Latin Stones - Chicago Gang History

Founded	Founded c. 1990 by De La Paz, Huskie, P.R., and Snags in or near South Chicago
Affiliations	People Nation — c. 1980 – 2000 or later;
Colors	Black and Red
Primary ethnicities	Latino (Mexican)
Symbols	Sun and Crescent Moon
Symbol usage	21 brick pyramid
Status	Active

The Latin Stones history is a tough one to follow and is actually two different organizations carrying the same name for quite some time. I hope I have this correct so bear with me because this a tough one to nail down. If I have anything off let me know at Chicagoganghistory@protonmail.com.

The first part of the story takes place in the South Chicago neighborhood in 1979. This was a key year of a new generation of gangs in South Chicago as older groups were retiring and racial migration was taking another turn. New gangs were appearing in South Chicago like Latin Dragons and Very Mellow People while older dominating groups like Spanish Kings, South Chicago Saints, and Royal Knights were retiring. African American gangs like Black Gangster Disciples, Black P Stones and Vice Lords were growing larger than before. In that year of 1979 some former Spanish Kings and former Saints of South Chicago decided to form their own club assembled by Francisco Fears, Angel Vicente, Brielle “Killer Bri” Gomez-Lawrence, Johnnie John and an African American from the west side of Pennsylvania Nolan Green. The men called this new club the “Puerto Rican Latin Stones.” There was no affiliation with the Black P Stones at that time or the Puerto Rican Stones of the northside either. It appears the name was all coincidental; however, I do not know the reason for choosing such a name at this time. These guys mainly congregated outside of Eckersall Stadium at 82^nd and Essex where they recruited carefully while recruiting aggressively at the same time. The Puerto Rican Latin Stones took the area of 82^nd to 83^rd and from Saginaw to Essex. The Puerto Rican Latin Stones were not very recognized in Chicago in their earliest days because this was not a tagging a flagging type of group with loud type of gang members. This group handled serious business of murder and drug trafficking from the start and some murder for hire type of activity. This was a hard-core group from the start. These guys usually packed guns on them always and even though they attracted lots of female attention their organization was still rather low key. Their drug operations were not open air and kept on the downlow. Early members were big on taking LSD; however, it did not affect their judgement.

In the year 1981, the Folk and People alliances were spreading on the streets of Chicago and sweeping through the South Chicago neighborhood; however, Hispanic gangs did not adopt to it right away besides the earliest group of Spanish Gangster Disciples that were founded that year. Even the Latin Dragons did not turn People right away. This was a time when major gangs were keeping all gangs on count and were getting to learn about almost every club, the El Rukns were the ones that learned about the Puerto Rican Latin Stones before most any other organization. From my understanding the El Rukns were not too pleased with the Latin Stones likely because they were going by the term “Stone” in their name even though the Latin Stones were not a part of the People alliance of the BPSN. For now it just seemed like El Rukns were keeping tabs on Latin Stones.

In the year 1982, the Puerto Rican Latin Stones grew larger as they flipped a south Chicago gang called the Noble Sharks from 80^th and 81^st Streets, this made the organization grow. This is when Latin Stones gained more attention from neighborhood gangs and they were not well liked; however, since the Latin Stones were all about business, other organizations calmed down once money was exchanged with Latin Stones. The Latin Stones especially bonded with the Apache Stones, a Black P Stone group, from 79^th and Essex area. The Latin Stones also began to network and hang out with the Puerto Rican Stones of Albany Park who were fighting for the intersection of Lawrence and Kimball with Simon City Royals at the time. In November of 1982, the Puerto Rican Stones asked the Puerto Rican Latin Stones to assist them with the murder of Todd “Dillinger” Brewer, the leader of the Simon City Royals. The murder happened and the Royals’ leader was shot to death. Everyone knows that Puerto Rican Stones were involved in the murder, but the streets never knew the Puerto Rican Latin Stones helped. Puerto Rican Latin Stones were also allies with the Gaylords of Uptown and Gaylords paid them to pull assassinations and other business. Puerto Rican Latin Stones also worked with Latin Kings up north and pulled missions for them as well and much money was exchanged.

