Crime

Postcode Areas: E6-E7, E12-E13, E15-E16

Newham is one of the most diverse boroughs in London and has been home to numerous gangs and organised firms for decades. They range from the old white working class firms of the south and west parts of the borough such as the “Canning Town Firm" to the numerous Asian gangs concentrated more to the east around East Ham, Green Street and Manor Park and the more recent black and multi-ethnic gangs predominantly located north and north west of the borough in areas such Stratford and Forest Gate. Newham was also home to one of football’s most notorious hooligan firms, West Hams ICF/Inter-City Firm which is the focus of the film Cass and provides the backdrop to gangster film Rise of the Footsoldier which chronicles former ICF man Carlton Leach and his life in the run up to the ‘Essex Boys’ murders that happened in a quiet back road in Rettendon in 1995 (see recent film Bonded by Blood). 

Some of the older named crews from Newham borough over the last 10-15 years have been the African Devils, active in Barking & Dagenham, Newham and Redbridge boroughs, Thatched Manz, Take Over Network, Jeeperz, Forest Gate Massive and Paki Panthers, most of which have resurged under new identities from the younger levels. Many of the olders, like in most boroughs, either grow up and move away from the streets or go underground and earn money from varied sources within organised criminal structures. Street gangs in Newham are different to other boroughs. There are numerous cliques covering large areas that all link up together in some way. Many of the named cliques have tended to be youngers. However, the older more organised firms, with a less obvious street presence, are more engrained within Newham offering more lucrative opportunities than those in predominantly youth based street gangs. Currently there are over a dozen separate area based affiliations active in Newham, many which were established much more recently in comparison to other east London boroughs.


British Organised Crime in Newham

Newham’s gang history is rooted more in organised crime than it is with street gangs. During the 1980’s when organised crime became far more noticeable across wider swathes of London several families were making a ruthless name for themselves in the borough, particularly in tough working class dock areas such as Canning Town. There were some street gangs although they were not easily identifiable in those times to the wider public and were rarely spoken of. Many of the street groupings in the 1980’s were reduced to ‘racist gangs’ which in most cases was apt. One youth gang from this area of London in the 1980’s was the ‘Croydon Road Gang’ north of Canning Town. They were responsible for numerous racist attacks on Asian’s, mainly in nearby East Ham. In one of their attacks in the mid-1980’s three young Tamil men were killed after a firebomb was thrown into a house on Burges Road, East Ham. The deceased were all students who had been studying at Hackney College and the London School of Economics. This marked the beginning of Tamil and Sri Lankan gangs in the borough, Bengali and Pakistani gangs were already establishing criminal groups within their own community by this time. 

Some of the organised entities included the “Canning Town Cartel”, which are still somewhat active to this day. The ‘Canning Town Cartel’ is a combination of different families and firms which consisted of the Bowers, whom Jack Whomes was closely associated with, Tibbses and Hunts with well known gangland figures acting as freelance enforcers on behalf of such families.

A fiction book by a self-proclaimed former hitman of the gang was written in 2004, entitled Judas Pig by Horace Silver (an alias for his character Billy, whose real name is said to be Jimmy Holmes). Whilst the book was largely written in fiction style it covered many real-life murders and crimes of the Canning Town Cartel although often changed details slightly and put the wrong people in the frame in some cases. It also spoke about the shooting of one criminal, using his real nickname. An event which in reality did not occur and the fact it was mentioned annoyed this criminal to say the least. Writing about the Canning Town Cartel, Tony Thompson suggested the gang has made tens of millions of pounds from drug trafficking, armed robbery, kidnapping and murder yet have managed to largely evade the public eye. 

The book Judas Pig lifts the lid on at least five unsolved gangland murders that happened in London. One of those was that of Barry Dalton whose corpse was discovered on the outskirts of Alexandra Palace in 1992 having been shot in the head at point-blank range, he was a former bare-knuckle prize fighter with connections to the IRA. The person allegedly behind the killing, Del Croxton, was later arrested for a different murder however he was supplied extra potent drugs, one of his weaknesses, that were arranged for delivery by members of the gang and he overdosed in his cell. A Facebook page for Judas Pig is available which provides real life insight from the book in a chronological timeline.

