In Drew Foley’s 3-part series, “The Losers: Changing the Climate of Lake Forest” he explains the influence that a street gang, The Losers, had on Lake Forest more than 30 years ago.

When it comes to conflict, there are always multiple points of view. In the case of The Losers, there were about four different sides to the story. At the center, there were the store owners of Market Square, who, according to The Losers: Gang Delinquency in an American Suburb, “felt threatened by the hippies who were “cluttering” up the streets and sidewalks around their storefronts. They saw these youth as a genuine threat to their livelihoods.” Second, there was the police, who found excitement as the conflict in Market Square heated up. It should be noted that Lake Forest–then or now–is not one of those cities where police can be constantly kept busy with field work and TV-worthy crime cases, so they were drawn to the square for the excitement that kept them away from local traffic stops and the like. Thirdly, there were The Losers, who sought out to make a few problems for the city in order for them to step in and solve the bigger problem as they saw it: outcasted youth. Finally, there was the city, which was not directly involved in this conflict until the very end. For most of the events that occurred with The Losers, the city used the police to try and solve the problem, resulting in the feeding of a flame that was already ignited.

Towards the beginning of the 1970’s, The Losers would hang out in parks and beaches and drink alcohol. The police were not big fans of the large gatherings the group would make in these public places, so closing parks and beaches became a regular event that would take place in the presence of The Losers. According to one of the leaders, a typical summer of 1974 looked like this:

“If they didn’t know [that they were outcasts], the police let them know that they were. This is where I got my biggest clue; I kept asking, ‘Hey, why the special treatment? Why is it just us that have to leave the beaches? Why are you closing the park to just this particular group? We are not making any noise, we have not done anything.’ [And the police would respond]: ‘Well, you guys should be at home.’ [Then we would answer]: ‘Well, we are not going home, we are going to stay down here.’ And bingo. You have a situation on your hands.” 

Due to the parks and beaches not providing a sustainable destination to hang out, everything was moved up to Market Square.

The business owners also played a major role in the conflict due to the fact that they had a large influence on the city and often resorted to calling the police on the aforementioned youth. Not to mention, their feelings towards The Losers were about as negative as they could be. Still, it is very understandable as to why they felt this way. Often times as a retaliation due to unfair arrests, members of The Losers resorted to breaking windows in Market Square on a few occasions. The square went as far as hiring their own private security guard, who in the long run only made things worse. The guard they hired challenged the group members daily and always brought a nightstick with him. As one the of the leaders described the guard, “He was probably 6’2”; maybe, you know, close to 300 pounds. He’s quite heavy–just a big guy…He would challenge us so we would mess with him. He would get really uptight and start playing with that nightstick of his. Well, if he hadn’t brought the stick over, it wouldn’t have been any problem. But he’d come over there with that macho scene, like ‘I’m the biggest and baddest and you’re going to leave one way or another.’ I mean, that stick’s telling me that he intends to use it if he has to.” However, it wasn’t just the store owners that played into the Market Square conflict. Anyone walking through started to take notice of the growing youth hanging out around the square.

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It was a typical day in Market Square for a few of the core members of the group. They found themselves laying on their cars and soaking in the scene. In addition, one of them happened to be singing a song about 7 old ladies locked in a lavatory from Saturday to Sunday when a man, his wife, and another woman walked by. They took offense to the singing, labeled it as disrespect, and approached them angrily. According to The Losers: Gang Delinquency in an American Suburb, they stated:  “’I think all you guys are rude and disgusting and all this sort of thing–you shouldn’t be hanging around town, littering up the streets, this type of thing.’ And we [the members who sang the song] told him that we thought he was, you know, about as low as the trash could go; going around with his stuck-up wife and her stuck-up friend with their noses up in the air, thinking they’re better than anybody else. I said, ‘We got as much right in the street– in fact, more–because we’re the ones that were kicked out into the street. So it belongs to anybody.’ It belongs to the people that live in it.” And he’s got his big home and his swimming pool and everything else; he can go back and cram it.”

Not long after this argument broke out, a police officer rushed over. He asked what the problem was and the man who took offense to the situation previously eventually backed down, saying that he overreacted and it was all a misunderstanding. His wife, however, shouted to take the members singing the song to jail. After making an offensive comment back to her, the officer focused his attention on them. Little did The Losers know, the Chief of the Police Department at the time had told his fellow officers to “do whatever it takes” to get them [The Losers] out of the square, parks, and any other public places. The officer then started bumping bellies with one of the members and antagonizing him, getting him angry and making the scene look worse than it was. In time, more squad cars pulled up and arrested the member being antagonized. There were two trials for him. He was originally charged with disorderly conduct and went to Highland Park to the municipal courthouse. The judge there cared little for the case and tossed it out. However, as the member was walking out of the courtroom he was arrested and charged with felony assault on a police officer. He was then taken to trial at Waukegan, where the arresting officer lied in his testimony and managed to get the member time in prison. When leaving the courthouse, the officer was approached by one of the leaders and his lawyer, arguing that he lied in court. Not only did the officer admit to lying under oath, he told them that, “The Chief told me to say whatever it takes to get a conviction.”

After this outrage, The Losers went on a vandalism spree throughout the town in order to avenge their now imprisoned friend. However, one of the leaders realized that vandalism alone wouldn’t be the only way to get their point across to the city. Thus, he arranged meetings with the police and city officials to arrange some sort of truce. He wanted the city to recognize the problems of Lake Forest’s non-affluent young and to suggest some possible solutions. The police agreed to meet and the arrangement was established. According to one of the leaders of The Losers, the meeting went like this. “They were saying, ‘The stuff has to stop,’ and we were saying, ‘You are not paying attention, you know. You are trying to end the battle and you do not know why you are at war.’ What we were trying to explain to them is that the situation is not going to get better, it’s going to get worse: ‘This is what you have to do, tell us where you want us to hang out or party. We know you do not want us to party or hang around anywhere, but you know we are going to…We are going to find our own places.’ And it was at that time that they said [they should go] just anywhere out of town, out of the city limits of Lake Forest.’” The meeting only served to underscore the mutual mistrust and the lack of sympathy that had marked the more antagonistic street encounters.

As conflicts with the city, the police, and the store owners escalated, more and more vandalism and “negotiations” took place in order to help the troubled youth get their point across to the city. The Losers’ intended message was that the Police Department and the city at large needed to change things about how young people were viewed upon, especially those of non-affluence.
Stay tuned for Part 3, where I will discuss the youth group that resulted as a byproduct of The Losers that is still present today