Melrose Park

Settled by	Provide info
Year infiltrated	1976
Crime impact	Part
Worst areas	Provide info

The reason I am covering the suburb of Melrose Park is only based upon some the oldest gang settlement in Chicagoland history.  From the Chicago Outfit gangsters to the greasers then eventually the Latin Kings of the 1970s, Melrose Park has some old and deep gangland roots; however, the village has always worked hard to prevent gang activity from becoming uncontrollable.  It was only a short amount of time in the 1990s where this suburb got a little crazy and we will explore that and determine why it happened.

As far as I know, Melrose Park was not settled by settlers that built a small farm community like most other suburbs.  The land was known and documented but no one seemed interested in settlement, not even the Natives in the area.  It was not until 1871 that the Melrose Company officially purchased land between Division Street and Main Street which is within the southern section of the community.  The land was subdivided within this area and a town was built.  South of Division Street is the oldest part of Melrose Park.  Before this period this area was part of Proviso Township, the name commemorated Wilmot Proviso.  (Fact source, www.melrosepark.org) The original name was simply “Melrose” and was established as a village on September 11, 1882.  The village was renamed “Melrose Park” in 1894. During these initial decades Melrose Park grew slowly and began to become an industrial village at the turn of the 20^th century.  After World War 1, the village would see more growth in the industrial sector which brought more demand for housing. (Fact source, www.Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org).

In the year 1929, the famous Kiddie Land Amusement Park was built which would attract generation after generation of Chicagoans and would become a staple in Melrose Park and has been in our memories even presently.  I visited Kiddie Land as a child in the late 80s and early 90s.   I have fond memories of this park that will last a lifetime.  The old small, encaged Farris wheel is still intact at the Volo Museum in Volo Illinois.

Ever since Melrose Park grew between and after the world wars, the Chicago Outfit has staked claim upon this suburb.  Melrose Park has always had a very large Italian population and has been lined with Italian restaurants and Italian businesses.  In present day much of the Italian influence can still be seen north of Division Street heading toward the suburb of Elmwood Park, another Italian suburb.  Alongside large Italian populations often comes the Chicago Outfit, but this is not a bad thing.  Even though it is organized crime, the Chicago Outfit has no tolerance for high crime and disrepair.  The mob protected both Melrose Park and Elmwood Park.  The mob also did much business within the many establishments of Melrose Park.  Melrose Park was often run by Mayors, police or other village officials that had ties to the mob.  I am not going to get into those details because all that can be found scattered all over the internet and written in books, my focus is Chicago street gangs.

Because of the influence of the Chicago Outfit, Italian greaser type gangs and just cliques of mostly Italian youths gathered in the suburb for years and some of them were rough.  I have found old news articles going back as far as January 1953 mentioning youth gangs in Melrose Park, this greaser gang activity goes back to 1952 which was the year greaser type gangs exploded in most Chicago area suburbs.  Most of the gangs, crews and cliques reflected the demographic of the community as mostly Italian and these kids looked up to the mob that had a large influence in the village in the 1950s.

More housing development and rental buildings were built north of Division Street in the 1950s and 1960s.  The most notable of apartment complexes was just north of North Avenue.  These apartment complexes were likely built to appeal to young couples, young singles or families and senior citizens on a tight budget.

African Americans had begun settling the neighboring suburb of Maywood since at least the 1950s.  These were middle class African Americans, and most were home buyers looking to escape the woes of the city.  By the 1960 census over 19% of Maywood was African American and that population would grow in the 1960s until Maywood was about 40% African American by 1970.  From the beginning of when African Americans arrived in Maywood, Melrose Park youths often enforced separation at the southern border between Maywood and Melrose Park south of Main Street.  The unofficial rule was that African Americans could not cross the tracks into Melrose Park or face consequences that were sometimes violent.  You will not read about this in the newspapers from back then, I had to hear it from those that lived here including a guy I worked with whose dad was a Melrose Park cop.  Even Melrose Park police would patrol by the tracks and give African American youths a hard time if they crossed those tracks.  Along the 9^th Avenue border there was no issue because that northern part of Maywood was still white back then.  In the years 1967 and 1968 multiple riots/race fights happened in Maywood as angry white residents and their friends from Aurora were upset about African American migration and began engaging in intense race wars on the streets of Maywood.  Several arrests were made on both sides of the fight and these conflicts did make the newspapers.  Black P Stones attempted to settle in Maywood during these late 60s years but since Maywood was heavily middle-class the gang was not accepted or picked up by African American youths.  During this time the tracks were a hot spot of conflict as more Maywood African American youths became bolder about crossing the tracks in the late 60s.  Melrose Park police and the youths of Melrose Park partook in this race war.  When the 60s ended this intense conflict seemed to dull down but the railroad tracks racial boundary would remain active.

