I must have been twelve or so. I was rummaging around in the storage space formed by the roof and the hip wall, behind the chimney in our old house on Billings Avenue.

Maybe I was going through an old suitcase, but I came across a threadbare black athletic shirt. Was it made out of jersey netting? On its front was a big graphic in white ink: a wicked looking dagger, impossibly jabbed through a pair of over-sized dice. Their may or may not have been a mean looking snake on there, and in a big arc over the graphic, the initials P. I. T. A. in big block letters.

P. I. T. A.

This strange piece of clothing was my dad’s. I asked him about it and got a great batch of stories of his high school days. As I remember it, he and a group of dudes that made mischief together dubbed themselves the Pain In The Asses. (Or Pains in the Ass?) I really wanted him to have stories of rumbles with rival gangs or at least a drag race or something. I think he told me all they did was organize tag football games. I really wanted that jersey to be a gang shirt.

Anyway, I got to thinking about all this because I came across this great site full of old greaser gang names and compliments cards. A real treasure trove.

These guys were the closest to where I’m living now:

COAL YARD GANG:
The Coal Yard Gang was at Lakewood and Wolfram, near Southport and Lincoln Avenue. Just a local white gang originating in the early 60’s. Mostly just taking care of local business. Our colors were Black and White. I was mostly a partier. I was too small, and often found myself in over my head way too many times. I remember Lennies across from Lane Tech. I can still taste that greasy bag of fries, ten cent pin-ball games. It was neat place. Everyone was safe there. Even girlfriends could meet you there. (Via Reddit)

Digging a little more, I found this little documentary on the Gaylords. Finding out that my dad wasn’t really a gangster was bad, but it’s even more disappointing to find out how hung up on race these dudes are.

My Uncle Dan gives a little background

P.I.T.A. well…. NOT a group of ‘gangbangers’ ! More like neighborhood guys in desperate need of a name for their floor hockey team. We used to all hang at da park. Every group (grade level) or age had a bench to sit on and to ease the tensions between us older, younger, really older (High School) kids. The Phs Ed. Instructor for the Park District created a hockey league for us to beat the shit out of each other in a organized way. It was fantastic! It had rules, and penalties, just like the BlackHawk games we loved to listen to on the radio. Because none of us could afford a game ticket or play on REAL ice cuz we were city kids. Middle class families living from paycheck to paycheck….and yah they were a real pain in the ass!

THIS POST COMPLEMENTS OF:

Crazy Ralph • Zofo • Demon • Tex • PW Lake • Lucifer • Pope • Dopey •  Bee • Fish • Knight • Ears • Angus • Oscar • Lil Rich • Lil Worm • Capone • Shorty • Chaino • Hoss • Tiny • Ceasar • Lil Cisco • Cocolo • Nino • Lil Drago • Chaco • Coco • Shadow • Lil Man •  Dobe • Boxer • Puttet • Indio • Duke • Pappo • Chanco • Junior • Pro • China • Froggie • Chet • Rican • Vida • Smuckers • Unicorn • Bubbles • Giggles • Sweet Pea • Chaser • Rebel • Skippy • Sir Lazy • Maggs • Lil Boz • Crazy Tom • Lil Freak • Satan • Lil Rich • Skull • Monk • Deuce • Dragon • Warlock • Lil Spike • Sahama • Hitman • Groucho • Big Jim • Butcher • Lil Dago • Fro • Lil Capone