1964

Machine gun fire echoed as torpedoes ripped through the waters at the Gulf of Tolkien near North Vietnam paving the way to the opening moves of the near future Vietnam war.  In the United States Thousands of ecstatic fans screamed until they nearly passed out as the Beatles exited Pan Am jets at John F. Kennedy Airport as British Rock and Roll music took our nation by storm.  In the Mediterranean Turks and Greeks clashed in urban warfare as a new civil war erupted.  Boxing legend Cassius Clay announced he was no longer by that name and he was now Mohamad Ali as he now dedicated himself to the nation of Islam and would now become one of the biggest professional boxers in history as he now stood up for civil rights.  Rioters around the country clashed with police over racial injustice as cities burned as an oppressed people would no longer take the treatment they were given paving way to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

1964 was a year with significant events that swept the headlines, some of these events would have an impact on our country forever.  As significant as the 1964 events were for our country and our world it was an even bigger year for Chicago street gangs that experienced their own major events that have left a permanent stamp on these organizations to present day.   Again, and again while I heard all the stories of the gangs’ earliest years, I would often hear 1964 come up again and again and a lot of it pertained to the largest organizations in our city.  Vice Lords nations, Harrison Gents, Black P stones, Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples and Latin Eagles are some of the groups the most impacted by this fateful year in Chicago gang history.  I had figured it best to have all that history spread out among all the different gang pages and I figured my readers would piece it together about the importance of this year but then I realized not many are going to dig as deep as me and be detailed like that so now I am writing this piece to make 1964 stand out as the most significant year in Chicago gang history.  It is of great importance for this year to be given a spotlight as some of these events caused other events to occur in gang history.  This also effects four of our top five largest gangs in the Chicago area and it deserves focus.  1964 impacted gangs in the black community on Chicago’s south side and west side.  The impact was felt in the developing Hispanic communities of Little Village, Humboldt Park, Wicker Park and many other pockets of Hispanic communities among both Puerto Ricans and Mexicans.  1964 also had an impact on the most significant white street gangs on Chicago’s north side.

The growing movement in the south

As cities across the country burned in the name of racial injustice Chicago as a city was spared from these 1964 racial riots but not the suburbs.  Growing racial tensions had been building for years in the south suburbs.  In the 1950s the first black residents moved into Harvey, Markham, Dixmoor and Chicago Heights and more black families came to Ford Heights and Phoenix which began racial tensions; however, the issue did not worsen until the early 1960s as the black populations grew in these suburbs.  All these tensions led up the Gin Bottle riots of the Harvey and Dixmoor areas.

On August 16, 1964 a massive riot erupted that turned violent as there was a dispute that the store manager of the Foremost Liquors in Dixmoor should have been arrested for assaulting a black woman that was accused of stealing a bottle of gin.  The store owner and the woman tangled over the bottle and claims came out that the owner punched the woman and beat her while the store owner claimed otherwise.  Regardless of what really happened this incident was enough to push rioters to stand up for ongoing racial injustice actions that had occurred over the years as the pot finally boiled over. Buildings burned, people got hurt, windows were smashed as rioters in the area mimicked the rioting around the country. This was the rise of black power and the tipping point when black people had had enough. The fight for racial equality took a violent turn in this country and here in Dixmoor-Harvey area the riot became legendary that was heard around the world.

The Civil Rights Act was passed on July 2, 1964 but it did not stop incidents of racial injustice which further angered black communities throughout the country as the months of July and August were packed with riots nationwide.  During this time period the black gangs of the south side of Chicago felt the spirit of the civil rights movement especially the Blackstone Rangers (now known as Black P Stones).  The Stones’ very foundation was based upon racial injustices as black families struggled to settle peacefully in the Woodlawn and Englewood white communities in the 1950s.  A movement against oppression began by the black youths that they called the “Players” which was soon replaced by the Blackstone Raiders in 1955.  This organization rather quietly fought back against the oppressors even though the name and their activities never made the paper.  Future Black Panther leader Fred Hampton’s brother was a co-founder of this organization so you can see how deep these roots are.  By the end of the 1950s the Raiders’ operations were falling apart even after they had swelled to having thousands of members in Morgan Park, Englewood and of course Woodlawn.  The organization was revived in 1959 when they became the Blackstone Rangers.

