Ferrera, the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Housing Development Corp, the complexes’ original builder and original landlord, was disputed by Ferrera in the article. Judging by how everything panned out in the complex over the decades I would have to side with the residents nearby as being correct and not Ferrera. Either Ferrera was unaware or covering it up. If he was covering it up, one really can’t blame him because if he openly admitted to crime the complex’s reputation would sink. The issue with this cover up is it silences the voices of hard working residents that do not want to live among crime. It also silences the voices of those living in the complex and dealing with these issues directly. Another reason for a cover up is the fact that the Metropolitan Housing Development Corp was in a heated battle in the Supreme Court to fight the village of Arlington Heights over a proposed site for another apartment complex in Arlington Heights that would mirror Rand Grove. Ferrera would not need more heat on Rand Grove or the proposed Lincoln Green would not happen. In the long run Lincoln Green did not happen and the site is now an open area near St. Viator High School.

During my research of Palatine gangs and crime I happened across a December 10, 1979 Arlington Heights Daily Herald article that basically admits to planned, isolated, and segregated housing for lower income families. In the article the discussion was proposed scattered site public housing. This is a practice of placing low income families in certain houses scattered in middle-class areas or placing families in small townhouse complexes “that will not advertise the fact that their occupants receive rent subsidies,” as quoted from the Herald. This was good news for low-income housing because it keeps the poor from being isolated allowing better police protection, closer to lower crime areas and more access to village amenities. In theory, this should help low income families completely assimilate into the village that will bring the most benefit to low-income youths. Another line from this 1979 article speaks volume, “The scattered site housing is designed to end the segregation by income that some say is destructive to both the community and the disadvantaged families.” according to Victor Walchirk, the Executive Director of the Housing Authority of Cook County, “It provides the opportunity for the lower-income people to become part of the fabric of the total community.” These are positive concepts but the issue is, it was an idea coming in too late. By the time these programs could be implemented on a larger scale construction was already underway at several apartment, townhouse and condo complexes all over Chicagoland and the northwest suburbs would house many of the most notorious complexes. In Palatine, construction was already deep into affordable apartment and condo sites in the unincorporated far northeast side. Palatine was not alone, as most suburbs were already done building or were in the final stages of this segregated style housing. The original concept is to keep the poor in private areas with large forested areas, major roads and park areas that separate these complexes from the rest of the community. This 1979 article is proof that this concept of planned segregated housing was practiced and planned; therefore, Rand Village was intentionally built to be isolated from the rest of the community. Rand Grove Village is surrounded by fences, a cemetery and wooded areas. This segregation not only shuns these community areas it also draws negative attention to these complexes. In the 1979 Herald article, a single mother of five children claimed she was turned down on multiple job applications when her address was noticed. The mother of five said she would do well in the interview process until her address was brought up and noticed, then the process would die out. She stated that she thought she was “imagining things” until she spoke with other residents that claimed they had the same issue. The woman also stated children from Rand Grove were “frowned on like they were trash or something at school.” The she also stated “I would never say I was from Rand Grove went I went out socially.” This woman did not want to be identified according to the Herald likely because she didn’t want to face further discrimination and was likely looking for a job. Dan Saul, the manager of Rand Grove Village at the time stated in the article, “although the idea of scattered subsidized families throughout the community is interesting, there also are advantages to housing them together.” Dan Saul did have some valid points by saying the people in the complex tend to stick together, help each other and that they can talk to someone with similar issues. This is very true in lower income complexes and many residents prefer the discriminatory style housing; however, many also agree that neglect and high crime are a problem they want to see eliminated. I am not trying to say Rand Grove was a complete mess in the 70s but these articles prove that not only was there a bad reputation, there was also crime. In the opening of the 1979 Herald article, it stated, “Subsidized housing can leave shameful side effects – residents unwilling to give out their addresses and thinking twice about getting off the bus at their homes.” Much of this statement was related to Rand Grove. A short time after this 1979 article was published Rand Grove Village officially became a section 8 community in 1980 and has been ever since. In the 1970s, residents not part of section 8 could move in but since 1980 it is all section 8 housing.

According to some local legends Rand Grove Village apartments had some hauntings of what residents perceived as a “demonic presence.” Legend is the builders of Rand Village did not adhere to the proper process of moving bodies from the neighboring Sutherland Cemetery where Palatine’s original residents were once buried since 1841. Legends say the builder was arrested by the F.B.I and charged. I looked all this up and found nothing to back up this claim at all; however, I did find a fact from the Chicago Tribune’s August 7, 1994 issue about the “Lost Cemetery.” These old graves are known as the “Lost Cemetery” and the real story is the graves were removed, not built over, to complete “city projects” that installed a new well and sewer line. This was further backed up by the Palatine Historical Society that further detailed this was part of a cleanup project launched in 1975 when Cook County was contacted by the Palatine Township Cemetery Committee in 1974. The committee had hopes Cook County would help them restore the graveyard that was described on the Palatine Historical Society website as “state of neglect from fallen trees, brush, trash, animal burrows, and vandalism.” The site detailed that HUD granted $75,000 of federal grant money to complete this project to “clean out the cemetery, re-grade and re-sod it, install a chain link fence, and provide maintenance.” The rumor perhaps derived from the same agencies that built Rand Grove were also involved in the cemetery cleanup project and perhaps early residents in Rand Grove became confused by the digging of the graves and rumors started. As far as the haunting stories…that I cannot refute and perhaps it could have been triggered by the sewer and well construction of 1975.

