Reluctant Gangsters:
Youth Gangs in Waltham Forest
John Pitts
Vauxhall Professor of Socio-legal
Studies, University of Bedfordshire
Methodology
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Review of relevant central/local
government/police data and research
54 Interviews with key informants
YOT Caseload survey
Gang seriousness inventory
Literature/research review
Attendance at meetings
Mooching about and chatting
Why here? Why now?
 In the UK in the 1980-1990s
 Income polarisation (greatest in Europe)
 De-industrialisation (20+% of industrial base lost)
 The secession of the successful (via right to buy)
 The concentration of disadvantage
 The racialisation of disadvantage (London: up to
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70% pop. on poorest estate BME: JRF)
By 1997 25% of UK C&YP live in these
neighbourhoods: JRF)
The concentration of criminal victimisation in
areas of acute social deprivation
In these neighbourhoods crime is:
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Youthful: Young people are victims and
perpetrators
Implosive: Perpetrated by and against local
residents
Repetitive: The same people are victimised again
and again
Symmetrical: Victims and offenders are similar in
terms of age, ethnicity and class
Violent
Under-reported: Threat of reprisal
Embedded: YP don’t ‘grow out of crime’
Drug-driven: ‘street youth’ become ‘players’ in
local drugs markets
From a ‘blag’ to a business
 Traditional East End organised crime was based
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on a series of one-off ‘blags’ followed by long,
and sometimes luxurious, vacations.
By the late 1980s bank/post office robbery, lorry
hi-jacking etc. was becoming more hazardous
By the 1990s highly lucrative illicit drugs were
flooding into the capital and most upper-echelon
gangsters moved into the drugs business
But the drugs business requires constant
maintenance a large and expanding workforce to
manufacture, package, distributes and sell drugs,
protect the supply chain and ensures ‘contract
compliance’.
The Changing Face of London’s Gangland
1950/1970s
Organised Crime:
N. London - The Adams
Family
E. London - The Kray
Brothers
S. London - The
Richardsons
Organised Crime:
From the Blag: Bank & Post
Office robbery, Hijacking,
Protection, Long Firms etc.
To the Business: Drugs
Youth Movements:
Teddy Boys.
Mods
Rockers
Skinheads
Neighbourhoodbased/Style-based fighting:
1980s
Youth Movements:
Rude Boys/The Posse: Street
Crime
White Youth: Football Violence
Asian Youth: Anti-Racist fightBack/inter-group violence
Neighbourhood-based/ Teambased/Race-based fighting:
1990s
Organised Crime and Youth Movements Merge
‘Street corner’ youth become the street level workforce
of the international drugs business
Early 2000s
Early 2000s
Recognisable gangs with names, territories and division of
labour. (Faces, Elders, Youngers/ Soldiers/
Sabbos/Shotters) gang territories become synonymous
with drug markets
Mid-2000s
Respect shootings and violent street crime by Elders &
Youngers/Soldiers/Sabbos escalate: mainly directed
against identified rivals/competitors/enemies
2006/2007
Conflict broadens; affiliation with ‘Endz’ (post
codes/boroughs),
Violence escalates but now more random,
directed against unidentified rivals.
Meanwhile,
back on the Beaumont Estate
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Early 1990s: Beaumont Gang small group of
professional criminals
By the late 1990s: Beaumont Gang (with
Tottenham, Harlesden and Hackney) battle
for drug/crack cocaine markets in N. & E.
London and win
Beaumont does deals with the 4 Waltham
Forest crime families to divi-up local drugs
markets
As the market expands the workforce
expands and drug dealing territories
become gang territories:
The
Articulated
Gang
Upper Eschelon Drug Wholsalers
The
Face
Elders
Elders
Girl
Friend
Girl
Friend
Elders
Girl
Friend
Girl
Friendd
W.be
W.be
Younger
Younger
Younger
R
G
W.be
R
G
W.be
Younger
W.be
W.be
Younger
Younger
W.be
W.be
R
G
Younger
Shotter
R
G
Younger
Shotter
Younger
Shotter
Shotter
The role of the Youngers
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To ensure drugs get to the Shotters
To protect drug markets from other gangs
To ‘hang out’ to give early warning of
police raids
To patrol territorial boundaries and defend
gang territory from other gangs with a
‘beef’.
To enforce contracts for Faces or Elders
To collect debts for Faces or Elders
The role of the Youngers
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To take revenge/make ‘hits’ on those who
disrespect or cheat them or the Faces or
Elders
To harass and burgle rival dealers
To undertake street crime to ‘Make their
Ps’
To engage in ‘anti-social behaviour’/
intimidation of local residents
To carry drugs/weapons for Elders
To take the rap for elders (incl. ‘doing
time’)
Joined-up Youth Crime
Manuel Castells (2000) says that, with
globalisation, the street gang
becomes the shop floor
of the international
drugs business
Gang Definitions:
Hallsworth & Young
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Peer Group A small, unorganised, transient
grouping occupying the same space with a
common history. Crime is not integral to their self
definition
Gang: A relatively durable, predominantly streetbased group of young people who see themselves
(and are seen by others) as a discernible group for
whom crime and violence is integral to the group’s
identity
Organised Criminal Group: Members are
professionally involved in crime for personal gain
operating almost exclusively in the ‘grey’ or illegal
marketplace.
