Chicago Italian Sharks, 1948-1953, Little Hell, Little Sicily, Cabrini Green Project Gangs

[WiiLFish]

Joe.. Vandal formerlly of the G forum.. How's it going? We are 99.999% sure the guy in the 6th picture at the .30 mark is my uncle, he grew up there & my aunt remembers the sharks, she hasn't seen the video yet but knows about the pic when we asked her.. If I come up with anything good for you to add I'll get ahold of you.. Also do you have contact info for @artdilla1 who said he had some of his uncles pics that had what we believe to be my uncle in pic 6.. I'd love to compare notes. Thanks

[ChicagoJoe57]

@WiiLFish If you have anymore information I can update the website. I never had direct contact with the son of the SHark. I received the information from a friend over the phone.

[MrUgotz472]

Great photos Chicago Joe, the Cabrini area was an all Italian enclave!!!

[hmldjr]

I was told cabrini green was built to keep the italians housed. they didn't really like the new places and moved out and the blacks moved in and destroyed it. Is this true?

[Ishitonyou666]

nice video! I love old school gangs,I never heard of them..just wondering are there any dvd documentry of these type of gangs?

[GreasyRockabilly]

Cabrini Green rings a bell i seen it offa the show gangland

[ken162008]

Do enny boddy out there knows of or have enny connection with

the Chicago mob? If so please inbox me for the info, thank you and

have a nice day.

[artdilla1]

Where did these pictures come from. I am interested to know because I have a picture of my uncle who is with 3 other guys on a street corner near cabrini green. One of the guys is a guys in your slide show. The 6th. picture is the same guy in my photo that was taken in 1952 and I feel very positive of this because he has the same shirt on as in your picture. the only difference is that in your picture he has his sleeves rolled up.

[ChicagoJoe57]

@artdilla1 I sent you a message with a link to the Sharks webpage. I forwarded your message to the guy who sent me the photos.

[parkman35]

Cabrini at this particular time which is in the Near North neighborhood was probably about 75% white and 25% between black and Hispanic. The original population of Cabrini-Green reflected the area's prior ethnic mix; poor Italians, Irish, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans lived among the war workers and veterans. Racial segregation overtook Cabrini-Green by the early 1960s. The difficulty blacks had finding better, affordable housing gave Cabrini-Green a permanent population.

[ChicagoJoe57]

@parkman35 Thanks man! I am going to use what you wrote on the Shark's webpage. Please check it out on the links listed in the description of this video.

Thank you

[parkman35]

@ChicagoJoe57 No problem Joe. You have great stuff here. I spent the first 9 years of my life living in the Uptown neighborhood, and remember gangs like the Uptown Rebels, the Wilson Boys...the Dover Lords one of which was my older Sister's boyfriend...and of course the Simon City Royals. I moved to Berwyn in 1972 and have vivid memories of gangs like the 12th St Players...the Noble Knights...the Gaylords...the Park Boys, and the resurrection of the old Cicero Esquires in Berwyn. Great times

[ChicagoJoe57]

@parkman35 The site was built from information sent in by guys like you. Anyone can go to the library, and yes, I did that to. But people like yourself who lived in the neighborhoods are a wealth of knowledge.

[smedina123s]

Cool video...interesting history way before my time...im sure Cabrini Green area would have been a better place if remained this way.

[ChicagoJoe57]

@smedina123s I will be posting a webpage dedicated to Shark history written by the son of a Shark. The area of Little Hell was rough too. What they did was replace an Italain slum with a Section-8 housing project stacking people on top of one another, which seemed to make things worse.

[fr3g0s000]

my grandma told me about these guys back when she lived on taylor street as a teen they were known as the taylor street sharks

[ChicagoJoe57]

@fr3g0s000 Taylor Sharks are a different gang. Taylor Street was already crowded when Little Hell was raised to make room for Cabrini Green, so the Italians moved along Grand Avenue. Pretty interesting history in that area. Now their webpage on Stone Greasers documents three generations of gangs in that area.

[daddyb60056]

I remember going into the Cabrini Green for a carnival and seeing nothing but Whites.

[ChicagoJoe57]

@daddyb60056 McQueen, who sent me these photos, remembers going to carnivals that were all white in the early sixties.

[3slimdog]

I almost forgot that Cabrini Green was white back then.

[ChicagoJoe57]

@3slimdog I posted their history on the link in the description. You have the start of three generations of gangs in the same area.