Another of the organised firms who operated out of Canning Town, as mentioned, included the Bowers family. Paul Bowers, owner of the Peacock Gym in Canning Town, was jailed for two years in 2006 after helping a gang ship hundreds of kilos of cannabis into Britain from Amsterdam. The operation was partly run from the gym which was used by boxers such as Lennox Lewis and Prince Naseem in the past. The offices above ground level were used to discuss drug dealing and other organised criminal activities. Bowers, a former fight promoter, at the time of sentencing was already serving six years for masterminding a £1.1million raid on UK cargo hold at Gatwick Airport. The gang, dubbed “The Peacock Gang” in the media, raided other cargo and shipments at a series of docks and airports including Thamesport, Felixstowe and Grangemouth whilst also hijacking a lorry that was en-route to Wickford in Essex. Amongst the takings were a range of products including consignments of food blenders, stereo systems, sticky tape, Absolut Vodka and cash. Before each raid the firm obtained inside security information such as forthcoming delivery information and pass codes needed to avoid suspicion. Bowers of Silvertown was arrested in 2003. Notorious East End gangster Lewis Nicholl helped organise the raids along with Paul, Tony and Martin Bowers. Nicholl was described as a major player of the firm commanded by Tony.

Much of the land that the 2012 Olympics is constructed on was reportedly in the hands of criminal families and gangsters, including those based in the East End / Newham. One site in particular by Canning Town which was placed under a compulsory purchase order by the London Development Agency (LDA) – 75% of the 30 plot two-hectare site is believed to be owned by local gangsters which the government is had to purchase using tax-payers money. Several East End families are alleged to own a stake in the land plots including the Bowers some of whom were jailed for a series of lorry hijackings said to be orchestrated to finance a hotel and casino they had planned for the site. The LDA paid £1.85m to Abbeycastle Properties, owned by the Bowers (click here for article details - subject to legal complaint).

Asian Organised Crime

In the middle part of the borough, south of Forest Gate, east of West Ham Park towards East Ham and north of the A13 is what has become a very significant Asian community with areas of Pakistani, Bengali and Tamil gangs. Whilst they are concentrated in these areas their crime groups link into other Asian areas across east London and beyond. One of the most infamous events related to Newham’s Asian criminals occurred in 2003 when Amarjit Singh, 52, and his nephew Rajinder Singh, 35, were shot dead in Atherton Mews, Forest Gate, with a Mac-10 machine gun. It was not until seven years later that Mohammed Ayub Khan from Chigwell stood trial, denying both counts in February 2011. Khan had been listed as one of Scotland Yard's Most Wanted before his arrest in Bangladesh. He was found guilty and sentenced to serve a minimum of 26 years in December 2011. Origins of some Asian gangs in the area stem from the trial of the 'Newham 7'.

In more recent years, Adnan Patel, a vigilante construction worker, was stabbed to death after being surrounded by drug dealers who had been selling cannabis to his 14-year-old brother in 2008. He was stabbed in the chest after confronting Clint D’Mello and Akeel Shah and two others. D’Mello claimed it began after an abusive phone call accusing him of selling a 10-bit (£10) of cannabis to Patel’s younger brother and said he was beaten up by the Patel brothers when he turned up for the meeting. He claimed to have escaped and re-arranged to meet at the Karachi chicken takeaway in Stratford but then made off when he saw a group of “gym boys” with Patel. A final meeting was arranged which resulted in Adnan Patel being attacked by up to a dozen heavily armed men in Stewart Road Leytonstone. The testament of Clint D’Mello who claimed not to be a drug dealer was deemed to have been questionable. He was known locally in the area as ‘Slim’ and had a history of involvement in drugs and the supply of cannabis. The younger brother at the centre of the events had been expelled from school for dealing drugs which he admitted to buying from D’Mello which was the likely cause of the fight on Stewart Road. Adnan was acting out of a sense of responsibility for his brother toward adults who were supplying drugs to schoolchildren, including his brother. Clint D’Mello was later jailed for 4-years, other members of his gang from Manor Park, Beckton and Leytonstone were also jailed including a life sentence for Akeel Shah. 

