Mafia Insane Vice Lords - Chicago Gang History

Founded	Founded c. 1989 by Troy Martin in or near Austin
Formerly known as	Central Insane Vice Lords, Insane Vice Lords
Affiliations	People Nation — c. 1981 – 2000 or later;
Colors	Give details
Primary ethnicities	African American
Symbols	Give details
Status	Active

The Mafia Insane Vice Lords are approximately the second largest Vice Lord gang in Chicagoland. Even though the Mafia Insanes are deep as can be with thousands of members, they are one of the newest Vice Lord names ever told on the streets. It was not until 1989 that the name “Mafia Insane Vice Lord” name emerged and by 1992, it became very well known. It almost seemed like the Mafias had been around since the Vice Lords started. The Mafia Insane name might be newer but the legacy behind it dates all the way back to the mid-late 60s. I have an Insane Vice Lord page (https://chicagoganghistory.com/gang/insane-vice-lords/) that has more of the details on the beginning of this outfit but on this page I will do a brief early history.

Benny Lee and the Apaches

In the year 1966, Benny Lee moved with his family to the Austin neighborhood at the age of 12. Benny Lee was from a middle class family and had both parents in his life but when he moved to Austin, he ended up hanging out with youths from broken homes. Austin was very much a white neighborhood back then and the first African Americans moved to the area of Cicero Avenue and Jackson Avenue in 1965. The first Vice Lord gang in Austin was the Cicero Vice Lords (Cicero Insane Vice Lords) in 1965 and when Benny Lee moved to Austin, he encountered the Cicero Vice Lords and he fought the founder Freddie Pie in the summer of 1967. Benny Lee may not have beaten Freddie Pie but he gained his respect and was commanded by the Cicero VLs to join the Vice Lords and run his own Vice Lord group. In that summer of 1967 Lee and his friends met with Vice Lords at Mendel Church at Congress and Van Buren to start their own Vice Lord group. It was Troy Martin who was the one who decided the name “Apache Vice Lords” was fitting because Lee and his friends battled groups of whites like Geronimo and the Apache Indians.

The Insanes and the Tribe of Shabazz and the rise of Troy Martin: 1971

The Apache Vice Lords had a violent run in the late 60s and early 70s that caused Benny Lee to be incarcerated in juvenile detention including a two year sentence between 1971-1973. On Christmas Day in the year 1970, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Apache Vice Lords were out robbing people of their welfare checks and once the police arrived the Apaches engaged in a shootout with police which caused two 16 year old members to be shot to death by police.

While Benny Lee was incarcerated, Troy Martin, who was a right hand man to Benny Lee took over interim leadership of the Apaches in 1971 but right around that same time in 1971 Troy Martin’s family moved close to Columbus Park at Central Avenue and Van Buren. During the same year co-founder of the Cicero Vice Lords Anthony “A.J.” Harris took over leadership of the Cicero Vice Lords. Troy Martin and A.J. worked together to create the “Insane” concepts and Harris became known as “King Assad Shabazz” and he created the “Tribe of Shabazz” concepts which was a spiritual approach to this unity of Vice Lord groups. The literature of the Insanes proclaimed that their foundation came from the Conservative Vice Lords and Shabazz was the tree while the Insanes was the branch. This mostly meant the Insanes were as one and each Vice Lord group that was “Insane” was all as one with their own leadership in their own areas. A.J’s group became the “Cicero Insane Vice Lords.” Troy Martin’s group would become the “Central Insane Vice Lords.” The Apache Vice Lords became the “Insane Vice Lords, at this time, I am not sure why they didn’t become “Apache Insane Vice Lords.”

The roots of the Mafia’s heroin trade

In the year 1971, the Montemayor Mexican drug cartel family moved to Chicago to do heroin business on the west side of Chicago. Austin was a prime location because the Cicero Avenue corridor intersected with the 290 Expressway which was a main transport hub for heroin on and off he expressway. The 290 expressway connects to several major highways that branch out all over the country and branch right into downtown Chicago. Benny Lee would never involve himself in any drug trade but Troy Martin and A.J. got big into it and formed the “Sane Gang” that consisted of some of the most cut throat killers and dealers within the Insanes. As of 1971, the Insanes were moving heroin up and down Cicero Avenue connecting with the Cartel. This is how Austin got the nickname “The Heroin Superhighway.” From 1971 into present day the heroin trade has been tremendous along this Austin strip and Cicero Avenue connects to Chicago Avenue which could move the heroin all through the west side into affluent communities like West Town and into downtown.

