Rudy “King Kato” Rangel | ReRock Edition

Rudy Rangel Jr. liked to keep his hair short. So Rangel, a leader of the Latin Kings, one of Chicago’s biggest street gangs, had been going several times a month to Nationwide Cutz, a barbershop operating out of a trailer near Roosevelt and Sacramento on the West Side.

On June 4, 2003, late in the evening, the gang leader known as “Kato” was in the barber chair, his back to the open door, Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets on the TV.

Outside, a 21-year-old, recently paroled ex-con named Donell “Squeaky” Simmons walked through the alley to the shop, a red, white and blue Nets cap on his head and a pistol at his waist.

Two men were sitting on the stairs to the barbershop, waiting to get in, when Simmons walked up. “Let me get by,” Simmons told them.

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