In 1951, the Clovers and Chaplains migrated to North Lawndale but were not big-time gangbanging groups until 1954 when the North Lawndale and Near West Side neighborhoods began to set off with several fist fighting gangs as territories were now being set. Both these gangs would take over these neighborhoods as the big outfits in the community as the Sheiks and Shebas ended.
North Lawndale was a neighborhood that became conquered by predatory slumlords in 1955 after they purchased the vast majority of rental properties. Moe M. Forman, Al Berland, Joseph Berke, Lou Wolf, and Gilbert Balin became the most notorious of slum lords renting below sub-standard properties to impoverished southern black families without maintaining the buildings. Impoverished families had no choice but to live in these conditions because they couldn’t afford anywhere else to go and other mostly white neighborhoods were hostile toward black families even after the covenants were lifted.
North Lawndale rapidly declined as many businesses closed and buildings became deteriorated in the mid-1950s. Crime began to run rampant as criminals from outside the neighborhood drifted in and wrecked havok or committed hate crimes. Families were stuffed into slum buildings in substandard conditions and there was no centralized heat as families needed to gather near antique wood burning stoves in the middle of the living room. The neighborhood lacked parks and recreation leaving many black youths facing boredom, poverty and frustration. Youths began to gather in numbers and occupy their time by harassing each other and starting fights just for fun. Pre-existing youth clubs in the community soon converted into street gangs like Imperial Chaplains and Clovers, while many new gangs were forming that were of a more violent breed than the original Clovers and Chaplains, one such gang was the Egyptian Cobras that came to North Lawndale from Maxwell Street Market area in 1955.
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