Wow. Just found this site.
I was a midget at the little set of A/A, back in mid '80s. I met a lot of older guys, none I remember now. I remember a few first names, like Keith, Norbert, and Mike. If anyone was around Avers/Altgeld then, please help me remember some of it, and fill in the gaps. I remember also, the Ridgeway/Fullerton battle on July 4th, some of it ran right past my front door. I was like, 13. Dad said there was no way I was going outside, and he meant it.
To try me, somebody told an older kid named Ragweed(?) to rough me up, he lost... after he got up, he had dogs*** on his back, they called him Greg the s***man. My memories are fuzzy now, I remember Hunter, who got me in, and the outrage over Toker and Spy. But I was supposed to get a nickname, and didn't end up getting it. Something big happened, and suddenly everything kinda fell apart. No one was around anymore.
I lived kitty-corner from Mozart, at Palmer and Avers. When I needed cover the most, suddenly no one was around. I learned to fight my way in and out of my own neighborhood alone, with the IGs constantly harassing me and my family. My dad scared the s*** out of the local IG crew chief, picked him up by his neck and told him that if anything happened to me, he would come looking for this guy. If another gang came after me, he would hold this little 'rican responsible, so to look out for me. The IG said he'd bring his boys, my dad told him to bring enough body bags for all his boys.
We moved to the Brickyard area in '87 or '88, just ahead of some POS Cobras and Disciples. In about 1993 I chased a Cobra through Bell Park (Wellington/Oak Park) in broad daylight, in my car, with a shotgun on my lap. He ran like a little bitch. I'm settled now, and I know it's all long gone. But I still got it, if I have to.
