Uplifts
Animals
APE GANGS
Apes in the future have been given human-level intelligence and powers of speech, and these "uplifts" (as they're more politely called) are residents - but not classified as full citizens - in Mega-City One and its various space colonies. The early generations learned how to talk and act human from films and will imitate the cliches. Gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and mandrills have all been altered, though primarily it's gorillas and chimps seen in the strip.
Unsurprisingly, there are all-ape criminal gangs in the city, often modelled after gangster films. Apes, in general, can work regular jobs in the city but mostly stick to their own enclosed ghetto in Sector 66, alternately Apetown or "the Jungle"” as the humans don't want them. Dredd considered the state of the ape ghetto to be because the apes are naturally unclean rather than because of their circumstances, and Judges, in general, have rarely bothered with patrolling it unless a crime affects a human.
Out in the colonies, they are increasingly common as labourers and will also serve as soldiers during war.
Animal experimentation was banned under the Dredd Act of 2101, so "uplifts" are now only produced by regular breeding.
UGGIE APELINO
In the late 21st Century, experiments (now forbidden) were carried out to increase the learning capabilities of apes. The more sophisticated the experiments got, the closer to human intelligence the apes got. Eventually they were Man's equals and were set free, allowed to live in their own Sector, which quickly became known as The Jungle. Mimicking their criminal neighbours they formed gangs, the most successful of which was that led by Don Uggie Apelino, with his henchmen Fast Eeek and Joe Bananas. Together with sundry henchmen they set about fighting the might of the Mega-City mobsters and set up their own rac- kets, until Dredd and his team caught them red-handed with a consignment of illegally-imported tobacco. An attempt by Apelino to avoid The Law by claiming it was only for humans was foiled when Dredd imprisoned him and his gang in the Zoo!
Joe Bananas
Joe Bananas was an "uplift" Ape and one of Don Uggie Apelino's lieutenants in the Ape Gang. Bananas was loyal to Don Uggie and carried out his orders without question. Being Don's go-to Lieutenant, Bananas assisted Don Uggie in most of his crimes. Along with Fast Eeek, he accompanied Don Uggie when he confronted Judge Dredd about the East Side Mob activities.
Bananas later helped Eeek assassinate the East Side Mob's second in command, giving him a pair of "concrete shoes" and drowning him in a river. Bananas was ultimately killed when the Judges ambushed Don Uggie and the Ape Gang, being caught up in a hail of bullets.
Fast Eeek
Eeek assisted Don Uggie in most of his crimes in the Jungle. He and Joe Bananas accompanied Don Uggie when he confronted Dredd about the East Side Mob.
He and Bananas later help assassinate the East Side Mob's second in command, giving him a pair of "concrete shoes" and drowning him in a river. Eeek was later arrested alongside Don Uggie when the Judges ambushed the Ape Gang.
After two years in prison, Don Uggie and his boys put out a hit on Dredd, offering a billion creds to do so. This prompted many hitmen to try and put a bullet between his head, which ended badly, of course, and Uggie and his boys simply wound up in jail a second time.
Years later, after the Apocalypse War, the Jungle was wiped out by an atomic blast. Eeek followed Don Uggie back to the wasteland and lost much intelligence due to the radiation. When Dredd followed up on reports of Ape attacks, Fast Eeek attacked Dredd, attempting to squash him with a rather large boulder. Dredd stops him, of course, and plants a tracer on Eeek. He trails Eeek back to his camp and finds the remnants of the Ape Gang dancing around a fire, with fast Eeek boasting about outsmarting Dredd. Fast Eeek is then promptly shot down.