| Settled by | Provide info |
|---|---|
| Year infiltrated | 1976 |
| Crime impact | Part |
| Worst areas | The Jungle |
Franklin Park is one of a cluster of Cook County/Du Page County area suburbs connected with O-Hare Airport in the western suburbs. Franklin Park has historically been linked with heavy gang activity between the suburbs of: Northlake, Stone Park, Melrose Park, and Bensenville. Over time I have learned that Franklin Park has a very old and storied gangbanging presence going back to the 1970s; however, one might be shocked to learn, most of it was in one little, small area, let’s delve into this interesting history that will lead us to the story of the Almighty Imperial Gangsters of “The Jungle!”
In the 1840s German farmers fleeing a German military draft, discovered these lands and built farms here as the first Franklin Park residents; however, nothing was official and there was no community yet. The Kirchhoffs, Martens, and Schierhorns were among these first German families that came here in the 1840s and 1850s. Nobody paid much attention to these lands until the mid-1870s when the Milwaukee railroad tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad decided to lay tracks through this area. A train station was built in 1880 on Elm Street which runs along the Franklin Park border with the suburb of River Grove. (fact sources VillageofFranklinPark.com and Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org)
In the year 1890, Lesser (yes Lesser is his first name) Franklin came to Franklin Park with a grand vision of building a community with a large industrial area. This would provide not only housing to residents but also large amounts of employment. This was a big plan and took off successfully. This led to the August 4, 1892, vote to incorporate this town officially and the Village of Franklin Park was born. Lesser Franklin built a pavilion near where the three railroad lines intersected on Rose Street (25th Ave and Belmont Ave) that offered free Sunday train rides that included free food, beer and entertainment. Lesser Franklin donated tracts of land to an iron foundry in 1900, the Siegel, Cooper Company in 1905 just as some examples. This early 20th century growth brought in Polish, Italian and Slavic immigrants that came to work in the many industries. (fact sources VillageofFranklinPark.com, www.visitoakpark.com, and Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org)
Nationwide economic prosperity after World War II fueled the birth of Douglas Aircraft and Buick Motors. By 1948, Franklin Park could now boast 40 manufacturing companies. In the 1950s Franklin Park’s industrial and manufacturing roared to develop 155 more companies. Franklin Park heavily supported industrial and manufacturing growth by specially making zoning laws favorable to these companies. (fact source Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org)
The 1950s was a time of not only heavy industrial and manufacturing development but also for major residential development as this small town of around 3,000 blossomed to over 18,000 residents by 1960. Franklin Park became the home to well-paid blue-collar workers that not only worked locally but also worked at O-Hare Airport and surrounding industries. Franklin Park became loaded with public transit due to the proximity to O-Hare and the plentiful railroad lines. The Manheim Road highway became dotted with commercial business and was a main vein deep into the Du Page County suburbs. This was a very happy town in the making and has remained a community always seeking further industrial development. Residents not only enjoy employment opportunities and public transit access they also can appreciate low crime and safe, clean streets. Since the 1970s, Hispanic blue-collar, white-collar middle-classes have settled this community adding to the rich culture of Franklin Park. Residents of Franklin Park tend to be heavy commuters as well as local workers because of the array of public transit.
A perceived less desirable aspect of Franklin Park that developed in the 1960s was the growth of the “Sin City” strip which was along Mannheim Road and on Grand Avenue. This was the sprout up of multiple adult entertainment clubs (strip clubs) and adult bookstores. These sprouted in the 1960s and 1970s along the Mannheim and Grand Avenue corridors extending into Stone Park because of the high rate of travelers in and out of O-Hare Airport once the airport began passenger travel in large volume in the early 60s. These businesses upset residents and attracted sleezy patronage that often-caused crime and issues in the community. This brought in low budget motels to the area to cater to not only budget minded travelers but also those that wanted to indulge in the “sin” of the sin city strips and purchase prostitutes. Soon prostitution gravitated into this quiet community and residents blamed the Sin City industries.
