Jeff Fort would come a long way from his deep south roots in Mississippi when he became the leader of Chicago’s Black P. Stone Nation.
Born February 20, 1947, Fort he would move to Chicago, Illinois eight years later. Raised on the South Side, his home life was a rough one and he eventually dropped out before high school. With his home life non-existent he found himself in trouble often. This resulted in many stint in detention centers and reformatories.
It would be on one such stint at St. Charles’ Illinois State Training School for Boys that he met someone who would set his life on a particular path: Eugene Hairston.
The Early Black P. Stone Nation
As was the case for the earliest street gangs, the group Fort and Hairston formed was initially for the purpose of protection. This group was the Blackstone Rangers, taking its name from Blackstone Avenue. Formed in the later part of the 1950s, the Blackstone Rangers would swell in numbers as more of the South Side’s teens joined them.
More numbers meant that the Rangers could take over more territory if they desired. Eventually, the Woodlawn neighborhood Jeff Fort grew up was taken over by the Rangers. With more territory to their name, the Rangers became the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation with a membership of 500 which jumped to 1,500 by 1966.
Fort and Hairston organized the group with a clear hierarchy and a leading group called the Main 21. Fort was installed as the head of the Nation with Hairston as his right-hand man and main enforcer. It was when Hairston went to prison on drug charges in 1968 that Fort took sole control of the outfit.
REFERENCE
-https://www.biography.com/people/jeff-fort-578620
-http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-1988/The-Making-of-Jeff-Fort/
1 Comment
In 1966, they were still known as the Blackstone Rangers. Although, I lived on the Westside, we use to hear about them and how the were fighting the Disciples. Jeff, was responsible for a lot of killing on the Southside, during that era. They use to buy property, and be on the roof tops armed and monitoring the tenants. If you did not pay your rent, they would beat your behind. It was impossible to move out because you were constantly monitored by those armed thugs, on the roof. I remember reading about that in the, Chicago Defender. He also, demanded that the businessmen pay him protection dues, which many of them did. This occurred up and down 63rd street. If you did not pay, you got your business burned down. He was a killer and the affects can be witnessed, when you look at the vacant lots on 63rd street. I always heard that he was a great organizer, but he directed it in the wrong way. The things he got away with on the Southside, he would not have been able to do on the Westside, because somebody would have killed him. He was in a super max prison, under the ground. He had relatives that got into a lot of trouble, but he has a female relative on the Southside, that is trying to help the community. He ran the Southside for over 20 years.