Gangs in England

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Street Gangs in England are present in several cities, most notably London, Manchester, Birmingham and more recently in areas of Liverpool. They have also been written about by the media in previous years in Leeds, Bristol and Nottingham although to a far lesser extent. The three aforementioned cities featured in a number of sensationalist articles in the earlier part of this decade when stories of turf wars and gang feuds frequented national and local newspapers. Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham have since received far fewer national media. Police in Leeds reported that there was no such problem anymore and Nottingham has seen large decreases in gun crime despite the media still referring to the city as "Shottingham".

Until recently there has been a dearth of research into UK gangs and research from the US has been drawn on despite there being little evidence to suggest there are many US-Style gangs in the UK.

Many researchers have rejected the existence of gangs in the UK because they do not fit the stereotyes of American gangs. However, Klein (2001, 2004, 2005) suggests that many American gangs also do not fit these stereotypes. In 2001 a book entitled the Eurogang Pardox was published. Klein (2001) who coined the term did so in response to this denial of street gangs in Europe.

Source: Rationalisation of Current Gang Research, Jill dando Institute of Crime, University College London 2004

Contents

[edit] Manchester and England's first modern street gangs

In the mid 1980s a growth in violence amongst African youths from the west side of the Alexandra Park Estate in South Manchester who were rivals to Africans residing north of the city in Cheetham Hill began to gain media attention. Cheetham Hill was populated by Afro-Caribbean’s who had moved north of the city (to the spill over estate of Cheetham) from Moss Side in south Manchester. The two estates had loosely agreed not to carry out "business" in one another’s area. A robbery by Cheetham Hill in what was seen as Moss Side area in 1984 followed by a dispute over a woman brought the two areas into conflict. Cheetham criminals were the first to show firearms in a Manchester where gun crime was still rare.

Towards the end of the 1980s another group of young men from the eastside of the Alexandra Park estate began dealing from Moss Lane. They used the Pepperhill Pub in Bedwell Close and later became known as the Pepperhill Mob. The money being made from dealing by the Pepperhill Mob attracted the Cheetham Hill gang to begin taxing them of their money . Unlike the first conflict where Cheetham Hill had carried out most of the attacks on Moss Side, the Pepperhill Mob showed they would defend themselves and the second conflict in a matter of years broke out between Manchester criminal groups north and south of the city centre. The dividing line become Manchester city centre.

The gang wars in Manchester first gained national media attention in the Guardian newspaper on 7th June 1988. In the article, Cliver Atkinson, deputy head of Greater Manchester CID said, "We are dealing with a black mafia which is a threat to the whole community, and fear that unless we can apprehend the leaders, it is only a matter of time before an innocent person is killed." This came after concern over eight shootings and a gun related murder in Moss Side and Cheetham Hill when gun crime was still rare.

A report two years later on 15th December 1990 in the Guardian newspaper described how the easy access to drugs and guns was causing unease in some Manchester housing estates. It focused on the growing attraction of violent crime and combat in the concrete jungle. Throughout the early 1990s a great deal of national media attention was given to the warring gangs of Manchester. The city was dubbed in the media as 'The Bronx of Britain', 'Gangchester' and 'Gunchester'. Whilst the city had become divided between Cheetham Hill and Moss Side, at the end of the 80s another conflict began. Alexandra Road divided the small estate of Alexandra Park. There was to be no dealings between the north and south of the city. However, youths from the west-side carried on dealing with Cheetham Hill and they began to war with the Pepperhill Mob. The youths on the west-side who lived around Gooch Close later become known as the Gooch Close gang. Gooch Close still exists today but has been changed to Westerling Way.

The war between the Gooch and Pepperhill saw a surge in violent assaults and drug related murders. At the height of it all, the Pepperhill pub was closed down and the remaining members regrouped around Doddington Close and become known as the Doddington Close Gang.

While the 'elders' were a threat to society the 'youngsters' to come up beneath them were even more ruthless in the trade and conflicts between the east and west of Alexandra Park were commonplace into the mid 1990s. In 1994, Andy Nott, crime correspondent for the Manchester Evening News reported that 'Gun gangs call a halt to war in the streets', on 13th August. A truce was agreed and after the initial summit two Los Angeles street gang members who were once deadly rivals with the Bloods and Crips visited Moss Side.

