When it comes to Chicago, many people will think of it as one of the four largest cities in the United States. The city located next to the lake has a suitable climate, affluent economy, and numerous high-rise buildings. But in the minds of many Americans, Chicago is particularly dangerous. The city has many gathering places for gangs, and it is filled with widespread violent crimes, which makes people frightened.
In 2016, 23.8 people were killed by homicide per 100,000 people in Chicago, far exceeding other major American cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Among them, 92% of criminals are African Americans or Hispanics, 83% of murders are related to firearms, and more than 60% of firearm crimes are related to gang activities.
Dark violence has killed more people in Chicago than even the war. From 2001 to 2016, the number of people who died in the United States because of the Iraq War was 4,504, and the number of people who died because of the Afghanistan War was 2,384. In Chicago, 7,916 people "died" in these 16 years, far more than the two wars. The sum of , most of the dead are black people, and most of the murderers are black people.
Why is the urban contrast in Chicago so great, and how did this city gradually become a modern gangster city?
1. Chicago is not only the economic center of the Great Lakes but also the city of gangsters.
Chicago is the third largest city in the United States. It is located in the south of Lake Michigan among the Great Lakes. It is an important economic center and industrial center in North America. Because it is located in the Great Lakes Industrial Area, the earliest industrial area in the United States, Chicago's industrial modernization started very early and it also undertook a large part of the economic trading activities in the United States. With the settlement of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago It became the second largest economic center in the Eastern United States.
▲ Chicago’s beautiful city scenery and skyline
Economic development has also promoted the improvement of cultural and educational levels. Famous universities such as the University of Chicago are shining brightly. Many famous scholars and celebrities have come out from here, and they have gradually formed a The famous academic school-Chicago School.
▲Watch Chicago on satellite
But heaven and hell are often only separated by a wall.
Today's Chicago is often compared to one side of heaven and one side of hell. In the north of the city, a typical rich area has been established around the central business district. It is a gathering place for white people and has all the city's landmark buildings and skyscrapers. The level of infrastructure construction, culture, education, and municipal management is very high. . In contrast, in the south and west of the city where black people gather, only public housing, motels and gangs remain.
Children in white areas are born in spacious apartments and enjoy a good education. Children in black areas huddled in dilapidated public buildings, listening to stories about all-powerful gang bosses.
2. How did modern gangs in Chicago form?
Chicago gangs are roughly divided into two types: one is the traditional gang formed by Italian immigrants after World War I; the other is formed by immigrants from the southern United States who fled segregation. The modern gang formed by black people in Chicago.
During the European immigration wave after World War I from 1920 to 1930, a large number of Italian immigrants poured into Chicago. The group of Italians brought two things, one is the traditional Italian mafia, and the other is a large number of homeless people.
In order to settle the large number of homeless people, the Chicago government officially began to establish " public housing " in 1938. The original purpose of this kind of "public housing" is to provide a clean place for people who temporarily have no place to live. The Italians quickly relied on the Mafia, that is, the family gang, to make a fortune in Chicago, and began to monopolize some black industries, forming the first batch of traditional gangsters in Chicago.
After life has improved, the mafia will naturally no longer live in public housing. Although traditional gangs have seriously affected the city, the Chicago government believes that the construction of "public housing" seems to be a "suitable" method to deal with the homeless.This paved the way for the government to later build "public housing" for the unemployed people who fled to Chicago from the southern United States.
In the 1950s, the southern states of the United States implemented extremely harsh racial laws. White people and black people had to go to the toilet separately. The swimming pool was also divided into a white pool and a black pool. Only white people could sit in the front of the bus, and black people could only ride in the front. You can sit in the back of the car, but most restaurants and movie theaters openly say on their doors that black people are not allowed to enter, and even drinking water must be separated for white people and people of color.
▲The movie "Green Book" describes the extremely harsh racial laws implemented in the southern states of the United States at that time.
As a result, a large number of southern blacks left the south and sought life in the north. Chicago, Detroit and other famous industrial cities in the Great Lakes region have become their first choice for . Black people came to Chicago, but it was difficult to get jobs in this industrial city that was almost saturated with employment. Suddenly there were a lot of unemployed people on the streets, which seriously affected the city's security.
▲According to the map of the United States after the size of the American industry changed in 1952, the industry of one city in Chicago was equivalent to that of many states.
The Chicago government immediately thought of the method of resettling the Italians back then, and decided to build a new one in the south of Chicago. Densely populated public housing was used to house black people. They believe that the previous construction of public housing has solved the safety problems caused by the large number of homeless people. Even if these people form gangs, they will have less impact on social security than the homeless people.
However, the Chicago government did not expect that Chicago's modern gangs would develop in the public housing built in the South.
