Faces of the Underworld 2

The high profile people that Chapman worked with and
more so the money they made certainly didn’t hinder his
friendship with villains such as the Krays. They yearned to
be associated with celebrities and so they spent a lot of
time in Chapman’s company. However, the Kray brothers’
friendship with Chapman was not reliant upon the people
he socialised and worked with, he was in fact one of the very
few people that they trusted. In fact Chapman is considered
reliable and trustworthy by all of the hierarchy within the
underworld. His closest friend is Freddie Foreman, Britain’s
most respected villain. In the 60`s Foreman is alleged to
have murdered Frank `Mad Axe Man` Mitchell and Tommy
`Ginger` Marks, the latter in revenge for the shooting of
his brother. Foreman also helped to dispose of Jack `the
Hat` McVitie’s body after he was murdered by the Krays.
In 1983 Foreman was convicted of involvement in the
Security Express robbery which at the time was the largest
cash robbery in the UK.

Patsy Manning was born in Birmingham on 7 May 1930. He moved
to London during the 1950`s where he became firm friends with
the Kray brothers. In the early 80`s Manning was convicted of
attempted murder after clubbing a nightclub doorman over the
head with a hammer. During his imprisonment he shared a cell
with Reggie Kray who attempted to cut his throat after suffering
a bout of paranoia. Manning recovered from his physical injuries
and Kray recovered from his illness which had been caused by
two decades of confinement. The men remained friends and
went on to write a book together titled Slang. When Manning
was released from prison he returned to Birmingham where he
would regularly visit the popular Elbow Room nightclub which
Albert Chapman had purchased in 1980.







On 9 May 1996 Charlie Kray travelled to Birmingham by train to attend Patsy Manning’s 66th birthday party. As was the norm
on his visits to the city, Charlie Kray’s Birmingham based friends met him at the Holiday Inn hotel. At 7:00 p.m. Don Tear arrived
and made his way to Charlie’s room. `You can have tonight off, Indian Joe (Joseph Sunner) has been kind enough to sort out a
chauffeur and car for us all tonight,` Charlie had said to Tear. There were eight men in Charlie’s group that night. They visited
the Circus nightclub and ended up drinking into the early hours at a friend’s bar. As dawn broke, Indian Joe’s chauffer, a Geordie
with a flat cap and an enquiring mind, began dropping members of Charlie’s entourage off at their homes. Don Tear was sitting
on Charlie’s knee in the front passenger seat as the vehicle was overloaded. At the Holiday Inn Tear had to get out of the car first
followed by Charlie. The two men embraced and Charlie was overheard mumbling something about delivering money to London.
Tear glared at Charlie and said, ‘I know that you have had a drink but please don’t talk about business involving me in front of
other people.’ Charlie laughed and staggered off in the direction of his hotel bed.

Unbeknown to Charlie Kray and Don Tear, Indian Joe’s chauffer friend was in fact an undercover policeman. It was well known
that the Krays were penniless following Ron and Reggie’s imprisonment. Charlie survived on hand outs from friends and those
desperate to be associated with the Kray name. Indian Joe had, for whatever reason, agreed to assist the police in imprisoning the
remaining free Kray brother. Knowing Charlie would say yes to almost anything, so long as free drinks flowed or a sum of money
was offered, Indian Joe had told the police that Charlie Kray supplied cocaine. Over the next three months the Geordie policeman
plied Kray with drinks, gifts and cash. He wormed his way into Kray’s fantasy filled life by begging him to reveal more about his
activities whilst pretending to be in awe. In the hope of having more free drinks and gifts bestowed upon him, Kray boasted
about his family’s gangland connections and the tonnes of cocaine and other drugs that he claimed to have at his disposal. On
Saturday 20 July the police arrested seventy-year-old Charlie Kray at his home. Don Tear was also arrested but later released
without charge. Charlie was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine, found guilty at trial and sentenced to a total of twenty
years imprisonment. Less than four years into that sentence, Charlie Kray collapsed in his cell at Parkhurst Prison and later died.