In 1995 the truce broke down following the murder of Raymond Pitt. Rays younger brother, Tommy Pitt, broke away from the Doddington Close Gang to create the Pitt Bull Crew, meanwhile in Longsight, east of Moss Side, Julian Bell formed the Longsight Crew. Conflicts arose between the Longsight Crew and Gooch, Longsight Crew and Pit Bull Crew, Pit Bull Crew and Doddington and the Doddington and Gooch. Tit-for-tat gang shootings increased dramatically toward the end of the 1990s.

Over the past several years other gangs such as the Young Longsight Soldiers have appeared and gangs have splintered into smaller groups such as the Young Gooch. The gang wars that started over 20 years ago are still present in today’s Manchester. The most recent example being in February 2006 when five men from Moss Side were jailed in what was thought to be a gang feud between the Gooch and Doddington in Manchester city centre.

Britain's first Los Angeles-style "gang squad" is being set up in Manchester to tackle the growing menace of organised groups of violent youths. The rising violence was graphically illustrated at the weekend by the shooting in Moss Side of a l5-year-old boy who was caught in the crossfire of a turf war. "GANGBUSTERS" who arrived from Los Angeles to help tackle gun crime found they could learn from Manchester's community approach. US gun crime experts Lieut Brian Gilman and Pastor Greg Turk arrived in the city as part of Peace Week. But after a couple of days in Hulme and Moss Side they found they could learn as much from policing in Manchester as they could teach. Gang unit boss Lt Gilman said Los Angeles - home to feared gang rivals the Crips and the Bloods - had `wasted 10 good years' from viewing crime as a merely a law enforcement problem, rather than using the community-wide approach seen in Manchester.

He said the murders of a girl of eight and a 15-year-old girl in the same week last December put gun crime back on the agenda. Lt Gilman said: "I'm very impressed with the progress that has been made in the last five years. "I wish I could say that we have made the same strides as you have when it comes to acknowledging the problem in the community. "There's room for a tremendous amount of optimism in Manchester. We don't have a Peace Week in L.A. and I think everybody in this community needs to take credit for that."

He urged Manchester to learn from LAPD's mistakes and successes which include an intervention programme which identified children at risk, after-school programmes and opportunities in the police force. Chief Supt Dave Keller, Moss Side's top cop, said police in Manchester enjoyed a better relationship with inner-city communities than in previous decades despite periodic flare-ups. He said `galvanising the community' and encouraging it to work with the police in areas like Moss Side had been the biggest single challenge they faced in tackling gun crime. Mr Turk, a pastor in south central LA, said back-to-work programmes, mentoring and positive thinking classes had put 2,000 former gangsters on the straight and narrow. Erinma Bell, of anti-gun group Carisma, who played a key role in bringing the two police forces together, said a willingness to look at the social problems was vital to bringing about positive change. She said: "We need to be looking at the educational and economic issues."

[edit] Liverpool Gang Wars

The Liverpool gang war involved several crime families including the Showers, Duresses and Fitzgibbons vying for control of Liverpool's drug trade and led to fall of Britain's richest drug baron, Curtis Warren.

The mid-90s saw Liverpool erupt in gang warfare. The gang war began early in 1995. Tensions grew over control over club doors and the distribution rights to drugs. The one incident that caused it all it was a fight over ownership of a bar between one of Curtis Warrens childhood friends Johnny Philips and a white gang from the Dingle. Philips had tried to take over a drinking den in Aigburth Road. However the regulars were having none of it and to settle the matter a one-on-one fist fight between Philips and David Ungi ensued, Philips lost the fight. The following day Ungi was lucky to escape a gun attack.

Police reactions were to proceed with operations against the two warring areas, Warrens predominantly black and mixed race Granby crew and the white criminals from the neighbouring Dingle. However, before police could intervene David Ungi was shot dead by two young black men, the war had begun. David Ungi himself had no criminal convictions and was not involved with crime. Following Ungi's murder the drinking den on Aigburth Road was struck by an arson attack and two days later six houses were sprayed with bullets just south of Toxteth. Ricardo Rowe, one of those questioned over Ungi's murder, was shot in Vic's gym in the Kensington area. A week later there were shots fired at men in Netherley and Dovecot.