Gang Definitions:
Gangs/Groups in Waltham Forest
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The Articulated Gang
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The Street Gang
 The Compressed Street Gang
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The Wannabee Gangsters
 The Criminal Youth Group
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The Middle Level International Criminal Business
Organisation
Gang Affiliations
in Waltham
Forest
Hackney
Overground
Commuters
Hackney
E9 Bang
Bang
Atlee
Terrace,
Wood St.
Marlow.
Coppermill
Chingford
Hall
Cathall
Langthorne
Oliver Cl.
Harlesden
Crew
Hackney:
Love of Money
Crew,
Holly St. Boys &
Mothers Square
Tottenham
Man Dem
Crew
Drive
Canhall
Beaumont
Priory
Court
Piff
City
Stratford/
Forest Gate
Gangs
Highams
Park Gang
Key
Boundary/
Monserrat
Boys
Hackney
North Star
New
World
Order
Red
African
Devils
Antagonistic relationships
between gangs
Alliances Between Gangs
Out of Borough Gangs
Brookscroft/
Barrier Boys
Asian Auto Theft
to Order Gang @
Boundary
Russian
Gang
Lithuanian
Gang
Polish
Gang
The Gangs of Waltham Forest
The Met. Harm Assessment Scale
Crime Type
Score/Sentence
Possess/Use Drug
7
Supply Drug
25
Disorder (Affray)
3
Low Level Assault (ABH)
5
Serious Assault (GBH)
25
Kidnap
25
Murder/Manslaughter
25
Possession/Use Knife
4
Possession/Use Firearms
25
Vehicle Crime (TWOC)
5
Burglary/Theft (no violence)
14
Robbery/Street Crime
25
Fraud/incl. Money Laundering
14
The Gangs of Waltham Forest
The Met. Harm Assessment Scale
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Beaumont (30-40)
Piff City (100)
Priory Court (20-30)
Red African Devils (6-10)
Drive (30-40)
Boundary/Monserrat ( 20-30)
Canhall (30)
Barrier/Brookscroft (10-20)
Highams Park (5-10)
Hackney Overground Communters
New World Order (6-10)
28
Asian Auto Theft (10)
Russian/Lithuanian/Polish Gangs (20)
198 (max. score)
198 (max. score)
169
150 (est.)
145.25
120
100
41.5
35
35
25+ (est.)
Unknown
Reluctant Gangsters:
YOT Caseload Survey (N=59)
42% of caseload is gang involved
Core Member
Regular Member
Ambivalent Member
Reluctant Member
3
12
6
4
TOTAL
25
12%
48%
24%
16%
40% of them are Reluctant Gangsters
Reluctant Gangsters
 They have no previous record, are good school
attendees and have a good attitude. But they
are coming into the YOT for ‘joint enterprise’
because they were present at the scene.
 Some kids say they were made to do things by
Elders. Many of them don’t necessarily
approve of what they are doing. Most kids
would rather be doing something else. But
gang culture prevents participation. They are
frightened to be seen as a ‘pussy’ or to
become a target of violence.
Reluctant Gangsters
 There were a brother and a sister; he was 15
and she was 14. Never been in trouble. They
told them to do a robbery. But they said no.
So they beat him up and raped her.
 So he tells ‘em ‘fuck off’. Anyway, the next
thing he knows, someone’s shot-up his
mother’s flat. There’s lots of families round
here can’t use their front rooms because of
this sort of thing.”
Reluctant Gangsters
1. Affiliation because of the risks to oneself
2.
3.
4.
5.
and one’s family from non-affiliation
Affiliation for protection from other
gangs/crews
Affiliation to gain access to
educational/recreational resources in
gang territory
Affiliation because of lack of access to
legitimate opportunity
Continued affiliation because of dangers
inherent in leaving the gang
Reluctant Gangsters
Telling these families to take
responsibility for their kids
behaviour is like telling them to
take their kids into the jungle and
take responsibility for them not
getting eaten by lions and tigers.
The Impact of Gangs:
Neighbourhoods
For five or six years a group of 16 to 18
years olds was terrorising John Walsh and
Fredwig Towers. They would wait at the
bottom of the lift and take money, mobile
phones, clothes that they fancied, even a
dog, from the residents. A younger sister
also had these terrible parties in the foyer
but nobody complained. The Police had been
trying to prosecute for years but because of
witness intimidation, residents stayed quiet.
These kids came to believe they were
untouchable.
The Impact of Gangs:
Neighbourhoods
As far as they are concerned we
don’t exist, and even if we do, we
are just some kind of problem
that won’t go away. I sometimes
think the best thing we could do
would be to go out and vote and
demand that our politicians listen
to what’s happening to us.