Although the Rangers were not making headline news in the early 1960s, they still grew and became highly organized, at the same time their arch enemies the Disciples were growing incredibly starting in 1959 and during the early 1960s.  The Disciples were a silent organization that did not want any attention; however, they would end up getting attention anyway from the press and the police especially because of their size.  The Disciples first appeared in the newspaper in the year 1960 well before Rangers were published, Rangers would not have their name in the paper until 1965.  During this time period in the first half of the 1960s when the public knew very little about these gangs they were growing exponentially on the south side of Chicago.  In the year 1960 both Disciples and Rangers landed in the white community of South Shore as they arrived the help curtail racial injustice by this hostile white community that didn’t want black families moving in.  The real boost in recruitment into these gangs would come in 1964.

Beginning in 1964 the Blackstone Rangers spread their influence to the following further southside neighborhoods: Roseland, Chatham, Auburn-Gresham, and Washington Heights.  The Devil’s Disciples expanded to Roseland, Chatham, Calumet Heights, Burnside, Auburn-Gresham and Washington Heights.  These new territories were a result of a sudden influx in black migration into majority white communities that were often hostile about blacks moving in.  These neighborhoods also experienced a jump in crime caused by an undesirable wave or criminal groups that Stones and Disciples aimed to put down.

The spirit of the civil rights movement breathed more life into the Rangers and Disciples as they now swelled in numbers in their respective neighborhoods because this was the way to be part of some real power on the streets.  When the Gin Bottle riots kicked off in the late summer of 1964 the Blackstone Rangers saw this as their opportunity to open a gateway into the south suburbs to address all the problems with racial mistreatment. 

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The beginning of the Gangsters

The term “gangster” is a general term that can be used to describe any individual participating in a criminal syndicate.  Here in the Chicago area “gangster” many times implies something else especially if you are referring to the gangland community mainly on the south side. 

In the year 1964, young boys around the age of 13 and younger gathered at 68^th and Green in the Englewood community to watch the local pimps, hustlers, players and gang members do their thing late at night around the Gal’s and Guys’ Club right at that corner that once existed.  They watched young men in their teens and twenties act out syndicate activity as they pimped women, sold drugs, hustled all night and sometimes shot and killed people.  These were the wild streets of Englewood that were growing more dangerous each year by this point in history.  Gangsters and hustlers were what these boys grew up admiring. 

At this time the Disciples and Rangers were growing larger every day, but they weren’t big money makers back then.  The boys at 68^th and Green had a dream to make money and be just like groups like the Disciples that composed of the cousins of these boys.  The boys went their own direction in 1964 and instead of joining the Disciples they started their own group and the “Gangsters” of Chicago were born!

The Gangsters of Chicago were first known as the Supreme Gangsters until they invented the Gangster nation in 1966.  In 1969 they became a part of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation alliance with the Disciples then they took this name as their own in 1981 before eventually becoming the Gangster Disciples we know today.

The Gangster Disciples have been hailed many times throughout history as the largest organization in the Chicago area.  Not only that the Gangster Disciples also known as GDs are one of the biggest gangs in the world.  There are GDs, in England, France, Japan, the Caribbean, you name it.  One may ask why the GDs are so big, well, one of the best ways to sum that up is that not only does their name attract a lot of attention but so does the fact they know how to make money.  In the Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor projects alone, the GDs made over $100,000,000 a year in drug profits from Crack distribution.  This organization is a money-making powerhouse with connections all over the place between the Chicago Outfit to Mexican drug cartels or just about any syndicate out there. 

So how did the GDs get so connected one might ask?  Well it took a lot of being cool with parts of other organizations, it took keeping their mouths shut (moving in silence) and abiding by strict organizational laws in their early years.  Larry Hoover, the man who put it all together at the age of 13 back in 1964 was very intelligent and very organized.  Any time a successful syndicate operated in human history there was always a man or men with big brains putting it together.  Many of these men cannot read or write very well but that doesn’t matter when the human brain can be wired for the intelligence to organize and brainstorm at a higher caliber. 

