Imperial Insane Vice Lords - Chicago Gang History

Founded	Founded in 1971 in or near Austin
Affiliations	People Nation — c. 1981 – 2000 or later;
Colors	Give details
Primary ethnicities	African American
Symbols	Give details
Status	Active

The Imperial Insane Vice Lords have one of he more interesting histories within the Almighty Vice Lord nation. Despite having one of the deepest histories of all Vice Lords, the Imperial Insane Vice Lords are no longer one of the larger Vice Lord groups, the IIVLs have shrunk over time.

The Imperial Chaplains

I don’t have the sharpest historical information on the Imperial Chaplains but I have learned they are an organization that outdated the Almighty Vice Lord nation. The Imperial Chaplains originated in the Maxwell Street Market area on Chicago’s west side. I am not exactly sure when the Chaplains formed but they could date back to the later 1940s but for sure existed by the mid-50s and by 1955 they had formed on the streets of North Lawndale and once they arrived in North Lawndale they were one of the dominating gangs in the neighborhood as they successfully recruited and outpaced most migrating Maxwell Street Market area gangs landing in North Lawndale in 1955. Coincidentally, the Almighty Vice Lord/Conservative Vice Lord founder Edwin Pepilo Perry wanted to join the Chaplains back in 1957 but he was rejected by the leader. A short time later Perry formed the Vice Lords in juvenile detention.

1958

In 1958, the Egyptian Cobras started to become a major force in North Lawndale and the Clovers continued to be the biggest gang. The craze over the Egyptian Cobras caused the recruitment pool to begin to dry up for the Chaplains but once the Vice Lords came to the streets in the fall of 1958 the recruitment pool dried up more and now the Clovers would be in jeopardy.

1959

In 1959, the North Lawndale street gang landscape changed as Clovers faded into extinction by the end of the year, Vice Lords took over most of the neighborhood while Cobras took over K-Town. In a gang fight in 1959, Edwin Perry nearly completely hacked off the leader of the Chaplain’s arm. This leader that Pepilo mutilated was “Bow Chest” who was the same Chaplain leader that turned down Pepilo’s application to join the Chaplains a few years prior. I am not sure if Bow Chest was the founder of the Chaplains or maybe just the North Lawndale chapter founder/leader, but I am not sure.

The Chaplains would have a rough year against the Vice Lords in 1960 and later in the year the gang needed to break up for a few months until 1961. During the later months of 1960 the Chaplains reorganized and tried to patch themselves back together after taking so much damage from the Vice Lords. Early in the year 1961 the Chaplains were back on the streets of North Lawndale and in bigger numbers than before and they were boldly growing in the heart of Vice Lord hood.

The Imperial Vice Lords

In the year 1961, the Chaplains attempted again to rise back to power and began assembling their forces which made Pepilo Perry want to destroy them for good this time. Pep and the Vice Lords stormed a YMCA where the Chaplains were having a party. The Vice Lords came in disguise wearing Chaplain sweaters and when the time was right, they began destroying the party tearing everything up and even throwing a juke box down the stairs. After this happened the Chaplains no longer wore the sweaters and it seemed as if they went extinct.

Much violence happened between the Vice Lords and Chaplains but in the end the Vice Lords would defeat the Chaplains and tell them they had to become Vice Lords or be destroyed but the Chaplains were still not that intimidated and would only join our of respect for their biggest foe but they demanded to keep their own identity. Back in 1961, groups of Vice Lords were named after the streets they operated on and they were not allowed their own names for their Vice Lord group but the Imperials demanded it or would not join the nation; therefore, the Vice Lord leader blessed the Imperials as “Imperial Vice Lords.” The Imperial Vice Lords were the first Vice Lord branch with an individual name giving IIVLs some deep history.

1971

In my years of research I never found any articles or court cases that mention an “Imperial Vice Lords,” but legend has it they were a Vice Lord group in North Lawndale throughout the 60s but they obviously were not as big or popular as the Imperial Chaplains.

In the year 1971, the Imperial Chaplains settled in the Austin neighborhood but I am not clear on the whole story but since Sidney Hughes A.K.A “Don Sid,” or “Prince Symphony Sid” or “Prince Shy Ku Auton” is often regarded as a founder of the nation but I don’t believe he was an Imperial Chaplain founder. Hughes may have come from North Lawndale and may have been the one that organized the Imperial Vice Lords in Austin in 1971. If Hughes was not the one who brought the Imperials to Austin he was at least an original Austin member. The original Austin area Imperial Vice Lords settled near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Austin Boulevard. This area of Austin was very much a white neighborhood back then as most African Americans in Austin in 1971 resided east of Central Avenue. The closer to the Oak Park border the more white Austin became but the original Imperials were among the first African American families to settle near the Oak Park border. These early Imperial Vice Lords fought white gangs from Austin and white gangs from Oak Park mostly and they were on good terms with the Insane gangs within the Vice Lords like Insane Vice Lords, Central Insane Vice Lords and Cicero Insane Vice Lords. The Imperial Vice Lords were not part of the Insanes when it first formed in 1971. As time would pass in the early to mid-70s, the Imperial Vice Lords grew close with the Insanes and even got into the heroin business with the Insanes.

1975

In the year 1975, the Imperial Vice Lords became the latest Vice Lord group to join the Insanes as their new name would become the “Imperial Insane Vice Lords.” If Sidney Hughes was not running the IIVLs before 1975 he sure was in charge by now and the new Imperial Insane Vice Lords or “Double Is” or “Dubs” became avid supporters and official members of the Shabazz family tree of Insane groups of Vice Lords.

The Grace Abbott projects

In the year 1975, Sidney Hughes moved out of Austin and into the Near West Side community as he became a resident of the Grace Abbott public housing projects at the intersection of Ashland Avenue and 13^th Street. Hughes then recruited in one of the buildings and took it over. This was not an easy task because the Abla or “Village” projects were heavily dominated by the Village Disciples, a Black Gangster Disciple group. From 1975 until the Grace Abbotts were torn down in the 2000s, the IIVLs always ran that building. The Grace Abbott settlement was one of the first new branches started.

West Humboldt Park, 1975

In the year 1975, West Humboldt Park changed racially and the gangs changed as well. White gangs completely left the neighborhood that included the entire rest of the white population. Supreme Gangsters and Black Souls once ruled the African American area of West Humboldt Park south of Chicago Avenue but by 1972 they were gone and replaced by Black P Stones but in 1975 the Stones were gone. African American families began moving into the neighborhood north of Chicago Avenue, south of Division Street and west of Pulaski. Multiple Vice Lord groups moved into this area and a new group of Black Gangster Disciples (Supreme Gangsters) moved into this area. The Imperial Insane Vice Lords were among the new Vice Lord groups of Humboldt Park to settle at the intersection of Keystone and Thomas. The IIVLs embarked in the heroin trade in this new community and they would eventually grow to have a hood between Thomas to Chicago Avenue and from Keystone to Pulaski.

Darnell “DJ” Thompson and the best years

In the year 1982, Sidney Hughes was no longer running the IIVLs for reasons I do not know yet but he remained behind the scenes for several years. 27 year old Darnell “DJ” Thompson took over leadership of the IIVLs and one of his first orders of business was to spread the Imperial Insane Vice Lords far and wide. Thompson wanted the IIVLs to no longer be only a mob for African Americans and became interested in recruiting Hispanics and whites. The IIVLs would experience their strongest years under DJ. DJ was an original member of the Austin area Imperial Vice Lords, but when he was in his younger years, he moved to Wicker Park in the 70s into an area along Hoyne Avenue where Insane Vice Lords, Unknown Vice Lords and Conservative Vice Lords dominated but none of those groups took in other races, instead those Vice Lord groups fought racial battles against most white and Hispanic gangs.

