Chicago Greasers, Gangs and Clubs From Chicago, Boppin Gangs From Chicago

MANIAC DRIFTERS:
Started by a guy named Bobo and several other of the guys from Mcpherson School around 1970. There were some real good guys in this club. They hung out at the snack shop on the corner of Damen and Lawrence. The younger Drifters like the Samuel Brothers started the Seeley and Ainslie Gaylords after the Drifters broke up...
BASEMENT BOYS:
1968(included BASEMENT GIRLS and JUNIOR BASEMENT BOYS): Here is what an ex Basement Girl had to say about their club: "We hung out in the cold weather in the basement while the guys practiced in the band and in the alley of the house on Damen & Montrose. The guys were in a band called the Astetic Vistas. My ex was the guitar player. They played at USO, churches, and various places, We all had all lot of fun. There were some unexpected gang fights. I started in 1968 and in approx. 5 years everyone got married, mostly to each other, thats when the Junior Basement Boys started the end." The Junior Basement Boys would eventually become Seeley and Ainslie Gaylords.
THORNDALE JAGOFFS/THORNDALE JARVIS ORGANIZATION:
A Chicago Newspaper wrote an article about the "Thorndale Jarvis Organization" in which a Chicago Policer referred to the gang as a "bunch of jag offs", from that time forward they changed their name to the "Thorndale Jag Offs". A retired member had this to say:
"When I was a teenager in Uptown in the 60's the TJO's and Turf were very active at Senn High School and the surrounding communities. The Turfers wore steeled toed work boots in all seasons and were known as garden variety street brawlers. I think most of them got that out of their systems and went on to a more normal lifestyle.
The TJO's were legendary in their time. I remember the leaders, but will leave out names in this forum. The TJOs were involved in burglary and a variety of criminal enterprises, similar to the Simon City Royals of recent decades. A prominent member, made the headlines in 1975 when he was part of a spectacular escape at the Cook County jail.
Long prison terms for a number of key members pretty much ended the reign of the TJOs in the mid and late 70's as I recall. In early 1963 I believe Chicago magazine did a story on street gangs in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. The Simon city gang was in its infancy at the time and got some mention in the article. In the hot summer of 1966 gangs were in the news on a daily basis. The old Chicago American did a lengthy series on Chicagos street gangs in either July or August of that year. That paper became Chicago Today in 1969, it was a tabloid similar to the Sun Times. Before the paper folded in 1974 veteran reporter Jack Mabley did a story on a SCR branch active around Hamilton elementary in the Lake View neighborhood."
Senn H. S. graduate had this to say: I grew up on Thorndale & Kenmore and saw TJO start up. Joe G. (died in a police shootout) was the first "leader of the pack". I think they started around 1962. The guys that started calling themselves the TJO weren't even from the neighborhood to begin with. After a few altercations on the street between TJO with toughs from the neighborhood, the stores put bars on their windows around 1963. Anyone still standing from the first few altercations melded together into one. They hated being called jagoffs, which was hysterical since that is what they called themselves. They did not have jackets.
In October of 1984, in what was left of the TJO leadership, 3 former members of the TJO were involved in a shootout with Chicago Police in the restaurant parking lot of Carson - The Place for Ribs. 30 shots were exchanged, some fired by an Uzi.
Senn Riots 1972: The Thordale Jarvis Organization was referred to in a 1972 Chicago Tribune article as the Blackstone Rangers of the the North Side with 200 active members.
In 1964 at Senn High School, TJO was already an established "club". At the time as I remember they were simply refered to as Thorndale.
BRYN MAWR:
Some of them hung out at a place called "The Green and White" that was across the street from Senn H.S.
IRISH CLOWNS:
The Irish Clowns were hanging around Damen & Winnemac, Damen & Montrose, Welles Park, John C Coonley School & A few other places.. I don’t believe they ever held a corner as they hung & partied with several older clubs: Basement Boys, Maniac Drifters, Early Seeley and Ainslie Gaylords, Coonley Boys, etc. There was some kind of a unity similar to the U F O. It was called United White Front, which started in the late 70's primarily as a front to stand off the Montrose & Paulina Latin Kings & the Latin Eagles who were the only threat to the hood at the time. I believe this unity started about the time Honkey R.I.P from s/a was killed. Whether it was related or not, I'm not sure. But there was also a point in the late 70's when they went to war with the Lawrence & Rockwell Popes who I thought were a part of the United White Front or whatever it was called as they had the Kings just west of them on Lawrence also.
By 1980 the Irish Clowns were pretty much history. Many still hung around the neighborhood, flipped into other clubs, and went with McQueeny on his adventures.
Other major players in the Irish clowns were Maddog Schraeder... Rowdy Rhoadie, Hillbilly, The Eanes Bros.
The Clowns did wear sweaters Green and Gold. You could still see older guys styling them at the downtown St Pat's Parade at late as 1990 when the parade was still a big street party. They became a legit social athletic club in the 80's when many became cops, fireman, govt workers or went to college. They are still around as a SAC with sports teams and charity work.