In the year 1985, the Puerto Rican Latin Stones were accredited with the murder of the founder of the Latin Dragons who was in big time in the cocaine distribution game. The Stones were involved in the distribution of marijuana, LSD and heroine especially in the Eckersall Stadium area. This is where the founder of the Latin Dragons was found dead shot to death near his car while possessing a half a kilo of cocaine and $3,000 cash in his car. The founder was shot to death with a silenced firearm and his body was discovered by police at 78^th and Crandon which is technically in the South Shore community.

On the subject of South Shore, the Puerto Rican Latin Stones took over a building at 73^rd and Oglesby in the South Shore community in 1986 which was an all-African American area; however, the Latin Stones still did business here. The Stones also opened in South Chicago at 92^nd and Saginaw. This is when Latin Stones were bonding with Black P Stones and doing drug deals with them. Latin Stones had a speed (Amphetamine) and Codeine operation at 79^th and Phillips on the South Chicago/South Shore border. Latin Stones were running the game with “Terror Town” Black P Stones of South Shore with speed and speed laced marijuana.

In the year 1987, Mario was running the Latin Dragons since the founder was killed in 1985. Now Mario was the next target for assassination by the Puerto Rican Latin Stones. Now this story is a bit confusing to me, but Mario was killed by two men with assault rifles at 77^th and Oglesby in South Shore after his car was rammed off the road. I am not clear on if the Puerto Rican Latin Stones were the actual shooters or if they hired the Puerto Rican Stones to do it for them, but in either case the Puerto Rican Latin Stones killed the successor of the Latin Dragons in 1987 as they did to the founder of the Dragons. The Latin Stones then shut their 73^rd and Oglesby business down to stay low key after the murder.

In the year 1988, Black P Stone founder Eugene Hairston was shot to death outside of the Ida B. Wells public housing projects which caused anger from the Black P stones. Since the Puerto Rican Latin Stones were performing so many assassinations, they were accused of doing the killing at first which almost caused the Stones to war with Latin Stones. It was smoothed over the Puerto Rican Latin Stones were cleared of the murder.

In the year 1988, a major war began between a South Chicago gang called the Young Bloods and the Latin Kings that were trying to grow large in South Chicago. The war raged on for two years until the Latin Kings defeated the Young Bloods causing the Young Bloods to join multiple South Chicago gangs like: Latin Counts, Latin Dragons, Very Mellow People and Spanish Vice Lords. Some of these old Young Bloods didn’t want to join any other gangs so they started their own gang instead. This was in conjunction with Black P Stone desires to create their own Hispanic mob to rival Spanish Gangster Disciples of South Chicago. Black P Stones (not El Rukns) had large territory in South Chicago and had vested interest in the Hispanic areas of South Chicago. The Black P Stones wanted to do business alongside this sponsored group, and this is when they found opportunity with former Young Bloods looking to start their own group. These guys were “Huskie,” “P.R.,” and “De La Prez.” These Black P Stones interested in sponsoring this new group were not even from South Chicago, they hailed from northern Englewood and were part of the “Moe Town” Black P Stones at a time when Jeff Fort’s son Watkeeta Fort was taking over the Moes. De La Prez was going to be the leader of this new outfit. This new group was named “Latin Stones” in 1990, the year they started, but was not in conjunction or had anything to do with the older Puerto Rican Latin Stones of South Chicago just blocks away.

Back at home in South Chicago, the Latin Stones were not recognized as legitimate by the various branches of Black P Stones in South Chicago except for the Maniac P Stones. The Maniac P Stones were a very significant branch of the Black P Stones and were always a top tier branch close to both Black P Stones and the El Rukns. The Maniacs were mediators with conflicts between Black P Stones and El Rukns and were the only branch of the Stones that was officially allowed to use the name “Stone” during the El Rukn sanction days of the 1980s when Jeff Fort declared all Stones to be not legit, the Maniacs were the only exception. Because the Latin Stones got the blessing from the Maniacs, this was a big deal especially since the Maniacs were also posted by 83rd Street. The Latin Stones were now declared legit by two major BPS factions, but it wasn’t enough in the eyes of the Latin Stones, so they connected with the north side of Chicago and got further sponsorship from the Puerto Rican Stones and Puerto Rican Future Stones. Even though Latin Stones and Puerto Rican Latin Stones were separate they were moving through the same channels with Puerto Rican Stones and Future Stones and the new Latin Stones.

