Ragen's Colts was a chiefly Irish street gang which dominated the Chicago underworld during the early twentieth century.
The years after World War I were a time of increased social tension, as returning veterans competed with more recent immigrants and newer African American migrants from the South for jobs and housing.
The Ragen gang were believed to instigate fights between black and other South Side neighborhoods that contributed to the Chicago race riot of 1919.
In one instance, the Colts donned blackface and set fire to Lithuanian and Polish homes in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in a deliberate attempt to incite the immigrant community to join them in committing heinous acts against African Americans.
[1] The Ragen gang led raids from Irish neighborhoods into the Black Belt, where they looted homes and killed several people.