Hells Devils

CORP:
1960s and 1970s: Italian and German gang from the North & Clybourn area. North Ave. was the border line between the gangs from Cabrini Green on the south side and Whites on the north. Both groups had some serious humbugs over crossing North Ave. The Corp were jammed against the Latin Kings, Young Lords, Cylbourn Corrupters and the Cobra Stones. The CORP more then held are own from the mid 60's to the late 70's. They had alliances with the Popes, Patch, and other greasers gangs throughout Chicago.
Most of those dudes went into the military.
Prior to the construction of the Cabrini-Green Housing project, the area that was destroyed to make room for the towers was a Sicilian Ghetto known as "Little HELL", which was known for its two families per apartment, and one bathroom per floor tenement buildings. The Sicilians who were forced to move from this area ended up in the neighborhoods of Grand and Noble, and Grand and Harlem. There emblem was a cross as part of the capital C.
SEPTERS: 1960s
Included: Septerettes. Mozart Park 3840 Armitage was their headquarters. The Septers ended in 1969, and the remaining guys joined the Lawndale and Altgeld Gaylords.
DRAKES: 1960s
Drakes were greaser gangs in the area of Lawndale and Altgeld prior to the Taylor Jousters. Their rival was the Septors.
THE DEICERS: 1945
Waller High School: Girls club that warmed up the planes in ww2, and were one great gang of roller skaters and got together every sat night.
KIMBALL LAWRENCE BOYS:
The Kimball Lawrence boys hung out at Napoli’s Restaurant during the 60s and attended Roosevelt and Von Steuben HS. They had at least one major battle against a Latin gang at the Alba Dance Club on Lawrence Ave during the early 60s that became part of north side folklore.
DELTA
From 1956 to 1960 our president at the time was Angelo Lardas. we also became brother clubs of the Sons of italy from Chicago.
SHARKS: 1953
Italian-Greek gangs from the corner of Mohawk Street and Chicago Avenue in the early 1950s. They numbered around 30. They once attempted to rob the Montgomery Wards Department Store on Chicago Avenue by bringing a cantaloup in a paperbag into the store and telling the cashier that it was a bomb. Their rival was an unknown gang that hung on the corner of Grace Street and Broadway Avenue.
ASHLAND VIKINGS:
Late 1960's: Mostly Polish gang started to counter Black gangs on Taylor Street. Members of the Ashland Vikings wore cross tatoos on their wrists. The Ashland Vikings eventually became a Latino gang.

CONQUISTADORES:
Started in 1961 by a group of guys from Amundsen High, who had to defend themselves against another area gang called the "Preatorians", who they had got into a fight with at a party. They formed their gang as a mutual protection "society". Most of the original guys graduated in 1962. Some ended up joining the Marines.
RICAN BOYS:
Malden and Wilson was the corner of the Rican boys. Later they turned to Spanish Cobras.