In 2009, the culmination of police “Operation Jama” saw Nokhiaz Khan jailed for four years for overseeing a £1.2million business that ‘recycled’ vehicles by repeatedly stealing and selling them. After sales, the vehicles were often recovered by the gang in violent car-jackings before being disguised using new DVLA documents and number plates. The gang whose members were based across east London in East Ham, Forest Gate, Manor Park, Romford and Hornchurch operated between 2004 and 2007. As well as car-ringing Khan was also sentenced for a £309,000 mortgage scam. Organised criminals within Newham have links to other boroughs and form the top end of the hierarchy to long established street gangs. For example, Forest Gate Massive who link with Bethnal Green Massive (Bengali) and the Paki Panthers, sitting below several Pakistani families based in Newham and Waltham Forest. The East Side Boys were also a notable crime network from the Tamil community. The Asian criminal networks tend to stick together and operate tightly within their own community. 

Street Gangs

In the last decade (2000-2010), Newham has birthed its own generation of urban street gangs, taking influence from their organised predecessors, as well as Yardie criminals, to form multi-racial street based crews in each of the boroughs postal districts. A number of notable street based violence incidents have occurred including teen killings.

One of the earliest teen killings of the decade in Newham occurred in 2001 when Somali teenager Abdul Maye, 15, was found dead outside Little Ilford Lane youth centre in Rectory Road. There have been over a dozen more teens who have lost their lives during violent exchanges since then within the borough. Two youths aged 15 and 16 were charged with the murder of Maye which was allegedly ignited by a £10 drug debt. One of the killers was deported to Jamaica. That same year an older gangster, Shaun Fray, 36, died from gunshot wounds to the head after three men were seen entering his home in Lonsdale Avenue, East Ham. It was not until 2009 that killer Merrick Brown was found having absconded to Florida in the United States, from here he was extradited and arrested back in the UK. 

Shaun Fray, who was a hi-fi salesman, was shot in the back of his head in front of his pregnant wife in 2001. In December 2002 Merrick Brown was convicted of another offence and then identified as the killer owing to his fingerprints being left at the Fray crime scene. However, Brown, a Jamaican overstayer, fled to Florida and was only extradited in March of 2009. At court it was summarised by the prosecutor as a contract killing, 'this was no mere robbery or burglary...these three men appear to have entered with one purpose, the murder of Shaun Fray'. The motive behind the killing was believed to have lied in his involvement in a robbery which dated back to 1989 when the victim was in his mid twenties. Fray had taken part in a raid on a cash-in-transit van which netted £230,000, more than half of which was never recovered.

Between the late 1990’s and mid-2000 a number of ‘Yardie’ style killings took place in the borough. Michelle Carby was shot dead in her Stratford home by two Jamaican men intent on robbing jewellery, cash and drugs in 1998. In 2001, Jamaican Corey Brown, 22, was shot dead by two gunmen armed with automatic weapons. Fourteen bullet casings were found at the scene after he was shot in a Ford XR2 in Forest Gate. This was at a time when the Hackney Boys were in serious rivalry with the Stratfoed and Forest Gate areas of Newham. A Stratford Rex club doorman, Richard Parkinson (see here for further details), was shot dead at a Beenie Man concert that same year although, killings involving older men began to curtail as the teen deaths rose from the mid-noughties. Two of the main gangs that existed from the 1990's into the early noughties were known as Take Over Network and Thatched Manz. Another notable gang-style murder that occurred in 2000 was that of painter and decorator Ricky Rising from Plaistow. The murder was committed by two associates of Rising, Keith Hunt and Daniel Clarke, after they suspected he had ‘grassed’ on them for a robbery offence. The killers drove to a pub in Plaistow, where they knew Rising would be, armed with a pistol and shot him in the back. The defendants both had previous convictions for robbery.