In the year 1976, most of the remaining white residents began packing up and leaving northern Maywood near the tracks which, at first, was an area of Maywood between Lake Street and Main Street and from Route 171 to 9^th Avenue.  Instead of African Americans moving into this area, Mexican families began to settle here.  Although Mexican families were not as disputed as African Americans the youth cliques and police were still unfair to Mexican families, and this prompted the Latin Kings to move into this part of Maywood starting the notorious Maywood Latin Kings that branched off 23^rd and Christiana in Little Village in Chicago.  It took almost no time for Melrose Park residents living around Lake Street to Main Street and 9^th Avenue to 25^th Avenue to freak out and sell of their homes fast.  This was a new white flight pattern to strike a portion of Melrose Park.  Since this white flight pattern was so fast it overwhelmed the community as they were not prepared to welcome a Hispanic population, instead racial clashing happened mostly at the youth level.  Now the Latin Kings crossed the 9^th Avenue border and settled this small area of Melrose Park which became an extension of the Maywood Latin King chapter.  This area was mainly from 9^th Avenue to 15^th Avenue that was directly supervised by Maywood Latin Kings.  From 15^th Avenue to 25^th avenue was the “UsedayWood” Latin Kings that had their own governance.

At the intersection of 19^th Avenue (Broadway) and Lake Street, Mexican owned businesses began to open which caused major objection in the community in 1976.  One of the jobs of the Latin Kings was to guard these business day and night to prevent vandals from destroying the businesses as attacks were frequent.  Early Melrose Park Latin Kings battled against school bullies that targeted Mexican youths and fought against cliques of youths that tried to prevent Mexican youths from using public facilities.  The only other Chicago gang in the area was the Simon City Royals of Stone Park; therefore, most of the early Latin King gangbanging was against those cliques of mostly Italian youths.  These fights would become brutal and intense at times.  The guy I worked with that grew up in Melrose Park was part of a clique of mostly Italian youths.  He was born in 1960; therefore, he was sixteen years old in 1976 and he vividly recalled Latin Kings chasing him with baseball bats when he was sixteen, he had no other confrontations with them after that but because he was in a clique he was probably mistaken as part of an enemy group.  Latin Kings were not just for Mexican kids, many Italian white youths joined Maywood and Melrose Park Latin Kings in the later 1970s.  Some kids felt like misfits, especially if they were lower income and attached themselves to the Latin Kings.  Most of the Italian youths rejected the Latin Kings and considered them undesirables.  Many Melrose Park residents rejected all the Mexican community as undesirables.

In the later 1970s, white flight accelerated in Maywood and now the village became majority African American.  Local industry collapsed which drove the final white flight pattern in Maywood.  At this point, many impoverished African American families began to settle Maywood.  Maywood Latin Kings began to fight racial battles against African American youths which prompted African American street gangs like Black Gangster Disciples, Four Corner Hustlers, Black P Stones and Conservative Vice Lords to settle in the village creating a gang war.  Latin Kings especially battled with the largest African American group the Black Gangster Disciples.  Melrose Park Latin Kings would also conflict with the Black Gangster Disciples.  Melrose Park was on high alert about crime from Maywood drifting into their community and the railroad tracks became heavier enforced.  The Latin Kings gained more respect closer in the 1980s because they were enforcing the railroad tracks border and pushing back criminals and African American gangs from entering Melrose Park.  This is when Melrose Park police began to change their tune about Latin Kings in and around 1980.  When African American gangs crossed the tracks Melrose Park police swarmed them fast, if they couldn’t get there the Latin Kings were on them.  The war now was between Maywood and Melrose Park, mainly at the youth level.  By the early 1980s, it became a known fact, that was even outlined in the Chicago tribune since 1981, that Maywood became high crime.  Melrose Park wanted no part in this crime, and this is how it became racial as many Melrose Park residents blamed African American migration on the high crime.  Maywood no longer could afford an adequate police force due to the town becoming economically impacted by the loss of manufacturing.