The Impact of Gangs:
Schools and Colleges
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If they think I did that (told the police)
we (my family) will have to leave the
country) we have already moved once
because of threats from gangs.
One of my year 10 students was
recently gang-raped. I talked to her
and her mother. They are obviously
very frightened and the mother insists
that it was consensual. The girl won’t
come to counselling because she is
afraid of being seen to talk to anyone
in authority about it.
The Impact of Gangs:
Schools and Colleges
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In September 2006, students at XXX
College reported they were being told
not to use the college by members of
the CH gang.
FE colleges ‘belong’ to particular
gangs. GM is CH’s and B’s, WF College
is PC’s, B’s and B1’s
In WF College, in 2006, two members
of OC were stabbed by members of D.
The Impact of Gangs:
The Youth Service
Young people and workers are subject
to threats and intimidation if we work
with non-gang-involved young people
in certain areas. I think the danger is
that social strategies could be
paralysed by territorialism. This is
happening in schools and colleges and
if it continues we could see the gangs
effectively paralysing public services.
The Impact of Gangs:
The Criminal Justice System
We have to bus youngsters in to group
work programmes; otherwise it’s just
too dangerous
They scheduled a B trial and an OC
trial on the same day in the same
court. Luckily a couple of my officers
spotted the guys with the guns and
stopped them getting into court,
otherwise …
How many people are affected
by gangs?
Core 40
Soldiers 160
Wannabees 250
Reluctant gangsters 250
C&YP directly affected 700
C&YP indirectly affected 1,400
Family members affected 6000
Responding to Gangs (OJJDP)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Organizational change: Multi-agency
working/development
Community/professional Leadership
Community mobilization: Local citizens and
organizations are involved in a common
enterprise.
Suppression: Arrest and prosecution
Social intervention: Reaching YP
unconnected with social institutions.
Social opportunity: Age appropriate
opportunity via multi-agency teams
Responding to Gangs Operation
Ceasefire (Boston) I
1. Coordinated leverage on gangs
2.
through highly publicised multi-agency
crackdowns precipitated by certain
specified behaviours i.e. possession or use
of knives and firearms, harassment and
serious assaults.
Enhancing community relations to
get local support for targeted crackdowns
and stimulate community ‘collective
efficacy’ in informal social control and the
reduction of incivilities
Responding to Gangs Operation
Ceasefire II
3. Engagement with gang members
To elicit information, to transmit consistent
messages about targeted crackdowns and
provide diversionary social, educational,
recreational, training and vocational
services for members and those on the
fringes of the gangs.
A Seven Point Gang Strategy for
Waltham Forest
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Coordinated leverage
Enhancing community relations
Engaging with gang members
Mediation
Targeted Protection
Sensitisation of agencies (Sect. 17 C&DA)
School-based anti-gang-initiatives
5
A Four level Gang Intervention Model
The Intervention
The TargetGroup
Level 1.
PPO/Police/Trident/ISSP
This level of work is undertaken
by MMAGS and X-it
Targeted intervention with core
gang members: Elders/Youngers,
enforcement, intensive problemsolving, mediation and the
development of alternative
futures via education, training
and employment
Level 2.
YIP/ Extended School/FE
Colleges and Specialist
Voluntary Youth Serving
Agencies. This level of work is
undertaken by MMAGS, X-it
and the Anderlecht Initiative
Targeted intervention with
Youngers and those seriously ‘at
risk’ of serious gang involvement
like some overly enthusiastic
Wannabees. Intensive problemsolving and the development of
alternative futures via education,
training and employment
Level 3.
LA Outreach Team supported by
the Police. This level of work is
undertaken by the Anderlecht
Initiative
Targeted intervention with
moderately ‘at risk’ and gangaffected groups: lower level;
Wannabees and Reluctant
Gangsters: problem-oriented and
social-educational interventions
Level 4.
Housing Associations,
Schools/LA Outreach
Team/Voluntary Youth Serving
Agencies/NGOs/Sports Clubs,
supported by the Police. This
level of work is currently
undertaken by the LA Outreach
Team and Housing Assns.
Area-based (universal) socialeducational/ recreational youth
and community interventions
A Proposed
Structure of a
Comprehensive
Gang Strategy Elders
for Waltham
Younger
Wannabees
Forest
Reluctant
Gangsters
Safer
Neighbourhoods
Team
POLICE
Targeted
Protection
School
Operational Team
Elders
Younger
Wannabees
Reluctant
Gangsters
Elders
FOUR LEVEL INTERVENTION
Younger
Wannabees
Waltham Forest Multi-Agency Gang
Strategy Team Enforcement
Police, Probation, YOT
Intelligence and Information
Police
Social Intervention
Social Services, Youth Service, housing
Education, Training, Work
Education, FE, connexions
Mediation
Parents Against Violence, Mediators
Participation
Social Cohesion Worker
Project Coordinator
Waltham Forest Gang Forum
Young People
Parents/Adults
Senior Managers
Professionals
Reluctant
Gangsters
Safer
Neighbourhoods
Team
POLICE
intelligence-led
Policing
School
Operational Team