The GDs tapped into everything, every kind of hustle out there and would brutally enforce any violations of their laws upon their members if needed and brutally remove opposition that got in the way of profits.  Now this sounds like just about any other big gang in the city, but the GDs got into the game first and got in early.  The GDs also had the support of the majority of the Disciple nation in the 1960s and 1970s; therefore, when it came time to decide if one was to claim Disciple or Gangster more Disciples chose to go with Gangster than Disciple and with the combined business ethic of the Gangsters and sheer size of the majority of the Disciples the GDs were able to hit the ground running right away in 1981 during their rebirthing.  It all happened so fast and the GDs took the drug trade by storm in the projects just in time for Mayor Jane Byrne to come spend a few weeks in Cabrini Green.  Right away Byrne knew of the GDs even though the Black Gangster Disciple gang had just developed.  The Gangsters moved silently since 1969 and operated under the BGD alliance confusing law enforcement and the general public that couldn’t tell the difference between Gangsters and Disciples.  During this time period the BGD nation was able to amass much power and when the split happened the Gangsters offered money making opportunities on the streets that the Disciples couldn’t offer yet.  Eventually the Disciples became a money making powerhouse in the later years but at this time they were not as large as the Gangsters. 

The roots of a gang are what makes the mob flourish so well later.  It is because the Gangsters came up in 1964 and showed new avenues of making money that Disciples, Cobras and Rangers had not yet tapped into.  The Gangsters were a step ahead in the money-making game and remained that way through the years.  Charisma is a key to GD development.  Larry Hoover had Charisma and so did his inner council of guys.  This charisma was taught to young men and women over the years that followed the ways Hoover set back in the 60s.  This was also the year of the civil rights movements and the Gangsters could offer making money to really achieve the power many young black men were looking for on the streets of Englewood.

West side unity

The race riots exploding around the country not only inspired the south side streets of Chicago the west side streets also experienced change.  The south side was all about growth, but the west side was hollering out about unity.  In July of 1964 as the civil rights riots just began nationwide the west side Vice Lord older members felt the spirit of these actions but instead of feeling violent, they had an opposite revelation.  The older Vice Lords felt they could help their community more by helping to repair the damage done instead of adding to the chaos.  Starting on that July day and forward the older Vice Lords now wanted to preach peace and now wanted to legitimize their organization.

It all started with meetings after meetings on the streets in the summer of ’64.  Vice Lords called a truce with Egyptian Cobras and Roman Saints only to find out these groups’ older members were also hungry for peace too.  Before you knew it there was a big cease fire all over North Lawndale and to a lesser extent East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park and the Near West Side.  Of course, this ceasefire wasn’t in effect every day as small wars erupted at times but now gang leaders had the tools and contacts to meet with one another to cool things down. 

Among all the meetings Vice Lords held one of the most important of all meetings which was the establishment of the different Vice Lord branches that made history that year.  It was in 1964 when the Vice Lord nation broke into different factions which gave birth the legendary Traveling Vice Lords and Unknown Vice Lords.  Most of the branches that were established in 1964 eventually died out but the UVLs and TVLs would live on into present day.  If it wasn’t for 1964 these Vice Lords groups would not have achieved their individuality they have today.

Not only was 1964 pivotal for the creation of Vice Lord factions, it was also pivotal for the foundation of true Vice Lord beliefs as a peaceful organization that is aimed to better the black community and the members of the organization.  In the news all you see is the negative and the violence that Vice Lords get involved in but just remember, the basis of the Vice Lord nation does not have any written constitution gearing young men to become gangbangers that is just the byproduct of what the organization does to make money in desolate situations.  The CVL structure was produced in 1964 by men with good intentions as they put away their life of crime in place of community involvement. Those same men were the ones who crafted the bylaws for Vice Lords to live by after they refuted a life of crime, this shows Conservative Vice Lord is not meant to be about drugs and crime. 

A nation of Kings is born

Since the 1910s-decade Chicago has experienced waves of Hispanic migration that has shaped the culture of this city.  Hispanic culture has become a pivotal part of Chicago heritage over time that is very much celebrated by our city.  According to 2016 census statistics Chicago is over 29% Hispanic which shows how deeply rooted Hispanic culture is in this city.