A report in the Observer newspaper by Peter Beaumont "Gangsters put Liverpool top of gun league" on Sunday 28th May 1995, observed that a number of turf wars had erupted in Liverpool. Some gangs controlling the lucrative pubs and club trade and other gangs were more interested in issues of pride and territory. There were cross conflicts with all those involved in what he described as Liverpool's biggest 'open secret'. In an 18-month period starting in 1995, there were 80 shootings and several murders in Liverpool. None of the gangsters behind the shootings were brought to justice.

In the late 90s guns became used ever more frequently in Liverpool and another argument in a south Liverpool pub caused further conflicts. Tony Lawler was shot dead in a different gang war that police believed was again linked to the fight to control Merseyside's lucrative club security business. Another victim of this feud was Ian Clarke who pulled up at traffic lights in the Anfield area and was hit in a hail of bullets dying five days later. No one has been charged with his murder. As with the previous war again several people fell victim to gangland shootings within a confined area of the city.

Another area of the city to hit the media limelight for gangs and gun violence was the Grizedale estate in 2003. A feud between drugs gangs based in Everton and their rivals in nearby Kirkdale had been simmering for years before it hit the headlines. It began when Tony Richardson was sprayed with gunfire during a drive-by shooting. Richardson, whose fiancee is actress Jennifer Ellison, was wrongly accused of taking part in a gun attack on a prominent local family linked to the Kirkdale gang. The war resulted in a car and nail bomb being used in attacks and Tuebrook police station was targeted by a car bomb. Again more shootings occurred and there were several murders and still very few convictions by the police.

More recent feuds making the headlines since the beginning of 2006 have involved the Croxteth Crew and Strand Gang, who reside in the Strand shopping area of Norris Green. Victims and shooters alike are getting younger, some involved are as young as 14. The current conflict receiving media attention between Croxteth and Norris Green has saw over a dozen shootings in the March 2006. The first victim of this war was Liam Smith 19, a supposed member of the Norris Green Strand Gang, he was shot on his way out from Altcourse Prision. Soon after his death the shopping district off Broadway in Norris Green became plastered with graffiti which read: RIP Smigger Nogzy Soldier (Smigger refers to Liam Smith himself while 'Nogzy' refers to Norris Green).

SOURCE: *England Gang Forum News Archive

[edit] Bristol and the Aggi Crew

During the 1990s Bristol’s drug trade was predominantly ran by a local gang known as the Aggi Crew. Towards the end of the century Jamaican criminals had been moving in on Bristol, as well as many other British towns and cities. In 1998, six members of the Aggi Crew were imprisoned after being found in possession of over £1 million worth of crack-cocaine.

Following the Aggi Crew imprisonment so-called Yardie dealers began running the area using new methods of dealing to ensure they evaded the police. Drug dealing around St Pauls Grosvenor Road area and the Black and White Cafe (now closed) rapidly reached epidemic proportions. Drug dealing and intimidation, joined by addicts, muggers and prostitutes, began to plague the St Pauls district of the city.

When the Aggi Crew members were released from prison they were eager to take back their territory and made an offer to the Jamaicans. The Jamaicans were an alliance of several smaller gangs including the Hype Crew, Mountain View Posse, Back to Back Gang and the Gucci. The Aggi Crew suggested they could operate St Pauls as long as they paid a tax. The Jamaicans refused and as a mark of disrespect the Aggi Crew stormed the Black and White Café robbing everyone at gunpoint.

The first incident involved a Hype Crew member being shot followed by a shooting on an Aggi Crew member. A series of tit-for-tat shootings and violent incidents took place. Armed police were drawn in to mount patrols around the St Pauls district following the release of the Aggi Crew amid fears of the growing gang violence. The patrols began in January 2003.

The patrols were in response to fears of a turf war between the gangs of drug dealers known to be armed and willing to use violence against each other. However, the threat of violence lessened and patrols were withdrawn in February 2003. In September 2003, Stephen Henry, a drugs dealer's "protector" was shot dead by a rival gang during a Bristol turf war. He was shot three times as he got into his car after leaving the Level Nightclub in the city centre and was a debt enforcer and security man for dealer Arif Dad.

In recent years Bristol has not hit the headlines with tales of gang warfare. One of the more recent incidents was when two innocent victims were shot in October 2004 in what was a gangland hit.