Uptown Rebels

BELAIRS:
The Bel-Aires were ran by this guy "Crazy Tom" president they hung on St.Louis and Armitage and the Cortland Stacies were one of the rivals, they hung in the hood of Moffat and Campbell.
Belairs were mainly between Armitage and North ave and between Sacramento and Central Park, much of the same area that was Simon City populated. The Belairs had a bell with wings for a logo. Many of their members became DC Eagles.
The Bel-airs and the Simon City gang were responsible for shutting down the Root Coffee House at 3260 Armitage avenue in Humboldt Park owned by Rev. Johnson and his wife. The two gangs, the Bel-Aires and the Simon City gang, had a fight there and police closed the club after a raid Feb. 5, 1968.
NOBLE KNIGHTS
The Noble Knights started in the area of Division and North in the early 1960s. Their turf was bounded by Division Street and North Avenue, Western and Damen Avenues. They fought the Jokers at various times. In the early sixties, the Noble Knights were a fast growing gang.
JOKERS
An orginal Joker stated: he started the Jokers in 1956 with his friends, who were 11 and 12 years old at that time, and they were one of the first gangs in that area of Humboldt Park. Their turf was Lafayette School on the corner of North Washtenaw Ave. and Cortez Street. After they started in the late 1950s, Chi-West and the Hirsh Street Lords started in the early 1960s. All of these guys went to grammar school together and remained friends up to today. Their enemies were various Latino gangs starting up in the Humboldt Park area at that time, like the Young Lords, Latin lords, along with the Noble Knights. The Jokers consisted of the Pee Wee and Junior Jokers, no senior Jokers. A 1966 Chicago Tribune article stated that the Jokers were equally as violent as the Blackstone Rangers and the Disciples.
Duke had this to say: I am Duke, a former Joker in the early 60’s. The Jokers’ turf was bounded by Western Ave, Chicago Ave, Division St, and Humboldt Park. Our “corner” was at Cortez and Washtenaw, at Lafayette School, where we played softball and hung out a lot at the East end of Humboldt Park. There were Senior Jokers, Junior Jokers, and Jokerettes. The Joker’s territory was invaded in about 1963 or 1964 by the Latin Kings one night and a general war erupted that lasted for several weeks, with several members of the Hirsh Street Lords and Chi-West joining in our defense. Some of us enlisted in the Marines when our neighborhood began to fall, including myself. Just to throw some names out there: Morel Brothers, Ustrak Brothers, Charlie M., Red, DuBose, Terry, McCarthy Brothers, Dilt, Duke, One-arm Herbie, Onopa, Sonny and Jeff, et al.Greetz.
HIRSH STREET LORDS
CHI-WEST:
Legendary leader: Jack the Jew
Formed around the year 1960 in the Tulley High School District of Chicago. Chi-West rumbled against Latino gang rivals like Latin Angels and the Spanish Kings. December 4th, 1962, Chicago Police broke up a rumble between Chi-West, the Latin Angels, and the Spanish Kings in the Chopin School Playground.. Chi-West was armed with molotv cocktails and bricks.
A Former Joker had this to say: I remember several nights during that period that I was in the back seat of a '54 Chevy, Molitov Cocktail in hand, cruising Division Street looking for the bad guys. I came within seconds of firebombing Moishe Pipics hot dog stand when word came in that some Latin Kings were inside. When we got there they were gone.
JUNIOR LA COMPANERO - CHI-WESTETTES:
There were La Companeros, and were great girls. I guess I always thought we were more of a club, but that was never to be said. We loved being in that GANG. Our guy counter-parts were the CHI-West, in time the girls became the CHI-WEST-etttes! What a great time we had!

F-S-L Brentano Boy's

Dayton Street Dragons:
Dayton Street gang
Mohawks:
On Mahawk Street.
SENTINELS
Hung out on Touhy and California at Pauls Drive-In from 1963-1969 on Morse Avenue. At least half of us went to Sullivan High School. The other half went to Mathers High School.
ERIE DUKES: 1950s
The ERIE DUKES was a gang on Erie St, close to the Erie Chapel church. The Gentile brothers were part...
18TH AND CANAL PORT GANG: 1940s
There turf was in Mark White Square around 2900 South Halsted Street.
LADY HEADS: 1972
White and Spanish girl gang from the Cooper Upper Grade School area around West 18th Place.