The settlement of Hispanic people has by no means been an easy task as many political and street battles had to ensue over the decades just for Hispanic people to prosper and raise their families.  What is seldom written about in any books, newspapers and in interviews is the street battles that Hispanic people had to endure as migration waves came to this city.  Hispanic people seldom protest and often have too much pride to make a big deal out of mistreatment, hence, why you rarely hear about racial injustices of the past.  The Hispanic youths endured to worst of the treatment on the streets as growing up in Chicago and just going to school or engaging in recreational activities often became difficult.  Chicago has been a city of ethnic and racial hatred for many years as Jewish, Italian, Irish, Hispanic and black people had been targeted for discrimination.  In later years some groups of Italian and Irish began to discriminate against blacks and Hispanics which kept up a cycle of hate.   

Mexican people migrated to Chicago during World War 1 then slowly throughout the 1920s decade settled in the Back of the Yards, Near West Side and South Chicago neighborhoods.  By 1930, Mexican people that had settled during this first wave were deported back to Mexico due to employment loss during the Great Depression era.  This was done after these families had already made a life in this city and now were forced to leave.  During World War 2 Mexican people came back in a second wave but this time they would not stand for deportation when the war was over, but this involved engaging in politics and fighting politically for their rights to stay.  Companies in this city used Mexican people to fulfill labor jobs that whites and blacks didn’t want as these companies paid a lower wage than before, then once the wars were over and the Mexican workers were not needed the government tried to send them back to Mexico.  Mexican people fought for their rights to stay and succeeded and by the late 1950s another wave of Mexican people were able to grace this city.

Puerto Rican people first migrated to Chicago in a small wave in the late 1930s, but the bigger wave didn’t come until after World War 2 as visas were issued for Puerto Rican families to flee the war-torn country of Puerto Rico.  The United States extended control over Puerto Rico ever since the United States came in to eradicate the brutal Spanish rule during the Spanish-American war of 1898.  At that point the United States ruled Puerto Rico which angered many who had advocated for Puerto Rican independence and now had to trade one ruler for another.  This brought about some anti-American sentiment as many families were left in poverty and felt they had no other choice but to migrate to the very country they hated in order to find a better life for their families.  When Puerto Rican people arrived, it was assumed that all were anti-American and racial attacks began that were largely undocumented.  Puerto Rican people primarily settled in the downtown Loop area and the Near North Side in the Old Town area in an area known as “La Clark.”  Puerto Rican people also were scattered on the south side in areas like Woodlawn.  Middle class whites resented Puerto Rican presence and made it a living hell for the men to walk to work in the neighborhood.  Constant heckles, bullying and attacks led to the formation of “La Hacha Vieja.” La Hacha Vieja (The old hatchet in English) was considered the first Puerto Rican gang in Chicago and was probably the first significant Hispanic gang even though not much is known about them.  I don’t know exactly where their turf was and it seemed more like a movement than a gang as men in their 30s were joining.  One of their biggest goals was to assist the working men and women in the community with getting to work without being harassed.  I don’t know what happened to this group, but I believe they were replaced in the late 1950s by more well-known groups like the Young Lords. 

Mexican gangs were rare too during these early years and if they did exist, they were zoot suiter types wearing those zoot suit outfits.  Zoot suit style is more about looking cool and tough as opposed to being a movement of any sort. 

The focus of Hispanic migrants was to just work and make a living.  Mexican people were often allowed to move into white communities while Puerto Ricans were forced to live in black neighborhoods until 1958 with just a few exceptions before 1958 moved into some white neighborhoods like East Village, Wicker Park, Lincoln Park and Humboldt Park but only sparsely.

In the early 1960s, Puerto Rican people continued to slowly move to the north side neighborhoods of Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Uptown, East Village, East Humboldt Park, West Humboldt Park and Wicker Park.  As this migration progressed small Puerto Rican clubs began to develop that were like social athletic clubs geared toward sports activities and such.  Puerto Rican youths did their best to avoid the gang life but as these years progressed these clubs discovered it was increasingly difficult to exist as a crew without catching problems from white greaser clubs or even other Puerto Rican SAC groups. 

