AMERICAN REACTS TO MANCHESTERS VIOLENT GANG EMPIRE!

TL, what's popping? We are on Twitch. We are not live, but you can leave a like, comment, subscribe, turn on your post notification bells. Let's continue to grow the family from Chicago to the UK. Right behind me, you see it. A little warning screen. You know, it is what it is. You see the title. Got to use it. Um, twitch.com is where you can catch a live stream and YouTube. The usernames at the bottom of the screen. We also got Patreon Monday through Sunday. Premier League highlights, UK TV shows and movies. Obviously, there's a bunch of UK movies and TV shows that we cannot watch on this current platform. Anything that you can think of, think of something. I'll give you a second. It's on there. Go check it out. Period. [snorts] Uh twitch.com, man. Live stream. I don't know where I left off on the intro. This is uh inside Manchester's violent ging empire armed in the wars. All right, talk to me. >> Copyright disclaimer under section 107 of the copyright act 1976. Allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Nonprofit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. All rights belong to their respective owners. >> Side note, y'all, my eyes are really, really bothering me right now. Um, they've been bad for the last two days. That's why I haven't posted. Um, um, I don't know. I got a sty it looks like right here. And then this eyelid is swollen. Um, I'm going to go to the doctor, see what's going on with it tomorrow. But I'm probably going to have to start wearing like like shades when I watch cuz these lights are super bright. Like there's a light here, light here, and then there's two screens and then I'm really outside all day like in the sun, blazing sun. So it's like, man, you know, I mean, but it is what it is, man. We, you know, every day, every day we hustle. >> In every city in the UK, there's an underbelly of violence and disorder. >> There's a breed now that will shoot you, go home and play Xbox >> as Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. That's called a Y. I think those came out in about 2000. They've always been around. They've always been around, but they just got a name to them now. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. >> Nightfalls. Organized crime [music] groups wage war to control the drugs trade, protect their turf, and carry out revenge. >> They put me name in a search engine, and I come up as Britain's most wanted criminal. >> Liverpool. >> What is it like being part of [music] this criminal world? In this series, some of the UK's most notorious, [music] dangerous, and violent. >> We ain't seen this. This the intro, cuz let's just >> They speak. >> Let's just get to it. >> Let's skip the intros. >> This is the last footage of 18-year-old Abdul Wahab Hafida. He's being chased through rush hour traffic in the city of Manchester by a gang of men who want him dead. Minutes later, he's run over, stabbed, [music] and attacked with a hammer. Aida would become the 50th [music] person killed in a bloody gang war. >> Oh no. Aida's clearly in a he's in it. As you can see, the hand signals. I don't know nothing about this young man, but I know everything about the hand signals. And most gang members, I'm going to tell you, at least in Chicago, I don't even know no more in Chicago, man. You might get mistaken identities. But when I was coming up, they didn't bother you unless they knew you was a known gang member from the other side. If you innocent and you a civilian, they might ask, "Hey, who are you? I'm nothing. I ain't about that life." And they probably leave you alone like seven out of 10 times. But gang members target other gang members 100%. Nobody's ever innocent. It It's rare. It's not rare, but back in these day, like back in the day, like before I say back early 2010s, like it was really slim to none chance that you was an innocent victim. Like it wasn't. Nah. that shows no sign of stopping. They'll kill you on the streets. They'll kill you in prison. Violence is everywhere. We were trying to kill people. We were real gangsters. We were real shooters. >> I think the public perception is this is always to do with with drugs and narcotics. But the the reality is very different. >> No. >> In this episode, the spotlight turns to Manchester, a city where turf wars and shootings have dominated the news for more than two decades. I'm pretty sure it was the same thing out there, man. As soon as social media soon as social media hit and you could say exactly what was on your mind at that time, like it made it even worse. Especially you could like put somebody in a song like it was it was >> put the radio on every other day and there's news of a shooting. [music] >> The shootings were you hurt me or my friends who I love, I'mma come back to your estate to shoot some of your [music] friends. These lads are dying for no reason whatsoever. >> There's certainly a lot of murders that have hit the headlines. Some are solved and [music] some remain unsolved. >> You can keep it a buck, man. Most people become ops and most people get into real beef over females. It's no different than back in medieval times. Oh, I want this girl. Oh, no. You n everybody beefs over females and that's normally the most gang wars are started from a female and then it went left. It went too far. Somebody was unal alived and then there's no coming back after that. A good percentage of them. Not most, but a good percentage. [music] Just a little close to me if you can in this market. >> Matthew. Were you a Were you a gangster? >> Matthew Norford was one of the most feared men on the streets of Manchester. [music] Together with his brother Gary, they ran the rush home part of the city. >> Shout out Manchester, too, man. Manchester still is like that. I was there. Go check out the Manchester um playlist. It's over there in that corner over there on the top. >> Close to it. Notorious [music] Moss side. >> Moside, too. I was in Mosai walking with Jerry, the cameraman. And I purposely went over to a crowd of people and they was like, "Yo, yo, yo, y'all see it if y'all go look at it." >> So, you've got two brothers who had what, nine gang members. Shout out. All you other gangs have got like 40, 50 members. So, my brother taught me it's all about quality over quantity. Take it 10 steps further. Meaning, if someone points a gun at you, go and shoot that person or their gang members. Someone comes to mom's house, we're going to go to their mom's house, kick the door off, and put a gun in someone's mom's face. That's what you have to do if you are surviving at life and not be taken as a mug. >> Every day that Norford was in his gang life, he'd be armed and ready to protect his territory. Typical morning, we'd get up, say 9:00, go and my phones rang, go and serve