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February 3, 2007 was the beginning of a number of so called “gang related” murders of teenagers across London. James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, was one of around 300 young people aged in their late teens and early twenties at Streatham Ice Rink enjoying an evening disco when a large number of young people entered the rink. After a moment of madness in the darkness of the arena James was shot twice and died. Similar events had been occurring in London for several years, however, those involved in such incidents were often much older and the frequency of such events had not been as great. One of the earliest incidences of someone school aged dying from a “gang feud” since the 1990s was that of Richard Everitt, 15, an innocent teen who became caught up in rivalry between white and Asian gangs in the Somers Town and Drummond Street areas of Kings Cross in 1994. In 1997, Guydance Dacres, 16, was shot dead at a private party at Chimes night club in Hackney. It is believed his murder marked the beginning of the feud between Hackney and Tottenham gangs in which more than a dozen murders have been attributed to this rivalry since 1997. One of the most publicised murders attributed to a gang was that of Damilola Taylor, 10, an innocent young boy murdered by the infamous Preddie brothers, both connected to the equally infamous Peckham Boys gang.
Events of this kind involving school aged children and gangs until 2006 had been limited. From the beginning of 2006, however, such events had become increasingly more frequent in contrast to the pre 2006 era and particularly amongst young people aged 20 and under. Barrington Williams-Samuels, 19, died after being shot at the Palace Pavillion in Hackney on January 2nd 2006, the following day an 18 year old died following a street fight in Kentish Town. On the 5th May 2006 15-year-old Kiyan Prince was stabbed to death following an altercation outside his school in Edgeware and another 15 year old, Alex Mulumba, was stabbed to death in what was said to be a feud between two street gangs in Kennington in June 2006. The following month Julian Knight, 16, was stabbed during a fight in Abbey Wood and died from his injuries. In September, 16 year old Thomas Jones from Harlow was stabbed to death in East Ham and Paul McMillan, 19, was stabbed to death in Dagenham. November saw the murder of 16-year-old Eugene Attram in Thornton Heath an innocent caught up in the rivalry between two gangs in Mitcham and Wandsworth. By no means were all these murders, if any, gang related but the number of teenagers killed in London was certainly becoming a cause for concern.
Operation Trident (black gun crime) and Trafalgar (non-black gun crime) have dealt with around 270 serious shootings each year since 2003-04. The total number of incidents has remained at a similar level; however, it hides a worrying trend that shows youth suspects to be on the increase (Table 1.1). In 2003-4 there were 42 (16%) serious shootings committed in London by suspects under the age of 20. However, in 2006 this had increased to 86 and 31% as a proportion of all incidents (gun crime incidents only). The number of incidents involving this age group throughout 2006-07 may not have actually increased significantly when compared to 2005-06 (in fact it decreased by 1) but the attention being given to the matter in the media would have you believe that it was. What is apparent is an increasing number of young people are also being killed often as innocent victims of youth gangs. This has not just been confined to London, although it does seem to be confined to inner cities, there have been incidents of school aged children being shot and also stabbed to death in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield with some reference to youth gangs since the beginning of 2007.
If the number of incidents had remained at a similar level since 2005-06 and there was also evidence to show that a number of teens had been murdered in 2006 (17 in 2006 compared to 27 in 2007) then what was the significance of the James Andre Smartt-Ford murder at Streatham Ice Rink? It perhaps may not have been as significant a turning point if it had not been for the events to follow, although it was the first incidence of a school aged youth being shot dead in London for some time. The Streatham incident was shocking and what we would have expected to be an isolated incident, however, just three days later 15 year old Michael Dosunmu was shot dead in his bedroom by intruders a short distance away in Peckham in what was a case of mistaken identity and which police linked to the murder of Javarie Crighton, 21, also murdered on the 3rd February less than 100 yards from Michael Dosunmu. On the 14th February Billy Cox, 15, became the third youth in 11 days to be shot dead in south London. Billy was found dying in his flat on the Fenwick Estate in Clapham (Figure 1.1).
