by PolackTony » Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:58 am
Nick Prango wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:40 am
PolackTony wrote: ↑Sat Dec 26, 2020 11:37 am
newera_212 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2019 10:56 pm
im not sure about the original, Chicago Latin Kings and how strict they are regarding only taking members with “latin” blood, but apparently on the East Coast things are a lot less strict with the perceived racial divides in street gangs. Bloods and LKs in NY have been known to take white members. usually it’ll stem from prison.
Old thread, but thought I'd comment. The Kings formed in the 1950s from several predecessor youth gangs among primarily PR youth on the Northwest side of Chicago and Mexican youth on the lower Westside. I used to know a member of one of the original LK sections, at the corner of Homan and Ohio in the Humboldt Park area. He was able to confirm that while most early members were PR they also had a number of Italian members in the ranks. This is unsurprising as the area had long had a strong Italian presence (a number of Outfit guys had lived in the immediate area, such as Jackie Cerone) and was beginning to undergo demographic transition and white flight in the 50s. The predominately Mexican sections on the lower Westside also had some Italian members, as both Mexican and PR families had begun to settle around the old Taylor St Little Italy and some of the youth naturally began socializing together. While the following decades from the 60s into the early 80s saw a lot of interracial warfare between white and Latino street gangs across large sections of Chicago, there were always some white members of the Latin organizations and some Latino members in the white groups (Including those who adopted an explicit "White Power" orientation). In Chicago what mattered more than anything was that you grew up on the same block together.
LKs in Chicago never had a real problem recruiting members of non Latino backgrounds. There were plenty of non-Hispanic white and black members. In Humboldt Park there was an all African American section near Hirsch and Spaulding. Lots of black members at Kedzie and Cortez. Polish and Italian etc members on the Southside. And in the highly ethnically heterogenous areas of the Northside there were and are Kings of every conceivable ethnic group. Arabs, Romanians, Balkans, Asians etc. There was an all Filipino section ("Flip City") in Albany Park that was notorious and super wild. And a whole sub-organization of "Assyrian Kings" on the far Northside. Assyrian gangbangers in Chicago are some of the most bugged out dudes you can meet. Guys who escaped religious persecution in Iraq...
I have read on reddit that there was the alliance known as the “White Power Organization,”in Chicago in the 60s/70s. What happened with that alliance?
The "WPO" wasn't a real alliance, more of a slogan invoked by a number of white street gangs in that era in recognition of what they saw as a common goal of halting PR and Mexican settlement in white ethnic neighborhoods. The United Fighting Organization on the other hand was pact between a number of strong white gangs on the Northwest side including the Gaylords, C-Notes (notorious Outfit "farm team") and Playboys. The UFO dissolved by the early 80s as these organizations started warring with each other. By that time demographic shifts and increasing recruitment of Latino members into many of the white gangs led to a sharp decline in the "white power" orientation. White gangs like the Royals and the Gaylords, who had been some of the largest gangs in Chicago for decades, declined tremendously from the 80s to the 90s.
[quote="Nick Prango" post_id=178557 time=1609008009 user_id=6907]
[quote=PolackTony post_id=178556 time=1609007841 user_id=6658]
[quote=newera_212 post_id=131489 time=1575611782 user_id=5522]
im not sure about the original, Chicago Latin Kings and how strict they are regarding only taking members with “latin” blood, but apparently on the East Coast things are a lot less strict with the perceived racial divides in street gangs. Bloods and LKs in NY have been known to take white members. usually it’ll stem from prison.
[/quote]
Old thread, but thought I'd comment. The Kings formed in the 1950s from several predecessor youth gangs among primarily PR youth on the Northwest side of Chicago and Mexican youth on the lower Westside. I used to know a member of one of the original LK sections, at the corner of Homan and Ohio in the Humboldt Park area. He was able to confirm that while most early members were PR they also had a number of Italian members in the ranks. This is unsurprising as the area had long had a strong Italian presence (a number of Outfit guys had lived in the immediate area, such as Jackie Cerone) and was beginning to undergo demographic transition and white flight in the 50s. The predominately Mexican sections on the lower Westside also had some Italian members, as both Mexican and PR families had begun to settle around the old Taylor St Little Italy and some of the youth naturally began socializing together. While the following decades from the 60s into the early 80s saw a lot of interracial warfare between white and Latino street gangs across large sections of Chicago, there were always some white members of the Latin organizations and some Latino members in the white groups (Including those who adopted an explicit "White Power" orientation). In Chicago what mattered more than anything was that you grew up on the same block together.
LKs in Chicago never had a real problem recruiting members of non Latino backgrounds. There were plenty of non-Hispanic white and black members. In Humboldt Park there was an all African American section near Hirsch and Spaulding. Lots of black members at Kedzie and Cortez. Polish and Italian etc members on the Southside. And in the highly ethnically heterogenous areas of the Northside there were and are Kings of every conceivable ethnic group. Arabs, Romanians, Balkans, Asians etc. There was an all Filipino section ("Flip City") in Albany Park that was notorious and super wild. And a whole sub-organization of "Assyrian Kings" on the far Northside. Assyrian gangbangers in Chicago are some of the most bugged out dudes you can meet. Guys who escaped religious persecution in Iraq...
[/quote]
I have read on reddit that there was the alliance known as the “White Power Organization,”in Chicago in the 60s/70s. What happened with that alliance?
[/quote]
The "WPO" wasn't a real alliance, more of a slogan invoked by a number of white street gangs in that era in recognition of what they saw as a common goal of halting PR and Mexican settlement in white ethnic neighborhoods. The United Fighting Organization on the other hand was pact between a number of strong white gangs on the Northwest side including the Gaylords, C-Notes (notorious Outfit "farm team") and Playboys. The UFO dissolved by the early 80s as these organizations started warring with each other. By that time demographic shifts and increasing recruitment of Latino members into many of the white gangs led to a sharp decline in the "white power" orientation. White gangs like the Royals and the Gaylords, who had been some of the largest gangs in Chicago for decades, declined tremendously from the 80s to the 90s.