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Howard Street Greasers

Legendary Rogers Park Gang

Howard Street Greasers

A Sullivan High School graduate from Rogers Park had this to say: I remember them. Those were the days when gangs carried knives instead of guns. I hung around with Glenn Dewlow for a while and his side-kick CoCo. But then some girl called me up and told me she would kill me if I kept hanging around with Glenn(!) I remember they wore those wrap sweaters that tied in front, white with a black pattern on them. And they had a symbol, which I have somewhere on a notebook that I kept. They used to hang out on the stairs at the corner of North Shore and Bosworth after school, which was right across the street from my house. I remember Yahne, Donny, Jody too. And my older brother was in The Patch (St. Ignatius grade school alumni "gang").

Lil Smokey of the Howard Street Greasers

Lil Smokey stated: Wow, that was a long time ago and brings back memories. I was a Greaser and pretty much lived at the Big Pit. Bob Turner ran the place back then and hid us from Police on many occasions. I was at the bowling alley that night as well and remember that night very well. In fact Gigs was on crutches from getting jumped by Kings; he took both crutches and went crazy breaking them in pieces as he cleared the game room area. I remember the cane sword as well as was 2 feet away when it came out.I was very good friends with Gooch and was there when he was shot; I was one carrying the stretcher with Wacker and Gigs and Deleon.I also was at Sullivan High school when the Greasers and Kings had it out. Yes there was shot gun blast and a fight between myself and Taco ; the president of the HSK. This is where he got his ribs broken; when I slammed him into a picket fence and it separated his ribs. I spent many hours at Silver Sues to.  I was Lil Smokey back in those days and actually the only Greaser involved with the Royals of Touhy and Ridge. We were compiled of Rat, Twat, Idiot and Kid who was one of my best friends. After everyone sort of drifted in different directions.

Touhy Greaser

As with most gangs of the 70s we came from broken families and looked out for each other as family. All that mattered was keeping the hood free of the Latin Kings. The boundary was the Howard St. L' tracks. We were West and South they were East and North of it. Things heated up in '77-'78 with many brawls one I remember in the pool hall at Howard Bowl another just outside the Pit. I remember a bullet coming through the window at the Pit and the Big Pit getting raided by about 20 cops one night

I'm not sure there was ever an official disbanding of  HSG IN '76. Us younger Greasers just carried on from The Big Pit , Touhy Park, along the  west side of the Ravenswood train tracks south of Birchwood east of Wolcott. Ron, older brothers Russell and Timothy, Joey, Donny, Mal, an Assyrian dude, Chao, girls Lena and Wenonah and many others whose names I cannot remember. The manager of Big Pit gave us our own juke box and we all brought 45s of Elvis, Franky Valley and the Beach Boys.

There were white guys near Howard and Ashland before the Kings. I remember walking that area and not being threatened. I recall a fight after a party on Fargo near Ashland that exposed there loyalty. The area to the north became heavily Hispanic and Black in the mid 70's and for whatever reason, maybe out of necessity, they betrayed our friendship and the Kings took over. Clearly our fight had switched to maintaining Howard street for R.P.G. (ROYALS, POPES, HOWARD STREET GREASERS) NATION.

We fought along side of what was left of TJO (THORNDALE JAGOFFS) (Gary, and Don few others) were often. Their neighborhood near Senn H.S. turned solid Latin Kings. They were threatened every day at school and in their hood and those of us who went to Sullivan H.S., to the north, stood with them.

Pop's Restuarant

Pop's just west of Sullivan on Clark Street a lot of good clean fun up there. A few gangbangers from other area's, gaylord's and jouster's, not alot just afew! They had Elvis on the jukebox for all the greasers.

Mr. Duffy a.k.a. Casper

Ace tried to disband after he got out of jail in early '75. Ace went on to join the S/D's. The rest of us continued to rep G's and I was elected Pres. The names are mostly right; I'm Mr. Duffy and Casper. Got the name Casper after one of our Sisters overheard a King say: "that f_ckin Duffy is like a ghost!" Duke was a Palmer G/L. It's Lil Mikey and Dago Don. The Toughy & Ridge Royals was started by a good Brother named Steve Clark; his sister was murdered by a sp_c. That's it for now. One thing; I will not betray my Brothers respect and honor. United We Stand, Devided We Fall.