With all this enriched and celebrated history and the present-day status, why am I even making a page for this bustling Cook County suburb; furthermore, why does Franklin Park always score as a “moderate” rate of crime by sources such as Crimegrade.org or City-data.com? Those sources do gather factual law enforcement data and compare to the national average, so how the hell does the crime reach a moderate level in this safe community? The main reason centers around “The Jungle” and it is time to bring this issue to the table and exploit this issue (not exploiting the people that live there though or even the gangs).
So, what is “The Jungle” exactly? The Jungle is a very small area of Franklin Park connected to the Manheim highway. This is the craziest part of town that many hardworking, mostly Hispanic residents call home. This is a section of Franklin Park where residents earn lower incomes and often struggle to get through daily life as many in this cluster experience higher rates of poverty. We should never demonize the people of The Jungle but instead we need to face the social problems that have caused this small area so much headache. Most of the people in The Jungle are law abiding good people that desperately want safer streets to raise their families but some in The Jungle are from a wilder breed and add to the crime in the area or attract it. Criminals have often wondered into this small area looking for trouble and of course gangbanging has been strong in this little area for decades. Granted, The Jungle has been cleaned up greatly since the 2000s but still has issues with high crime and gang activity. Now let’s delve into exactly what “The Jungle” is and where it is located.
In the year 1961, a private developer staked out land along Mannheim Road near the intersection of Mannheim and Grand Avenue. This developer wanted to build affordable apartments and townhouses for pilots and stewardesses serving O-Hare Airport now that the airport had a growing passenger aspect. Much pride was put into building this isolated complex and the streets were dug and given family names such as: Bright Street, Houston Street, Prairie Street, Ruth Street, James Avenue, and Jill Street. Center Avenue, Schiller Boulevard and Crown Road became the access points from Mannheim Road as these all led to a cul-de-sac type of layout. This was likely designed for privacy reasons when these were built between 1961-1963. This seemed to be a private community in the 1960s because it was mostly cut off from the rest of Franklin Park as it was nestled close to the southern border with the suburb of Northlake. I am not sure if the apartments were named Franklin Manor Apartments originally or not but that is what they are called presently and for several years.
In the early 1970s, the original developers of this cluster of apartments and townhomes went bankrupt and sold the area. This was the beginning of the dark years of this housing cluster. New ownership was not as good at upkeeping the area and even allowed a 30-foot semi-trailer, formerly used by a circus company, to dump their trailer on Mannheim and Center Ave in the early 70s that had a circus scene of tigers and lions painted on it. This trailer ended up sitting here for years and tall weeds grew around it. This trailer is likely the source of “The Jungle” nickname because it gave you the feel of entering a jungle because of the tall weeds engulfing the painted image of jungle wildlife, the nickname became suitable due to the craziness and high crime that would usher in later.
In the year 1976, the Chicago Housing Authority came to Franklin Park when they built a large tower at Franklin Avenue and Pearl Street. This tower itself I have never heard any crime stories about, but this seems to mark the period when CHA housing was offered to Franklin Park residents including residents in The Jungle. Many impoverished white and Hispanic families moved into The Jungle in the 1970s and many were likely brought in through CHA assistance, if not in the 70s, by 1990s.
