One of my daughters, at one time, lived in a basement apartment in Chicago.
She had stories about the cockroaches, but one story sets apart from the rest;
One morning she was running late and hurriedly grabbed her stuff, opened the door, and in ran a big cockroach, followed by a centipede. She chased after them all over the place, I don’t recall if she killed them or not.
To get rid of cockroaches, crickets, and ants, mix peanut butter with Karo syrup (or some other sugar) and borax. Place dollops of the bait in empty plastic food containers with holes drilled in them for the bugs to enter. The borax will kill the cockroaches and crickets. The ants will tote the bait back to the queen and wipe out the colony.