Taylor Street: Little Italy Gangs

BRIGADIERS: 1945
Italian gang from the West Side. There turf was in the area of Paulina and Congress Streets and has been replaced with the UIC campus. There rivals were various Black West Side gangs. One gang fight that the Brigadiers were involved in caused a street riot that left two Black gang members beaten and one shot and killed.
TAYLOR MAJESTICS: 1965
Italian gang from the Taylor Street area. Also they were affiliated in the Cass High School area - Little Hell. They fought Black gangs in the Cabrini Green area.
TAYLOR STREET DUKES: 1950s
The Taylor Dukes also hung around on the same corner with the Nobles, and the Jr. Dukes. Imagine the large crew of guys on one corner, The Dukes girls were the Taylor Corvettes. The Dukes had 3/4 Length Jackets, Dark Blue, with a light blue 2" line around the shoulder and under the arm, They had a patch over the chest I believe the left side with a coat of arms made from the Pall Mall Cig packet.
TAYLOR SHARKS:
Italian mid 1960s. Hung around 24th Street and Central Park Avenue. There rivals were: Latin Kings and the Ridgeway Lords. Members of the Taylor Sharks were arrested for shooting members of both rival gangs.
TAYLOR BARRENS:
The Taylor Barrens were one of the roughest gangs in the neighborhood. They also had girls in their club known as the barrens. 40's & 50's still are around old but respectful.
TAYLOR NOBLES:
The Taylor Nobles were also a very rough crew of guys who hung around at the WALL, , located at Taylor St and Troop St. The gang was Italian, Mexican, some Irish, and Greeks. They also had girls in their club, they are also still around and respectful. How rough were these guys they had a run in with some mob guys, the mob guys lost the fight, and accepted an apology later.
TAYLOR BISHOPS:
The Taylor Bishops four blocks west of the Dukes and Nobles, hung around in a pool hall.
Taylor Street Neighborhood:
Now all the listed gangs meet every second Sunday at a Hotel in the western suburbs of Chicago for Breakfast, and have a big Christmas dinner once a year at a restaurant on Taylor St. You are looking at guys that are now in their sixties and seventies and still around and meeting.
Taylor Street was called the farm club, of you know who.
The wall was a housing project that was 95% black and no one ever fought with each other, we just accepted one another.
There were several other groups of guys in the neighborhood, Polk & Aberdeen (The Shack), Taylor St. & Halsted, Taylor St. & Ashland, Polk & Loomis, none of the groups in the neighborhood fought with each other.
The Collier magazine did an article on the Dukes in the fifties photos were taken of the group at the wall, also Mike Royko did a bull story on the Dukes, no truth at all to what he wrote.

ROMAN SAINTS
Back of the Yards: The Saints were at Davis Square in the Back of the Yards, pretty much 43rd to 47th, Ashland to probably Damen, 43rd to 47th east of Ashland to Loomis. The Saints started out Polish and eventually became a Mexican gang. In the mid 1980s, there were still quite a few Polish in the gang. Around 1969 or 1970, The Saints and the Dukes were allies against the Sherman Park Gaylords.
In 1963, the Roman Saints were convicted for arson, which caused $250,000 worth of damage to the Chicago Science and Industry Museum. In that same incident, a White Roman Saint was convicted of murder for a stabbing death at the museum. In 1963, the Roman Saints had a clubhouse on the corner of Taylor and Oakley Streets.