The Wicker Park Dubs

I am not totally positive if DJ started the IIVLs in Wicker Park prior the early 80s but by 1982 the nation was for sure put in place as many members lived in an apartment building alongside Unknown Vice Lords at the Woolman Washington Cooperative apartments at 2049 ½ W. Pierce which is at Hoyne and Pierce. Overall, the IIVLs were located between North Avenue to Evergreen and from Damen to Leavitt, the IIVLs were mixed in with Latin Kings. DJ and the IIVLs were connected heavy in the marijuana and cocaine trade in this area. DJ took in all races in Wicker Park then spread these ways city-wide and outside of Illinois. The Wicker Park IIVLs have become timeless as one of the only gangs left in Wicker Park in present years that is fully active.

Terror Town

In the early 80s Imperial Insane Vice Lords moved alongside multiple Vice Lord mobs to the south side of Chicago during the war between Black P Stones and EL Rukns. Vice Lords took advantage of this war by flipping many Stones to Vice Lord. Terror Town in the South Shore community is an area between 75^th to 79^th Street in South Shore community. Black P stones were building this area in the 70s but their build was slowed once Vice Lords moved into this area in the early 80s and the Imperial Insanes were one of the groups congregating in Terror Town. These IIVLs in Terror Town weren’t some punk kids they were elite members of the IIVLs and were serious members.

The elite IIVLs of Terror Town soon spread IIVLs to 71^st and Jeffrey and in Greater Grand Crossing at 75th-76th and Ingleside. IIVLs even spread as south as the LondonTowne townhouses in the Pullman community. Eventually the Double Is left Terror Town and LondonTowne but 71^st and Jeffrey became permanent and may still be active.

The best years

From 1982 until DJ stepped down in 2002, the Imperial Insane Vice Lords were at the top of their existence. During these years IIVLs could be found in several suburbs recruiting within the Hispanic community in Aurora and Villa Park. IIVLs even began in Joliet by the early 2000s and became deep in Joliet. IIVLs even opened in multiple states outside of Illinois spreading into the southern states, especially Memphis, Tennessee.

DJ was a leader that resisted flipping to Mafia Insane Vice Lords in 1989 when that law was handed down and many IIVLs refused to fall in line with the Mafia Insane demo.

Current years

Ever since DJ stepped down the Imperial Insanes were not the same. Joe “China Joe” Loften took over the Double Is in 2002 but he was also dealing with an addiction to heroin for some time, by the late 2000s China Joe was clean but DJ was facing legal issues in 2008 after being caught with a firearm. Because of the dysfunction of the IIVLs they began to decline in the late 2000s then once DJ died in 2010 the IIVLs began a heavy decline as they now flipped to Mafia Insane Vice Lords or Conservative Vice Lords.

IIVLs were big in the news in 2015 when multiple leaders were taken down in a drug raid in West Humboldt Park that mostly closed the Keystone and Thomas hood.

In later years IIVLs have become scare in African American neighborhoods as they are mainly only found in Austin at Cicero Avenue and Erie but they share that hood with other mobs. IIVLs still hang on to 71^st and Jeffrey but other than that IIVLs have left most African American areas and are mainly found strong in more Hispanic areas like Joliet, Elgin, Albany Park and Uptown. In Uptown the IIVLs share with Conservative Vice Lords and in Joliet IIVLs are strongly allied with Mafia Insane Vice Lords. One of the strongest independent hoods of the IIVLs is Albany Park.

Albany Park neighborhood 1990s -present years

Decks of Albany Park

Foster to Argyle, Kimball to Kedzie

Austin neighborhood Established 1971-present years

Decks of Austin

Imperial Insane Vice Lords and Undertaker Vice Lords-Erie & Cicero

Potomac & Lavergne

Chicago Ave & Austin (The Ave)

Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood Established 1982

Decks of Greater Grand Crossing

75th-76th & Ingleside

Near West Side neighborhood Established 1975-present years