Description

Holy Name Church, seen in the background, anchored the Jokers’ neighborhood. The gang members, most of whom were of Irish or Polish descent, all attended Catholic school. “Some of us got thrown out,” recalled member Bob Powers, “but it didn’t stop our families. We still had to go to mass on Sunday. And the statue with the Christ on the cross and the Blessed Mother, every time we passed that, no matter what, we would bless ourselves.” Powers’s family received money for food from the church.