Irish Bridgeport Stone Greaser

IMPERIALS: 1958-1966
I lived in the very area you mentioned about street gangs, corner of Leland and Malden (1958-1966). The gang I belonged to was the Imperials, joined in 1960, was active for 2-3 years, our turf was the Wilson/Broadway area but roamed between the Lake and Western ave, Wilson to Lawrence Avenue. I joined this gang while a student at Stockton Elementary school(7th grade) on Lawrence Ave. as a protection mechanism against other gangs after getting beat up and stabbed a couple of times. We did a lot of things together (ie go to the lake and swim, a few Cub's games, played football, softball) all pretty much non-violent. We did have a few fights, no guns, just knifes, brass knuckles, chains, and bass ball bats. All more for display rather than use, but some fights were very violent. After a couple of years, the gang started to turn very violent and committing crimes, usually late evening and weekends which I refused to participate (money for drugs), went against my Appalachian early childhood training. I was finally arrested on a winter day in 1962 by an old Irish cop nicknamed "Big John" (he had forewarned me before several times) for fighting, harassing folks, pan-handling and throwing snowballs through the bus and L train windows. Purse snatching was becoming quite the sport for the gang at that time. From that day, I learned a lesson, quietly left the gang and changed my life style. I was now a sophomore at Senn where a number of Imperials had started school (we did not wear our colors at school, kept a low profile there), I only know of two of us that made it past the sophomore year, soon afterwards, I was the only one. I was approached in my junior year to join another gang at Senn which I hung with at times, but never joined, but that time I had become very independent and remained that way.
Our colors were a shiny black baseball style jacket, on the back was a green dragon with some orange, yellow and red highlights. IMPERIALS was in a semi circle over the dragon.. Hope this helped out some..
CORNELL SQUARE REBELS - 1950s:
Starting out as the Rebels Social and Athletic Club, the Rebels became very street active and made the newspapers numerous times for about ten years in the 1950s. Their turf was the area that would later be controlled by the 55th and Ashland Gaylords and the Cornell Square Dukes in the sixties and seventies. The Rebels headquarters was the candy store on the corner of 51st Street and Wolcott Avenue across the street from Cornell Square Park. Their rivals were the Sons of Italy, Sons of Chinatown, and the Cavaliers. In 1956, a group of Rebels were arrested for a shooting death which was the result of a fight between the Rebels and the Sons of Italy, Sons of Chinatown, and the Cavaliers. In 1957, some Rebels were arrested for the beating death of an honor student waiting for a bus at 59th and Kedzie. Some more Rebels were arrested in 1958 at the scene of a gang fight between two girl gangs – the Greeks and the Stiffettos. The Rebels lost a lot of guys in each arrest, but were dealt a final blow when a group of Rebels beat up two Chicago Police Officers at a South Side bowling alley. The CPD Officers stated in the article that the girlfriends of the Rebels cheered the guys on as they attacked the officers. After the arrests from that incident, the Rebels were a shell of what they once were – one of the most notorious South Side gangs.
A former Cornell Square Rebel had this to say about his club:
The rebels started from a gang that hung around St. Michaels at 48th & Damen. The Spartans hung around 48th & Hermitage and all began to hang with the rebels at the park. Many young guys were attracted by the media attention and the gang grew to hundreds coming from different areas of the city. I was there when White got shot with my girlfriend parked at the curb. Eddy also was shot but wasn't killed. This was after they attacked a pool hall hang out at Halstead & Taylor an Italian hang out. There was no official membership or roll but a loose organization. Years later most of the gang now adult hung out at 50th and Oakley a tavern owned by one of the old gang members.
Demographics of Cornell Square in the 1950s:
In the days of the Rebels you had St Cyril and Methodius at 50th-Hermitage (Czech) Nativity BVM Ukrainian Catholic at 49th-Paulina St Martini-Lutheran (German) at 51st-Marshfield. St Michael the Archangel (Slovak) 47th-Damen. St Joseph (Polish) 48th-Wood (several Dukes went to school here) Sacred Heart (Polish) at 46th-Wolcott (Topolski's mass was here) Holy Cross (Lithuanian) 45th-Wood. And a small Czech Methodist church just north of the park. So, Poles and Czechs would have been the most numerous, with the others of course.
Tilden HS had alot of black students in the 50's because the Black Belt was 6 blocks (0.75 miles) away. And the Black Belt was there 90 years ago. Then after WW2 blacks started coming to Fuller Park (39th to 55th-LaSalle to rr tracks west) and by the 60's it was predominantly Black (if you've ever seen The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, parts of it were shot in Fuller Park). Now Canaryville is just West of the tracks that divide it from Fuller Park. When both areas were white, guys from both sides used to occasionally hassle who ever passed under the viaducts at 45th and other places. After Fuller Park turned black a gate was put up blocking off the street at 45th I believe. In the 80's it made the news and was removed over cries of racism. After all these yrs though, Canaryville has remained predominantly white. St Gabriel's at 45th-Lowe still has very good attendence.
SPANISH REBELS: 1959
Not to be confused with the Cornell Square Rebels of the same time period. These Rebels were Latino and held turf in the Taylor Street/Independence Park area. Their main rival was the Spanish Counts.

51st and Wolcott Rebels Spike's Candy Store