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The residents of north Birmingham are taught about the three R`s from a very early age. That is because ‘respect’, ‘revenue’ and
‘revenge’ are the three causes of a gang war that has been waged in the city for nearly two decades. The Burger Bar Boys from
Handsworth, Perry Barr and Ladywood and the Johnson Crew from Aston, Erdington and Lozells control the sale of crack cocaine,
cannabis and heroin in their neighbourhoods which are divided by Birchfield Road, known locally as the peace line. The origins of
these two gangs can be traced back to the early eighties, a time when inner city Birmingham was a tough place for a young black
man to grow up. Racial tension had erupted in vicious race riots in 1981 and again in 1985. Like their Merseyside counterparts,
West Midlands Police had been regularly accused of over-zealous and heavy-handed policing, particularly when it came to the
random stop and searching of black teenagers. There was also an ever-present threat from supporters of the far right. It was in
this climate that some of the city’s young men began to band together for self-protection. Meeting up in a fast-food restaurant in
the Lozells district, the men planned to carry out vigilante patrols to protect the community, fight their enemies and the perceived
injustices they believed that they were being subjected to.

As the Johnson Crew, as they became known grew in numbers, the threat from the far right began to recede. With unemployment
in Birmingham running at 20%, moving into crime and in particular the drug market became a way for the gang members to make
a living. By the late eighties, the Johnson Crew controlled most of the city’s drug supply and had expanded into nightclub security.
Disagreements over how their ill gotten gains were shared led to some members leaving to set up a rival firm.

Holding their meetings in a local cafe, the Burger Bar Boys, as they became known, were bitter rivals of the Johnson Crew from
day one. As crack cocaine swept through the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods, money poured into the coffers of both gangs.
The Johnson Crew was the more organised, having made loose affiliations with local Asian heroin gangs in Aston as well as with
the Jamaican-born Yardie gangsters who became increasingly marginalised as the two Birmingham factions took over the city.
Despite being numerically inferior the Burger Bar Boys took advantage of their small tight-knit exclusivity and were viewed as the
more violent. When a key member of the Burger Bar Boys was charged with the murder of a former Burger Bar Boys member, key
witnesses retracted statements at the last minute for fear of reprisals. One was jailed for five days after appearing in the witness
box but refusing to testify. The charge was subsequently dropped and the alleged killer walked free. In another case defendant
Micah Youngsam was cleared of attempted murder and firearms charges when a procession of witnesses refused to give evidence
against him. In a scene that could have come from the pages of a Mario Puzo novel, Youngsam’s alleged victim, Sharif Cousins,
stepped into the witness box and suddenly announced that he had `lost his memory`. Cousins, who had allegedly been shot at by
Youngsam, explained that he had been hit over the head with a gun a week earlier and was suffering from amnesia.

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By the end of the nineties, the turf war between the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys had cost dozens of lives. West
Midlands Police had the second-highest number of armed call-outs in the UK. Doctors at Birmingham’s City Hospital became so
skilled at treating gunshot wounds that when several doctors were called up for front-line medical duty during the Iraq war, they
found they already possessed all the battlefield skills that they needed.

On 6 December 2002, twenty-four year-old Yohanne Martin was shot dead by members of a Johnson-affiliated gang called the
Raiders as he sat in his Mercedes in West Bromwich High Street. Yohanne - whose street name was `13` - was a key member of
the Burger Bar Boys. Yohanne’s brother Nathan - whose street name was `23` - believed the Johnson Crew were behind the killing
and so began plotting his revenge. He soon found a willing recruit in Michael Gregory, whose sister Leona had been Yohanne’s
girlfriend. Martin also recruited Marcus Ellis who was known as `E-Man` and Michael Gregory known as Chunk because of his size.
Nathan Martin bought a pay-as-you-go mobile phone and used it to negotiate the purchase of a getaway car, a red Ford Mondeo.
On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve a man was hired to tint the vehicle’s windows, the idea being, it would prevent potential
witnesses from identifying the occupants. All the gang needed now was an opportunity, and it arrived in the early hours of 2
January 2003. Another member of the Burger Bar Boys gang, Rodrigo `Sonny` Simms, was at a party in Aston and noticed several
members of the Johnson Crew were in attendance. He immediately contacted his fellow gang members.