The Jungle was becoming progressively worse in the 1970s going from a simple lower income area in the early 1970s to becoming a blighted and growingly dangerous area by the later 1970s. The crime from the Sin strip attracted criminals and seedy elements to The Jungle. Drug addicts and prostitutes especially operated at the sleezy Ledo Motel at Mannheim and Grand as residents now complained about drug paraphernalia discarded on the streets, carjackings, muggings and young children propositioned for drugs and sexual reasons. The Jungle was situated right at the center of Sin strip activity at the intersection of Grand and Mannheim making these buildings undesirable to live in which depreciated the value of the townhomes and lowered the rents for renters, this turned this area into an economically depressed little area by the later 70s and triggered white flight. Franklin Park law enforcement began to turn their backs on this area of town because it was isolated and because many officers stopped caring for residents in this area or were downright scared to go in this area. Streets became cracked and potholes developed that were untreated. Streetlights were non-existent or burnt out and knocked out of commission by gangs putting residents in the dark well into the 1990s. Townhouses and apartments became blighted and public lawns were unkept. James Park became increasingly unsafe for children to play. The Village of Franklin Park did not need to do much with this area by the 1970s because it was so isolated from the rest of the town. The area needed extra police attention and assistance, but the village did not want to invest in this one way in and one way out area because the rest of Franklin Park did not need to venture through here. Put this in perspective, if you dedicate too much police to a small area the rest of the town will lack police and will need to open a higher budget to employ more officers. Also, if the village gives extra tax revenue to fix this small area it takes away from the budget for the rest of the town which will either mean tax increases or the rest of the town to suffer. It was much easier for the Village to leave this area isolated, after all, this area was so cut off even gun shots and screams could barely be heard by residents living even slightly close. Police could easily cover up crimes and underreport crime. This became a growing problem as the 70s progressed.
In the year 1976, the Latin Kings Chicago street gang began colonizing the western suburbs as a major element settled Maywood and Melrose Park. These Latin Kings were from a hardcore element and their suburban recruits would follow suit. The Latin Kings then made their way into The Jungle in 1976 becoming the first major Chicago gang in Franklin Park, but this chapter was not as organized as Melrose Park and Maywood. The Latin Kings came here to deal with crime groups and racial issues this now mostly Hispanic community faced but gang members soon indulged in crime and the growing drug trafficking element along Mannheim Road. The Latin Kings acted as both guardians of this area but also as harmful to the area but mostly as guardians trying to put criminal groups in their place. The Latin Kings attempted to control the crime so it was not so rampant, but they would soon dominate these growingly mean streets especially since police presence was waning heavily.
The Latin Kings did not have many Chicago gangs to fight when they first arrived besides the Simon City Royals of Stone Park. It was not until 1979 that another Chicago gang would move into The Jungle and challenge the Latin Kings. The Imperial Gangsters of Chicago moved into this small area in 1979 from West Humboldt Park (Cameron City Gangsters branch). These Imperial Gangsters were some of the toughest Imperial Gangsters from Chicago’s West Humboldt Park community and were more organized than the Jungle Latin Kings. These Imperial Gangsters were perhaps upset with the state of the Jungle and wanted to clean this area up of Latin King influenced crime. This began serious gangbanging into the early 1980s as bullets and beatdowns were dished out between the two gangs. Graffiti became common site on the apartment buildings in this area for the next few decades as this gang war hatched. As soon as Imperial Gangsters arrived dead bodies on the streets were popping up as this suburban war became serious very fast. As an example of violence, in 1983 a 13-year-old girl was shot in the face while walking around the Jungle with her boyfriend because of the Latin King and Imperial Gangster conflict, the girl did survive but moved out quickly.
At some point in the early or mid-80s a Simon City Royal from Chicago moved into Franklin Park who would become the famous author and podcaster James “Hollywood” Macecari. Macecari has written a few books about his life in a 1%er motorcycle club since he joined in 1993. In his book titled “Brotherhood & Betrayal: The Streets Pity No One,” Macecari starts off by sharing that he joined the Simon City Royals at age eleven then moved to Franklin Park to start a new chapter in the suburb alongside “Cicero Red,” another co-founder of the Franklin Park Royals. Macecari highlighted how he did some pimping of women and especially ran gambling rackets while he was a Royal. Macecari did not go into heavy details of how old he is or what year he brought the Royals to Franklin Park, but he did state he is a Gen-Xer which would mean he was born no earlier than 1965. He would have been born no later than the early 1970s because you can’t patch into a MC if you are in high school or younger; therefore, by 1993 he was a young adult and did state he already had a kid and was looking to join a new club since the Royals were heavily incarcerated and burnt out from the life by 1993. I believe he started the Royals there between the years of 1982-1985 but no later.