Compared with the two-story public housing used to house Italians back then, the construction scale of this new batch of public housing is much larger. Not only was it more than a dozen stories high, but there were countless households on the first floor. For example, the Robert Tylor community, the largest community at the time, had 25,000 households, each with about three people, which meant that there were 75,000 people in one community.
▲The public housing in Robert Tylor Community and the children living in this community
In order to quickly build these public housing and to save materials, the walls in the middle of many houses are not solid walls, and the houses are easily connected to each other. Public housing such as provides great convenience to gangsters. They only need to make slight modifications to make the public housing complex. Externally, this is a fortress with its own maze; internally, it provides a large number of secret passages.
Some ambitious gangsters said in interviews with the media that they only need 5 or 6 people to control a building, with cocaine on several floors, heroin on several floors, and arms on several floors. The reporter asked them: Wouldn’t the residents call the police? The gangster said: " These residents will not see the police every day, but they will see us every day.".
▲In an online game launched in 2013, a game company simulated a gangster using public housing in the South Side of Chicago, allowing players to experience the feeling of being a gangster and also visually perceive the complex circuits in public housing.
Modern gangsters How is it different from traditional gangsters?
The traditional Italian mafia formation method relies on blood relationships, that is, you can join this gang if you are my relative. Most small gangs will win over other gangs through marriage, and finally form a huge mafia family. .
Modern gangsters are a group of people who are grouped together for the same interests. Because there is no blood relationship, there is no way to resolve conflicts between gangsters through marriage. The management of the gangsters at the bottom is very chaotic. Once two gangsters turn against each other, it is easy Make a feud.
Compared with traditional gangs, modern gangs appear to be more brutal and purposeless, because the ultimate goal of traditional gangs is to wash their hands and enter the upper class society. But modern gangsters don't care at all, they are just in it for money, drugs and excitement.
After the traditional gangster families transformed and washed their hands, the underground world of Chicago changed hands and entered the era of modern gangsters.
3. Chicago's modern gangs, from tripartite opposition to mutual opposition
When modern gangs first started, in order to become big gangs, the small gangs had to resort to bloody and violent methods, which were extremely cruel and direct. The result was: Either you die, Or I perish.
As a result, more than 120 gangs in Chicago began to annex, and eventually became the three major gangs headed by "Gangster Gospel", "Sin Lord", and "P Stone", as well as a scattered remaining 10 or so gangs. A small gang.
Among them, the most influential one is Larry Hoover, the boss of "Gangster Gospel". He entered the underworld at the age of 12. At the age of 23, he merged with some other gangs to form "Gangster Gospel". In 1973, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison for killing a gang traitor and was sent to a Chicago prison.
▲Larry Hoover
thought that his crimes would end here, but it turned out that Larry in prison was not honest at all. On the one hand, under his remote control, the gang spread the name of "Gangster Gospel" to other states through drug trafficking, attracting more blacks from other areas to come to Chicago to join them; on the other hand, he also persuaded others in prison to With other jailed gang bosses and some ethnic gang bosses, through combination, the black, white, Latino, and European gangs in Chicago were integrated into a brand new gang-"FolkNation" (let's try to call it " "Brotherhood").
Larry announced that everyone is free to sell drugs in the territory of the "Brotherland", but they must pay 70% of the "tax", and the tax paid will be kept by the organization. After the organization received the money, a large part was distributed to the bosses, another part was used to improve the living environment of gangsters in public housing, and the remaining part was used to manage the Chicago police. In this way, the gang bosses are very satisfied, the lives of the lower-class boys have improved, and the police will no longer trouble them. In this way, the "Brotherhood" becomes more and more powerful.
Seeing the growing power of the "Brotherhood", in order to avoid being swallowed up, "P Stone" and "Crime Lord" and four other gangs jointly established the "PeopleNation" (let's call him "PeopleNation") in 1978 (bar), and compete with the "brotherly states" in separate courts. From then on, the two major forces officially began to fight against each other.
4. Why Chicago gangs are so difficult to eradicate
The battle between gangs gradually escalated, and finally spread to innocent people. On October 13, 1992, a 7-year-old boy was shot and killed by gangsters in a public housing estate on his way to school. The killer said he was targeting a rival gang member and didn't expect a child to appear in the trajectory.
This incident caused an uproar across the United States, with many media blaming the Chicago Police Department. Under pressure, the Chicago police began a frantic search for gangsters, and even the National Guard joined the search. The city government issued ID cards to all residents in public housing and conducted an inventory of all rooms.
▲Chicago citizens sit-in to protest against the high crime rate
However, the police force in Chicago is completely insufficient to eliminate the two big gangs . First, the gangsters have already transformed the public housing into a maze. Just for one such public housing, the police will have to It took about 40 people to conduct a search that lasted several hours. In 2000, the total police force available in Chicago was only about 1,000. Not only were there a large number of public housing units, but the floors were also high. This search method was like finding a needle in a haystack, with poor results and low efficiency. As a last resort, the police asked the National Guard for help, but it was still a drop in the bucket and had little success.
