by PolackTony » Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:22 pm
Thanks Villain this is a great thread. The rise of increasingly organized and vertically structured street gangs in the 1960s really took out the Outfit's control over rackets in the black neighborhoods of course. My understanding is that the Blackstone Rangers under Jeff Fort were particularly resentful of Outfit control and ran out black criminals who were working under or kicking up to the mob. The Stones had no qualms either up confronting and running out Italians who attempted to continue doing business in their territories without their authorization. I think it was similar with the Vice Lords on the Westside (the name itself chosen as an indicator that they viewed themselves as the rightful heirs to rackets in their community). Now, there are also accounts from the late 60s that I've heard of the Stones and VLs working with Outfit associated drug suppliers. They were open to continue working with the mob, but seemingly on their own terms as partners, as they were no longer going to tolerate being "run" or extorted like previous generations of black gangsters.
An interesting figure from this era was Mickey Cogwell, the chief of the Cobra Stones (aka King Cobras, originally the Egyptian Cobras in the 1950s). He had the reputation of being a very savvy and sophisticated gang leader and was claimed to have had close ties to the Outfit. The Chicago police department apparently had intelligence linking Cogwell to Caesar DiVarco and Joe Arnold. This would make sense as the King Cobras faction of Cogwell's organization had a large operation in the Cabrini Green pj's on the Near Northside. Cogwell was knocked down in 77 duento tensions with the leadership of the Black P Stones who feared and resented him as a threat to their dominance of the Main 21, a bird of directors of allied organizations under the Stones that predated the formation of the People Nation alliance in the late 70s. After Cogwell was taken out his organization renamed themselves the Mickey Cobras.
Thanks Villain this is a great thread. The rise of increasingly organized and vertically structured street gangs in the 1960s really took out the Outfit's control over rackets in the black neighborhoods of course. My understanding is that the Blackstone Rangers under Jeff Fort were particularly resentful of Outfit control and ran out black criminals who were working under or kicking up to the mob. The Stones had no qualms either up confronting and running out Italians who attempted to continue doing business in their territories without their authorization. I think it was similar with the Vice Lords on the Westside (the name itself chosen as an indicator that they viewed themselves as the rightful heirs to rackets in their community). Now, there are also accounts from the late 60s that I've heard of the Stones and VLs working with Outfit associated drug suppliers. They were open to continue working with the mob, but seemingly on their own terms as partners, as they were no longer going to tolerate being "run" or extorted like previous generations of black gangsters.
An interesting figure from this era was Mickey Cogwell, the chief of the Cobra Stones (aka King Cobras, originally the Egyptian Cobras in the 1950s). He had the reputation of being a very savvy and sophisticated gang leader and was claimed to have had close ties to the Outfit. The Chicago police department apparently had intelligence linking Cogwell to Caesar DiVarco and Joe Arnold. This would make sense as the King Cobras faction of Cogwell's organization had a large operation in the Cabrini Green pj's on the Near Northside. Cogwell was knocked down in 77 duento tensions with the leadership of the Black P Stones who feared and resented him as a threat to their dominance of the Main 21, a bird of directors of allied organizations under the Stones that predated the formation of the People Nation alliance in the late 70s. After Cogwell was taken out his organization renamed themselves the Mickey Cobras.