| Settled by | Provide info |
|---|---|
| Year infiltrated | 1986 |
| Crime impact | Part |
| Worst areas | Provide info |
Arlington Heights is by no means a bad neighborhood. There are parts of the community that have been troubled for decades but even those spots are not as bad as they used to be. Arlington Heights is a large town with close to 75,000 residents and is considered one of the wealthier communities in Chicago area. I felt the need to make a gang page for this community because there was some key historic gang settlement for the northwest Cook County suburbs. Arlington Heights is not a suburb one would usually not tie hardened Chicago street gangs to but when there is low-income housing that is mostly pushed away from the rest of the community in secluded locations, there will certainly be gangs.
This land that is now Arlington Heights started out as land with few groves and trees. This was ideal land for settlement and in 1835 the General Land Office sold the first acres to William Dunton who is credited as the first resident to reside in this area in 1835. Dunton moved here from Oswego, New York and began interest in developing a community here. Following Dunton came more east coast settlers who built their farms. In the 1840s German immigrants became the dominant ethnic group and were known for truck farming as these farms were major growers of dairy products and vegetables that were sent to Chicago. In the year 1853, William Dunton requested that the Illinois Wisconsin railroad make a stop here. When this was agreed upon the area was named after Dunton and the town of Dunton was created. By 1887, the small village now had around 1,000 residents and this is when official incorporation happened, and the town was renamed “Arlington Heights.” Another very interesting fact is that Arlington Heights was one of the first commuter Chicagoland suburbs. Commuting was almost unheard of in the 19th century and earlier 20th century. Arlington Heights caught more attention in 1927 when 12 farms were cleared for the construction of Arlington International Racecourse racetrack (now known as Arlington Park) built by California millionaire H.D. “Curly” Brown. Country clubs were built during the 1930s. Growth was slow until the 1950s when Arlington Heights became increasingly recognized as an ideal commuter suburb. By 1960, the population had exceeded 27,000 residents and was still growing heavily in the 1960s (Fact source:http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org).
During the progressive years of Arlington Heights’ construction era came a small apartment complex consisting of five buildings at the intersection of Kensington Road and Dryden Place. This apartment complex was built in 1959 and was one of the first low-cost rental complexes in Arlington Heights. Arlington Heights residents with fixed incomes or lower incomes could now afford to live in Arlington Heights.
Beginning in the year 1970 and continuing through 1972 was the construction of the Tanglewood condominiums (Evergreen Court Condos). These condos were also built during Arlington Height’s construction era and were a condo complex with simpler and more affordable condos. This was to be another source of affordable living in a town growing quite expensive to live in. These condos were built within the area of Seegers Road on the north to Falcon Drive on the south, Tonne Drive on the west to Goebbert Road on the east.
In the year 1980, the Whispering Winds condominium complex was built for lower income residents seeking affordable housing in this growingly expensive town. Construction on new housing was slower in the later 70s and early 80s but for affordable housing, it was a time of progress and Whispering Winds led the way. From the time these were built in unincorporated Arlington Heights Hispanic families from Chicago were moving into this complex. These are located along Bonhill Drive at Lake Cook Road and Route 53S.
The Rosewood Condominiums were built in 1982 for lower income families in the unincorporated far northwest side of the village. These condos would fill with families from Chicago. Many Hispanic families from Chicago began moving into these from the time they were built and escalating in the mid-1980s. This was a town that was very white, and Rosewood may have been a complex for some of the earlier Hispanic migration to Arlington Heights. These condos are located within Lake Cook Road on the north to Nichols Road on the south, Route 53S on the west to Bloomington Avenue on the east.
The land just north of Rosewood would soon become occupied by a new affordable housing complex toward Lake Cook Road. These would become the Country Glen apartments that were built in 1986 and marketed to lower income families from Chicago. A large Hispanic populace would settle in this complex in the late 1980s.
The new lower income complexes built in northwest Arlington Heights in the unincorporated area almost seems deliberate to keep these residents out of the actual City of Arlington Heights and tucked away in a tucked away area from the major roads nearby. Any crime or poverty would not be credited to Arlington Heights, and this may have been done by design. This cluster of affordable housing is the sight of where the first Chicago gang activity began. One can only imagine how much of a struggle it was for Hispanic youths at the poverty line living in a high-income community. The youths of the Whispering Winds perhaps felt that way as many of these Hispanic families were poor and on government assistance. Perhaps since these condos were built in 1980 Chicago gang members had been visiting their family in this complex. The 24th & Trumbull Latin Kings would drive in from the city to meet with family in this complex and in the year 1986 fate came when these men were visiting, and they encountered a 14-year-old teenager and his friends. The men picked a fight with the much younger teens and the teens would not stand for the disrespect and fought these men. The teens impressed these Latin Kings so much that they befriended the boys after fighting with them and asked them if they wanted to join the Latin Kings. The 14-year-old boy was nominated as the leader and was given an official chapter in Palatine. This was the foundation of the “P-Town” Latin Kings. Even though their addresses were in Arlington Heights, they represented Palatine because they had ambitions of settling within the borders of Palatine and two years later, they accomplished that. When the P-Town Latin Kings formed in 1986 they were an Arlington Heights gang but in unincorporated Arlington Heights and part of Palatine Township. The P-Town Latin Kings would begin their decade and half long presence in this complex.