There are many other gang's in the city including the notorious La Bloods and Crips many Mafia gangs and low level street gangs including kwbb (knowle west bad boys) who are averagely 16 to 30 years old.They sell anything they can get thier hands on including drugs stolen things and weapons.They mainly operate in Knowle West Hengrove Whitchurch. Kwbb is a very dangerous gang. They have carried out many gangland shootings in southwest Bristol.There arch are the Hbb Hartcliff bad boys who operate in the same way.The two gangs meet on occasions and fight using anything guns knifes bats bricks.Kwbb are known for recruiting in local schools.You will see Kwbb gang tags every where in the south of the city even schools.

[edit] Birmingham

The 1980's saw gang culture grow in Birmingham with gangs such as the Inch High Crew and "Handsworth Nigga sqad". There were also gangs such as Sodom. Although the Birmingham gangs have a history dating back to the 1980s, most were not brought to the public's attention until New Years Eve, 2003 , when a high-profile drive-by shooting in the Aston area claimed the lives of two teenage girls, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlenne Ellis. Several gangs operate in the Birmingham area, the most well known being those involved in the shootings of Ellis and Shakespeare, the Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys. New younger gangs too are appearing such as the Champagne Crew and the Badder Bar Boys.

The riot in Lozells October 2005 saw black and Asian gangs clash on a large scale. This was due to an unfounded rumour that several Asian men had gang raped a Black girl which sparked the violence.

Asian gangs have grown in prominence in recent years in Birmingham. Asian gangs that are well known in Birmingham are the Shere Punjab and The Paki Panthers. These two gangs seemed to form an alliance for a limited amount of time in the Birmingham riots. The Shere Punjab have approximately 200 members in greater Birmingham.

[edit] Birmingham Gang War

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[edit] Modern London Street Gangs

London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. The days of the Krays and the Richardsons are long gone now. Even the organisation and ruthlessness of the Chinese Triads takes a back seat in modern London. The main organised groups are responsible for a great deal of crime, Vietnamese groups, Colombian cocaine networks, Eastern European groups, Turkish mafia, Paki Panthers, Shere Punjab, Tamil Tigers .

The ruthlessness of young guns in the capital making a living in dealing and violence are often making headlines due to tit-for-tat and reprisal shootings and murders. Whilst gun deaths have decreased in the past year the number of shootings has increased. There are many street gangs in London, such as black, white, Asian gangs and even more defined groups of Jamaican Yardies, British Blacks, Somalians, Tamils, Bengalis, Sikhs, Turkish and Chinese street gangs. A recent report reported that there were around 170 criminal gangs in England.

London itself may be home to 150 street gangs alone. It has to be said that so called 'Chinese' Street gangs are not Chinese at all but other Asians such as Filipinos (as in the case of the murder of London headmaster Philip Lawrence) and Vietnamese. Currently the Vietnamese are found to be behind the growth of 'cannabis factories' set up in ordinary houses in the UK. The gangs involved in these often hide behind the front of Vietnamese nail parlours.

A Sikh Gang Shere Punjab originally formed to protect sikhs from muslim extremist has been known to be a leader of drug tafficing, Prostitution, Killings and extortion in asian dominated areas. Shere punjab has been known to have over 700 members in the nation, 300 in Greater London, (mainly in Southall)

[edit] Prevention Schemes

There are several prevention schemes in place, most typically run by the local police authority. The most notable include Operation Trident which was established to combat black on black gun crime in London. The Manchester Multi Agency Gang Strategy, MMAGS, is perhaps the only unit developed for the sole purpose of gangs in England. There are a number of schemes targeting gun crime rather than gangs in particular. Operation Ventara in Birmingham, Operation Goodwood in Manchester, Operation Stealth in Nottingham, Operation Atrium in Bristol and Operation Safeguard in Leeds were all designed to combat gun crime.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Walsh, P. (2003) Gang War: The inside story of Manchester gangs, Milo Books ISBN 1-903854-29-6
  • Barnes, T. (2000) Mean Streets: Inside the northern underworld, Milo Books ISBN 0-9530847-5-2
  • Barnes, T., Elias, R. and Walsh, P. (2000) Cocky: The rise and fall of Curtis Warren Britain's biggest drug baron, Milo Books, ISBN 0-9530847-7-9

[edit] News reports

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