The Almighty Vice Lord Nation (Vice Lords for short, abbreviated AVLN) is the second-largest and one of the oldest street and prison gangs in Chicago, Illinois. Its total membership is estimated to be between 30,000 and 35,000. It is also one of the founding members of the People Nation multi-gang alliance.
Origin and growth
In 1957, the Vice Lords gang was founded by several African American youths originally from the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. These youths met while incarcerated in the Illinois State Training School for Boys in St. Charles (also known as the St. Charles Juvenile Correctional Facility). At the time, they were led by founding member Edwin "Pepalo" Perry. The name "vice" was chosen when a gang founder looked up the term in the and found the meaning as "having a tight hold".
As the original Vice Lords group were released from incarceration, they quickly began to recruit other youths from their neighborhood and began engaging in conflicts with other "clubs" from various Chicago neighborhoods. By 1964, they had grown significantly and law enforcement named them as a primary target for their various illegal activities, including robbery, theft, assaults, battery, intimidation, and extortion. They were noted for their violent behavior.
CVLN, Inc.
In an attempt at softening their public image, a leader of one of the original 8 Vice Lord sets changed the gang's name to "Conservative Vice Lords", which today serves as the foundation of the entire Vice Lord Nation. They developed new logos and advertised themselves as a community outreach group. They went as far as to petition for a community outreach chapter named "Conservative Vice Lord Incorporated". This attempt was successful enough that the group began to receive a large amount of positive publicity from various politicians and community leaders. CVL, Inc. established a number of recreational areas for neighborhood children which were then used as meeting houses after they had closed for the day.
In 1970, two Vice Lord leaders, Alfonso Alfred and Bobby Gore, applied for a $275,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation approved the grant. This particular era of the CVL is documented in the 1970 film, Lord Thing, by Chicago filmmaker DeWitt Beall. Those featured in the film include Bobby Gore, Kenneth "Goat" Parks, Eddy "Pepilo" Perry, Don McIlvaine, Leonard Sengali and William Franklin.
At the same time, the gang was successfully consolidating smaller neighborhood gangs (including the Cherokees, the Morphines, the Commanches, the Continental Pimps, the Imperial Chaplains, the Clovers, the Cobras, and the Braves) into the Vice Lord Nation. As a result, their numbers swelled significantly. In spite of the positive press, it was soon discovered that the Vice Lords were still violent criminals. An introduction of narcotics into the Lawndale neighborhood during this time, along with a rapid increase in crimes involving intimidation, extortion, and murders of business owners who refused to pay for "protection" were perpetrated by the gang.
Muslim identity adopted (1980s) After public pressure, a federal investigation into CVL, Inc.'s use of the Rockefeller grant money was conducted and as a result, several leaders were arrested and sent to prison. By the early 1980s, Perry and Alfred were dead and Gore was in prison for murder. The younger Vice Lord leadership attempted to conceal the gang's true intentions with another camouflage campaign, this time by adopting Islamic ideologies. By the mid-1990s, they had created a large document called Lords of Islam which addressed new rules for the gang. Their headquarters, located near Pulaski and 16th Street, is referred to as the "Holy City".
1990s-present
In the 1990s, the VLs, while engaging in the usual activities, became much more sophisticated and expanded into mortgage fraud, credit card fraud, and money laundering. In 2021 the Almighty Vicelord Nation became a corporation operating globally with the mission of uniting black people. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Vice Lords Nation has between approximately 30,000 and 35,000 members operating in 74 cities and 28 states, primarily in the Great Lakes region.
Symbols
Vice Lord street gangs use a variety symbols to identify themselves, including a rabbit wearing a bow tie (the Playboy logo) as well as a red/gold 5 point star. Members often have tattoos of either on their hand below the thumb to identify themselves/also a protective mechanism for members' facing possible jail time. often stylized with top hat and cane as well as a champagne glass and a glove. Their colors are black, red, and gold.