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Interview with a 1970s greaser: Chicago Greaser! Read about Greasers in the 1970s and 80s in the book "Lords of Lawndale". Portrait of a Delinquent, by Barbara Levine“Johnny,” a 15 year old delinquent who comes from the Lower East Side slums. He is the son of a worthless father and a hard-drinking mother. The boy is the president and the toughest member of the Third Street Gang. After noting that Johnny had joined the gang when he was 12, the writer went on: “Now let us view a typical day in his life.” “He comes home from school at 3 o’clock. He meets his gang at the clubhouse. When he arrives, the members are discussing ways of fighting their enemies, the Second Street Gang. “It is decided that the fight will be waged with clubs. They will sneak up and take them by surprise. They arrange to meet at 7 o’clock. “The appointed time arrives, and we find Johnny and his gang ready to fight their adversaries. Slowly they tread along until they come to their foe’s clubhouse. Johnny gives the signal for attack. The Second Street Gang is unprepared for the melee, and so it is an easy fight. The victors destroy the clubhouse and trash the vanquished. “Johnny goes back to his home late that night and finds his parents are having a argument about their lack of money. Under this tension he goes to bed and finally falls asleep.” "Student Sketches Gang Delinquency" New York Times (1857-Current file); Feb 1, 1957;page 10. "I heard the Horsemen were Busting out, bopping the gang on the next block so I went and had myself a look! It was a rumble for real with zip guns, jackhammers, the works!" From the movie: The Young Savages, 1960. "We're going to have to bop our way back!" "What are we waiting for?" "The train would help. Unless you want to get japped on an open platform!" From the movie: The Warriors, 1979. "Gang Slang" By PHILIP BENJAMIN New York Times (1857-Current file); Oct 20, 1957; pg. SM28 |
The SBB consisted of something like 8-10 different gangs. There were: The SB Angels, SB Diapers, Wanderers, Degraw St boys, Sackett St Boys, The Butler Gents (My gang). They all considered themselves part of SBB, but only came together in big gangfights against the Untouchable Bishops(Latino) or the The Mau Mau Chaplains (Black). Otherwise, they did their thing separately and shared the turf from Butler Street to 9th St. from 4th Ave up to 7th Ave. Some other SBB gangs were SB Devils and the Garfield Boys.
Turf boundaries included the following corners:
Butler gents wore sweaters, like the kind you got from school athletic teams. They were Black button down v-neck, with white piping and white interlocking BG on the breast. We really thought we looked bad walking down the street together in our colors.
We hung out at Joes Luncheonette on 5th Ave and Sterling Pl., two blocks down from where an infamous plane crash occurred in 1960. A commercial airliner narrowly missed St. Augustine's school full of thousands of kids on Sterling & 6th and crashed on Sterling & 7th, demolishing the block and killing everyone aboard and people on the ground as well.
One of their biggest battles was when the Untouchable Bishops invaded Joe's Luncheonette one afternoon and their leader, Geronimo, threatened and intimidated Joe's wife, Molly. Joe's was also a big cop hangout and the cops from the 78th Pct. looked the other way as the Gents retaliated for days afterwards. A week later, a cop named Quigley walked in to Joe's and threw the G Geronimo wore on his beret on the counter. "Here you go, Molly." End of Geronimo. End of story.
In 2001, Mickey and DC, with the help of Ray, who worked in a DA's office, managed to locate and contact over 30 former Gents and Ladies from all over the metro area and beyond and had a great reunion (after 40 years) in the old neighborhood. They continue to meet and communicate regularly. Mickey can be contacted at Mickey
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SBB Greasers
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The History of Stone Greasers
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