Even though Latin Kings had some pull with Melrose Park police and some of the community by the early 1980s, there was still many cliques that opposed the Latin Kings.  In 1982 there was a gang related shooting death at the corner of 14^th Ave and Main Street.  On June 14, 1982, there was a conflict at this corner between Latin Kings and another group.  According to the newspaper I read, there was name calling and rocks being thrown between the two groups that resulted in a big gang fight.  These Latin Kings were Maywood and Melrose Park Latin Kings and one of the Maywood Latin Kings was Donald Garrett (King Stretch) who had a leadership role.  If I have it correct, the group Stretch and the Kings were fighting was a clique that would become known as the “Unknown Assassins” after this fight.  The fight got so heated that Stretch pulled out a .22 rifle and began shooting into the crowd of future UAs striking James Peck (Stoney) and killing him (Chicago Tribune Daily Suburban August 2, 1983).  The article does not mention gang names, but I know for fact that Latin Kings and the what would later become the Unknown Assassins was there.  Stretch served about three-four years in prison and was tried as an adult.  Behind bars Stretch gained lots of respect, when he got out, he moved to Romeoville and started that chapter in 1987.

After Richard Peck was killed the group formed the Unknown Assassins group and bitterly battled with Latin Kings.  The Unknown Assassins would eventually get big in the suburbs in the early 90s.

In the early 1980s, white flight progressed in southern Melrose Park up to Division Street as the Mexican community expanded.  Settlement toward Division was rocky and this may have been a motivating factor for the “Los Be Bes” group to form at 23^rd and Division in 1983.  There were apartment buildings at this intersection where lower income Mexican families could now afford to live.  A group of Mexican kids in their teen years started the “Be Bes” and the group had conflict with Maywood Black Gangster Disciples, Imperial Gangsters from Franklin Park and Simon City Royals from Franklin Park and Stone Park.   I am not clear on if Unknown Assassins and Be Bes had issues with each other or not.

For the most part, the 1980s was mostly a peaceful time for Melrose Park with only some gang conflict near the Maywood/Melrose Park border.  The Chicago Outfit still had a strong influence on the village and white flight slowed heavily after the initial wave in the late 70s/early 80s.

Beginning in 1988, lower income families began moving into a series of apartments north or North Avenue.  Many of these buildings began to sell in the late 1980s as the trend in Chicago area for young couples was to live in more modern apartments.  To avoid bankruptcy, original property owners either sold their buildings or began renting to section 8 families or began renting to lower income residents, many landlords became lax about background checks and moved in criminals and gang members.  Many Mexican lower income families moved into these apartment complexes in the late 80s and early 90s which included original members of the Los Be Bes in 1988 that moved to the apartments at 17^th Avenue and North Avenue.  The Be Bes called this area “Little Jungle” when they arrived in 1988.  By 1989, the Los Be Bes were deep in these apartments and ran them as the dominating gang.

In 1989, the Unknown Assassin leadership became absent and was handed to Sir Tarzan from Bellwood as he moved leadership and opened a new chapter there, the UAs then left Melrose Park.  As early as 1989 and by 1992 at latest new gangs moved into Melrose Park mainly along the North Avenue corridor which caused major gang conflicts.  The Maniac Latin Disciples moved into the 18^th and Bloomingdale area apartments.  The Spanish Lords moved into the 19^th and Bloomingdale area apartments.  Maniac Latin Disciples battled Spanish Lords and Be Bes who were now referred to as “Los Be Be Kings.”  Two Two Boys moved somewhere into Melrose Park, but I don’t know where at this time.

Gang issues became heated between the 1990-1995 years as the Chicago Outfit influence faded and Chicago street gangs took over.  During these years it seemed as if gangs were taking over Melrose Park, but Melrose Park police cracked down heavily on the gang influence and by the later 1990s the gangs were not able to operate as effectively.  Maniac Latin Disciples, Two Two Boys and Spanish Lords withdrew from the village during those later 90s years.  Latin Kings would move into old Maniac Latin Disciple and Spanish Lord controlled apartment complexes.  Los Be Bes became known as “Los Be Be Stones” in 1995 and by 1999, they had left Melrose Park and Latin Kings moved into their old buildings too.

In present years, only Latin Kings are active in Melrose Park and are not nearly as visible as they once were. Surenos moved to Melrose Park in 2001 and have a war with Latin Kings but I don’t know where Surenos are. Melrose Park is mainly a great community to live and raise a family.