Sunday, May 19

Chicago Gang Map-All you need to know about

This map takes you on a walking tour of the city’s urban neighborhoods and provides a historical breakdown of nearly every community and hood in Chicago, from the South Side hoods to the West Side gang territories to the North Side and East Side ghettos.

Chicago’s South Side of Gangland

Before the rise of Chicago’s violent street gangs, the black community on the South Side was small. During the 1960s and 1970s, thousands of people of the city’s historic black enclave of Bronzeville, also known as the Low Ends, were moved to the South Side due to urban renewal programs and the construction of the Dan Ryan (Interstate 90/Interstate 94). The white population of the city originally lived on the South Side. A local term for the city’s ancient black settlement, Bronzeville was renamed “the Low Ends” during urban renewal.

Black Chicagoans initially settled in Englewood and the Back of the Yards, and later spread to Auburn Gresham, 95th Street, Roseland, and West Pullman, all of which formed part of the notorious Wild Hundreds. After then, the black population grew and moved into areas that would later be called the Wild West, such as Roseland and West Pullman.

There is also a long and storied gang history on the South Side of Chicago. On South Green in Englewood, the Gangster Disciples first gathered together, eventually becoming known as the Supreme Gangsters. In the past, gangs like the Gaylords and the Renegade Saints operated out of the area now known as Back of the Yards. The Black P. Stones have dominated the communities on the South Side of Chicago’s 83rd, 87th, and 95th streets since the 1970s.

Gang Life on Chicago’s West Side

The West Side of Chicago is the origin of various Chicago gangs but has not garnered the same attention as the South Side in the media. However, there is little distinction between the two sections within the streets of the Chicago ghetto. It’s possible that the media has given more attention to the South Side when it comes to notorious gangs like the Vice Lords, Gangster Disciples, Four Corner Hustlers, New Breeds, and Black Souls.

The black population of Chicago relocated to the central West Side after the collapse of the original black community in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the Low Ends and the black community that was on the Near West Side. North Lawndale, West Garfield Park, and eventually the Austin area of Chicago would all become part of the community by the 1970s and 1980s. Along Madison Street in East Garfield Park is where it all started. It was bound for Austin very shortly.

The origins of the West Side gangs in Chicago can be located in those decades. When people of different races felt threatened, they banded together to establish gangs, which eventually became involved in politics and community improvement initiatives.  The Vice Lords, today one of the most powerful gangs in the United States, formed in North Lawndale, Illinois, in the 1950s after its members met in juvenile prisons in the state of Illinois.

Chicago’s East Side gang territory

When people in Chicago talk of the East Side, they often use the term “from state to the lake,” which refers to the area as stretching from State Street to Lake Michigan. Several gangs, including the Gangster Disciples, Four Corner Hustlers, Black Disciples, and several Vice Lord factions, are active on Chicago’s East Side, but the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation is the most well-known.

The Blackstone Rangers, forerunners of the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation, formed at the corner of 67th Street and Blackstone Avenue in Woodlawn. Leaders like Jeff Fort and Eugene Bull Hairston helped the ABPSN movement spread throughout the Low Ends, the East Side, the South Side, and tiny sections of the West Side, as well as to smaller places that are well outside of the Chicago metropolitan region.  As the Black P. Stones grew, other gangs emerged from the chaos, including the Mickey Cobras, the Titanic Stones, and the Maniac Stones.

The East Side of Chicago is home to a number of gangs, including the Black P. Stones, the Gangster Disciples, and the Black Disciples, who were once known as the Devil Disciples and were founded at 53rd and Woodlawn. The Devil Disciples is the name given to these groups by those who oppose the Black P. Stones.

North Side Chicago Gangland

The North Side of Chicago is considered to be one of the most renowned ghetto districts in the United States, although outside of Cabrini Green, the country’s most notorious housing complex, not much is known about it.  The North Side of Chicago is home to a large number of gangs and hoods, both Hispanic and black. The North Pole, Cabrini Green, and Marshall Field neighborhoods are hotspots for gangs and hoods in Chicago.

Since Cabrini Green was demolished, the Marshall Field apartments have become the Near North Side’s principal community hub.  The North Pole neighborhood on Chicago’s far North Side has been attracting new residents since the 1970s and 1980s, many of whom were evicted or relocated there from elsewhere in the city. Many African Americans and Latinos live in and around the Rogers Park and Uptown neighborhoods on Chicago’s North Side. Between Rogers Park and Uptown is where you’ll find the North Pole neighborhood.

The Latino Neighborhoods of Chicago

The Mexican and Puerto Rican Hispanic communities in Chicago share many characteristics with the black community. The Latin Kings, Satan Disciples, Maniac Latin Disciples, the Spanish Cobras, and Gangster Two Six are just a few of the well-known Latino gangs in Chicago.

Many Mexican immigrants to Chicago settled initially in Pilsen and Back of the Yards beginning in the early 20th century.  The Latino population of Little Village and Cicero grew rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of urban renewal in Pilsen and the closure of the Stockyards in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. This pattern persisted in 1980s neighborhoods like Gage Park. The Stockyards finally closed because of urban renovation efforts in nearby Pilsen.

As with other Chicago gangs, Mexican gangs formed as a result of Mexicans moving into predominantly white neighborhoods and having to contend with white supremacist gangs. Pilsen was home to a number of gangs, including the Ambrose, Bishops, Satan Disciples, and La Raza.  The Gangster 2-6 emerged as the dominant gang in Little Village at that period.

Puerto Ricans began arriving in Chicago in large numbers beginning in the 1950s.  Division Street was the main thoroughfare of Humboldt Park, where the vast majority of the population lived. Over 100,000 people lived in 1980s Chicago neighborhoods like Logan Square, Belmont Cragin, and Hermosa due to the influx of Puerto Rican immigrants. Hermosa is one of these localities.

Population growth in the 1950s and 1960s generated tensions amongst residents of different races. Puerto Ricans formed their own gangs in response to the violence they experienced at the hands of white gangs.  As a result, groups like the Latin Kings on Spaulding Avenue, the Maniac Latin Disciples around N. Rockwell, the Spanish Cobras on Campbell Avenue, the Insane Albany Orchestra in the Logan Square area, and the Imperial Gangsters emerged.

288 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *