The Mighty Vice Lords: Book Review Of The Mighty Vice Lords

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This book was about a street gang called the Mighty Vice Lords. They were the second largest gang in Chicago with about 30,000 members. The Vice Lords started in the Illinois Training center (Juvenile Correctional Facility) for boys in St. Charles Illinois during 1958 and was led by Edward “Pepalo” Perry and Alfonso Alfred. This group was known to be brutal and violent. It discussed how a violent gang can become a community organization and change the way things were done for the betterment of the community. This information is important because it showed that gangs can become a positive force. This story talks about how Edward Perry and Alfonso led the gang, and why kids wanted to be a part of it. It also focuses on Bobby Gore and David …show more content…

The neighborhoods lived in fear of the Vice Lords due to robberies that took place there. The people in this neighborhood were terrorized by murder and other criminal activities. Schmalleger, Frank (2015) Criminal Justice, Chapter 2 page 41. The kids became gang members for many reasons. Some needed to find what their place was in the world, and they needed to know who they were as human beings. Joining the gang gave them a feeling of being involved in something and made them feel better about themselves. They felt that as a gang member they received the attention, emotional support, and understanding that they couldn’t get from their actual family members at home. The Vice Lords were always known to be violent and very brutal until one of its members by the name of Bobby Gore decided to make their public image look a lot better. He decided to change their name to the Conservative Vice Lord Nation. The gang turned into a legal organization that protected their neighborhood. Bobby Gore and David Dawley had the same idea to turn the gang into a positive force. They went to Washington D.C. to get grant money to make their community better. They also used the grants to create hang out spots, social clubs, businesses, recreational programs and social …show more content…

Another thing he was trying to do with this book is to show people that black street leaders can become local heroes. Even though they might have started out as street fighters, they can change their life to become a political group and work towards changing the system that they feel will never accept them for the people that they really are. In this book the author shows you a way to build this nation’s communities that are very much under resourced. It also lets you know that there are things that we can do to change a bad situation, as long as we are willing to work towards making a change and there also must be resources available to help make that change. In other words, “where there’s a will, there’s a

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