The Windhaven Condominiums were built between 1976-1978, these are the apartments at East Dundee Quarter Drive and Baldwin Road. This was always a condo complex but were more affordable than standard condos allowing budgeting families to afford to live here.

In the year 1976, the unincorporated northwest corner of Palatine roared with affordable housing beginning in 1976 and not concluding until 1986. These apartments and condominium complexes were built all along Rand Road on the village’s far northeast side. All of these would appear in the unincorporated area of Palatine. These are the Spruce Tree Village apartments, Turtle Creek Apartments, Palatine Square Apartments, Long Valley Apartments, Runaway Bay Condominiums, Baldwin Court Condominiums, and Ports O Call Apartments.

A little outside of this cluster and north of Route 53, Inland Real Estate Corporation of Oak Brook began construction of the Edgebrook Apartments which were built in two phases. The first phase was built between 1976-1978, these are the apartments at East Dundee Quarter Drive and Baldwin Road. The second phase of apartments started in 1978 and concluded in 1982, these Edgebrook apartments were built at Baldwin Road and Green Lane. In a February 18, 1981 Arlington Heights Daily Herald article, the Herald interviewed John Falla, the Vice President of Inland’s construction that detailed how he built this complex to cater to residents looking to get the best value for the rent they were paying. Falla figured out how to design these apartments in a simply yet competitive way, he then boasted of a 100% occupancy for the complex. These were first built to appeal to business professionals (office worker types) and this was before overcrowding became an issue, but overcrowding would slowly grow as the 80s would progress.

Rand Grove apartments became of the first and most notable gang territories of Palatine but was not the only complex to experience major issues with crime and gangs. Rand Grove was designed for low-income residents accepted into subsidized housing offered by Cook County government but the Edgebrook apartments on Baldwin Lane were not designed for subsidized housing. These apartments were originally considered luxury apartments, and this is confirmed in a June 22, 1990, Arlington Heights Daily Herald article. By the time the 1990 article was written it was reported that Edgebrook now had issues with racial tension, overcrowding, gangs and vandalism. This complex once housed hard working professionals that adored the complex when it was first built in the late 70s but by the time the buildings were completed in 1982, the problems already began. When John Failla, the former Vice President of Inland’s construction team, first built this complex it was built with care and detailed work all while keeping them cost efficient; therefore, there is no issue with the original design or Failla’s team; however, scandals around Inland Real Estate would surface later. In the 1990 article, Ellen Miller was interviewed and remembers when she moved in back in 1979 that there were manicured green lawns, and it was “the most beautiful in the Dundee Road area.” Miller recalled community picnics, but by 1990 she described it as “living in a different time zone” and “it’s like some place you read about, not to live in.” It was pointed out in the 1990 article that rent was $525 to $620 for a two bedroom and $450 to $530 for a one bedroom. Those rates may seem low now but in 1990 they were very high, hell I paid $525 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in 2007 in a complex just like this as I lived in low-income housing right after college so I can attest that this was high rent for those times. Even in the article it was pointed out that if they lowered the rent, it would reduce overcrowding because residents would not need to bring in others to help them pay rent.

From the start, the main issue was a lack of management control and issues slowly progressed worse as more business professionals moved out of the complex and large families moved in that were too large to fit into these apartments. Many times, residents moved in extended family that would cram multiple families into one two-bedroom apartment. The reason for the overcrowding was the rent was high for its time, but individual building managers kept renting to and keeping these large families; the article even pointed out that there would be 3 families in one two-bedroom apartment. As far as the place becoming a nightmare, that all began in 1987 when 7 years of neglect and bad management now painted a picture of negligent landlords, gang graffiti sprayed on buildings without being cleaned up, crime, deteriorated buildings, men working on their cars in the parking lot, and parking lots full of partying people drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in what the article described as “party lots.” The parking lots also became filled with garbage and cars zoomed in and out of the parking lots at higher speeds. As the professionals moved out mostly Hispanic families moved in, many from Chicago. The complex was not real bad in the mid-80s but was starting to decline at that time and the original groups that lived here became quite picky about their surroundings and since landlords were not motivated to fix it up they chose the easy way of moving in big families instead without realizing that it could cause chaos and the complex to decline. The June 22, 1990, Arlington Heights Daily Herald article even stated landlords were only interested in profit and this became the main issue starting in 1987 and Edgebrook became entirely different. One anonymous resident described it as a “warzone” in the 1990 article citing throbbing loud music that kept her family up until morning along with firework blasts. She even claimed residents would park in front of her place and just stare at her.

