Even though Chicago BD’s get most of the clout in the music industry,
the GD’s also have plenty of rappers who are respected in the streets
and in the studio.
One of the wildest was a dude named KTS Von,
who was one of the main opps of Chicago’s most successful rappers,
G Herbo.
Let’s take a look at the career and come up of KTS Von,
the hitman of Chiraq.
From day 1, KTS Von was surrounded by crime.
He was the youngest of four brothers and they was all heavy in the streets.
His oldest brother, KTS Dre was also a rapper and a respected gang member.
Their father, Big Vinny was also bout that life
and was a member of the GD’s.
So, Von was exposed to the culture from an early age.
At first, his brother Dre claimed Lakeside, a set of the GDs’,
while Von and his brother Vinnie repped E’Block, a set of the Vice Lords.
But eventually, they all became GD’s and started pushing KTS,
which stood for Kill to Survive.
KTS was known to beef with NLMB
which stands for No Limit Muskegon Boys or Never Leave My Brothers Behind.
NLMB is an alliance between No Limit, a renegade set of the Black P. Stones,
and the Muskegon Boys, a renegade set of the BDs’.
Two of the most well-known members of NLMB are G Herbo and Lil Bibby,
who were the main opps of KTS.
KTS also beefed with gangs like Sirconn City and 8 x 13 aka Gotti World.
KTS and NLMB started beefing after a KTS member
named Lil Pez was killed back in 2008.
Ever since then, they’ve been on each other’s necks.
Some of the first people that KTS Von robbed or shot at were from NLMB.
KTS first started as an alliance between different hoods in the area
including Lakeside, PocketTown, and the 075 Vice Lords.
But the alliance fell through and they became their own thing,
claiming the area of 75th and Cottage Grove.
They a lot smaller than gangs like NLMB but made up for it by being twice as deadly.
All KTS members could be identified by having a target tattoo on their necks.
KTS Von would allegedly catch his first body in 2011,
with the murder of 23-year-old Michael Lee, aka Gotti.
On April 9th, Gotti was sitting in his car on the 5500 Block of South King Drive
when another car pulled up and shot him in the head.
He was brought to Stroger Hospital but was pronounced dead.
Gotti was from a gang called 8 x 13.
After his death, they would start going by the name Gotti World,
just like O’Block did after the death of Odee Perry or Tookaville after the death of Tooka.
This labeled KTS Von as a shooter and led to a murder spree that locked in his legacy
as a true Chicago savage.
Von and KTS doubled down on the disrespect by starting the hashtag Don’t Go Gotti,
even going as far as printing shirts with the phrase on it.
After that,
Von was out for blood and was ready to knock off all his opps one at a time.
In February 2012, he would catch some No Limit members lacking,
hitting four of them and killing two.
The crew was standing outside of a liquor store
when a car rolled up with KTS Von firing out the window with a Tec-9.
Two NLMB members were shot and killed instantly.
One was a dude named Roc, who got killed trying to run into the store
and the other was Alamo, who was hit with multiple bullets while standing outside the store.
Alamo wasn’t an active NLMB member,
he was a 57-year-old father of four, who was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
He wasn’t completely innocent and had taught other NLMB members how to move,
but he wasn’t in the streets like he used to be.
Roc on the other hand was only 19 and was a respected shooter from NLMB.
Roc was well-loved in his hood and his death was a big loss for the gang.
Other NLMB members who also got hit but survived were G Herbo,
WetEmUp, and Farro.
What would have happened Chicago’s rap scene if G Herbo got killed that day?
Luckily, he escaped with his life and eventually made it out of the streets.
But his homies were not as lucky and lost their lives.
This would just fuel the war between KTS and NLMB.
It only got worse after KTS Von got on social media and started mocking the dead.
So, Von continued to build his rep as a heartless killer who had no mercy on his opps.
Around this time, he started his career as a rapper, using his music
as a way to taunt his enemies and brag about his work in the streets.
Like most Chicago drill rappers, Von terrorized his opps both in the streets and online.
In October 2012,
he and his brother Dre would catch a No Limit member named Kyro at a McDonald’s
and tried to make him disrespect his own dead homie.
In the video, Dre and Von corner Kyrp and tell him to say Fuck Roc.
Kyro refuses and Dre smacks him in the face, busting open his lip damn near breaking his jaw.
Say **** Roc man
Say **** Roc son
Say **** Roc
Ain't no unzippin in here son
Say **** Roc
Take it out
Don't be scared lil bro
Oh ****
Damn bro
He look like a he has a broke ass jaw lil bro
Another No Limit member named Moodie
then comes out of the bathroom with a gun and KTS take off.
While they are leaving, gunshots can be heard going off in the background.
Supposedly, Kyro, Moodie, and another NLMB member named Kobe
left McDonalds to grab guns,
then came back and started firing shots at KTS.