Now that the Latin Stones were satisfied with four major Stone sponsors, they opened their first turf at the intersection of 82nd and Commercial in the South Chicago neighborhood. The Latin Stones became slightly allied with Latin Counts in the area but mostly allied with Black P Stones. The Latin Stones mainly engaged in wars with Gangster Disciples, Ambrose and especially Spanish Gangster Disciples. Although the Latin Stones were not a big name in South Chicago, they were still recognized much more on the streets than the Puerto Rican Latin Stones and were the group that took in younger youths on the streets. One difference between Latin Stones and Puerto Rican Latin Stones is the colors, Latin Stones are black and red while Puerto Rican Latin Stones are red and grey.

The Latin Stones worked with P.R. Stones and Future Stones from the north side as they moved drugs, weapons and reinforcements up and down Lake Shore Drive bringing in significant revenue and keeping each of their gangs well-armed and paid. Since the Latin Stones were so heavily allied with Black P Stones they worked with the Black P Stones with this Lake Shore Drive trade too, this was serious business and really helped bloom the Latin Stones in their early years and by the mid-1990s the Latin Stones were growing in popularity in South Chicago. By 1993 or 1994 the Latin Stones opened at 90th and Exchange. The Stones also opened in the suburbs of Waukegan and in Kenosha Wisconsin after “Snags” moved to Waukegan and founded both chapters and became the leader of those suburban chapters. I’m not sure exactly when it happened but the Stones opened at 82nd and Coles which would later become a significant section.

In the year 1992, the Latin Kings and Latin Dragons went to war. The Latin Kings wanted no official recognition for violence against the Dragons; therefore, the “Bush Latin Kings” from 86^th and Buffalo and the “Big Time Latin Kings” from 88^th and Exchange paid the Puerto Rican Latin Stones to shoot up blocks in Dragon territory and the Stones did it almost too well causing them to have to move back to 92^nd and Saginaw which is technically located in South Deering.

In the year 1995, the Puerto Rican Stones, Puerto Rican Future Stones, Puerto Rican Familia Stones and Puerto Rican Latin Stones made a move to drop the “Puerto Rican” from their name due to several members joining that were not Puerto Rican. Instead of there being two different “Latin Stones” groups in South Chicago they became one group under the colors black and red and officially joined the People alliance.

In the year 1996, the Puerto Rican Latin Stones assisted carrying out the assassination of the Familia Stone founder “Broleeo” because he ran the Familia Stones brutally. After this hit, the original Puerto Rican Latin Stones mostly moved to the state of Delaware.

The Latin Stones remained significant in the rest of the 1990s and into the early 2000s and had not only a strong South Chicago chapter but also strong chapters in Kenosha and Waukegan. The downfall began in the mid-2000s when the founder and overall leader seemed to disappear and the South Chicago General “Huskie” retired from the gang life alongside “P.R.” the Chief Enforcer. This depleted the leadership of the Latin Stones forcing Snags to pack up and move back down to the South Chicago community, after he left Kenosha and Waukegan closed. When Snags arrived, he closed down 90th and Exchange and moved all operations to 82nd and Coles. A war erupted in the mid-2000s with the Latin Counts which was costly and at this time the Latin Stones began to shrink but have remained active as a low-key group.

Since 2005, Latin Stones had made moves into northwest Indiana settling in the same areas as Latin Dragons as their influence left South Chicago more. In the early 2010s more key members retired leaving the group to a younger generation. The Latin Stones remain active in over the original hood near Eckersall Stadium and had even moved to Rogers Park on the north side and the suburb of Evanston along with settlements in other states like Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, especially Jersey City, New Jersey.