Right away upon inception the Latin Kings were already a major force to be reckoned with overnight as they recruited some of the toughest, craziest and gutsy guys out there into their army.  Latin Kings didn’t discriminate on skin color, as soon as they formed in 1964, they took in whites and blacks especially up north.  Skin color didn’t matter at all if the members were willing to fight for the overall causes of the Latin King nation.  The Blackstone Rangers, Vice Lords and Devil’s Disciples and Egyptian Cobras were super gangs among the blacks in Chicago and now the Hispanics would have their own.

On the streets of West Town and Humboldt Park now there was a major force to be reckoned with as hundreds of young men gathered in large groups sporting black and gold sweaters as they moved in large numbers converging upon their enemies.  When this army of hundreds came barreling down the streets and alleyways rivals took off running and many found themselves beaten and crushed as the Latin Kings showed Chicago that the Hispanic man was fighting back.

 

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More options other than being a Latin King

In West Humboldt Park and Wicker Park Latin Kings of the north had their biggest sections in the growing Puerto Rican community.  The heaviest concentration of Latin Kings were needed in these neighborhoods as gangs like the Jokers and Simon City in West Humboldt Park were formidable foes and some of the toughest greasers out there.  In Wicker Park C-Notes, Gaylords, Chi-west, Playboys, Ventures and Pulaski Park haunted Puerto Rican youths and often preyed upon them.  Then by Bell Street a growing group of Vice Lords were evolving among the small black community that clashed with Puerto Rican youths.  Even though these were ripe breeding grounds for Latin Kings to provide back up for disadvantaged Puerto Rican youths some youths just didn’t like what the Latin Kings were all about.  Sometimes it was because maybe some guys joined the Latin Kings that had issues with another group of guys before the Latin Kings began.  Perhaps it was because some groups of youths gained popularity, threw good parties and got the girls but excluded the Latin Kings from their fun.  Perhaps it was because a group just thought the Latin Kings were punks and started problems with them just to show they were tougher.  Whatever the case was some youths in Wicker Park and West Humboldt Park gravitated toward other groups like the Spanish Lords or simply started their own group.  One group called the Warlords was friends with the Latin Kings and even had members in the Latin Kings but wanted to follow their own rules which brought about their independence.  In West Humboldt Park independence from the Latin Kings was unacceptable.

The Harrison Gents organization from the Near West Side was a group that began in 1959 and was for a mix of Puerto Rican and black youths from the neighborhood.  Because of this the Harrison Gents were one of the primary options for Hispanic youths to join in Hispanic populated areas.  The reason I haven’t mentioned them thus far is because they were founded by both blacks and Hispanics equally and were never based upon any certain race.  In the year 1964 many Puerto Rican Harrison Gents moved away from the Near West Side community and landed in the East Village community and Wicker Park.  Much of the reason for the move was University of Illinois at Chicago construction that began heavily that year displacing many families.  Harrison Gents arrived that exact year according to several accounts I have heard over time and sure enough were landing in majority white communities with a growing Hispanic population.  Not only that, in Uptown there was a growing black community that would help continue the Harrison Gents’ legacy as a mixed-race group but this time including white members, a perfect cultural melting pot for the Uptown community.  The Harrison Gents got real big real fast as they found many Puerto Rican and white youths in East Village that couldn’t stand Latin Kings or Playboys.  Those were the biggest clubs in the neighborhood and some youths were the victims of racial attacks by the Playboys while others just couldn’t stand how Latin Kings were dominating the neighborhood causing the Harrison Gents to become a big deal.  In Uptown the Latin Kings were good friends with the newly arrived Harrison Gents as both gangs hung out at Ainslie and Winthrop constantly.  These groups came together perhaps because of the trouble they got from southern based white groups.  1964 was indeed the year that really put the Harrison Gents on the map in Chicago as they were now becoming one of the fastest growing organizations in the city.  The Harrison Gents were dynamic not only by how they were very multiracial during racist times but also because their rivalry with certain groups was confined to the politics of that neighborhood and they didn’t let it affect their relations with other sections of Harrison Gents, this is how they would kill Latin Kings in East Village and be best pals with them in Uptown.

As you can see, 1964 clearly shaped how our most significant mobs would develop and is an important year to recognize in Chicago gang history.