A KTS member named Posto got hit in the arm and they all went back to they hood,
while Von just laughed like the Joker.
But Von wasn’t satisfied with just dissing his opps on camera.
He had his sights set on taking out his main enemy, G Herbo,
and wouldn’t stop until he got his wish.
The need for revenge only got stronger after Herbo
and another NLMB member named C-Money
were involved in the murder of a dude named Lolo from Lakeside.
On April 4th, 2013,
Lolo and his friend were walking down the 2700 block of East 80th Street
when they ran into C-Money aka Mad Maxx and G Herbo.
Allegedly, C-Money shot Lolo in the chest killing him.
His friend tried to run away, but G Herbo shot him in the ankle.
Lolo was shot in the chest with the bullet going through multiple vital organs.
He was brought to a local hospital but died later that day.
Lolo was a well-loved member of Lakeside,
who changed their name to Lolo World after his death.
Lakeside and KTS were closely allied,
so Lolo’s death would anger both Von and Posto, who was still thirsty for revenge
after getting shot outside the McDonalds.
But before he got back at NLMB,
Von caught up with Fearro from Sirconn City,
who dissed a member of PocketTown named Ronnie Moe.
On May 25th, 2013, a group of KTS members, including Von, went out looking for opps.
They went to Sirconn City’s hood looking for the first person they could find
and spotted Fearro taking out the trash.
Fearro’s dad asked him to take out the trash
because he wasn’t able to make it down the stairs himself.
When Fearro went outside to dump the trash in an alley nearby,
he was caught by KTS Von and his crew.
Von jumped out of the car and shot Fearro 8 times in the head.
It was a savage murder and most of his face got blown off in the shooting.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Von doubled down on the disrespect
and mocked Fearro on Twitter, tweeting
“Fearro Frm Sircon New Name Fried Face”.
This lead to him getting into a Twitter war with Fearo’s ex-girlfriend,
who told him she couldn’t wait until Von got caught lackin
and she would personally make sure that he didn’t get a funeral.
But, this wouldn’t phase Von and he would just say
“U Kno Fearro Caught Face Shots”.
But Von wasn’t done hunting down his opps,
he had his sights set on NLMB next.
On August 10th, 2013,
Von and Posto would finally get their revenge
and take out a respected member of NLMB named Kobe.
Kobe was standing outside the same McDonald’s where Von and Dre assaulted Kyro
on the 2400 block of East 79th Street.
Kobe had just left a party for Lil Bibby’s brother
where G Herbo, Kyro, and some other No Limit Members were hanging out.
Kobe decided he wanted to go home but refused a ride, saying he’d rather walk.
While he was passing by the McDonalds,
a car pulled up and started letting off shots.
Kobe was hit in the body and then the face.
When G Herbo and the rest of No Limit heard the shots,
they ran over to see what happened, armed with pistols.
But by the time they arrived, Kobe was dead.
Rumors are that KTS Von and Posto were the shooters,
while another KTS member named Rio was the driver.
Kobe was a well-loved member of NLMB and his death was a major loss for the gang.
G Herbo would name one of his early mixtapes
Ballin’ Like I’m Kobe in honor of his dead friend.
Even though KTS Von couldn’t get his main opp,
he managed to take out his close friend.
In 2015,
KTS Von dropped the track Kill to Survive,
where he’s seen wearing a jacket with the words “F*** Yo Dead Homie”
and the names his dead opps including Gotti, Roc, Fearro and Kobe.
So, Von was making enemies across the city
and it was only a matter of time before that energy came back for him.
On June 23rd, 2015,
Von would be shot and killed in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
He was walking down the 7500 block of South Ellis Avenue,
high on pills and all by himself.
As a car drove by, someone saw him and shot him a few times in the body
and then once in the head to make sure he was dead.
By the time police arrived, he was already dead at just 21 years old.
It’s not clear who is responsible for the death of KTS Von.
With so many different gangs in the city who wanted him dead, it could have been anyone.
Some say that it was Choppa and Mad Max aka C-Money from NLMB,
who were out looking for opps and caught Von lackin.
Von and Choppa were beefing on social media the day before,
with Von allegedly threatening him.
After Von got killed,
No Limit members started dissing him in songs and on social media.
Mad Max also changed his Instagram name to Mad Max the Smoker,
which was originally KTS Von’s nickname
But it’s normal for Chicago rappers to diss they dead opps,
whether or not they had something to do with the hit.
Another rumor is that it was done by Sirconn City, getting revenge for Fearro’s death.
A Sirconn City member got killed just a few days after Von,
which some think was retaliation.
Von put a major target on his head by doing so much dirt and dissing on the internet.
So, it could have been anyone.
Even though Von was a violent killer, many close to him said he was really laidback
and was known to joke around and have fun.
He was just a product of his environment and did what he had to do to survive in Chiraq.
But in the end, all that destruction lead to his own downfall
and he suffered the same fate as most rappers who are really about that life.