The early street gangs of Newham had contentious relationships with their counterparts in Hackney, particularly those from northern parts of the borough such as Stratford and Forest Gate. Evening music events across Hackney and Newham sometimes proved to be fatal for young people stepping foot outside of their borough due to these area rivalries. In 2004 an 18-year-old from Manor Park in Newham was fatally stabbed to death on the dance floor of the Palace Pavilion nightclub in Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, during a fracas between two groups in what should have been a fun night that was featuring local performers. It came at a time when a number of music crews had began to develop and clashes at urban music events were subject to a tirade of negative press.

Amongst those groups was the new generation of gangs, that are linked to more recent gangs such as “Stratford and Plaistow Boys” (un-official name) and E7 Crip Gang. They included Kids in da Hood, Boys in da Hood, Kamikaze Crew and Mobb'd Out Crew. A lot of the relationships between various street gangs currently active in Newham have evolved through the urban music scene. Newham was one of the main areas that birthed Grime music, also closely linked with Tower Hamlets. Numerous music crews exist in and amongst the gangs, some gangs have even developed from music crews. Although the gangs have come to identify more closely to specific geographical areas of Newham amongst the younger generation, many of the older generations come from across Stratford, Plaistow, Canning Town, Beckton and Manor Park working together across large areas. Much of the older generation are connected to one another across the borough. 

The street gang activity had historically been difficult to track in Newham because of these numerous borough wide connections between groups of youths, criminals and gangsters. It’s a close-knit area and despite the diverse communities people involved in criminal subcultures know their like-minded peers in all corners of Newham. The difficulty in separating the groups goes back to the fact that so many areas are intertwined with one another. Earlier gangs such as the Jeeperz drew members from numerous areas in the borough, today many of the current gang leaders of various Newham gangs were once part of the aforementioned Take Over Network and Thatched Manz gangs. The generations they recruited often had to prove their worth before they could join the gangs by carrying out robberies and acts of violence. 

Since 2006 teenage gang members in Newham have been responsible for a number of gun and knife murders, a considerable number of cash-in-transit robberies and open street dealing of drugs, that without mentioning the activities that take place solely within criminal circles and largely unaffected by the law. In a borough where street gangs were barely identifiable at the turn of the millennium, Newham has fast become one of the most infamous areas. In terms of crime levels, the volumes of knife crime and homicide are now amongst the highest in all of London.

Two Double Murders

Patrick Ford (pictured far left) and Eugene Brown (pictured left), Sugar Lounge, Forest Gate

On May 29, 2010 two men were shot dead in Katherine Road, Forest Gate, after leaving the Sugar Lounge Nightclub. Patrick Ford, 36, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to the chest whilst Eugene Brown, 27, died five weeks later in hospital after having suffered a bullet wound to his head. In August 2010 one man from Stratford and two other men from Canning Town and Harlesden appeared at the Old Bailey for charges relating to murder, attempted murder and possession of firearms.

Seven people in total were later linked to the shoot out outside the nightclub, all men aged between 25 and 36. Michael Smith and another man were both charged with two counts of murder in September 2010 whilst Kevin Powell was charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The men each pleaded not guilty to their charges at the Old Bailey in November 2010.

By March 2011 detectives had a clearer idea of what had happened on May 29, 2010. A shootout had occurred between two groups of men after a birthday after party at the venue had gone sour. Brown and Ford were left for dead whilst their suspected killer Michael Smith was then chased through the street and shot repeatedly by one of the victims friends. Miraculously, Smith survived.

The party was to celebrate the 30th birthday of Nana Oppong, in what was described as a ‘lavish’ event with a number of fancy vehicles hired for the occasion, including a yellow Lamborghini. The violence erupted at the after party, which took place at the Sugar Lounge, at around 5am after guest Eugene Brown had pulled a gun from his waist band and fired four shots into the ceiling. It appeared that this caused a great offence to some people who were there and it broke up the party. People stopped dancing and began to leave.

