Gaylords - Chigo Gang History

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The Chigo Gaylords is a whe Chigo street gang that was found durg the 1940s. The gang took s name om the Gaylord (Gaillard) fay of Normandy, and s origal members were mostly Italian, Irish, and Greek-Amerin World War II veterans. The "club" has s own clubho and...

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GAYLORDS

Gaylords is a predomantly whe gang om Chigo, Illois." property="og:scriptn * gay gangs in chicago *

; the Gaylords' Social Athletic Club the Grand and Ogn area, which was affiliated wh the Junr Postal Athletic Club, and is loted the Ltle Italy sectn known as the Patch. Ga sights to the existence of Chigo street gangs and wns how the Gaylords grew om a neighborhood street gang the 1950s to the largt whe gang Chigo. The Chigo Gaylords, assumed to be a North Si Street Gang, had sectns on the South Si Sherman Park (55th and Ashland), 18th and Wtern (Pilsen area), and Bridgeport (Throop Street).

Two non-fictn novels have been wrten about the Chigo Gaylords street gang: Great Amerin Youth and Lords of Kilbourn wrten by Rocker, a former Lawndale and Altgeld and Kilbourn Park Gaylord.

Black and Green - early 1950s-early 1960s; Any sectn started by Kilbourn Park Gaylords wore black and light blue, any sectn started by Palmer Gaylords wore black and grey. I have had to look at many sourc to piece together this history of the Gaylords and a lot of n be found on the Gaylord’s webse which is one of the biggt sourc I ed. A group of men their early 20s had enough of the Outlaws and created their own club to al wh the rival biker gang that they lled the “Gay Lords.

GAYLORDS (CHIGO GANG)

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The headquarters for the Gay Lords Ltle Village was 24th and Whipple and that’s where all started for this group of Gaylords, but this is not the begng of the story of the ALGN necsarily. The Gay Lords hung out at 24th and Marshall Boulevard out ont of John Spry Elementary School (2400 S Marshall Blvd, Chigo, IL 60623) which is the same tersectn where the legendary 24th and Marshall Boulevard Lat Kgs started, however, they didn’t e along until the mid-1960s and that was maly bee Gay Lords were voluntarily relquishg this rner to serve Vietnam. The Gay Lords of Ltle Village were Polish and Bohemian while the Gay Lords of Wt Town were mostly Italian wh some Mexins so that is a difference.

In the mid-1950s there were for sure youths high school that joed the Gay Lords Ltle Village and soon they domated Harrison High School and the Junr ROTC program. Another part of the foundg history is that of the Gay Lords SAC that was found 1954 the Near Wt Si neighborhood at the tersectn of Ashland Avenue and Taylor Street.

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The Wt Town and Ltle Village Gay Lords were big to bik and the Wt Town and Ltle Village Gay Lords would eventually slug out wh Lat Kgs later years.

By the later 50s Gay Lords graduated to Harley Davidson Motorcycl and this ma the girls flock to them; not only that, but the Gay Lords were also nng Harrison High School and the Outlaws were not happy wh any of g more nflict. Gay Lords were fightg wh Vice Lords, Egyptian Cobras and Roman Sats bee they were attendg Harrison High School as they muted om the Near Wt Si neighborhood om the Maxwell Street Market area. Gog back to Wt Town 1956, Anthony Anara was now 16 years old and anized the group of now 37 guys to somethg siar to a club, but took until 1958 for them to officially name themselv “Gay Lords, ” Bobby Shipball me up wh the name.

As soon as the Gay Lords anizatn began 1958 there were now 90 members makg them one of the bigger outfs the area and the legends began at the tersectn of Huron and Noble which is the motherland of the AGLN Gaylords. The park staff was always upset wh the Gay Lords bee they ma a lot of noise, were often disrpectful and ed some stctn, typil of a greaser club.

CHIGO GAYLORDS

The late 1950s Wt Town Gay Lords uld be seen wearg light green summer jackets wh a at of arms sewn on wh a shield, a skull wh a top hat, a whiskey bottle, dice, and a ne. The early racial makp of the Gay Lords was mostly whe members that were Polish, German, and Italian and early acunts even say there were Mexin members too (Short & Strodtbeck, 1961). In the late 1950s, the Wt Town Gaylords began growg larger and beme a major prence at Wells High School (936 N Ashland Ave, Chigo, IL 60622) loted the East Village neighborhood.

Gaylords, C-Not, Domos and Lazy Gents were the domatg Italian gangs and the Playboys were started bee they felt the Gaylords, and the other Italian gangs were bullyg them and g trouble their neighborhood. The formatn of the Ventur was also said to have been ed by Gaylords as both gangs ed to slug out the stairwells at Wells High School the early 60s.

The worst enemi for the Gay Lords up north were Playboys, Sons of Satan Slav (Ventur), Pulaski Park, C-Not, and some small groups of Puerto Rin gangs like the Imperials and Skulls (Later known as Lat Kgs). It was also the early 1960s that the Gay Lords were a transn wh their name changg om “Gay Lords” to “Gaylords” and their new lors were to be grey and black or light blue and black pendg on the sectn.

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Another big change was the emblem that the Gaylords would wear, as the skull wh whiskey bottle etc… was beg replaced by a Celtic cross wh a sunburst which would bee the permanent Gaylords’ symbol (Short & Strodtbeck, 1961). Some of the first Mexin fai were movg to the Ltle Village muny at that time and soon the first Mexin gang started up at this tersectn to fend themselv agast the Gaylords and Outlaws.

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The Lat Kgs were massive right om the start, Leavt and Schiller were erng the 24th and Marshall Boulevard Lat Kgs which meant north si Lat Kgs would e and back up the south sirs, this meant more trouble for Gaylords.

Many Puerto Rin people that moved to the Wt Town/Humboldt Park area the 1960s n rell how dangero they felt the Gaylords were as they nicknamed them the “Polish Mafia. ” Many Gaylords roved the Humboldt Park Park area and terrorized Puerto Rin gangs and many other Puerto Rin youths that claimed to have been attacked and beaten the park by Gaylords. Gaylords ed had some jt e bee alongsi the Puerto Rin migratn me many unsirabl to the muni, although mostly not tentnal om the Puerto Rin muny this is jt what tagged along wh the Puerto Rin populace.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY GANGS IN CHICAGO

3 Gay Gangs Beg “Known” .

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