NCJ Number
147308
Date Published
1971
Length
187 pages
Annotation
This is a reporter's account of time spent with the Blackstone Rangers in Chicago's South Side.
Abstract
From a nine-member street gang founded in 1959, then called the Blackstone Raiders, the Blackstone Rangers grew in 9 years to a membership of over 4,500, and controlled the entire South Side of Chicago. A young reporter from a major magazine was granted access to the gang members in 1968; this is a record of what he saw and heard. Included herein are portraits of the Stone leaders; documentation of how the organization attained its size and influence among young black people of Chicago; explanations of how extortion squads prey on the merchants of the South Side; the Blackstone intelligence system; how assassinations are carried out; how internal discipline is maintained; what the black ghetto looks like to these young men and what they think of life. For years the Gang Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department attempted to infiltrate and break up the Blackstone Rangers. This book describes many of the reasons why they failed.