It was alleged that Smith had decided to do something about Brown’s actions, CCTV footage showed Smith shortly after stuffing a handgun into the back of his trousers. The two men went outside where Patrick Ford, who was also armed, was talking to Eugene Brown and trying to disarm him. Michael Smith was then seen to come outside and pull his gun, taking aim he fires a bullet into the head of Eugene Brown. Ford tried to run from the scene however it is alleged that Smith also shot him, hitting Ford in the chest causing him to collapse.

When the shooting is over Smith is seen to just swagger and stroll away from the scene. Kevin Powell, who heard the shots fired, saw his friend Ford lying on the floor. The prosecution alleged that Powell then decided to take the law into his own hands and go after Michael Smith. Smith was first shot outside the Sugar Lounge but was then hit several more times as he was chased for at least quarter of a mile. Smith was rescued by Nana Oppong by being pulled into a car after Powell had blasted at him point blank range by a bus stop.

A number of people at the venue, including staff from the Sugar Lounge, were arrested for trying to pervert the course of justice. Police found evidence of stray shots allegedly fired by Powell, however, those bullet casings at the scene, including those fired into the ceiling of the Sugar Lounge, were removed by others in order to obstruct justice. The Sugar Lounge licensee also told police that the CCTV cameras in the club did not work, however they had captured the entire incident.

None of the four guns used were recovered by the police. After the events the luxury yellow Lamborghini was abandoned. A BMW X6 was used to drop Michael Smith off at Newham General hospital. Meanwhile another friend of Eugene Brown removed the gun tucked within their dead friends trousers and hid it in the back of a Range Rover.

Image right, shows a CCTV still of a man who removed the firearm from the Range Rover an hour after the shooting, taking it away from the scene. The footage was shown on CrimeWatch.

Image left shows Kevin Powell (above left) and Michael Smith (below left).

Michael Smith, who was caught on CCTV as he gunned down Eugene Brown and Patrick Ford, was convicted of both murders. He was jailed for at least 34 years. Kevin Powell, a friend and business partner of Mr Ford, was convicted of attempted murder, also receiving 34 years. The convictions were first made public on September 21, 2012, although had concurred earlier in the year when an order was made banning publication until the end of the second trial. A third man was sentenced alongside Smith and Powell, to two years, for perverting the course of justice.

Three women were accused of perverting the course of justice for having removed bullet casings and weapons from the scene, two of whom were found guilty and jailed for between six months and one year. Both those convicted were employees of the Sugar Lounge. 

Jayson Hassan (pictured left) and Lee Wallace, Britannia Row, Islington

On November 9 2010 Newham man Lee Wallace, 25, was gunned down alongside Jayson Hassan, 28, in Islington, north London. The two were found injured at Strang House in Britannia Row, off Essex Road, at 4:30am. Lee Wallace was pronounced dead at the scene and Jayson Hassan died at hospital the next day.

Daniel Wilson, of Bow, east London, and his uncle Wayne Wilson, of Preston, Lancashire, alongside another man from Stratford were accused of the shooting in February 2011. The three men later pleaded not guilty to the murder after appearing in court in June 2011. Hassan and Wallace were believed to have been shot dead in the ‘terrible end game’ of a feud amongst former school friends.

It is believed that the victims were picked off by two gunmen who had been waiting for them outside the block of flats. Jayson Hassan had fallen out with his long-term friend Daniel Wilson and had threatened to kill him just days before his own death. Hassan, who was said to have been a cocaine dealer, used Wilson as a runner to peddle drugs on the streets. Wilson had accrued a £3,000 debt with Hassan who also wanted two handguns returned to him which Wilson had been storing.

