| Settled by | Provide info |
|---|---|
| Year infiltrated | 1982 |
| Crime impact | Part |
| Worst areas | Provide info |
Mount Prospect is a simple northwest Cook County suburb located conveniently close to the O’ Hare Airport. There isn’t much interesting about Mount Prospect besides it being an ideal place to raise a family as this is one of the safer communities in the Chicago area…so what am I doing writing about this town? I am writing about a safe Chicago suburb, there should be no story…right? Well, Mount Prospect might be a safe and ideal middle-class suburb but there is a dark history that is mainly confined to the southwest side of the village in a cluster of apartments and condos along the Algonquin Road corridor on both the incorporated side and the unincorporated side. On the village’s far north side bordering the suburb of Prospect Heights is another troubled complex but other than that the rest of Mount Prospect is devoid of gang activity and high crime. If you are reading this and live in Mount Prospect or are about to, breathe easy, because this legendary gang drama likely does not affect you and you likely have never heard of gang issues or never will. There have been legends, rumors and ill-reputations given to Mount Prospect over the gang issue or it has been downplayed but hopefully I can clarify exactly when and where this gang activity happens and to channel the rumors away from the village as a whole. Mount Prospect is a great town for shopping in the many shopping strips while retaining a regular town vibe, this is not a place to fear but to be aware that it once harbored a hardened gang element.
The area that is now Mount Prospect was open prairie land ripe for settlement after the 1832 Blackhawk War treaty. The Potawatomi natives had left the land due to the 1832 agreement. During the 1830s and earlier 1840s these lands were settled and farmed by Yankee settlers (mostly white settlers from the east coast). These early residents had no interest in establishing a town and left the area for possible religious reasons by 1843. German immigrants quickly replaced the Yankee settlers and decided to build a town on these lands. These Germans also built farms and turned this into farming land heading into the 1850s. These farmers were big vegetable growers but would not be able to turn it into a business until 1886 when a train station was built. The train station was brought about thanks to Ezra Carpenter Eggleston who built a four-block residential subdivision in 1871 just south of the railroad tracks that were laid in 1854. Ezra named the town “Mount Prospect” which meant that the town sat at the highest point of Cook County, hence, the name “Mount Prospect.” Even though Eggleston started this town and wanted it to connect to the railroad, the train stop was not built until 1886 which was not soon enough to prevent Eggleston from bankruptcy since the town initially failed (Fact source: www.Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org).
Mount Prospect remained as a very small town with not much to offer until William Busse was elected as village President in 1929. Busse faced a major challenge building this community that had only about 1,200 residents and scores of open farmland. Busse’s beginning was during the start of the Great Depression era. Despite our nation falling on hard economic times Mount Prospect flourished as a small industrial district appeared with multiple businesses. After the second world war, Mount Prospect flourished further as many subdivisions were developed and more businesses opened. One of the most attractive businesses is the Randhurst Shopping Center that opened in 1962. Many white-collar office jobs were offered in the business complexes as even Chicagoans commuted to Mount Prospect for office work. Mount Prospect developed a white-collar middle-class charm and a blue-collar working-class charm. White collar workers could find employment right in the village (Fact source: www.Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org).
In the year 1962, Mount Prospect got in on building affordable housing for new residents. The site chosen was on the far northside of the village bordering the suburb of Prospect Heights. This would be an affordable condominium complex that began construction in 1962 and would finish by 1965. These condos may have been named “Boxwood” or if not, they would eventually have that name in later years. These condos are now known today as the Courts of Randview. These condos are located on Euclid Ave on the north to Kensington Road on the south, Perimeter Road on the west to Wheeling Road on the east.
The notorious southwest side condo and apartment area began in 1965 when the “Cottonwood” apartments began construction, and a second phase began in 1968. These affordable apartments were built within: Cottonwood Lane on the north to Dempster Road on the south to Redwood Drive, Busse Road on the west to Redwood Drive and Knights Bridge Drive then from Redwood and Cottonwood to Linneman Road on the east.
The next addition to the affordable living area on the southwest side of Mount Prospect is the Cinnamon Cove Condominiums built in the year 1970. These affordable condos were built in the unincorporated area of the southwest side and were the first of a strip of affordable housing complexes around Dempster Avenue, Busse Road and Algonquin Road. These condos are located at Algonquin Road and Hatherleigh Court.
