Undertaker Vice Lords

The Undertaker Vice Lords have one of the coolest names for a gang I have ever heard. I first heard of the Undertakers in the late 90s and since then I have always been interested in Undertaker history but it has been a pain in the ass trying to get the history on this historic mob and I have made several attempts on this site for the past decade to get it right but I had been wrong several times. Here I am now hoping that I finally have the mostly correct history of this mob with one of the coolest names out there on the Chicago streets. What I love about what I recently learned from old articles and seeing several social media stories is that the UTVL history has some real depth and is a big part of Austin history.

The roots

The Undertaker Vice Lord history is rooted not only in Austin neighborhood history but also in with the earliest Vice Lord history in Austin. The story starts within the Cicero Vice Lords (Cicero Insane Vice Lords). The Cicero Vice Lords were founded in the year 1965 in the southern part of the Austin neighborhood among the very first African American families in Austin. Austin was like an extension of the suburbs of Cicero and Oak Park that bordered the large Chicago community on the south and the west. Even the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood in the north was once purely white until the early 80s. African Americans that far west of the inner city of Chicago were unofficially not allowed to move this far west but when whites began losing interest in the Cicero and Jackson area due to I-290 pollution and sound by the mid-1960s the middle class African American population could no longer ignore it and now felt they needed to fill these vacancies that the white man didn’t want anymore while trying to live the American dream. Nearby white residents were fuming about this and scores of white adults and white gangs attacked African Americans if they set foot outside of Cicero and Jackson especially if they went near Columbus Park. The first group of African American boys to fight back against the whites were Freddie Pie, Anthony “King Assad Shabazz” Harris and others until the Conservative Vice Lords from Holy City in North Lawndale blessed them with their own Vice Lord group that they named after Cicero Avenue becoming the “Cicero Vice Lords” in 1965. In 1967, the Cicero Vice Lords commanded Benny Lee, Troy Martin and others to start their own Vice Lord group at Gladys and Lavergn and they would become “Apache Vice Lords.” The Apaches fought the same racial battles as the Ciceros and battles would continue through the 1960s. When the Four Corner Hustlers formed in south Austin and Central Austin in 1968, they even teamed up with Apaches and Ciceros, this is how severe the racial battles were.

In the year 1970, a new group of very young boys joined the Cicero Vice Lords that were as young as 8 years old. These boys were the younger brothers and young cousins of the original Ciceros. The Cicero Vice Lords were recruiting out of May Elementary School located at Lavergne and Congress. Cicero Vice Lords were also recruiting at Gladiator School (now known as Christ the King Jesuit College Prep) which is located at Leamington and Jackson, just a block away from Cicero and Jackson.

The Tribe of Shabazz

In the year 1971, Anthony Harris took over leadership of the Cicero Vice Lords and introduced the Ciceros to the Nation of Islam which established the “Tribe of Shabazz.” Harris became known as “King Assad Shabazz” and he established the “Insane” branch of Vice Lords. This united Cicero Vice Lords and Apache Vice Lords as one under the Insane family. The foundation was the Conservative Vice Lords while the “tree” was the Tribe of Shabazz and the “Branch” was the “Insane.” By default, the 2^nd generation of Ciceros were now Insane and part of the Shabazz Tribe.

The Undertakers

In the year 1972, the 2^nd generation of the Cicero Vice Lords were congregating on their own at Cicero and Congress as many of these boys lived in the Courtway Building that used to be located at the corner. The leader among the boys was Eddie “Hi Neef” (High Nephew) Richardson who was 17 years old at the time and Richardson formed the group alongside “Redman.” Richardson was a former member of the Black Souls gang that had originated from West Garfield Park. The Black Souls were an African American gang that conflicted with Cicero Vice Lords and now one of their best had become a Cicero Vice Lord.

According to a August 13, 2014 interview conducted by Tammy Leitner for NBC News with Clifton “Booney” McFowler, who was an Undertaker Vice Lord co-founder and original member and the original Prince. The original members initiated new members by having them throw rocks through the windows of Fountain Jordan Shepard Funeral Home Inc in order to stare at a dead body. The funeral home is still in business and is still located right at the corner of Congress and Cicero and it was convenient for the young Ciceros from the Courtway apartments across the street. There were 8 original members according to McFowler and because of this ritual they began calling themselves the “Cicero Undertaker Insane Vice Lords” in 1972. An original symbol of the Undertakers was a pitchfork in between the “U” and the “T” that they used until the later 70s when they found out Black Gangster Disciples were mainly using that symbol. An original slogan of the Undertakers was “Undertaker meet your maker!”

The Heroin Superhighway origin

The main founders of the Insanes like Troy Martin and Anthony Harris got plugged in with the heroin trade along Cicero Avenue possibly as early as 1971 when the Insanes were first formed. By the year 1975, Chicago police had began investigating this heroin operation and it was now known. By this time Eddie Richardson was 20 years old and old enough to get him and the Undertakers plugged into the heroin game, but any activity was not well-known to Chicago police until 1984. According to the court case of United States of America versus Eddie Richardson in 1998, the sale of brown heroin began investigation at the Courtway apartments which was sold as 25 packs of $25 bags of brown heroin. The Undertakers were also distributing heroin at Cicero and Van Buren and Cicero and Laramie. By 1990, Undertakers got into selling crack at the Highway Beef Stand at Cicero and Gladys.

Rockford and Maywood

I don’t have much information about Undertakers in the suburbs but I do know they were on Rockford’s southwest side starting in 1987 and were in the western suburb of Maywood. Undertakers remain in Maywood and Rockford. These are the only suburbs I know of that have had Undertakers.

The war with the Mafias

In the year 1989, Troy Martin took over the Insanes and was mostly successful in bringing most of the Insanes into the Mafias as he created the “Mafia Insane Vice Lords” and it was declared law. The high up elites like Eddie Richardson refused to be part of the Mafia demonstration and the Undertakers further separated from the Insane concepts as well as they were now called the “Undertaker Cicero Vice Lords” then eventually “Undertaker Vice Lords.” Because of the war with the Mafia Insanes the Undertakers became tight with Four Corner Hustlers who were once their enemies. Many Undertakers would flip to MIVLs during the 1990s and 2000s.

Later years

After multiple drug busts in the 1990s and 2000s of high ranking members like Carmen Tate, Eddie Richardson and Joseph Westmoreland and after several members flipped to Mafia Insane Vice Lords the Undertakers have mostly been confined back to where they originated in the hood called “The Graveyard” which includes Cicero and Congress. Some say the Undertakers are gone but others will say they are still active. Undertakers also remain active in Rockford and Maywood. The Undertakers didn’t seem to lose turf over time they just lost a stronger head count as many got consumed by the Mafia Insane Vice Lords. Over time Eddie Richardson rose to the highest rank in the Vice Lords as a Five Star Universal Elite.

Austin neighborhood Established 1972

Decks of Austin

Jackson to Harrison, Cicero to Kilpatrick (Grave Yard) Established 1970

(Former Cicero Insane Vice Lord turf)-Ohio & Cicero

Race & Laramie

Adams & Kilpatrick

Harrison to Van Buren, Laramie to Kilpatrick

Van Buren & Cicero

Gladys & Cicero

Flournoy & Cicero

Cicero & Congress

Suburbs

Rockford Late 80s-present years

Maywood 80s-present years