The 1976 Troy Martin murder case

In November of 1976, King Troy Martin was convicted of murder/attempted murder. King Troy’s home was burglarized, and he accused Charles McGee of burglarizing his home. McGee claimed he didn’t burglarize the home and Martin offered to have him come over to his place to clear up the accusation. When McGee arrived, Martin came out of another room with a large silver knife and stabbed McGee in the chest a few times according to court documents. McGee managed to escape and survive but died a few months later in 1977, this caused Martin to receive a murder charge. Despite being in prison, Troy Martin continued to operate the Central Insane Vice Lords (Source: People v. Martin).

1989: The Mafia Insane Vice Lords

I hate to keep it short for MIVL history but history under the Mafia Insane name is just not that old and the history prior to the Mafia name is spread out across multiple mob histories that especially includes Insane Vice Lords, Cicero Insane Vice Lords and the Central Insane Vice Lords. I have pages for all these mobs you can read about and you will need to paste it all together in order for it to be told to the closest I can to what I have researched. The Mafias are dominant and conquering but because of this reason many of their sections in the city once belonged to other Insane groups that built the legacy in those hoods before the Mafia Insane demonstration came out. I have the story broken up on these pages of mine: https://chicagoganghistory.com/gang/15821/, https://chicagoganghistory.com/gang/insane-vice-lords/, https://chicagoganghistory.com/gang/central-insane-vice-lords/. You will find the history of some notorious MIVL hoods back when Insane Vice Lords ran it etc…

In the year 1989, Troy Martin was still in prison for the 1976 murder and on the inside he was gaining strength and wisdom through other Vice Lord leaders. Benny Lee had become a free man in 1981 and by 1989 he was completely done being anything like a gang leader. Troy Martin was now bestowed as the new leader of the Insanes but he now wanted to add “Mafia” to “Insane” and this meant a complete absorption of all Insanes into Mafias, or basically every Vice Lord organization claiming Insane would now be Mafia Insane Vice Lords and this meant the death of independence for the other respected organizations within the family tree of Shabazz. The top leaders of Cicero Insane Vice Lords, Imperial Insane Vice Lords and Undertaker Vice Lords weren’t having it and would rather go to war with the Mafia Insanes; however, the majority of the soldiers within each group and many section leaders wanted to follow the Mafia demonstration. The biggest pull was when almost all leadership and soldiers within the Insane Vice Lords bought into the Mafia demonstration. Troy Martin absorbed the Central Insane Vice Lords 100% because he was the founder and absorbed about 90% of the IVLs because he was a co-founder and Benny Lee had no interest in stopping him. As soon as the Mafia demo began in 1989 several sections changed from IVL to MIVL that included the 4120 S. Prairie Avenue “Lonely” project building at 41^st and Prairie, West Humboldt Park territory by Pulaski between Chicago and Division, Austin neighborhood along Chicago Avenue (The Avenue), South Chicago near the Bush by 81^st Street, and the suburbs of Rockford, Joliet, and Maywood all flipped to Mafia Insanes. Many of them flipped because a profit from the MIVLs would come down and spread the news, as an example “Nose” of the Mafias came down to the 4120 project at 41^st and Prairie and flipped the IVLs overnight to MIVL in 1989. It would take about 3 years for the IVLs to flip to MIVL but the majority of the Cicero Insanes, Imperial Insanes and Untertakers flipped to Mafias. The Mafias then got so strong they flipped sections of Renegade Vice Lords and even some Conservative Vice Lords, this made the Mafia so big as they spread all over the country. This is such a massive take over that there should be a damn TV show featuring the growing power of the Mafia Insanes.