Another southwest side apartment complex was constructed in the unincorporated area of Mount Prospect, this complex would become Forest Cove apartments that were built in 1972 as simple and affordable apartments. These apartments are located at the intersection of Forest Cove Drive and Busse Road just south of Cinnamon Cove Condos.
The southwest side Dempster, Busse and Algonquin area affordable housing would receive another complex in 1973 with the buildup of the Prospect Commons apartments that would later be known as “Colonial Greens” then the present day “Mount Prospect Greens. These apartments are located at 2000 West Algonquin Road.
The Brownstone Court Apartments soon followed in 1974 and continuing into 1976. These were another affordable housing installation on the southwest side within the same cluster at Algonquin, Busse and Dempster. These can be found at the intersection of Brownstone Court and Algonquin Road.
The Park Grove apartments were built in 1975 as affordable housing units as well on the southwest side, but these were a tad north of the other southwest complexes heading more toward Golf Road. These are located specifically at Palm Drive from Busse Road to Oakwood Drive. To clarify, I don’t know what gang activity happened here over the years, but I can say there have been gangs here I just have no details. I will post when I know.
In the year 1977, unincorporated Mount Prospect was chosen by the Metropolitan Housing Development to rezone part of the southwest side to build multifamily housing for minorities and the elderly. A federal government agreement allowed this construction of low-income housing on this unincorporated land between Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights. Village President Carolyn Krause was just elected in 1977 and opposed this action but she did not win in her fight to keep Mount Prospect as a regular town with no low-income housing (Fact source: www.Encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org).
Immediately following the federal government’s decision to add low-income housing the Pharaoh’s and Victoria Hills apartment complexes were built just south of Forest Cove. Pharaoh’s is located at Chariot Court and Busse Road and Victoria Hills is located at Denise Drive on the north to Victoria Drive on the south, Phillip Drive on the west to Anna Marie Drive on the east. These apartment complexes began construction in 1978 and continued through 1979. These apartments brought in some of the first Hispanic migration to Mount Prospect along with African Americans. Many Chicago residents moved into these buildings on government assistance.
By the early 1980s the Boxwood condos were starting to become rough as drug trafficking became common and was mentioned in the Arlington Heights Daily Herald March 12, 1983, article. In the same article it was mentioned that Latin King graffiti was found at the area of Boxwood Lane and Wheeling Road. Police Chief Ronald Pavlock and Gang Crimes Unit expert Robert Simandi stated they were not aware of gang activity in Mount Prospect. Pavlock said he believed it was “copycat” graffiti and that it had been on the two Boxwood buildings a few months at that point. Simandi is the one that said, “drug trafficking would be the most likely activity, but not gangs.” Either these men were in denial, or they really didn’t know anything, but Pavlock’s flaw was stating it was “copycat” graffiti. According to street legends the Latin Kings were for sure in Boxwood by 1982 which is the year the graffiti was found. I would not be surprised if the Latin Kings arrived sooner, but they didn’t become fully active until 1982. Boxwood was becoming rough and Pavlock even said there was a “transient” population in there which indicates rough types were visiting Boxwood and that’s likely how the Latin Kings started. Boxwood now had a new culture of people as it was becoming increasingly Hispanic and increasingly impoverished. People from the city were cast into this complex with no direction of how to interact and fit in with the village and the youth were the most mislead. This is often a recipe for misfit and impoverished youths in the suburbs to join hardened Chicago gangs. Perhaps the Latin Kings recruited youths that felt alienated or bullied by mostly white, middle-class kids from good homes or maybe they just thought it was cool to join the Almighty Latin Kings. One thing for sure is the Latin Kings were first to Mount Prospect and were the first to dominate Boxwood. Street legends tell me the Latin Kings ruled Boxwood in the 1980s which coincides with the 1983 newspapers and refutes Pavlock’s claims, the Latin Kings were real, he just didn’t know it or didn’t want to admit it. You can’t blame him for not admitting it because spreading fear of gangs causes white flight and that would have damaged the village, police chiefs need to protect the community’s reputation. This was 1983, police in almost every suburb did not know how to identify or approach gangs back then anyway and didn’t have the funding or the staff to keep up, Pavlock was not alone.