At 4:08 a.m. a red Mondeo containing three men pulled up outside a hair salon where the party was being held. Inside the
salon, the air had become stale from cigarette smoke and, although the merriment showed little sign of abating, four teenage
girls - all related to one another - decided to go outside for a breath of fresh air. As they slipped out of the rear exit they were
laughing and joking, high on the infectious optimism that comes with a New Year’s party. A semi-automatic sub-machine gun and
two 9mm pistols were held out of the Mondeo`s windows and fired at the revellers who were standing outside the venue. The
hail of bullets fired at revellers claimed the lives of eighteen-year-old Charlene Ellis and her seventeen-year-old cousin Letisha
Shakespeare. Charlene’s twin sister, Sophie, and her other cousin Cheryl Shaw were also hit, but survived. Charlene’s half brother
Marcus Ellis, Michael Gregory and Nathan Martin were all arrested convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with
a recommendation that they each serve at least thirty-five years. Rodrigo Simms, who played a lesser role in the attack, will not
be eligible for parole until he has served at least twenty-seven years. Since the senseless murders of Letisha Shakespeare and
Charlene Ellis gun crime in Birmingham has risen by 500%. Handguns and machine guns are now more than just weapons: they
are fashion accessories, used regularly and with chilling nonchalance. There used to be a saying about bullets having individual’s
names on, but these days in Birmingham, it’s a case of,` to whom it may concern.`

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The lengthy prison sentences did little to deter other young men from following in the footsteps of those that had been jailed.
In fact, the huge publicity the case generated attracted more recruits for both the Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys gangs.
This resulted in a heavy police presence in the areas where the gangs usually plied their trade. Determined to maintain their
criminal lifestyle both gangs attempted to take over the drugs trade in neighbouring towns and cities such as Coventry, Walsall
and Wolverhampton. The latter is an extremely violent city that has plenty of previous when it comes to gangs. Winston `Nelly`
Goldson learnt his trade as a member of the infamous `Subway Army`, a gang who started out as football hooligans but progressed
to controlling pubs, clubs and outdoor raves.
Goldson and his associates fought regular battles with members of the Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys gangs as they tried
to take control of Wolverhampton’s flourishing drug trade. However, the Birmingham based gangs were not the only villains
attempting to extend their turf. The Firetown Crew, the Uken Demolition Crew, the Raiders and the Cash or Slash Money Crew
all from the Midlands, took on Goldson and his associates but they too were either forced to retreat or were brought down by
the police. Marcus Bailey, a leading member of the Firetown Crew was jailed for life after shooting an unarmed policeman. Adam
Joof, a senior Raiders gang member was also jailed for life following the abduction and execution of a twenty-year old amateur
footballer named Kevin Nunes but he was released after ten years following an appeal.

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One gang who refused to walk away from any conflict came from Moss Side in Manchester. The key member was a man named
Marlon Jones. He had gained notoriety after being charged with the kidnap and torture of a Lancashire based businessman. At
his trial the prosecution claimed that `stem cutters were placed around the victim’s fingers and threats made to cut them off.
Jones then plugged in a blow torch. He put the heat on his victim’s chest, arms and stomach and told him it would be like being in
Reservoir Dogs if he didn’t comply with his every request. Jump leads were put on the man’s ears, chest and back before he was
given massive sustained electric shocks. A knife was then placed to the man’s right ear and threats were made that it would be
severed.` Marlon Jones was found not guilty. The businessman left the country the same day.

When Jones and his gang arrived at a nightclub in Wolverhampton one evening, they were confronted by Tony Wilson, Winston
`Convict` Little and several other associates of Winston `Nelly` Goldson. Jones pulled out a silver coloured pistol and shot dead
the doorman’s pit bull terrier which was supposed to act as a deterrent to any troublemakers. Jones and his posse then trampled
over the animal as the punters scattered. Bullets were pumped into the groin and thigh of a cloak room attendant. The barman
was kneecapped. A member of the gang then smashed a bottle and rammed it into the face of Tony Wilson. A main artery was
severed and it took fifty stitches to close up the wound. As the gang left the club Jones turned and fired a parting shot at Winston
`Convict` Little who instinctively ducked before the bullet whistled past his head. Jones pulled the trigger again but the weapon
failed to fire. After making good his escape Jones went on the run but was later apprehended and imprisoned.









The levels of violence used in turf wars resulted in all gangs developing a siege mentality. Innocent young men visiting areas other
than where they lived were beaten, stabbed or shot. In Birmingham the Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys began targeting Asian
shopkeepers who opened stores in the areas they controlled.

This led to Asian gangs being hired to protect businesses and they soon became embroiled in a spate of tit for tat stabbings
and shootings. In one incident Dutch Raja, a leading member of an Asian gang based in Aston, was stabbed nineteen times but
somehow survived. Two further attempts have been made on his life but he refuses to back down claiming that his community
needs him and others like him.