43^rd & Princeton

One of the biggest south side takeovers for the Mafias was taking the streets of 39^th (Pershing Road) to 43^rd Street in the northern part of Fuller Park. Ever since 1958 Mickey Cobras have had 43^rd to 55^th Street in Fuller Park but for some reason they never took north of 43^rd Street. I don’t know if any mobs or which mob had that land prior to the 1980s but by the early 80s Conservative Vice Lords were claiming that land until the Mafia Insanes showed up in 1989 and flipped those CVLs to Mafias. Mickey Cobras always got along with CVLs but once Mafias showed up it meant war, a bloody war that still exists today and 43^rd to 44^th Street is a war zone between both groups.

The release of Troy Martin and the 64 concepts

In the year 1998, Troy Martin was released from prison after spending over 20 years behind bars. According to court documents, Martin became immediately involved in major drug trafficking and weapons trafficking in collusion with Four Corner Hustlers and Cicero Insane Vice Lords (Source: UNITED STATES v. MARTIN). When Troy Martin got out of prison the Mafia Insanes grew incredibly and this was likely when they took over many Renegade Vice Lord territories.

When Troy Martin got out in 1998, he declared Moore Park at Leamington and Quincy to Adams the new headquarters for the Mafias in the Austin neighborhood. At this time also the Mafias went on a conquest of North Avenue in Austin and took over a massive part of the major block. North Avenue is also known as, Illinois Route 64; therefore, the Mafias adopted the “64” concepts.

Later years

In 2004, authorities closed in on Troy Martin and by 2005 he was back in prison. Martin would spend around 10 years behind bars until his case was reviewed and he was released. Martin did not step into retirement after his release and continued to run the Mafias and he moved to the suburb of Bolingbrook. Because he was still active in the Mafias he ended up being arrested and brought up on more RICO type charged in 2021 at close to 70 years old. After 2021, I am not sure about the status of Troy Martin. The Mafia Insanes have now become the second largest Vice Lord branch in the country.

Known decks of Vice Lords past and present:

Austin neighborhood Established 1967

Decks of Austin

Chicago & Monticello

Kilpatrick & West End

Cortland to North Ave, Austin to Mayfield (Deathrow)

North Ave & Lockwood (Deathrow)

North Ave from Cortland to Mayfield (Deathrow)

(former Insane Vice Lord territory)-Rice to Superior, Austin to Mayfield (The Ave)

(former Insane Vice Lord and Cicero Insane Vice Lord territory)-Chicago Ave & Cicero Ave (The Ave)

(former Insane Vice Lord territory)-Chicago Ave Lavergne to Lamon (The Ave)

Maypole & La Crosse

Washington to Jackson, Lavergne to Cicero (LA)

Mafia Insane Vice Lords and Conservative Vice Lords-North Ave & Lorel

Adams & Lavergne

(Former Cicero Insane Vice Lord territory)-Fulton & La Crosse

(Former Cicero Insane Vice Lord territory)-Iowa & Cicero

(Former Cicero Insane Vice Lord territory)-Lake & Cicero

Madison & Cicero

Madison & Lamon

Madison & Lotus

Madison & Menard

Madison & Waller

Monroe & Lavergne

Mafia Insane Vice Lords and Undertaker Vice Lords-Ohio & Cicero

(Former Cicero Insane Vice Lord territory)-Potomac & Cicero

Superior & Cicero

Washington & Cicero

West End & La Crosse

Madison to Maypole, Lavergne to Kilbourn

West End & La Porte

Douglas neighborhood, established 1981

Decks of Douglas

41st to 43rd, Wabash to Calumet (Mafia Town TYB)

Fuller Park neighborhood

Decks of Fuller Park

Root to 43rd, Shields to Wentworth (Princeton Mobb)

41st & Princeton

43rd & Princeton

Garfield Ridge neighborhood, established 1989-2011

Decks of Garfield Ridge

Mafia Insane Vice Lords and Conservative Vice Lords-43rd to 47th, Cicero to Lavergne (Leclaire Courts projects shared with Four Corner Hustlers, 43rd and Cicero was 4CH and CVL, 45th and Leclaire was MIVL and CVL, South End Conservatives) Established 1989-2011