This attempt was successful enough that the group began to receive a large amount of positive publicity from various politicians and community leaders. They went as far as to petition for a community outreach chapter named 'Conservative Vice Lord Incorporated'. They developed new logos and advertised themselves as a community outreach group.

In an attempt at softening their public image, a leader of one of the original 8 Vice Lord sets changed the gang's name to 'Conservative Vice Lords', which today serves as the foundation of the entire Vice Lord Nation. They were noted for their violent behavior CVLN, Inc. By 1964, they had grown significantly and law enforcement named them as a primary target for their various illegal activities, including robbery, theft, assaults, battery, intimidation, and extortion. Īs the original Vice Lords group were released from incarceration, they quickly began to recruit other youths from their neighborhood and began engaging in conflicts with other 'clubs' from various Chicago neighborhoods. The name 'vice' was chosen when a gang founder looked up the term in the dictionary and found the meaning as 'having a tight hold'. At the time, they were led by founding member Edwin 'Pepalo' Perry. These youths met while incarcerated in the Illinois State Training School for Boys in St. In 1957, the Vice Lords gang was founded by several African American youths originally from the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. It is also one of the founding members of the People Nation multi-gang alliance. Its total membership is estimated to be between 35,000 and 50,000. The Almighty Vice Lord Nation ( Vice Lords for short, abbreviated AVLN) is the second-largest and one of the oldest street and prison gangs in Chicago, Illinois. North Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, United StatesĬhicago metropolitan area and Great Lakes region Ĭommunity outreach,Drug robbery, extortion, fraud, money laundering, murder, racketeering African-American street gang Vice Lords Founded

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