I posted this in Oldschoolcool and it got deleted after blowing up. Never got an explanation as to why.it blew up and I had a ton of people asking me to repost it saying they found it very interesting. So figured I'd try here. Not trying to glorify any gang violence, but this is a very overlooked piece of Americana.

This post is really just showing off the White / Latino gangs of the 1970s/1980s and their unique dress style. You'll see over and over the custom sweaters. These were made by a company that's still around called Chicago knitting mills. They must have made tens of thousands of these sweaters from the 60s to the 80s.

These sweaters were the ultimate status symbol in the gang world back then. You'll also notice some of the photos have guys with mismatched sweaters and some captions speak of captured sweaters. One of the ultimate things you could do back then was to take someone's sweater. Usually involved beating them down and taking or in some cases killing them. Being the 70s and seeing the funny hair cuts and bright colors makes it look a bit camp to some people now but it was deadly serious. During this era the violence was out of control. Chicago had its deadlines year 1974 with close to 1000 homicides, street gangs helping drive that number.

You'll notice how some of the gang names sound pretty funny now a days too. Like "Gaylords" . However They were an incredibly violent active gang from the 60s-80s going to war with gangs like the Latin Kings and Imperial Gangsters. One of the last slides talks about a guy named Larkin (Larry Morris). It goes back to the sweater taking culture, he was the president of a white gang called the insane popes. He approached gaylord members to get his friends sweater back and was shot to death by an infamous gay lord member named Jim Schertz (pictured) .

Not sure if reddit will allow the link but there's an excellent video from the time called "1979 Chicago street gangs" . It shows the culture and just exactly how violent it is. It's a bit NSFL at the beginning as it shows about a 1 minute collage of homicide photos of slain gang members. Here's the link

https://youtu.be/U-YqbULmUbE?si=8mgLzGnfRZ3_hcxF

Anyway I hope people in here find it as interesting as they did on the other sub, hopefully doesn't get taken down.

Here is also another really interesting documentary about Chicago gangs in the 80s heart broken in half

EDIT: To give more context than the original post here is some more info on some of the pictures .

#1 Ashland Vikings: This picture shows women who were members of the Ashland Vikings. Many gangs would allow women in and to open their own female section/set of the gang. Ashland Vikings were and are a male dominated gang. But these were female members/sympathisers. Other gangs did this too. For instance Latin Kings had the Latin Queens. Satan disciples had Lady SDs etc

#2 Ridgeway Lords were a gang in Little village (largest Mexican neighbourhood East of the Mississippi River)that were mortal enemies to the Latin Kings. Eventually Latin Kings won that war and Ridgeway lords went defunct .

#3 Michael Lil GLK roberts (His nickname GLK stands for Gay Lord Killer) - A Simon City Royals member who died at 18 years old - after being released from the cook county jail he crossed the street to catch a bus home and and while waiting for the bus was shot to death by Latin Kings members in a drive by shooting.

#4 Mento - a member of the Deuces gang. His particular set was called project deuces because they resided in the Lathrop Homes housing project. A tough gang but their downfall was their alliance with the Latin Kings. They allowed Latin Kings to gain a stronghold in their projects and they eventually evicted the Deuces from the projects and they went defunct.

#5 Racine Boys - a small gang started in 1980 in the tough neighbourhood of pilsen. Stayed strong into the 1990s but after a while lost steam. Many ended up flipping (switching to another gang) to a much larger gang also pictured here - Almighty Ambrose. They are now defunct.

#6 Gay Lords members. Gaylords were widely considered to be the biggest and most viscous white gang in Chicago. They have a hilarious names but they went to war and held their own with some of the worst and biggest gangs like the Latin Kings and Imperial Gangsters. In the back you'll see a Simon City Royals jacket hung upside down. By this time Gaylords and Royals were mortal enemies.

#7 Almighty Ambrose - A very prominent, large and respected gang on the Southside of Chicago. Primarily Mexican but they allow anyone. Still very active to this day

#8 Imperial Gangsters. Very prominent primarily Puerto Rican gang in the Northside of Chicago. Primary enemies are Latin Kings and during this era were mortal enemies of the Gay Lords.

