Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

is considered the most

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...

-occupied city in the United States, with 150,000 gang-affiliated residents, representing more than 100 gangs. Gang warfare and retaliation are common in Chicago. Gangs were responsible for 61% of the homicides in Chicago in 2011.

History

The first gangs in Chicago were loosely organized groups of European immigrants in the late 1800s. In 1910, Big Jim Colosimo founded the Chicago Outfit on the South Side. In the early 1950s, immigration to Chicago had picked up considerably, namely to the West Side and parts of the South Side with many coming from

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. Demographic shifts and conflicts around this time led to the formation of many gangs, and the inception of a broader gang culture in Humboldt Park, and around other parts of the city. In the 1970s, gang-related crime and violence spiked, particularly with Hispanic-on-Hispanic homicides increasing in the summer of 1971 due to Latin Kings gang election meetings. In July 2021, federal agents participating in Operation Legend arrested 27

Black Disciples The Black Disciples (often abbreviated as the BD's) is an African-American street gang that originated in Chicago, Illinois. History In 1958, a group of young teenagers from the Hyde Park, Englewood, and Kenwood areas of Chicago form ...

gang members associated with drugs and gun violations in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.

Causes

Lack of opportunity and economic oppression especially in the form of

redlining Redlining is a Discrimination, discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of Race (human categorization), racial and Ethnic group, ethnic minorities. Redlining has been mos ...

by Chicago's city hall and banks has caused

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

citizens to turn to the sale of illicit drugs for income. Former Chicago Police Superintendent, Garry McCarthy, blames Chicago's gang culture for its high rates of homicide and other violent crime, stating "It's very frustrating to know that it's like 7% of the population causes 80% of the violent crime... The gangs here are traditional gangs that are generational, if you will. The grandfather was a gang member, the father's a gang member, and the kid right now is going to be a gang member".

Policing strategy

Former Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

disbanded the Chicago Police Department's anti-gang unit in 2012 in order to focus on beat patrols, which he said would have a more long-term solution to violence than anti-gang units.

Structure

Most traditional Chicago street gangs, known as ''nations,'' fall under two main factions, called the

People Nation The People Nation is an American alliance of street gangs generally associated with the Chicago area. They are rivals of the Folk Nation alliance of gangs. Formation In 1978, Mickey Cogwell and Jeff Fort (now Black P. Stones), Vice Lords and ...

and the

Folk Nation The Folk Nation is an alliance of street gangs originating in Chicago, established in 1978. The alliance has since spread throughout the United States, particularly the Midwestern United States. Formation The Folk Nation was formed on November ...

. The People Nation has most, if not all, of its gangs under the "Almighty" moniker. The Folk Nation has most of its gangs divided into various sub-factions, the majority of which belong to an alliance called ''Latin Folks'' which are further divided into groups called ''Families''. There are nations that are independent of both the Folk Nation and People Nation, such as the Black Soul Nation. Street gangs that are independent of Folks and People but retain similar identifiers and symbolism as well as maintain a hierarchical structure in membership are known as ''war crews''. They do not identify as nations though they will engage in traditional gang activity and may conflict with nations as well as other crews. Street gangs that do not retain any semblance of traditional nations or war crews are known simply as ''cliques''. Each individual gang is divided into ''sets'' which are territories spanning blocks or neighborhoods that may be combined to form supersets or divided further into subsets. Typically, a single set is based at a single intersection of city streets. There are currently over 90 active Chicago street gangs, with over 747 sets that have been identified by law enforcement.

Modern street gangs

Chicago-based street gang nations post-establishment of the Folk Nation and People Nation are as follows :

Folks Nation The Folk Nation is an alliance of street gangs originating in Chicago, established in 1978. The alliance has since spread throughout the United States, particularly the Midwestern United States. Formation The Folk Nation was formed on November 1 ...

*Ambrose *Ashland Vikings *

*Boss Pimps *Brazers *C-Notes *Campbell Boys *

Gangster Disciples The Gangster Disciple Nation (often abbreviated as the GD's; formally, GDN or simply Gangster Disciples), also known as Growth & Development, is an African American street and prison gang founded by former rivals David Barksdale and Larry H ...

*Harrison Gents *Imperial Gangsters *Insane Deuces *Insane Dragons *Insane Guess Boys *Insane Popes *Insane Two-Two Nation *King Cobras *Krazy Getdown Boys *

La Raza Nation La Raza Nation is a street gang founded in Chicago in 1973. Their colors are green, white, and red (same as the Mexican flag). Their symbols include the Mexican flag, cross, and a six-point star. Relations with other gangs Although La Raza Nat ...

*Latin Disciples *Latin Dragon Nation *

Latin Eagles The Almighty Latin Eagles Nation (ALEN) originated in the area of Halsted and Addison on the Northside of Chicago during the mid 1960s. Famous for spawning a strong Latino political organization in the late 1960’s, by the 1970s it had transforme ...

*Latin Jivers *Latin Lovers *Latin Souls *Latin Stylers *Milwaukee Kings *Morgan Boys *Orquesta Albany *Outlaw Gangsters *Party People *Racine Boys *Ridgeway Lords *Simon City Royal *Sin City Boys *Spanish Cobras *Spanish Gangster Disciples *Two-Six *YLO Cobras *YLO Disciples

Almighty Saints The Almighty Saints is a street gang founded in the early 1960s by Polish youth at Davis Square Park in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago, but later was largely made up of Hispanics due to the change in the community's ethnic makeu ...

Almighty Vice Lord Nation The Almighty Vice Lord Nation (Vice Lords for short, abbreviated AVLN) is the second-largest and one of the oldest street and prison gangs in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its total membership is estimated to be between 30,000 and 35,000. It i ...

*Bishops * Black P. Stones * Chicago Gaylords *Chi-West *Familia Stones *Four Corner Hustlers *Insane Popes *Insane Unknowns *Latin Angels *Latin Brothers * Latin Counts * Latin Kings *Latin Pachucos *Latin Stones * Mickey Cobras *Noble Knights *Party Players *Spanish Lords *Spanish Vice Lords *Stoned Freaks *Twelfth Street Players *Villa Loboes Independent Nations *Black Gangsters *Black Souls * TAP Boyz * Jousters Transplanted Gangs *

Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African Americans, African American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for Crips–Bloods gang war, its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn ...

Crips The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips ...

Norteños Norteños (, ; ''Norteñas'' for females) are the various affiliated gangs that pay tribute to Nuestra Familia while in California Incarceration in the United States, state and federal correctional facilities. Norteños may refer to Northern ...

* Sureños ** Playboys

References