Also, we were united with the Royals, Popes, Palmer Gaylords, Jousters, Satans Disciples and the Belairs. The other Gaylords killed Larkin, so we were'nt with K/G/L's. Palmer was Grey, Kilbourn was powder blue.

Death of Hillbilly by a Howard Street Lord

Howard Street Lord taggings from the 1970s

There was a rumble with the Howard Street Greasers and the Howard Street Kings on Ashland next to Gale School in the park. My sister's fiancé was on the way home from walking her home and he lived at 7609 North Bosworth. He heard the rumble going on and ran through the gangway next to the Bosworth Hotel to help and was stabbed twice with a 32 inch cane sword. After he was stabbed he made it back to 7609 and died on the stairs to his apt, everybody knew him as "HILLBILLY". He was the president of the Howard Street Lords, who were united with the Howard Street Kings. I'm not going to say any names but the Greaser that killed Hillbilly lived on Greenview just north of Morse in Rogers park and was convicted for manslaughter in 1980. Then in 1981 my best friend Donald Jones aka LIL DJ was murdered by the serial killer David Maust.

Hollywood Street Greasers

In '77 '78', I found a crew on Sheridan & Hollywood who were calling themselves Hollywood St. Greasers. Dago Don, Donny, Glen, and I went to have talk with them. They were okay. They were reppin Greasers, and wearing Black & White. We gave some advice and our Blessing. Don't know what happend to them after about '79.

Rogers Park Greaser

Rogers Park Demographics and the Greasers: Toward the mid to late 70's, the Juneway Terrace area, an area at the very north or Rogers Park, bordered by Evanston and a cemetery, and the train tracks of the CTA and Metra, was changing demographics pretty fast.  There was a rapidly growing black and Hispanic population with lots of Jamaicans. This is where the Howard Street Kings came from. They were primarily a small black gang. They had their graffiti everywhere all along Clark street.  Then one spring day in 78, word was going around Sullivan that the Grease was going to confront the HSK after school.  The HSK had their graffiti everywhere in school and their members went to Sullivan.

I heard from sources there was a shotgun blast, and that was it. Goodbye HSK! Don't mess with them Howard Street Greasers! The HSK also called themselves the 'Kings'.

The Greasers were a purely white ethic mix. Polock, Italian, Irish, you name it.

The SCRs and Popes had a very few (1 or 2) hispanic and black members. There was also another Sullivan based gang called the Assyrian Eagles.

Howard Street Lords

A Howard Street Lord speaks out: The brother who was killed by the Howard Street Greasers in 79 was the leader of the Howard Street Lords, his name was HILLBILLY aka Barry and he was my sister's fiance. Here's a little more info about the lords, the comment on the greaser page (I remember Hst.L's named "J.J", "Tony", "Lil BurnOut", "Lil DJ", and "Lil Hitler" ). Well JJ was james, LIL TONY aka carl and LIL DJ was donald and if he really new the HSL and he was a GREASER he wouldn't have forgot WEASEL aka rodger, the jones brothers. Also Donald was killed in 81 by DAVID MAUST THE SERIAL KILLER.

The story of' Gooch getting shot by lil Wine of the Harrison Gents: Well the Greasers were probably doing their thing around the Big Pit and the situation developed where there was a chase between a Gent or Gents and Gooch and maybe multiple greasers. While Gooch was running he was shot in the back and paralyzed. I was a shorty when I seen the Greasers wheel him down the street while lying on his stomach on a stretcher  to Silver Sues which was our game room at Farewell and Clark. So I think the shooting wasn't that long before that because they didn't have him in a wheel chair yet. He did die a few years later. It was sad and my mother use to talk to his mother about her son's death, because Gooch's mom was a waitress at the Stars Inn Restaurant at Clark and Greenleaf which my mom frequented.

The fight started when the Harrison Gents were at the Howard Bowl and they were disrespected by a Howard Street Greaser. The Harrison Gents left the Bowling alley and lit up the neighborhod where Gooch got shot in the back.