This new Simon City Royal chapter joined the Imperial Gangsters in the fight against Latin Kings in The Jungle and Latin Kings in Maywood. Imperial Gangsters and Simon City Royals were bound by the Folk alliance and the “Almighty” family making them allies. The Royals started in the vicinity of Belmont Ave and George Street which was right across Mannheim from the Latin Kings and Imperial Gangsters.
By the mid-1980s Latin Kings in The Jungle had their hands full battling both Imperial Gangsters and Simon City Royals and began to fade out and were gone by 1986. The Imperial Gangsters now completely ran The Jungle. I believe their headquarters back there was an apartment building at Houston Street and Schiller Boulevard at 3002 Houston Street. I believe this because I have multiple pictures from the 80s and 90s of IG tags on this building. This is also one of the first buildings one will see when entering The Jungle and to this day the village has a hard time keeping up with graffiti coverups caused by IGs. Even though the Kings were gone, beef with them was not forgotten and up to present day IGs still get hostile visitors from the Maywood Latin Kings and Stone Park Latin Kings. IGs also had beef with Los Be Bes from Melrose Park in the 1980s and 1990s and sometimes with African American gangs from Maywood, hell, gangs from all around the area would have beef with these IGs and come to The Jungle looking for a fight and were often met with severe consequences, IGs responded quickly and violently. They had the advantage of knowing the area well and since there was only two ways out, both onto Mannheim, all heading in one direction toward the east, IGs easily swallowed up the exits and surrounded their enemies whether it was bricking a car or shooting into rival gang cars. They made it so there was no way out for opposition. Since the 1980s IGs sat on rooftops of townhomes and apartments with handheld radios in hand communicating to each other when rival gangs or police arrived.
The 1990s were perhaps the wildest years in The Jungle, especially in the early 90s and mid-90s. Imperial Gangsters controlled the drug trafficking in The Jungle not only because the Mannheim Road drug pipeline made tons of money from the drug addicts and prostitutes from the Sin City strip but also because they wanted to take away any power from wild drug trafficking elements from outside the community that did not care about selling to children etc…or shooting up the place. This was the land of the Imperial Gangsters and there was no other gang, but the IGs developed a lot of deep rivalry with other suburban gangs in the surrounding area that was so deep that rivals felt the need to retaliate in The Jungle. This gave the area the feel that there were several gangs on these streets. IGs were so possessive of The Jungle that if they spotted any pedestrians or unknown cars in The Jungle, they would come out of the buildings rapidly and surround anyone and interrogate them about their business there. They knew all the cars and all the residents very well; therefore, they knew who didn’t belong there. If you came in there for a legit reason, like to see family etc…they graciously let you pass unless they felt you were a liar. In many ways the IGs protected this small community because the police did not. Putting this in perspective and given the layout of The Jungle, there was no reason to wonder into this area because there was nothing but residential buildings. There was no stores, no public buildings to access, no good parks and certainly no pass through into other parts of town; therefore, you would need to ask yourself, why do I need to come here? The only legit reason anyone would wonder here is out of curiosity which still would not sit well with these IG guardians. Perhaps if the IGs never formed here the crime of the Sin City strip would have easily wondered here for other less desirable reasons other than buying drugs. Children could have been victimized, women could have been raped and all sorts of property crime would have been much worse especially since streetlights were not always functional. This might be a tough fact to swallow for many, but gangs were needed here. It is possible the Latin Kings of The Jungle did not do enough to protect this area but the IGs did despite their contribution to crime. This is why it is of great importance that communities do not turn their backs on certain areas or gangs will have to fill the void.
