In the end, Chicago's Folk Gangs are killing themselves off.
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In the end, Chicago's Folk Gangs are killing themselves off.
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By the year 2000, the Gaylords Nation found themselves claiming only four sets. These four sets were Sayre Park, Newport Street, Kilbourn Park and Seeley and Ainslie.
At this time, the four sets found themselves going through a lot of turmoil at this time. Their basic problem was lack of recruitment, which is hard to do when the area around you is going through a ethnic and cultural transformation. Anyone living in these areas at the time, can probably testify to the fact that Spanish/ Latino immigration was being felt strongly around them. Along with the growth of the Spanish speaking community comes the growth of their gangs, and these gangs are what Spanish/Latino youths are drawn in to, not mostly white gangs waving an American flag.
With hardly any new recruits coming in for these four Gaylord sets, the current members were finding themselves aging and having to contend with other things in life, other than just protecting their neighborhood. In the process of all this, many members got married, moved away, got long prison time, etc..
It was at this period in time that the Gaylords main enemy and problem had come full force to bear on the Gaylords. This was drug addiction. As a matter of fact, a lot of oldschool turf gangs were falling prey to this. China White-Heroin, Crack Cocaine and other drugs were rampant all over the streets of Chicago at this time. Many street gangs were collapsing and their reigns ending all because of drugs.
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Mural done By LIL ED |
Not all gangs were dying out or fading away. Gangs such as the Latin Kings, Vicelords, Gangster Disciples were growing in power and numbers. This was due to the sales of the very drugs that many others were being destroyed by. These gangs were putting territorial wars second place to making money. Their members even started to discard the old phrases such as clubs, gangs and labeled themselves as Mobs. These Mobs are presently in control of the streets of Chicago today. Honor, loyalty, pride are oldschool neighborhood beliefs that now have been replace by the Almighty Dollar.
As far as the Gaylords Nation while all this was transpiring, some Gaylords resorted to robbery and theft to feed their drug addictions. These drug addictions caused a lot of internal strife between many members. Many members left after seeing no purpose of fighting for a neighborhood, while other addicted members used it as safe haven to do their drugs,
Today the Gaylords are no longer street active. By this I mean, they are not to be found daily occupying any parks or street corners like they once had. Some members are still addicted to drugs and many have lost their very lives to it all. However, many members have moved on. Many have families and proud memories of a different era in time, when their presence could be found strongly on the North side of Chicago.
Gaylords have a very hard core oldschool crowd. They still gather up quite often and meet up at local bars or taverns in the very areas they once controlled. Many still get together at congregate on weekends in areas such as Kilbourn Park, and on Grand by Sayre Park. In the end, the Gaylords are still out there. They are very aware of why they fought and existed. This may not be an end for them, but maybe just a quiet rest period with no moves on the chess board.
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