The media linked the Billy Cox murder to a young gang in the area known as the Clap Town Kids. In the following month another three teenagers were murdered, all of whom were stabbed to death. The press coverage for all of these incidents described how street gangs in their local area had murdered innocent youths. Kodjo Yenga, 16, was murdered by a group known as Murder Dem Pussies in west London, Adam Regis, 15, by a young Newham clique in east London and Paul Erahon, 14, by a group known as Thatch House Thugs also in east London. In 2007 there were 27 incidents of teen murders with the reporting in the media always mentioning the word gang whether it was gang related or not.
There seems to be something about the word ‘gang’ particularly in the media during 2007 with the word being applied carelessly to any offence being committed that involves either violence or multiple offenders. There have been two reports in the media detailing the whereabouts of gangs in London. The first appeared in late 2006, which identified 169 “gangs” operating in London boroughs with Hackney (24) and Enfield (13) having the most. There were obvious flaws in the methodology of the report most notably the fact that the research had no way of defining exactly what a gang was and included within it were a number of groups that did not actively commit crime. The report was also inconclusive as information was not supplied by every London borough. A second report by the London Evening Standard in mid 2007 detailed the whereabouts of 257 gangs in London as identified by the Metropolitan Police. However, again there were numerous errors in the report owing to the fact that the author, Southwark Borough Council Community Safety Enforcement, had incorrectly copied a large proportion of the list of gangs from an open source website on London gangs. The media in turn had also received the information as open source from the London Guns Gangs and Weapons website (the report has since been removed from both the Evening Standard and Guns Gangs and Weapons websites).
There has been prevailing evidence in the media as well as police responses locally and nationally that suggests an emerging culture of gangs in England and in particular London. Bennett and Holloway (2004: 307) suggest that the picture painted by such reports is similar to gang membership in the United States. However, in reality there is little evidence to suggest that there are any street gangs in the U.K and there is certainly a dearth of criminological research that can shed any light on this development (Mares, 2001; Grainger, 2002; Bennett & Holloway, 2004; Marshal et al., 2005).
White (2004: 41) argues that the media and the police provide the two richest sources of current knowledge on youth gangs in the U.K. although amongst academics it has been suggested that the cause for a lack of criminological enquiry lie in the consensus that the gang is actually an American phenomenon yet to be encountered to a significant degree in U.K. inner cities. Weitekamp (2001: 309) observes that most Europeans acknowledge the existence of youth groups; however, they are reluctant to name them as street gangs. Furthermore, Klein et al (2006: 414) contend that many European countries do in fact have street gangs but researchers and policy makers also often hesitate to label them as gangs. This is because they compare their own groups to American stereotypes (Klein, 1997, 2001; Covey, 2003; Decker and Weerman, 2005).
Bennett and Holloway (2004: 306) have expressed surprise at the little research undertaken about U.K. street gangs when considering the high level of interest in the topic particularly spurred on by the media. In 2007 the amount of research on the topic of street gangs is still relatively limited and many questions posed by Bennett and Holloway (2004) remain unanswered. There are important gaps about what is known of street gangs, particularly within Greater London. There is limited reliable and up to date knowledge about the number and distribution of gangs in London (despite the aforementioned reports naming 169 and then 257 gangs). Basic facts about the characteristics of gangs and members, their contribution to crime and their link to guns and drugs need to be explored. However, in order to do this we first need to establish what gangs are and where they are located within London.
From what has been suggested in the media many of the gangs mentioned identify with their local area, which they regard as their turf or territory. Gang territory is a basis of gang existence and is why many groups will often name themselves after the streets or neighbourhoods in which they reside or operate. The first objective of this study will be to establish what a gang is by reviewing previous literature on the subject. As well as knowing what defines a gang the literature will also need to look at the nature and characteristics of groups and their offending to be able to understand what makes the group a gang. The second objective of this study will be conduct a spatial / geographical analysis of groups in London and using the information obtained from previous literature attempt to identify which of the groups are in fact gangs and the relationships and structure between them.
