The Spanish Gangster Disciples is a street gang that originated on the south side of Chicago, respectively in the vicinity of 88th & Houston in the South Chicago neighborhood. The gang was founded by Rudy Rios, who was a former member of the Latin Scorpions street gang.
Gang symbols and colors
Like the original Gangster Disciples, the main symbol of the Spanish Gangster Disciples is the Star of David. The Spanish Gangster Disciples also use pitchforks, winged hearts with devil horns and tails, and the numbers "19-7-4" - standing for the nineteenth, seventh, and fourth letters of the alphabet respectively (S, G, and D). The gang’s colors are baby blue and black.
History
The historical development of the Spanish Gangster Disciples street gang attempted to unify of all of the "Latin Folks" organizations while also involving itself in political and social undertaking. The Spanish Gangster Disciples concept originated in the year of 1974. The Spanish Gangster Disciples originated on the Southside of Chicago, respectively in the vicinity of 88th & Houston. The gang was founded by Rudy Rios, who was a former member of the Latin Scorpions (Maniac Latin Disciples) street gang. While incarcerated years earlier, Rios was a part of a governing body called the "Spanish Growth and Development", which was initiated in Statesville correctional facility as a way to unite and settle issues pertaining to the Latin Folks. Once released, Rios transformed the Spanish Growth and Development into the Spanish Gangster Disciples with "blessings" from the Black Gangster Disciples hierarchy. The SGDs concepts were similar to that of the Black Gangster Disciples from the start, although they have minor differences in structure and "literature".
Latin Folks organization
In the summer of 1983 a group of Latino individuals that were Gangster Disciples from the Northside united with the Maniac Latin Disciples from Rosemont and California and decided to create a Latino organization similar to that of the Gangster Disciples and that of the Spanish Growth and Development family, which functioned throughout the correctional facilities. As such events progressed, the group titled themselves the Spanish Gangster Disciples, though at the time this Northside group had no direct contact with the Southside Spanish Gangster Disciples. The Northside Spanish Gangster Disciples started as a secret set on Clark & Olive, which at the time was controlled by the P.R. Stones street gang. The Northside SGDs then went "public" and moved their operations to Wayne street, near Senn High School. There, the gang occupied a large part of a 16 unit building and financed themselves primarily through the selling of marijuana.
These Northside SGDs became more well known for their high-quality marijuana than their violence, though they were well armed through their strongest affiliates, the Gangster Disciples, especially those from the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Thus, the "Spanish Gangster" Disciples are often referred to as more like "brothers" of the Gangster Disciples whereas other Latin Folks were originally referred to as "first cousins" of the GDN. Drug sales created good relationships with all the Folks in the surrounding areas, including the Simon City Royals, Imperial Gangsters, Harrison Gents, Latin Eagles and Spanish Cobras. In fact it was not strange to see even Latin Kings gang members come through to buy large quantities of marijuana to fund their own operations. At this time the only true enemy of the Northside SGDs were the P.R. Stones street gang.