Other gangs to move into Franklin Park by the early 90s were Two Two Boys and possibly Spanish Cobras. These groups were small and I personally have heard a little about Two Two Boys being here but only heard one source says Cobras were here. If both groups were here, they did not make it out of the 1990s.
During the 1980s, 1990s and much of the 2000s many people were shot, stabbed, beaten and many dead bodies turned up. The majority of all this was between criminal groups and gang conflict or maybe some alcohol or drug fueled domestic situations often seen in rough areas. So many murders were underreported or covered up by authorities to protect the reputation of the village but those who lived on these streets over the decades recall the violence and death. It is time to dig this up, not to make Franklin Park look bad but to show how neglect hurts the people which is a social problem in society we must face.
In the year 1996, the Village of Franklin Park’s police department alongside the Cook County Sheriff’s office began reverse sting operations targeting the Sin City strip crime and the gang activity connected to The Jungle. This brought in many vice arrests from undercover female officers and the gang squad closing in on the Imperial Gangsters in The Jungle. Franklin Park finally became interested in helping their lowest income residents in great distress from all the crime. Even though the IGs helped keep worse crime out of The Jungle they got swept up in the sweeps too and needed to keep their business more low-key heading into the later 90s, but a 1997 incident would spark outrage and bring more pressure on them.
On a warm Spring April 4, 1997, day the Imperial Gangsters were doing their usual security of The Jungle. It was up to 17-year-old Miguel Deleon to take a gun and work security/lookout, Imperial Gangsters did this in shifts daily from the 1980s to the 2010s. During his surveillance, Deleon and other IGs noticed a red Ford Mustang driving on Crown Road that was unfamiliar. The car had Stone Park stickers on it and there was a crown shaped air freshener which was a giveaway that this was a Stone Park Latin King gang member. IGs then yelled out, “Flakes!” which is a term for rival gangs Chicago gangs use. According to court documents Deleon and another IG ran by the apartment building along Houston Street cutting through the lawn then heading toward Houston and Schiller to block this Mustang now heading toward Schiller. The IGs would seal off the exit on Schiller toward Mannheim Road so the vehicle could not escape. The IGs stopped the Mustang that was driven by Stone Park Latin King Jose Sanchez. Sanchez was mad about this, and a verbal altercation followed. According to court documents Deleon fired bullets into the driver’s side of the windshield striking Sanchez in the chest, after being shot Sanchez began to drive off and flee the scene toward Mannheim Road. Sitting along Schiller Boulevard was an ice cream truck surrounded by children. According to court documents Deleon kept shooting at the Mustang fleeing the scene. A stray bullet struck the ice cream man, but he survived. Another bullet struck a three-year-old boy that also survived. Another bullet tragically struck seven-year-old Juana Nieto, and she was killed (fact source of this case can be found simply googling People Vs. Deleon). This incident made the newspaper and enraged many people. This incident also gave a reputation to Franklin Park as a dangerous community and put more pressure on the village to clean up the crime, but it would be a long process that would involve more police presence and a revamping of the area.
The Simon City Royals continue to exist in Franklin Park in the same Belmont and George area but are much harder to find and are much quieter.
The Jungle continued to be a rough area throughout the 2000s decade and the IGs were still strong in this area. By the early 2010s The Jungle had streetlights, better paved roads and even an access point to shopping via Crown Road. James Park was cleaned up to the point where the village was able to host outdoor movies in the park. In recent years The Jungle still has cracked roads that are not repaired enough, and this area is still the hot spot of most of the communities’ crime. The Sin City strip was shut down and many of the buildings including the Ledo Motel were razed. It took many years for this part of Franklin Park to be cleaned up and it took major crime to make it happen and the death of a seven year old child for the village to truly crack down and begin caring for the residents in The Jungle. Franklin Park is mostly a clean and safe community, but this village learned a hard lesson that when you neglect certain people in certain areas and keep them isolated there are dire consequences for everyone.