In the year 1988, Chicago gangs came to Palatine in this northeast incorporated area and Edgebrook was one of the early spots Latin Kings and Conservative Vice Lords (to a much lesser extent) scoped out and settled in. There were at least 2 different Latin King factions in the complex and in the June 22, 1990, Arlington Heights Daily Herald article, Sergeant George Meier pointed out groups of youths wearing black and gold gang colors. He stated that as he would pull up to them, they would hide beer cans in their jackets even though it was legal at the time to drink open alcohol in the parking lot. Meier also stated most residents are the “working poor” which paints a picture of lots of Latin Kings and impoverished residents. The Latin Kings and Conservative Vice Lords formed here in 1988, and the notorious Palatine Latin Kings was one of the Latin King groups. Another group was some Latin Kings from Little Village in Chicago. The Conservative Vice Lords formed in the complex to come to the aide of African American youths that were having issues with Latin Kings or just general racial issues with Hispanics. According to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald August 21, 1991, article the complex was 80 percent Hispanic; therefore, African American youths were outnumbered and turned to the Vice Lords to deal with racial and gang issues.

Latin Kings would advance into the Windhaven Condominiums as well, but their presence was not in as much strength as in Edgebrook. Although Windhaven is a condo complex it still housed much of the lower-income populace and became a majority Hispanic condo complex.

I have not heard of any solid evidence or stories of any gang activity in Palatine prior to 1988. As time would pass, these apartment and condo complexes began to rent to residents with criminal backgrounds or allowed legit residents to move in individuals with criminal backgrounds. Section 8 programs were extended into these complexes and more families from Chicago were moving in. Most of the families moved in to look for better opportunities in the suburbs, but sometimes their children would not leave their gang ties or they were recruited directly from visiting Chicago members. Other times older gang members would move in and begin drug and weapons trafficking out of apartments or condos, some also raised families quietly while making this money while others recruited young youths to do dirty deeds. A youth recruited directly by a Chicago gang marked the beginning of the notorious “Palatine” Latin Kings.

Many children in these low-income complexes would feel alienated or began being bullied in school. Some of the youths that grew up in Palatine that were mostly white even adopted some Nazi beliefs and often targeted Hispanic and African American youths. There was a racial conflict brewing in Palatine that worsened by the mid-1980s as more Chicago youths moved into the various apartment and condo complexes. In these times, the forth northeast side of Palatine and the far northwest side of Arlington Heights were both unincorporated areas of Palatine Township and received the same Cook County services like police patrols from the Cook County Sheriff. The only differences between the Arlington Heights side and the Palatine sides was Route 53, that heavily divides the two areas and the fact that residents always had Palatine addresses west of 53 while residents east of 53 had Arlington Heights addresses. I am not saying these two areas of Palatine Township were heavily associating with each other but some of the crime and gang activity could transfer between the areas especially since many families in each complex had family on the other side of Route 53. This connection is what brought Latin Kings to Palatine.

I heard once that Latin Kings go back to 1979 in Palatine but I have found no evidence of that or any fruitful stories, the source also said that was the start of the “Palatine Latin Kings” but that cannot be possible because the story of the founder of the Palatine Latin Kings let his son interview him about how he started the Palatine Latin Kings and the founder was only 7 years old in 1979. In 2020, Emilio Balderas wrote an essay that is available online called, “Prof. Cohen and Prof. Kim Narrating Social Change 06/08/20 Oral History with My Dad.” Emilio’s father gave a detailed account of his life with Palatine Latin Kings and how he started them. Although no dates and years were provided in this essay I did some additional research to determine the exact years this formation happened by comparing the essay story with some other sources of information I found. The young founder started off as a youth living with his grandparents and 15 other children in the grandparent’s house. In 1986, the young founder moved with his mother to the Country Glen Apartments off Bonhill Drive which is technically in Arlington Heights but only by address. Country Glen is more identified as part of Palatine Township but not within the village of Palatine and this complex is east of Route 53 in Arlington Heights. The founder was just a 14 year old boy living in Country Glen hanging out with two other boys. The 24^th and Trumbull Latin Kings would visit this complex many times to visit with family. Some of these visiting Latin Kings would pick on some of the young Hispanic youths in the complex. The essay by Emilio Balderas does not mention exactly why they bullied these youths but it was a problem for the future founder who found himself in a fist fight with one of their 18 or 19 year old members. The young founder was much younger and smaller than this 24^th Street Latin King but the younger youth won the fight. Afterward, an older Latin King stepped forward and offered the youth membership in the Latin Kings and a future at becoming an “Inca” in the Latin Kings. The youth accepted this offer and became a Latin King along with his two other friends. For a few months the 24^th Street Latin Kings would visit and teach the three youths more about “Kingism” as they slowly recruited in the complex. This happened in 1986 and was the beginning of the Palatine Latin Kings, although the group was not in the village of Palatine or unincorporated Palatine nor did they have the title of “Palatine Latin Kings” yet. As the months would pass the 24^th Street Latin Kings stopped coming around there but the founder of the Palatine Latin Kings kept it going until he moved a few blocks south of Country Glen into the Rosewood Condominiums in Arlington Heights. The Palatine Latin King founder now organized Latin Kings in the Rosewood condos.