The young leader of the P-Town Latin Kings moved just south of Whispering Winds and moved to the Rosewood Condominium complex some months later. When he settled in Rosewood, he formed a Latin King group in this complex as well and the P-Town Latin Kings now grew in unincorporated Arlington Heights. P-Town Latin Kings had no rival gangs in the immediate area when they first formed but they would battle with rival gangs from towns nearby like Rolling Meadows and Mount Prospect.
In the later 1980s the African American population of Arlington Heights was growing slightly. In the 1980s census less than 300 African Americans lived in Arlington Heights, that number grew to 500 African Americans by the 1990 census which was nearly twice the population in 1980. White families began to move out of the Dryden apartments because these were the oldest low-income apartments in Arlington Heights and were now outdated and not in as good of condition anymore. These apartments began to accept section 8 vouchers and African Americans from impoverished and dangerous areas of Chicago were relocated to the Dryden apartments. In these apartments is where the Black Gangster Disciples were form in 1989. The Black Gangster Disciples and Latin Kings would become bitter enemies bringing in gang violence to Arlington Heights entering the 1990s. The Conservative Vice Lords also captured a part of Dryden, and this brought gang violence in this complex. Conservative Vice Lords likely arrived when Black Gangster Disciples did. Dryden is located in the incorporated part of Arlington Heights.
Another group of Latin Kings moved to Arlington Heights in 1989 from Columbia & Ashland in Chicago. These Latin Kings moved into the Tanglewood Apartments. These Latin Kings were not directly linked to the P-Town Latin Kings. The Tanglewood Apartments now had a larger Hispanic population, and Latin Kings were moving alongside this migration. This was another apartment complex tucked away just off of a main road. This complex is in the incorporated area of Arlington Heights.
More Latin Kings could be found in the Country Glen Apartments across the street from Whispering Winds in unincorporated Arlington Heights. The Latin Counts may have existed in this area of town, but I am not sure where they were. The Latin Counts were in Arlington Heights in the 1990s but I don’t know anymore details at this time about them.
I have heard only weak rumor that Simon City Royals were once active in Arlington Heights, but I have no info on that. The verified gangs that were active in Arlington Heights from 1990 to 2000 were Black Gangster Disciples (Gangster Disciples), Latin Kings, Conservative Vice Lords and Latin Counts.
I don’t have much more of stories about the gangs of Arlington Heights in the 1990s because stories are scarce, but the most intense gang period was the earlier 1990s especially after Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, and Latin Counts arrived in 1989.
The Latin Counts and the Vice Lords would not survive the 1990s especially when police were cracking down on gangs in the later 90s. Gangster Disciples would retain Dryden, and it is a permanent home to the GDs, but their activity has slowed greatly since the 2000s.
Latin King or Latin Count activity had left Country Glen later in the 90s and by the early 2000s that chapter would close as the Los Angeles based gang the Surenos 13 moved in and took over this complex. They would dominate this complex until the early 2010s after their main members were deported. After the Surenos left in the early 2010s the Spanish Gangster Disciples took over the complex. I am not sure if the SGDs are still there, but recent Imperial Gangster graffiti has often been seen in larger numbers in the complex indicating they may have taken over in the 2020s. Country Glen is still a rougher area of Arlington Heights and graffiti, and covered graffiti are signs of it.
Latin Kings withdrew from Whispering Winds in the early 2000s and the Surenos took over the complex during the 2000s decade until they were deported in the early 2010s. I am not sure what group took over this complex afterward. I am also not sure if Latin Kings left Rosewood or not, but I think they did because it was a part of P-Town Latin Kings and they had left Whispering Winds, Surenos likely took Rosewood too for a while. I am not sure how strong of a group the Spanish Gangster Disciples are in Arlington Heights or if they captured the whole Rosewood, Country Glen and Whispering Winds trio or not.
The Latin Kings in Tanglewood have remained through the decades and are a permanent part of Arlington Heights but Tanglewood is not as wild as it once was in the 1990s and 2000s.
This is all the information I have on the Arlington Heights gang life. The main reason I did this page was to begin building on the story of Palatine gangs and the P-Town Latin Kings. Gang shootings and sometimes murders come up in the news within some of these complexes to prove these are still areas to keep alert about when living in them, but these complexes are mostly safe. Arlington Heights gang life is now minimal, and Arlington Heights is a highly recommended community to live in…if you can afford it.