Black and Asian people were not the only ones being forced to live in fear. The city’s huge Irish community were not left unscathed
but the threat to them came from within. Big Joe Egan a former Irish heavyweight boxing champion and sparring partner of Iron
Mike Tyson ran a popular pub in Birmingham. Once described by Tyson as the toughest white man on the planet Egan was, in his
prime, a fighting machine. Despite his physical presence and fighting capabilities Egan is regarded by all those that know him as
the personification of good manners.
There are those of course who take such an admirable trait as a sign of weakness. Egan was approached by a gang operating in the
Irish quarter of Birmingham who demanded protection money, but unsurprisingly Egan refused to comply. Thirty-seven armed
men later descended on Egan’s pub and a huge fight ensued. Egan was shot in the face, one man had has his hip shot off, another
had his throat cut and another was hacked repeatedly with a machete. Egan was later tried for attempted murder but found not
guilty. He was however jailed for an unrelated offence of fraud.

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Problems between the Irish and the British date back as far as the 11th century when Ireland was invaded by the Normans and
came under British control. As part of that process, large numbers of English and Scottish people were encouraged to settle in
Ulster, a province in the north of Ireland. While most of the native Irish were Catholic, most of the settlers were Protestant. At
the start of the 20th century there was a sustained campaign by Catholics to sever all links with Britain. However in Ulster, there
was a campaign by the Protestants to maintain the link or union with Great Britain. On both sides of the divide, resistance groups
were formed who were prepared to use extreme violence in support of their cause. In 1920 the British Government attempted
to resolve the issue by dividing Ireland – granting independence to most of it but keeping the six counties of Ulster within the
United Kingdom. However, around 40% of Ulster’s population were Irish nationalists – and they maintained their desire to have
independence from Britain. Therefore, from its creation in 1920, Ulster or Northern Ireland as it more commonly became known
was a State whose citizens differed over their national allegiance.

Consequently, for several decades, the leaders of the Protestant, unionist majority, discriminated against the Catholic, nationalist
minority. The laws and institutions of the State reflected this discrimination. By the 1960’s, frustrations within the Catholic,
nationalist community resulted in a campaign for civil rights. The State responded with brutal force. Within the Catholic
community, there were people who began a fresh campaign of violence to end British rule and end the partition of Ireland. These
Republicans formed terrorist groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). Within
the Protestant community, there were people equally determined to secure their identity. These Loyalists, as they became
known, armed themselves and formed terrorist groups such as the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer
Force (UVF). While the majority of Catholics (nationalists) and Protestants (unionists) did not support the use of violence, the
terrorist campaign fought by both Republicans and Loyalists and the State’s campaign of counter-terrorism by the use of the
British Army and the police, meant that the Northern Ireland conflict became defined by widespread violence. Throughout `The
Troubles` both sides painted large murals on buildings, particularly in residential areas on houses at the end of terraced rows.
Many of these murals glorified paramilitary groups or commemorated significant events. The murals of Belfast acted as beacons
to people, declaring allegiances from one area to the next and creating a sense of belonging and identity for residents.

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James `Jaimba` McLean is a notorious Scottish villain who became involved in IRA activities at the age of sixteen after witnessing
police brutality on a visit to Ulster. McLean recalls, “I first went over to Belfast with a Republican flute band during the hunger
strikes and witnessed the police pulling women and children out of their beds in the early hours of the morning and making them
stand in the street. I saw cruelty and injustice; I sympathised with the Republicans and was later introduced to an IRA commander.
I went to Ireland a lot over the next few years for months at a time and was involved in a lot of beatings and punishments. They
used to torture informers and I was soon promoted to carry that out as I could be quite persuasive.” McLean’s reputation as a
brutal enforcer was confirmed when, at the age of twenty, he seriously maimed a suspected IRA informer in a bid to make him
confess. “I took him down the Falls Road into an old garage and told him he was putting my comrades’ lives at risk. I told him if
he didn’t tell me who he was working for I would take out both his eyes, cut off both his ears, cut off all his fingers so he couldn’t
sign a statement and cut out his tongue. He didn’t reply and so I asked if he thought I was kidding - then flicked one of his eyes out
with my knife. After that he told us who he was working for. They took him away and he wasn’t seen again.” In another incident
McLean used a rope to suspend a suspected informant over three pit-bull terriers while he slit his throat. McLean claims that he
let the snarling pit-bulls lick the blood from the wound and told the terrified man, “If you don’t tell me who your handler is, I’ll cut
your fucking head off and let the dogs devour you.” It was reported that the man broke down, confessed to assisting the British
forces and was executed the following morning.

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