The Latin Brothers formed in the year 1971 in the Pilsen section of the Lower West Side neighborhood at the intersection of 17th and Racine as a Latin Count faction. The founder of the organization was “Butler” and some of the first members were Wino, Big Foot, Dizzy, Player, and Mr. Lucky. Once the Latin Brothers formed they became very close allies with the Bishops and Latin Counts as they joined in their fight against the Ambrose street gang from 18th and Throop. A big power struggle was going on between Ambrose, Latin Counts and several other gangs along 18th. One block away the Latin Brothers were facing off with the Racine Boys from 18th and Racine.
The Latin Brothers were a breakaway faction of the Latin Counts that wanted to do their own thing but keep things real tight with the Counts. After a few months of being a Latin Count set, the Latin Brothers made the clean break and moved to the busy intersection of 18th and Ashland which was a hell of hood to claim, they hung there with the Latin Counts all the time from nearby 18th and Loomis. The Latin Brothers now had their own colors of black and purple and their own symbols as a Trojan helmet instead of a knight’s helmet. The LBs also adopted the spear as their symbol and this angered the rival Ambrose gang. Ambrose viciously gunned for the LBs trying to force them to give up the spear but the LBs were stubborn and refused to comply and instead fought viciously back against Ambrose. Another big enemy of the Latin Brothers was the Satan Disciples of West Pilsen that ruled the west side of 18th Street.
In the summer of 1978, the entire Pilsen area called for a major gang truce that even caught the attention of the news. This was colossal because Pilsen was well known to be a violent neighborhood and there were several different gangs in the neighborhood. Rivals now stopped all their wars and shook hands for the first time. The truce all came to an end in the fall of 1978 when Ambrose shot up the founder/leader of the Latin Brothers Butler. After Butler was slain, “Mr. Lucky” took over leadership of the Latin Brothers. Latin Brother operations in Pilsen would never be the same again after the death of Butler.
The Latin Brothers remained a significant presence in the Pilsen neighborhood throughout the 1970s and they were invited into the People Nation alongside Bishops and Latin Counts in the year 1981.
In the early 1990s the Latin Brothers closed down their Pilsen set at 18th and Ashland and left it to the Latin Counts. The LBs also withdrew their forces from the Austin neighborhood and all their focus was now put on Belmont-Cragin. At some point the Latin Brothers lost Chopin Park, Lamon and Fletcher, Natchez and Palmer and Cornelia and Lavergne; however, they maintained the rest of their Belmont-Cragin turf and have been known to protect Belmont and Cicero very tightly. Big Mando Garcia also known as Big Flaco helped take over Barry and Knox in the year 2000 after having a strong presence there in the 1990s. Now Barry and Knox was completely ran by LBs and it became a major stronghold and investment. They also have been known to have serious operations at Belmont and Cicero and many gangs have tried to take this turf but it is always no dice for the rivals that come there.
What happened to Mr. Lucky? What years was he in power?
What year did Pilsen close down? What was the reason?
What year did each Austin set close?
What year did war start with Latin Kings? Why did the war start?