In the Emilio Balderas essay, the family told Emilio about their beginnings in the suburb of Palatine and recall racist acts against Hispanic youths. Baldera’s Aunt told about “bars of soap thrown at them for being so called “dirty beaners.” In another example discussed in the Balderas essay, was one time when the founder’s cousin was wearing a bandana in high school and a jock on the football team did not like the founder’s cousin wearing the bandana and proceeded to slam the cousin’s head into a vending machine at lunch just for being Mexican and wearing a bandana. The founder’s cousin could not and would not fight back but the school still decided to suspend the cousin for a few days while taking no action against the bully that did it. The jock that did it was known to believe in and/or practice Nazi type of beliefs. The founder responded to this by challenging the bully to a fight after school. The founder broke the bully’s jaw and nose and the school expelled him two months away from graduation; furthermore, the principle then claimed the founder was threatening to shoot him and told this to the school officer while the principle was antagonizing the founder which is an action I have heard of from multiple Hispanic youths of the old times including the founding father of the Imperial Gangsters of Chicago. Many times school officials will drum up extra drama to paint a worse picture of the youths so they can justify expulsion of Hispanic students. These examples the founder went through I have used to show you are some of the issues Hispanic children were facing in Palatine and some sources I have heard from people that can attest that Palatine was or is a secretly racist town. Even if some will argue that Palatine was not racist, one fact is the community did not know how to assist with the assimilation of the growing Hispanic population of the village in the 1980s and this is when mostly Hispanic youths turned to Chicago gangs for acceptance.

The young founder of the Palatine Latin Kings moved out of Arlington Heights in 1988 at the age of 16. He moved on the west side of Route 53 into the Rand Grove apartments in unincorporated Palatine. Once he arrived in those apartments he began recruiting until he oversaw an army of 179 Latin Kings from Palatine, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows and even Streamwood. It was at this point that the Latin Kings organization officially reviewed this young man’s success and considered who it was that accepted him into the nation in the first place. The essay did not mention who that individual was but led into that this person was a well-known Latin King which gave some validity to the founder’s chapter. The young founder began being invited to state and national meetings and he met some of the biggest Latin Kings in the city and became well-known. The young founder was then officially made an “Inca” in the Latin Kings and his chapter was officially named “Palatine” Latin Kings in 1988. This was how, where and when Latin Kings came to Palatine, it all started in the subsidized housing complex of the Rand Grove Village apartments.

Under the rule of the Palatine Latin King founder, the Palatine Latin Kings followed a concept called “The Golden Crush.” This was a system where the founder and a select group of fighters would fight all the battles for the Latin Kings leaving the others to avoid violence with this method issues would not be out of control. The founder was not a drug or weapons dealer according to the Balderas essay; however, I found a October 6, 1990 Arlington Heights Daily Herald article that reported on a stolen weapons bust in the Edgebrook apartments at the 1922 Green Lane building. According to the article this was the main building for Latin Kings to gather and in one apartment stolen firearms were being sold. The bust brought in five stolen handguns, two shotguns and a .22 caliber rifle that gang members attempted to sell to an undercover Sheriff. This could have just been how Edgebrook Latin Kings operated and may have been tied to the Little Village Latin Kings living in the complex and likely was not connected to the founder or his circle. In a

By the time the Latin Kings started in Rand Grove village, the complex had become dirty and ill maintained. One former resident said he grew up there for years and when they walked on the carpet in their apartment they could hear the crunching sound of cockroach corpses under the carpet. The roaches were so bad the complex needed residents to vacate for a period of time once a week so they could bomb the place of bugs. This is creepy to me considering the old ghost legends of the removed graveyard along with scores of insects, almost like something out of a horror movie. Gang violence and drug trafficking only add to the element of horror comparatively to the movie Candy man that took place in Cabrini Green, ironically, many had given light comparison of Rand Grove to Cabrini Green.

The Latin Kings did not control all of the Rand Grove Village apartments. The Latin Kings ran the buildings on the south side of the complex nearest to the Sutton Graveyard. African American residents began to grow in Rand Grove by the late 1980s and Latin Kings were immediately clashing with many of these youths, this was an issue before Latin Kings even arrived in Rand Grove but now that Latin Kings were officially settled here many African American youths turned to the Conservative Vice Lords for membership in northern Rand Grove as racial issues worsened between African Americans and Hispanics. Even though Vice Lords and Latin Kings are both People alliance allies, that did not stop them from viciously fighting in the complex resulting in many violent acts, some of them deadly. Vice Lords arrived in Rand Grove in 1988, the same year as Latin Kings.

The Palatine Latin Kings became instantly popular in Palatine in the late 1980s as they spread from one apartment complex into another especially in the Edgebrook apartments where Latin Kings were deep. Latin Kings spread into the Edgebrook apartments and the Conservative Vice Lords soon followed recruiting the African American kids in this complex in 1988. Conservative Vice Lords and Latin Kings ended up facing off in a vicious rivalry over this complex and the Vice Lords and Latin Kings were already the largest and most dominant gangs in Palatine. There were also Latin Kings directly from Little Village in Chicago living in Edgebrook like-King Boom, Papon, Rudy Martin, Chitown, and Tmac.