Daniel Wilson (pictured below left) was said to have recruited his Muslim-convert uncle Wayne Wilson, and a third man, to help him take revenge after receiving a string of threatening text messages. They went to return the guns, but not in the way Jayson Hassan, or indeed Lee Wallace, could ever have anticipated. They were attacked when they came out of the entrance of the flat, they both ran separate ways but it was to be to no avail because not one but two gunmen had been waiting to pick them off.

Daniel Wilson had worked for Hassan for some time and had taken possession of two guns from him which he buried in the back garden of a house in Lichfield Road, Bow. Wilson had previously been arrested at an address on Lichfield Road in 2009 when officers entered with a search warrant and found 40g of cocaine, 55g of skunk weed and three unfired .22-calibre cartridges. Wilson was subsequently charged but released on bail, remaining on bail throughout 2010.

Daniel Wilson was still on bail for those offences when he gunned down Hassan. The argument between the former friends had begun when Wilson ‘dropped off the radar’ for a few days and Hassan could not contact him. In a series of threatening text messages Hassan demanded his money and the return of his guns. Jayson Hassan threatened to stab Daniel Wilson, attack his grandmother’s house and his girlfriend. On one occasion Jayson Hassan held a knife to the throat of Daniel Wilson’s partner as he searched for him in Bow. A friend of Hassan and Wallace who heard 12 shots after seeing a gunman pull out a revolver opted only to give his name at court before refusing to say anything else. He had seen from the balcony of his home in Islington.

Lee Wallace, a talented musician, was shot because he was there; he was an unfortunate victim in this. On December 12, 2011, the Wilsons were convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years before parole. DCI Clayman added: "Both Danny Wilson and his uncle, Wayne Wilson, will now have a very long period in custody to reflect on their attack and use of firearms.

 Analysis of police presence and removal of public seating during the Olympic Games

In the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games Stratford was portrayed as an up and coming metropolitan area, but is that really the case? In this post I will be analysing the portrayal of Stratford presented to the public and local events that serve to damage this image. The Olympics brought the biggest military mobilisation within Britain since WW2, along with armed police and tens of thousands of private security guards. Was this intended to prevent terrorism, or to keep the local people under control during the event and prevent a repeat of the riots that occurred last year?

Just over a month before the start of the games a murder was committed in the Westfield shopping centre, directly next to the Olympic park (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18653961). This was a negative blow for the image of Stratford, especially since it was so close to the Olympic Games, in both distance and time, but to the local residents this kind of event is all too familiar. Newham, the borough Stratford is located in, is in the top three boroughs in London for knife crime, gun crime, and youth violence, and the statistics indicate that these are all steadily rising. This is far from the image presented to the world prior to the Olympics, and seems to indicate that Stratford was chosen because its geography allowed for the planned park to be constructed there, rather than it being one of London’s best locations.

From the statistics (gathered here: http://www.aston-mansfield.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/newham-key-statistics-summary.pdf) we can see that Newham, while in need of the promised regeneration from the Olympics, does not meet the standards that it was shown to display. The presence of armed police can be seen as a response to this, as the statistics present a picture of a large portion of the community being prone to armed and violent crime, as they were not just guarding the Olympic park, but were on frequent patrols throughout Westfield shopping centre and the Stratford area. Alongside this armed police presence was also what some may view as more of a symbolic act of fear or embarrassment of the community, the removal of most of the public seating in Stratford and the surrounding towns, Beckton and Plaistow for example. The removal of public benches shows a desire to keep the community hidden from those visiting the area for the Olympics, and an attempt to keep local people from being present on the streets that surround their homes.  The police were also granted increased stop and search powers during the games, mostly aimed at youths, and they even went as far as to impose a curfew on youths under the age of 18, giving the police power to disperse groups and escort them home after 9pm. 

These increased police powers and changes to the area seem to represent a fear of the working class youth in the borough of Newham, who are some of the most impoverished in London, and England as a whole. The increased police presence was a tool to prevent any kind of terrorist attack on the games, but one must ask why they were so excessive, and while preventing an attack and keeping a good international image of London is important, was it worth demonising and intimidating the community?

-Tommy