Chicago: Gang War

"Mighty Blackstone Rangers" brags the challenge scrawled across the walls and barred store windows of Chicago's South Side slums. A loosely organized army numbering perhaps 2,500, the Rangers hold their neighborhoods in thrall. So far this year, 36 Chicagoans under 21 have been murdered, most of them in juvenile warfare for which the Rangers get the blame. Recruiters even pull pre-teenagers into the ranks, and one triggerman of 14 said that he had carried out a killing for a $6 fee.

A year ago, the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity financed a $927,341 project to attempt to convert the Rangers from evil to good. The Rev. John Fry, a short, tough, idealistic exMarine, ran the pacification program through his First Presbyterian Church in the Woodlawn district on the South Side. He has been involved in church-related slum programs before, and had considerable success in helping to damp down the Chicago riots of 1966. Fry's gym became a Ranger recreation center, and gang members were given training for productive jobs.

Senator John McClellan, a fierce foe of OEO, last week attacked the Chicago undertaking as a prototype of OEO's impracticalities. Moreover, critics pointed out that the program hired some almost-illiterate hoods at yearly salaries of up to $6,500 each to teach subjects like remedial reading. Since Fry began to bypass Chicago Mayor Dick Daley's administration, the police have gone out of their way to harass the Rangers and Fry's church. Last week at McClellan's hearings, some Chicago types weighed in with a sulfurous assault on the preacher, his project and OEO.

Murder & Dope. Former Ranger Warlord George ("Mad Dog") Rose testified that Fry let the gang use the church basement as headquarters and then warned them about police raids. He said that Fry had even relayed a murder assignment to Rose. Mrs. Annabelle Martin, mother of eight Rangers, said that Fry allowed reefer parties and armed thugs in his church. Asked to repeat this to his face, she turned to Fry and said: "He can sit in my lap and I'll tell him the same. What do they teach those kids in that church? How to murder, how to sell dope!"

Fry had little opportunity to do more than brand the charges "outrageous lies." But the ruling elders of his and other Chicago churches rushed to his defense. Said University of Chicago Theologian Martin Marty: "The John Fry I know is a man of integrity, honesty, grit and guts." Fry's attorney insisted that the real question was how to deal with juvenile gangs, by force or by conversion. "You should be studying this question, not badgering sincere, dedicated clerics who try only to help their deprived fellow man," said he, but McClellan gaveled him down. Lost in the furor was any realistic evaluation of OEO's attempts to tame the Rangers.