The first document I encountered that mentioned gangs in Palatine was a September 23, 1988 Arlington Heights Daily Herald article that described a survey sent out to Palatine Township parents of students about what is their biggest concern with teens. The survey mainly pointed to teen drug use and alcohol as the most concerning, but only 14% of the surveyed thought gangs and violent crime were a major concern. This shows that the gang issue was rather new and not as much identified but was just becoming discovered in the Palatine area. I can now confirm that it was going on in 1988 and the Latin Kings and Conservative Vice Lords were behind most of the original gang activity.

Another one of Palatine’s original gangs is the Gangster Disciples. Although never as large as Latin Kings or Conservative Vice Lords the Gangster Disciples came to Palatine in 1988 just like Latin Kings and Vice Lords and still had larger numbers. The Gangster Disciples recruited among the small African American population of the village. Gangster Disciples originated in the Runaway Bay Condominiums and the Ports O’ Call Apartments located along the notorious Rand Road corridor. These complexes also housed many Conservative Vice Lords and Latin Kings which was a recipe for gang violence. Gangster Disciples could also be found in the Edgebrook complex but they were much smaller than Vice Lords and Latin Kings.

The Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords were first documented in Palatine for the public to see in the Arlington Heights Daily Herald December 8, 1989 article. This article did not call out excessive gang violence but instead made the gangs seem like small time groups. The article did pinpoint most the gang activity and gang member’s residences to be in the area of Dundee Road and Rand Road in the “subsidized housing projects in unincorporated Palatine Township.” The article stated that students at Palatine High School said the Latin Kings are mostly Hispanic while the “Disciples” and Vice Lords are mostly black. The article only refers to Gangster Disciples as “Disciples” all the way through, don’t think too much into the possible other gangs it could be because I can tell you almost 100% they were talking about the Gangster Disciples. Street legends also backup that GDs once had a significant presence in Palatine. The old news article writers were either just too ignorant or did not do their homework enough because they kept calling them “Disciples” and Maniac Latin Disciples were also referred to as “Disciples” in these many articles in newspapers. This was lazy policing or lazy reporting because saying “Disciples” does not truly identify a gang. The 1989 article also highlights racism in the community and the schools in Palatine. In 1988, Palatine High School implemented the Cultural Awareness Committee that was for minority students that felt discrimination or like they did not belong. Students on the committee said they joined because they “felt singled out by faculty who thought they were troublemakers because they were Hispanic or black,” as quoted in the article. Palatine High School officer Steve Pass (the same officer that the principle reported to that the Palatine Latin King founder was threatening him during the expulsion proceeding) stated in the article, “before this committee, there was rampant suspicion about minorities in this school.” The Palatine Latin King founder regarded Steve Pass highly for being fair to him which says Pass was one of the good ones, and he confirmed there was racism and discrimination. Rosie Allen, another staff member was involved with the committee, supported it and founded it alongside student Elsa Campos, making Allen another one of the good ones. I will not mention the name of the principle at the high school but he did say a little in the article only with threatening words that if gang members wear colors in school and make it “uneasy” for other students they will be suspended or expelled, this is the same principle that expelled the Latin King founder in 1990. This principle did not last much longer and transferred to Fremd High School for a little while then was replaced again in 1996. In the beginning of the article it was mentioned that Latin Kings and “Disciples” were “gearing up for some action” which strangely refers to that they were going to meet for a fight which further confirms Gangster Disciple existence. I have to harp on it because some people had said the GDs were not in Palatine until later in the 1990s, not true, and this article proves they were one of Palatine’s original gangs from the 80s. The article also interviews a young African American student that moved from the south side of Chicago to Palatine and felt “alone and isolated” as he stated, when he moved to the village in late 1988. He then found friends that all joined the Vice Lords but instead of joining with them he joined the Cultural Awareness Committee but the young man’s story is further evidence minority students were treated different. A 17 year old Latin King was interviewed and he stated he joined the Latin Kings because he needed “Identity” and felt “Isolated.” He also said, “Sometimes it feels like we aren’t even there, it’s as if we are invisible.” He was referring to how he felt as a Hispanic student not as a Latin King but his feelings drove him to become a Latin King.

Latin Kings advanced into several apartment complexes shortly after formation in the village as they took over and/or at least had a solid presence in the following: Long Valley apartments, Runaway Bay condos, Ports O Call apartments, Palatine Square apartments, Baldwin Court condos, Turtle Creek apartments and possibly or likely Spruce Tree Village. Conservative Vice Lords advanced into most of these same complexes and recruited among the African American population of Palatine. Vice Lords would gather in the Randville condos and possibly Palatine Square apartments or basically in the whole U-shaped Randville Drive/Winslowe Drive strip. Latin Kings dominated this whole U-shaped strip and fought viciously with Vice Lords for it. This competition was fierce just like in Rand Grove where CVLs and Latin Kings fought hard for that one too. Runaway Bay, Ports O Call, Baldwin Court, Long Valley all had CVLs alongside Latin Kings too. The Gangster Disciples were not as large as Vice Lords but seemingly not much smaller as they also recruited many African American youths struggling with identity, racial issues and Latin Kings. Gangster Disciples were battling CVLs and Latin Kings in Runaway Bay and Ports O Call since their arrival in the village in 1988.

