Black Gangsters of Chicago [Hardcover]

Ron Chepesiuk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2007

Less obvious than perhaps Al Capone, but perhaps even more vicious are the names of John Mushmouth Johnson, Jeff Fort and Larry Hoover from the Chicago underworld. Ron Chepesiuk reveals, for the first time, the stories of these African American gangsters who were every bit as powerful, intriguing and colorful as the Windy City's more famous white gangsters. Each page is more exciting than the previous as Ron Chepesiuk exposes never-before-known facts about the black gangsters that once ruled the Chicago streets.

Editorial Reviews

Review

With the release of the hit film American Gangster, the focus of organized crime has moved away from the Mafia and onto the inner city-born black gang leaders. Ron Chepesiuk, who previously chronicled Harlem's gang bangers, turns his attention to Chicago and brings out a focused and satisfying effort.

Black Gangsters of Chicago starts by examining the lives of some of the major policy kings of the 1920s. Working alongside Capone and the various other ethnic gangs in the city, these policy kings, like Daniel McKee Jackson, carved out a sizeable niche in the underworld, in an era of segregation and racism. The Outfit made its move to muscle into the policy rackets. Sam Giancana was especially instrumental in the Outfit's attempts to bring the policy racket under their control, or at least to get a piece of the action. The last of the policy kings, Teddy Roe was gunned down outside his house.

The book traces the de-evolution from the old style dapper policy kings to the street level thugs and drug dealers that populate the gangs of the modern era, especially as the neighborhoods declined and middle class blacks moved to the suburbs. One of the earlier of the new-style gangs were the Vice Lords. Moving through the rise and fall of numerous gangs, it becomes clear that some succeeded because of a highly structured system, while others were so fraught with internal dissention that they never reached a level past corner tough guys. But even gang bosses like Jeff Fort, who structured their gangs after the Mafia, were unable to keep a lid on internal dissention. Murder was commonplace.

Though the presence of the gangs seems like an overwhelming tide of crime, Black Gangsters ends on an upbeat note, profiling former Vice Lords leader Bennie Lee, who has now turned his life around and is working to help kids on the brink of falling in with gangs.

Chepesiuk focuses the story into a nice cohesive narrative. The chronological order is a given, but the author throws in interesting asides that enhances rather than derail the writing. This is another nice addition to the true crime canon. --Blog Critics Magazine

Black Gangsters is both a history and sociological study. Covering more than two centuries of time, it's most interesting when it focuses on the policy racket--the policy being a form of lottery in which a ticket is bought, numbers chosen and winning numbers announced at a drawing. In the U.S. the game first shows up in 1880s New Orleans, and then moves to Chicago, New York and cities with large Black populations.

For those researching early forms of gambling, the book covers much fascinating territory.

"For some players, policy became a way of life, almost like a religion," the author says. "To increase their chances of winning, players would use `dream books' that interpreted names and phrases." Even today for the modern lottery such "dream books" exist and are consulted.

This is a book about how fortunes were made, powerful alliances were formed and how it led to the super gangs and drug syndicates of this century.

Indexed, illustrated and well-fortified with reference sources, this book includes discussions about the modern Mafia--who replaced whom in power situations--and offers an understanding of street games and how they operate in the 21st Century. --Ready, Bet, Go web site

Black Gangsters is both a history and sociological study. Covering more than two centuries of time, it's most interesting when it focuses on the policy racket--the policy being a form of lottery in which a ticket is bought, numbers chosen and winning numbers announced at a drawing. In the U.S. the game first shows up in 1880s New Orleans, and then moves to Chicago, New York and cities with large Black populations. For those researching early forms of gambling, the book covers much fascinating territory. "For some players, policy became a way of life, almost like a religion," the author says. "To increase their chances of winning, players would use `dream books' that interpreted names and phrases." Even today for the modern lottery such "dream books" exist and are consulted. This is a book about how fortunes were made, powerful alliances were formed and how it led to the super gangs and drug syndicates of this century. Indexed, illustrated and well-fortified with reference sources, this book includes discussions about the modern Mafia--who replaced whom in power situations--and offers an understanding of street games and how they operate in the 21st Century. --Ready, Bet, Go web site