Latin King influence advanced to the southwest side of the village in the 1980s following their settlement in Boxwood. This influence may have happened at the same time as Boxwood or shortly afterward. Latin Kings settled in Prospect Commons (Mount Prospect Greens), the Arlington Place condos in unincorporated Arlington Heights right across the street from Brownstone and Prospect Commons and the Latin Kings advanced into the Cottonwood apartments (Now the Element) in the 1980s. Cottonwood was becoming a rough place and was one of the worst complexes in the 80s and early 90s according to street legends. The three buildings at Cottonwood Lane and Linneman Road were parole housing in these years, that blended with Latin King gang activity made for a very rough and sometimes dangerous area. Prospect Commons was another hellraising complex starting in the 1980s.
The Latin Kings may have also advanced into the Pharaoh’s, Victoria Hills, Cinnamon condos, Forest Cove, Brownstone and Park Grove in the 1980s, if not, they were for sure there by 1990 at latest, legend has it they once ruled all these complexes. No doubt they were in all these places by mid-80s at latest but 1990 at the very very latest. The Latin Kings have become very strong in Mount Prospect over the generations and were coming up in complexes that were troubled, and many mostly Hispanic youths were poverty stricken and unable to fit in with mainstream Mount Prospect. The early 80s was the beginning of a long and permanent chapter of the Latin Kings.
By the year 1990, Mount Prospect would experience another gang migration wave. The Two Two Boys advanced into Prospect Commons and got into conflicts with Latin Kings. Two Two Boys tagged their graffiti in this complex which was signs they were there. The most significant gang landing was that of the Los Angeles based street gang the Surenos. The Black P Stones started a section in Prospect Commons in 1990 to recruit among the small African American population. I heard weak rumor the Gangster Disciples were in Mount Prospect, but I am not certain. By the 2000s Stones and GDs were no longer in Mount Prospect and there were no more African American gangs.
I believe Brownstone was full of Latin Kings and even in current years Brownstone is rough with deterioration, crime and violence. I don’t have further details on this complex yet, but I can say it didn’t modify like all the other complexes did in recent decades, this one stayed in the past. Reviews on Google are mostly of residents complaining of living in a hell-hole type of place.
I want to clarify that I am not an overall gang researcher and Los Angeles gangs are not my thing, I am a Chicago gang researcher only. Certain L.A. gangs have infiltrated Chicagoland since the early 1990s, but I have taken little interest in that research because L.A. gang culture is not my thing besides Hollywood movies like “Colors.” The Surenos 13 entered Illinois in 1990 and landed in the suburb of Cicero in the Parkholme apartments. In this complex the Surenos battled Two Six heavily and flipped many members to Sureno. Shortly after Sureno formation in Cicero the gang spread to Wheeling, Belvidere and of course Mount Prospect. Mount Prospect was a stronghold of Surenos and once they arrived in 1990, they multiplied quickly and even flipped many Latin Kings. Surenos conquered Boxwood and flipped the Latin Kings to the point where Latin Kings no longer existed in Boxwood by the mid-1990s, by 1995, the Surenos were deep in Boxwood. Surenos also advanced into Forest Cove, Prospect Commons, Cinnamon Condos, Victoria Hills and the Pharaoh’s. In these complexes violent gang wars erupted between Latin Kings and Surenos that initially hurt Latin King numbers as the 90s progressed. Several shootings, stabbings and other forms of violence plagued these Mount Prospect complexes and much of it was not credited to the village because it was in the unincorporated area. The Sureno groups are the South-Central Los Angeles Playboys 13 or PBS13 and the Barrio Pobre Cyclone 13s. I am giving these guys some credit because in Mount Prospect they were down warriors and were a major part of Mount Prospect’s gang scene. I don’t have them mentioned on my Cicero page because that page is dedicated more for Cicero and Chicago based gangs, but I may change my mind if I get more details, but this Mount Prospect page needs some Sureno story because they were dominant here for some time so I am giving them credit here.