In the Randville/Winslowe U-shape area the Spanish Gangster Disciples opened their very first suburban outpost in, I believe, Palatine Square apartments in 1988. I didn’t find anything about SGDs in any old newspapers, but I did get street knowledge they were here in the early 90s and back. SGDs were a small group in the late 80s and through the 1990s but they were a force to be reckoned with because they battled back onslaughts of Latin Kings and Vice Lords.

In the early 90s, Palatine struggled with gangs and crime in the northeast unincorporated area. In Edgebrook, Inland Real Estate was forced out of management and replaced by new management that seemed to be making a difference according to the June 22, 1990, Arlington Heights Daily Herald article but as history would have it, they failed. The complex continued as a higher crime and gang infested area. The complex tried multiple strategies by forbidding open alcohol, adding speed bumps, containing garbage in containers and established better Sheriff patrols and security according to the article but these programs all failed and in 1993 the complex was renamed “Baldwin Greens” to escape the past which is the name it carries today, but under the name “Baldwin Greens” some more of the worst years were ahead.

According to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald October 9, 1994, article, Cook County Sheriffs reported 373 police calls about the complex which included one murder, one rape, 37 batteries, seven assaults, 11 residential burglaries and 8 car thefts in 1992. In 1993, the complex experienced 343 calls. The 1994 article described how during the daytime people gather outside the complex and children play but at night most residents would stay inside, especially children for fear of gang gatherings and large crowds swarming in the parking lots. The article also interviewed Joe Dottolo, the manager at Rosati’s Pizza at Dundee and Smith Roads. Dottolo said he had to stop pizza delivery into Rand Grove because two of his drivers were robbed, one at knife point and one at gun point. It wasn’t just Rosatti’s, Dominos wouldn’t deliver at all either, Pizza Hut would only show up in the daytime and Tony’s Pizza would only send drivers in pairs. Gale Ebert, the franchisee of Dominos, said one of his drivers was robbed at gunpoint, he stated it would be negligent if he did send drivers. There was criticism that this was prejudice toward the community, but as a former pizza man with a Rosatti’s location, I can personally attest that this is the right move because we will not work hard just to have our money taken and have our lives threatened or taken from us. To say this is discriminatory is foolish because no one should die, get robbed, or hurt trying to deliver a pizza, I stand behind Rosatti’s for this. Perhaps they now deliver to Rand Grove now that it is safer but in 1994 it was much scarier. It saddens me to read that these good residents were deprived of pizza delivery, it is hurtful, but we must understand as human beings that if it is dangerous the pizza people can’t be blamed, blame the criminals and/or those that allow the crime to take place. When I worked at Rosatti’s in Bolingbrook a fellow driver was robbed in the Innsbrook Apartments in Bolingbrook twice and one time they hurt him badly. Innsbrook no longer exists but was dangerous back then and was known to house robbing types of criminals. One again I will preach to not view things like this from a smaller scale and blame the pizza place, instead think bigger and think about who allowed the crime to get there in the first place. Think about the decision to not incorporate this complex, thus, causing less police patrols, think about the poverty and lack of opportunities provided for Hispanic and African American residents, look bigger. The 1994 article also confirmed Latin King existence in this complex but does not mention the Vice Lords. The article even describes how a member wanted to leave the gang; therefore, the Latin Kings shot into their lower-level apartment windows shooting all the windows out while children were inside, no one was hurt. Not only were pizza men not allowed in the complex, United States Postal workers were told to not deliver but to instead deliver to a spot on Hicks Road which was done for several years before this article was published, it used to be in the courtyard. On a positive note, Latin Kings would play with small children and protect them in the complex according to 10-year-old Crystal Sanchez. Even though she didn’t say it was the “Latin Kings” I can tell you it was them. The complex was now ripe with drug dealers, weapons dealers and lots of gangs, as described by Wendell E. Jones who was part of the Palatine Township Task Force on gangs. Steve Newcomer, a new manager for the complex, seemed to have contrary beliefs about the complex in the 1994 article. According to Newcomer he said crime was low and he would walk the complex at midnight and the worst he would see is teens gathering in parking lots and it wasn’t as bad as in the past he said. Newcomer was very active in the community resource center as he was working with kids to keep them away from gangs and the center even offered English classes (offered since 1984), monthly teen dances and organized sports leagues. Newcomer claimed the complex had an “undeserved reputation” and he stated, “You do have crime, but when I say crime, I mean, it’s minimal.” Cook County Sheriff stats of phone calls already refute what Newcomer claimed along with many street stories I heard of from this era. Newcomer may have done some good work, and he was in a position where it was his job to defend the complex; however, this is an example of denial/covering up the truth. Those that gangbanged or those that lived among the gangs have said otherwise off the record. The paper interviewed Linda Rios who seemed to begin by partially backing up Newcomer’s claims but then painted a disturbing picture that may seem like no big deal to some but to many is not normal living. Rios said she sees “little crime” and has never seen a weapon or drug use, yet she was weary of teenage “punks” who ride the school bus with her daughter. Rios’ apartment was not air conditioned, yet she would lock her windows in the warmer months of her ground floor apartment to “keep teenage gang bangers from sticking their heads or arms inside to taunt the family.” At night she strung up pop cans as a makeshift alarm in front of the one screened window in her living room where her and her daughter slept to alert them of those poking their heads and bodies in. This is just not normal living, and she said she needed to hide from people around her where she lives as her children’s friends parents already forbid their children from coming in the complex.

