With a reputation in the cultural consciousness closely connected to Chicago's heyday as Gangland, perhaps bolstered by recent political scandal, today's Cicero nonetheless little ressembles its 1920s character save for a few vintage remnants. Still using a "town" form of government, the settlement's borders are a fraction of what they were before the turn-of-the century, when Chicago annexations and village secessions reduced the township to the size of the current community. Contemporary Cicero is primarily working-class Hispanic, and recent decades' decrease in Cicero's industries have brought it new challenges.
