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Insane South Side Popes
In	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Years active	1974-present
Territory	South side of Chicago
Ethnicity	White (some Latinos and Blacks)
Membership	unknown
Allies	Conservative Vice Lords, and some other People Nation gangs
Rivals	Satan Disciples, Folk Nation

Insane Popes
In	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Years active	1950s-present
Territory	North side of Chicago
Ethnicity	Mostly white, some latinos and blacks
Membership	unknown
Allies	Folk Nation, Simon City Royals
Rivals	People Nation, Almighty Gaylords

[edit] Early history

The Popes (also known as the Insane Popes) are a Chicago, Illinois street gang, formed in the late 1950s on the north side of Chicago, primarily building membership from an unnamed Greek "Greaser" gang that hung out at the corner of Lawrence and Rockwell. This small group had problems with the much larger Latin Kings and other Latino gangs on the north side, and so they began to associate with the Simon City Royals in an attempt to protect themselves. However, rather than joining the Royals outright, they eventually decided to form their own gang, which they named the Popes: this stood for "Protecting Our People Eliminating Spics" (eventually the racial slur would be replaced by "scum" when the Popes ceased to be a racist gang and began inviting latinos and blacks to join).

[edit] Expansion

By the mid 1970s the Popes main membership still consisted of Greeks from the Albany Park/Lincoln Square neighborhood, and at their peak in the mid-1960s to early 1970s, they may have had 300-500 members.

[edit] Insane South Side Popes

In the mid 1970s, the Pope's leader, Larry "Larkin" Morris, started a new Popes branch on the south side.

In 1975, Larkin was killed by members of the Almighty Gaylords. The north side Insane Popes again formed a strong alliance with the Simon City Royals, called the Royal Pope Nation (RPN) and finally joined Folk Nation as a response to this. However, the south side branch, who hated the Satan Disciples and Two Six gangs who were also Folk members, became a renegade faction, even going so far as to join the rival People Nation collective.

[edit] Modern day

Today the north side Popes main rivals are the Latin Kings and the south side Popes main rivals are the Satan Disciples. Today there are about 100-200 active members of the north side Insane Popes.

The North Side Popes remain allied with the Folk Nation, whose most powerful leader at present is King Christopher 1 of S.C., while the south side Popes remain allied with the People Nation. South side Popes wear Chicago White Sox apparel. North side Popes wear baby-blue and black, showing allegiance to other Folks gangs, particularly the Simon City Royals with whom they retain the Royal Pope Nation collective.

[edit] References

^[1]

^[2]

^[3]

^ Curran Kirby, Kate (2006). "1". in James W. Wagner. The Chicago Crime Commission Gang Book. Chicago Crime Commission. pp. 18–20. OCLC 70236857.
^ Maurice Possley (February 10, 1998). "2 STREET GANG MEMBERS FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERS". Chicago Tribune.
^ Maurice Possley (February 5, 1998). "SHOOTING WAS ORDERED, JUDGE HEARS". Chicago Tribune.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[cccgb001-0] Curran Kirby, Kate (2006). "1". in James W. Wagner. The Chicago Crime Commission Gang Book. Chicago Crime Commission. pp. 18–20. OCLC 70236857.

[trib001-1] Maurice Possley (February 10, 1998). "2 STREET GANG MEMBERS FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERS". Chicago Tribune.

[trib002-2] Maurice Possley (February 5, 1998). "SHOOTING WAS ORDERED, JUDGE HEARS". Chicago Tribune.

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