All the apartment and condo complexes in the northeast unincorporated area of town continued to be dangerous and popping with gang activity throughout the 1990s; however, the 1990s was also a time of exceptional growth when several new subdivisions were built in the incorporated area of Palatine and the middle-class of the town grew significantly. The population exploded from 39,253 to 65,479 in the year 2000. I recall in my youth growing up in the 1990s hearing all about the craze of Palatine as one subdivision another popped up in the town, but I would also hear about how bad the gangs were too, but it was something to chuckle about…that is unless you lived among it as I have recently found out. The reason the town avoided most of the bad rap is because the rough areas were all confined within one geographic cluster in the unincorporated area. The issue with unincorporated areas is crime stats tend to vanish within overall county crime stats which blends into a larger pool of crime stats; therefore, the reported danger of Palatine was much lower during these crucial years. County Sheriffs cover broad areas of patrol and are less staffed on top of that; therefore, unincorporated areas can experience higher crime and more dangerous crime due to slow or low police responses. In the various articles on Palatine, I read over from the 1990s Sheriffs were frustrated because by the time they could answer calls and get out there the reported crime had already finished and left the area. Nearby subdivisions close to Rand Grove and Baldwin Greens complained heavily about crime and gangs from their neighbors but often looked crazy when the Sheriff would get there, and it was over with. Pinehurst and High Grove residents can talk all about blow over crime from Baldwin Greens and painted a picture in the 1990s of crowded streets from the individuals at Baldwin Greens that couldn’t find parking. Some of those people would picnic on their blocks and cause trouble while other sprayed graffiti on stop signs. In the late 1990s the village finally put into motion incorporation for the northeast side beginning in 1999 and finalizing in the early 2000s. For almost 25 years the northeast side has been part of the Village of Palatine, but the village successfully dodged the most turbulent years of the late 80s and 1990s; however, the 2000s decade would still prove to be challenging for the village as new gang elements arrived and wrestled for control of the apartment and condo complexes on the northeast side.

In the year 1994, the founder of the Palatine Latin Kings officially stepped down from leadership and moved further toward full retirement. The founder was now attending Loyola University which removed him mostly from the gang scene. The founder passed down leadership to another Latin King that was next in line. Some Latin Kings did not agree with the new leader and formed a breakaway renegade group called the “P-Town” Latin Kings that would become a well-known group. The P-Town Latin Kings became the dominating group in the Rand Grove Village apartments. P-Town Latin Kings were fast growing in the mid-1990s and they began taking over Baldwin Greens (formerly known as Edgebrook until 1993) and Windhaven condos. When P-Town Latin Kings formed in 1994, there would be no war with Palatine Latin Kings. The P-Town founders did not agree with the new leader of the Palatine Latin Kings but only as subordinates, now they would operate independent under their own Latin King group. I am not sure of the exact year but by 1997 another renegade faction of Latin Kings formed in Rand Grove called the “Pimp Town” Latin Kings. When the Pimp Town Latin Kings formed sometime in the mid-1990s there was no war with Palatine Latin Kings or P-Town Latin Kings at first. I am not sure why the Pimp Town Latin Kings formed or which group they broke away from but there was no war at first and all three groups were peaceful toward each other. Pimp Town Latin Kings became popular in Rand Grove and they spread to the Baldwin Greens (formerly Edgebrook) apartments and the Turtle Creek Apartments.