From the Publisher

Black Gangsters of Chicago, has won first place in the African American non fiction category of US Book News' Best Books 2008 Awards. Black Gangsters of Chicago and Ron's Gangsters of Harlem were finalists in the Best Books 2008 true cirme category. Early this year, Black Gangsters of Chicago won the silver medal in the true crime category of 2008 IPPY awards.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Barricade Books; 1 edition (August 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569803315
• ISBN-13: 978-1569803318
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ron was a university professor before getting the writing bug. Now he is an award-winning author, two-time Fulbright Scholar recipient to Indonesia and Bangladesh, an adjunct instructor in UCLA's Extension Journalism program and a consultant to the History Channel's "Gangland" documentary series. Ron is the author of twenty-four books and more than 4,000 magazine, newspaper and Internet articles on a wide range of topics, from science to entertainment. His celebrity interviews include Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Abbie Hoffman, Noam Chomsky, Evander Holyfield, Andy McDowall, and many others. He has been interviewed by the History Channel, Biography Channel, Investigative Discovery, Black Entertainment Television and NBC Dateline and other media.

Among other awards, two of his books, Drugs Lords and Gangsters of Harlem, were selected finalists for Foreword magazine's 2007 True Crime Book of the Year. Gangsters Harlem won honorable mention. A third book, Black Gangsters of Chicago won a silver medal in the Independent Book Publishers Association's 2007 True Crime Book of the Year. Black Gangsters of Chicago also won first place in the African American nonfiction category of the U.S. Book News "Best Books 2007" award. Both "Black Gangsters of Chicago and Gangsters of Harlem were finalists for the award in the true crime category and Drug Lords won honorable mention in the general nonfiction category of the 2008 London Book Festival, while Black Gangsters of Chicago won honorable mention in the 2008 New England Book Festival. Black Gangsters of Chicago also won first place in African American nonfiction category of the 2009 National Indie Excellence Award. Gangsters of Harlem won the award in the True Crime category.

A native of Thunder Bay, Canada, Ron resides in South Carolina when not on assignment around the world. He hopes someday to write an award-winning screenplay based on one of his books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars black gangsters, October 6, 2010

By 

Wayne R. Klatt "knowitall" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Gangsters of Chicago (Hardcover)

This book is better as a reference work than as a "read" because it suffers from a lack of focus. The period of black organized crime in Chicago from the 1920s through the 40s seems rushed, and the turbulent period of the 60s and 70s comes off as no more than a newspaper article. As a Chicago news editor at the time, I often wished there were a book on the subject: this surely is not it. The author never comes to grip with the relevance and terror of the Black P Stone Nation and the El Rukns, or with the nature of street gangs as drug networks, and the latter-day policy wheels are forgotten. I'd give the book a "C."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gangs of Chicago, March 13, 2009

By 

Jennifer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Gangsters of Chicago (Hardcover)

This book starts at the begining of the black gangs of Chicago. Any law enforcement agent, gang specialist, and those interested in the gangs of Chicago must read this book. Many of the people I know in this book and the information is very accurate. The author did a great job on education us about the soldiers, the leaders, how the hierarchy went and exactly what a gang does. It doesn't matter to me if they are black or white, they follow the same roots. A person of Illinois would love this book and especially someone of Chicago. It describes coming up from poverty the wrong way. A very good read. It's a keeper you won't sell.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too Pro-Chicago, December 21, 2010

By 

Blaise Pascal - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Gangsters of Chicago (Hardcover)

The book is well written but it is too pro-Chicago. It leaves out important details about the compromises made in the Justice Department. The author is protecting his friends at the expense of the crime victims.