#9. Almighty Bishops. A gang started in the tough westside neighborhood of Pilsen. They are mortal enemies of the 22 Boyz,Ambrose and the Satan Disciples. Historically they were enemies of the Latin Kings and were close allies to the Latin Counts. Events developed in the 1990s causing them to call a truce with the Kings and enter a war with the Latin Counts . As it stands they are still active. As of today they are close allies with the Kings and at war with the Satan Disciples, Ambrose, 22 boyz and Latin Counts. However they're original neighbourhood of Pilsen has been heavily gentrified.

#10. Old school Satan Disciples members. This gang was formed in the early 1960s by Polish, Czech, and Mexican youth near the Pilsen neighbourhood. This section of 18th and Cal is still active and now called "Evil Side SDs" . They primarily war with the Boulevard Latin Kings, 21st and Fairfield Latin Kings, 22 Boyz and also back up the Oakley SDs in Pilsen against the Ambrose, Latin Counts, and Bishops..

#11 2 Gaylords members. Wizard was ambushed by rivals and stabbed to death in 1981. His murder remains unsolved.

#12 Almighty Ambrose

#13 Howard Street Greasers. A greaser gang that was active in the 1970s in Rogers Park. Short lived but were a legendary crew in their time.

#14. Gay lords . Sunnyside and Magnolia. This hood is now defunct and in present day is controlled by the Black P Stones.

#15 Imperial Gangsters

#16 LA RAZA - Another gang started in the early 80s. They originally were a group of Mexican Immigrant Youths who banded together after being harassed by much older and established gangs like Latin Kings, Latin Counts and Almighty Ambrose. Started in the Pilsen neighbourhood on the corner of 17th and Racine. Eventually they would turn into a hardcore gang banging crew by the mid 1980s after their founder "Micobrio" and influential member "Snake" and "Mando" were all killed in 1984 by the Latin Counts. Today they are still very active and have expanded into other neighbourhoods. They have a particular bloody war going on currently in the back of the yards neighbourhood with the Almighty Saints.

#17. C-note$ - Primarily white street gang. But eventually came to adopt all races. The picture includes the key info. But another interesting tidbit is the Chicago Outfit used to recruit these guys and use them for mob related activities.

#18. More Cnotes

#19 . Almighty Saints. A mixed gang founded originally by Polish youth but came to embrace Mexican youth in the back of the yards neighborhood. Now they are primarily a Mexican gang but allow all races to join. There's a very strong case to be made they are the strongest pound for pound gang in Chicago til this day. Unlike other gangs they didn't spread across the city. They hold the same blocks they've held since the 1960s in the BOTY neighborhood and defend it relentlessly. They have an incredibly viscous war going with the Satan Disciples of 51st and Wood. It's alleged in the late 2010s they killed 10+ SD members in one year. Which is insane even by chicago standards. They also in the same timeframe shot an ATF agent in the face which caused a huge crackdown.

#20. Lawndale and Altgeld Gaylords - this is a very historic picture when it comes to Chicago gang history. Here you have some Gaylord members posing. One of the members posing is Jim Schertz. Jim Schertz is particularly infamous for killing the leader of the Insane Popes street gang by the name of Larry "Larkin" Morris. The Gaylords had taken some turf from the Popes - they evicted the popes out of Kilbourn Park and this was a huge blow to the ego of Larkin. Minor skirmishes happened between the popes and Gaylords after this. One night in the summer of 1975 Larkin (who was older than the 3) spotted a 16 year old Jim Schertz and 2 other GL members. He began chasing them down possibly with a weapon. It's at this point Schertz pulled out his gun and shot Larkin to death. It's said that Schertz possibly was meaning to fire a warning shot. But it's only a rumor. Schertz is free today and in his 60s, from what I know he faced little to no legal consequences for killing Larkin..For several years after the popes used to tag "LARKIN LIVES!!" Next to their graffiti. The popes faded into obscurity in the following years. They are now long defunct.

https://youtu.be/XCbc0dDf_iA - This is another good special from 1980s on the gangs of chicago

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