Peace would remain between the three Latin King factions until 1997. In April of 1997, Francisco “Frankie” Hernandez of the Pimp Town Latin Kings murdered a member of the Palatine Latin Kings. Francisco Hernandez stabbed Antonio Hernandez to death when the men began quarreling at a kitchen where these Latin Kings worked. Most of the Latin Kings that worked there were Pimp Town Latin Kings but Antonio Hernandez was a 29 year old Palatine Latin King. The fight started in the kitchen but moved across the street to a car dealer lot at Dundee Road and Baldwin which was down the street from the Baldwin Greens apartments. Antonio Hernandez was outnumbered as he was beaten by Pimp Town Latin Kings. Francisco Hernandez then stabbed Antonio to death in the parking lot during the beating. A Palatine Latin King named Steven Venegas was willing to testify against Hernandez and the many Pimp Town Latin Kings arrested for the murder. Because of this, Venegas was wanted by the Pimp Town Latin Kings because he was ready to testify. Joseph Dole of the Pimp Town Latin Kings became the leader of Pimp Town following the murder and he had the goal of eliminating Steven Venegas. For a year the Pimp Town Latin Kings looked for Venegas but they would run out of patience by April 2, 1998. In March of 1998, Dole held a meeting for Pimp Town Latin Kings and expressed that they needed to find Venegas and take care of him so he wouldn’t be able to testify in court. Joseph Dole and a group of Pimp Town Latin Kings invited three members of the Palatine Latin Kings to a party, one of those three was the Palatine Latin King founder. The Palatine founder declined the invitation and stayed at college while two teenagers, Jose Romero and Jose Segura accepted the invitation and were lured to an apartment in Cicero where a Pimp Town Latin King was living. Romero and Segura soon found out they were not being brought there to party. Romero and Segura were tied up and beaten and strangled while the Latin Kings torturing them demanded to know where Venegas was hiding but Venegas was in witness protection and no one would know. Romero and Segura endured a violent beating and they had no information to give even if they wanted to. Dole and the group had no intention of killing Segura and Romero, they just wanted info but during the beating gang members stomped in one of the victim’s throats and broke his trachea which killed him. Although these Latin Kings were not trying to kill the two they decided to kill the other one to prevent him from being able to snitch on them for killing the other. Dole and the others put the bodies in the bathtub and cleaned up the scene. Dole and the others stole a van and placed the bodies into the van and drove it to the west side of Chicago. Once in Chicago these Latin Kings lit the bodies on fire in the back of the van and even burned the gloves they were wearing. The fire did not burn enough evidence and Chicago police worked the scene and even found a partially burned glove as evidence. Later that month Joseph Dole, Noel DeLeon, Roberto Hurtado, George Hernandez, and Raul Dorado were all arrested for the murders, the men were given life sentences (Fact source:People v. Dole, 2015 IL App (1st) 122305-U, Chicago Tribune June 30, 1999)

According to the Emilio Balderas essay the Palatine Latin King founder said this 1998 murder of the two teen boys shook the community and shook all factions of the Latin Kings. This murder showed that unity and the old era was gone. The founder then left the entire scene with Latin Kings and when his influence left so did the Palatine Latin Kings. P-Town Latin Kings would stay in Rand Grove a few more years and were gone from Rand Grove Village by the start of the new century. Now that Palatine Latin Kings and P-Town Latin Kings left Rand Grove a new gang identity developed that challenged the remaining Pimp Town Latin Kings. Vice Lords had been the long time rivals of Latin Kings but by the early 2000s the Vice Lords were not even as big in the complex. Now Gangster Disciples became the large group for African American youths in Rand Grove starting in the early 2000s. The Pimp Town Latin Kings were still very active in Rand Grove and battled the Gangster Disciples. Surenos, a Los Angeles based gang, moved into Rand Grove in the early 2000s who also battled Pimp Town Latin Kings. Surenos were short lived in Rand Grove and were replaced by the Spanish Gangster Disciples but they would also not last long. By the end of the 2000s decade Surenos, Spanish Gangster Disciples and Gangster Disciples had left Rand Grove along with much of the Pimp Town Latin Kings as the complex was becoming increasingly African American.

In the early 2010s, the Four Corner Hustlers arrived in Rand Grove and aggressively recruited African American youths so heavily that Gangster Disciples in the complex had completely flipped to Four Corner Hustlers and the Four Corner Hustlers were recruiting youths as they arrived in the complex. Four Corner Hustlers also advanced into the Rand Road and Randville and Rand and Winslowe apartment and condo complexes that were previously ruled by Latin Kings, Vice Lords and SGDs. SGDs faced a scandal in the 2010s which broke the group up leaving Four Corner Hustlers to advance into this area. Four Corner Hustlers also took over many other former Gangster Disciple territories like Runaway Bay and Ports O Call.

Pimp Town Latin Kings remain in Baldwin Greens and P-Town Latin Kings eventually left this complex. Most of the remaining gang activity in Palatine is Latin Kings and Four Corner Hustlers.

Gang activity and crime was greatly reduced beginning in the early 2000s following the annexation of the far north east side into the Village of Palatine. Now Palatine police directly patrolled these streets and had much challenges to face in the beginning but by the early 2010s law enforcement pushed back on gangs more.

Legend has it that Palatine once had C-Notes, Latin Counts and Imperial Gangsters but I know nothing about those groups or when or where they were in Palatine; therefore, I cannot confirm they existed in Palatine. I think the legends about Imperial Gangsters have it mixed up with Imperial Gangsters that advanced into Country Glen apartments in Arlington Heights in recent decades, but that is not part of Palatine and is east of Route 53. C-Notes have popped up in some suburbs but I never heard anything big about them and I think it is just very small groups of them that operate very quietly which is not much to mention.

Presently, Palatine’s far northeast side is not as crazy as it once was and gang activity has reduced to hidden activity with a shooting that pops up once and awhile. You can look it up on the internet easily to find out how safe Palatine is. The majority of the crime shifts more into the far northeast but even there the crime is now low. Palatine’s storied gang land days were mostly before the far north east was incorporated into Palatine so all those crime statistics were swept in with overall Cook County statistics. Crime stats would not be recorded with the Village of Palatine in the 1980s and 1990s in the northeast but many street legends and some news articles are proof this area of Palatine saw wild days.