Just to show how rough things were in the 80s and 90s and especially Cottonwood, I dug up an old August 21, 1994, article from the Arlington Heights Daily Herald about how two men from Cottonwood that fought with police after police arrived about calls of several gang members congregating and harassing people. One police officer received minor injuries. Both gang members had addresses at 1005 Cottonwood Lane which was either within or one building away from the parole housing buildings. One of the men struck a police officer. The other man punched, kicked and put an officer in a choke hold. Police said the men were flashing gang signs and harassing people, one of the men was 18 years old and the other was 33 years old. One of the men was trying to leave the area as a passenger in a car until police tried to stop the car causing the 18-year-old to get out and fight the police officer, this is the man that put the officer in a choke hold. The other man hit another officer after being told to leave. Police said in the article that over 20 people were gathered outside the complex then 14 police officers arrived including 6 Elk Grove Village police to assist. This just goes to show how crazy Cottonwood and Mount Prospect areas were in the times passed. If you were to spend time on Cottonwood Lane presently it wouldn’t be close to the wildness of the past and Latin Kings would not be easy to find like the 80s and 90s when they were outside 24-7 and moving in large crowds.
Boxwood was not a stable area for gangs likely because it was located on the northside which had more police attention and was nicer. In the year 1997, the 42nd & Campbell (Brighton Park) Satan Disciples advanced into Boxwood and took over the complex as Surenos faded away and many flipped Satan Disciple. Surenos are historically not well liked in Chicagoland and often made fun of by other gangs. Even allies tended to turn against Surenos leaving them alone. Even though I don’t know the whole story of Boxwood I can almost guarantee the Satan Disciples put heavy pressure on Surenos to flip. In Chicago area Sureno allies are only Satan Disciples and Spanish Cobras, but those allies have turned on them before expecting them to flip and this is likely what happened in Boxwood. The Satan Disciples became the big thing in Boxwood in the late 90s and had their peak in the 2000s decade.
Just like neighboring suburbs like Rolling Meadows and Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect did not have a variety of larger gangs. The main war was between Surenos and Latin Kings in the 1990s and 2000s, then the Satan Disciples got deep in the 2000s. From what I was told, not only were Latin Kings and Surenos deep, both gangs had lots of guns galore and were using them on each other and other surrounding suburban gangs heavily. Surenos and Latin Kings had a war with Prospect Heights Spanish Gangster Disciples. Surenos also were heavily fighting with Rolling Meadows Latin Kings. There was also a war with Surenos and Latin Kings of Des Plaines.
I don’t know exactly when Two Two Boys left Mount Prospect, but I think it was a long time ago, back in the later 90s or earlier 2000s? Surenos grew very strong in Mount Prospect in the early and mid-2000s having their best years while the community endured heavy gang violence in these complexes while the rest of Mount Prospect was oblivious and unaffected. Latin Kings would have their ups and downs in the village but would eventually outlive all the other groups. Starting in 2011 and continuing through 2013 ICE raids were conducted against the Surenos organization nationwide and all over Illinois. Several members were deported and in Mount Prospect all their hoods were shut down. Many former Surenos that turned Satan Disciple were also swept up in these ICE raids as they were never U.S. citizens and/or had their citizenship revoked for criminal charges. The rest of the Satan Disciples retired from gang life or faced incarceration by the early 2010s. After the SDs retired the Maniac Latin Disciples moved into Boxwood and took over; however, they would never become a force as strong or pronounced as their predecessors. The MLDs are still in Boxwood; however, when Mikie Da Poet visited Boxwood about a year ago on his YouTube video he interviewed a retired Satan Disciple that said nothing goes on anymore. Mount Prospect gang life is indeed dead and not like the 80s, 90s and 2000s. I didn’t find good articles about police busts or the village working to put down gangs but believe me, it happened, and the present-day results show. People living in the lower income complexes do not live in as much fear and terror as before. The stand-up gangsters that once roamed these streets remain in the village but just raise families and stay out of trouble, maybe sell a little dope. The hellraising gangsters of the past were not all bad and only targeted rival gangs but there were some not so great guys that terrorized the village, but those guys are long gone. If you have any apprehensions about Mount Prospect for visiting and living…don’t; however, watch out in the low-income complexes especially Brownstone Court.