Spaghetti House siege
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The Spaghetti House Siege was a police incident in London. On September 28, 1975, at the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, Franklin Davies led two other gunmen in an hostage taking situation, where the managers of the chain had assembled to pay in the week's takings (approximately £13,000). It may be that the siege was simply an armed robbery that went wrong. Nine Italian staff members were taken prisoner, and moved into the basement; another escaped and raised the alarm.
The Metropolitan Police surrounded the restaurant and cordoned off the area. The gunmen, claiming to represent the Black Liberation Front, a Black Panther splinter group, demanded safe passage and an aircraft out of the country to Jamaica.
Sir Robert Mark, the then Commissioner, consulted with the Home Office and refused.
According to Manwaring-White (1983) this was an early use of fibre optic technology as a live surveillance technique.
Psychiatrist Dr Peter Scott gave advice about the mental state of the criminals. Radio reporters demoralised the robbers with the insistence their demands would never be met, and the Daily Mail suppressed a scoop at the commissioner's request, concerning the police arrest of a believed confederate of Davies. The police also ensured Davies received a false message that his alleged confederate was selling information to the newspapers.
The demoralised robbers and their captives emerged unharmed.
The siege lasted for six days.
According to W.A. Tupman in Violent Business?: Networking, Terrorism And Organised Crime: "Subsequently, at the trial it was claimed that the BLA did not exist and the accused were simply criminals who wished to rob the restaurant for personal gain. It was frequently said at the time among cannabis users that 'If you want to buy dope North of the river [Thames], you have to deal with the IRA. South of the river it's the Black Liberation Army.' The author heard this said before the Spaghetti House Siege ever happened." Clearly a BLA had been active in the USA for some time, which may have inspired this saying.
Subsequently a number of works were produced based on the siege, including books, documentaries, and at least one film.
[edit] References
- Dhondy, Farrukh (1978) Siege of Babylon Macmillan
- Giulio Paradici (Film) (1982) The Spaghetti House Siege
- Manwaring-White, Sarah (1983) The Policing Revolution. Police technology, democracy and liberty in Britain Brighton: Harvester Press
- Ove, Horace (TV Film) (1979) A Hole in Babylon Play for Today BBC