Second, gangsters often hide drugs, guns and other illegal substances in residents' homes, which makes it very difficult for the police to arrest gangsters and fix evidence. Why do residents help gangs? They knew that the police would only come to investigate for a short time. In a few days, this public housing estate would still be the territory of gangsters. They neither dared to confess to the gangsters nor could they, so they could only help them hide.
After going back and forth like this, the police got almost nothing. Even if they were lucky enough to catch a few gangsters, they would at best break a few feathers on the bodies of modern gangsters.
If you want to eliminate gangsters, in addition to consuming police force, it also costs a lot of money.
Does it cost money to dispatch the police? Spend money, and spend a lot of money. The National Guard has no "obligation" to help the local government in Chicago, which means that the National Guard's police dispatch is not free, it is paid and very expensive. Therefore, what the Chicago government faces is a difficult question to choose. The southern city has low taxes and no key industries. Is it worth investing so much money to complete a "thorough" cleanup?
Even if a thorough cleanup is carried out, can it completely reverse the current situation of Chicago gangs? Illinois, where Chicago is located, does not have the death penalty. Larry Hoover was sentenced to 150 years in prison because there was no death penalty. And most of the black men in public housing are either gangsters or pre-gangsters. Should we arrest them all? Caught in jail and supported by local taxes? If this happens, who will collapse first may be the gangs, or Chicago's own police department, prisons and local finances.
The struggles and violence between gangs often accidentally injure civilians, which is even more of a headache for the Chicago government than the gangs themselves. In order to ease the fight between gangs, the Chicago Police Department had no choice but to convene 12 gang bosses to sit down and negotiate to help them mediate.
Through mediation, the government began to investigate the causes behind the gang wars, and finally found that Larry Hoover was the behind-the-scenes messenger who caused all kinds of conflicts and tragedies. In 1995, the court sentenced Larry Hoover to an additional 200 years in prison and moved him to Colorado, completely cutting him off from the outside world.
The biggest gang boss was transferred away and lost his influence. This should have been a gratifying thing, but what I didn't expect was that without Larry Hoover, the "Brotherhood" began to become leaderless, and the bottom boys began to Failure to follow the rules breeds all kinds of new hatreds.
The small lords of the "Brotherland" are independent. They no longer abide by gang rules and no longer pay "taxes." At the same time, they also abolished the drug trade policy set by Larry Hoover and did not allow other gangs to enter their territory for trafficking. poison. So most gangs began to fight each other for territory again, and the lives of black people in public housing began to deteriorate because they lost the subsidies from the "brotherly state".
At the same time, the economic and social environment of the United States is also changing . With the shift of industrial chains and the popularization of artificial intelligence, some factories in Chicago that previously provided a large number of jobs also eliminated a large number of workers around 2010. This This makes the opportunities for black people living in the south of the city to find employment even slimmer.
Chicago's economic development and urban construction completely revolve around the north of the city, but black youths who lack education cannot integrate into it at all. They have no other way out and can only continue to join gangs.
A vicious cycle was thus created. Black people in Chicago's South Public Housing District grew up in a gang environment. They lacked education and had no other way to get involved in society, so they could only join gangs; and their descendants continued to be influenced by gangs and joined gangs again. The gap between Chicago's South Side and North Side is getting wider and wider, and the government is increasingly unable to deal with the gangs in the South Side.
▲Pregnant women and children living in public housing in Chicago
With the demise of the old industrial model and inland cities gradually losing their dominant position in the industrial chain, Chicago has also experienced financial difficulties similar to those of old industrial cities such as Detroit, which has led to The Chicago police force has also been further weakened. In 2012, Mayor Emanuel disbanded the anti-gang police force. From 2009 to 2016, the number of people in the police investigation department decreased by nearly 30%.
The security force has become weaker, but the number of criminals has not decreased. In Chicago, the minimum sentence for gun crimes is only two years, which greatly increases the probability of criminals repeating the crime.
The Chicago government was so desperate that it even placed its hope in the United Nations. On December 14, 2017, Polzin, Chief of the Cook County Police Department in Chicago, visited the United Nations Headquarters in New York, hoping that the United Nations could send peacekeeping troops to help them maintain law and order.
Polzin said: "I hope the United Nations will send representatives to come to Chicago to visit and meet the victims. If possible, I hope to send peacekeeping troops." His words revealed his deep concern for the current situation in Chicago. Hopeless.
The gangster legend in Chicago continues. Chicago, which was still financially sound at that time, could not completely eliminate the modern gangsters in Chicago with the help of the National Guard. Now that Chicago is full of fiscal deficits and heavily in debt, what ability does it have to fund the police to maintain law and order and crack down on gangs?