a couple of drug [music] addicts. come back, brush my teeth, roll a spliff, put my black jogging suit on, my bulletproof vest, my gun on my waist, call to my brother and two of our gang members, and we would lit. >> He look a little bit older. What? What? What? It's probably like ' 90s. I would love to been in the UK in the '9s, man. Because I feel like it was so similar that at that point it had to be like identical to America. Like especially in like gang culture, like it was just identical. Like that's when like like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Get on two sides of the road, ride [music] our mountain bikes no-handed in broad daylight with our guns like that. So we're riding no-handed just like that, looking down the streets, making sure no enemies are in our area. [music] >> We see yo, we just start squeezing cuz we've already got it. You really I was we were really living that life. [music] >> That's why they call it Gunchester. in August 2005. >> This is where I was. This is um the Heineken. This is the Heineken factory, right? I was here on on I was here. I'm too excited. My bad. >> Nor set off with two gang friends on one of his many missions into enemies. >> I want this with the aim of committing murder. So there's me and two of my younger gang members are only like 16, gone to my side. I've parked my bike in an alley and I've run out and I've seen a group of these kids and they're only like 16, 17. They were their brothers were gang members, but I didn't want these kids. I'm not about to kill a kid, a 16 year old kid. At this point I'm like 24. I want the people my age or older. Like I don't want to go home and think I'm a I'm a I'm a killer or a gangster and I've shot a 16-y old kid dead. I can't I can't live with that. So, >> I'm Oh, listen. I salute that. I salute that energy. That's great energy. That's that's really great and valiant energy. I'm pretty sure the gang members of today's time do not think like that because I know for sure I know for sure in Chicago I can only give you examples in Chicago where I'm from there was 12 year olds snatching souls positively. I there's there's ain't no way. You throw up this, you throw up that, you talking rah rah. I have no choice but to believe you in Chicago. Okay. I I believe you. Every word you ever said to me, no matter what age you are, I believe you. I've spun round and pointed my gun. Dave ran off. So, I've said I don't think I'm a I'm a I'm a killer or a gangster and I've shot a 16-y old kid dead. I can't I can't live with that. So I've spun around and pointed my gun. They've all ran off. So I've said, "Let's go back to Russong." These two have decided to go further into my side. So as I'm riding my bike, they've gone across [music] a road. I'm crossing. >> See that? >> I could have said pat someone's shooting at me. And I can just hear the bullets like as I put my hand on my gun, something said look to your left. I've looked to my left and in the middle of the road there was a person with a M 10 machine gun just pointing at me and I'm riding like that and I've got my bulletproof vest on but your vest comes up so I'm thinking not my not my stomach no not me organs. >> We used to have this um this dude he used to come to the barber shop. I ain't going to mention his name. I don't think he would care but he was older than us. He was a old school. He was old school. So, we was in our 20s. He was in his 30s. This off How Howard Street in Chicago. Y'all can look this up. Off Howard and Clark. It's a barber shop down there. Clark is a little up, but whatever. It's a barber shop down there. Um, he used to come to the barber shop with a backpack. In that backpack, he had a Mac 10 every day with his and then he had the sho string. So the sho string came out the backpack. [snorts] So it was the sho string was wrapped around him and then the backpack was on him. So all he ever had to do was unzip the backpack and [clears throat] you know what I'm saying? So he got into a fight one day at the barber shop and he had hands too. Don't know I don't know what this misconception is about people in Chicago that they don't fight or something but they do. Especially in Chicago they can fight. a lot of people can fight. Um, that's why people started picking them things up like I can't whoop you. So, I gotta, you know, but he got into a fight and boy them barber shop them barbers had to beg him not to pull that thing out. Hey, hey, calm down. You won. He won. But he still wanted to get active. I was like, man, this crazy. >> I don't like I'm a spiritual person. >> He was like 40. In that moment, I said, "God, if this guy's going to shoot me, let him shoot me in my lower body." He's lowered it from my chest to my legs. I've just sprayed off 30. That's not a Mac. >> Obviously, I'm like, "Ah, you know, I know I've been shot in my legs, but I don't know where else." And I really wanted to cry cuz the pain of getting shot that burning bullet. I'm blacking out. I thought I'm I'm I'm going to die. Hey, >> I just remember waking up in St. Mary's Hospital um accident [music] and emergency handcuffed to the bed with about 20 police around me. And the doctor told me I've been shot in my leg and I'm like well my whole body feels like it's on fire and he's turned around [music] and gone it's gone in your left leg and gone out. >> That's a good news. I'm sorry, Matthew. [snorts] It's gone through your [music] penis. >> They shot you. [laughter] That ain't funny at all. They shot your meat. It had to be a mustard tip. Pause. Like the the the bullet when [snorts] it So, in Chicago, we call it a mustard tip when it's just a a regular yellow bullet. Not a um not nothing that expands. It just goes straight through everything. Not nothing that breaks up and No, it just goes straight through everything. Yeah. This is a yellow tip. It's a yellow. It's mustard. It went in my left leg, through the bottom of my penis, through that part, through my right testicle, shattered that one, and went in my right leg. And it it's around here somewhere, but it moves around my right leg. Dang. So, you can't have no kids, guys. Get this off the screen. Thank you. At that point, I would have stopped spent four days in hospital recover. >> I would have got out some streets after that. >> From his injuries. >> The streets took my manhood. I'm I'm done. >> But while his body was healing, his mind was already thinking about revenge. I was back on the street [music] what in 5 days and I had a gun in my wheelchair and even when I was on my crutches I had a gun cuz it doesn't stop because I'm shot. They still came back through my area. So and I can't run nowhere. I'm not trying to hobble off and I remember they did come. I just pulled my gun out and dropped my crutches. Dropped my crutches and pulled my gun out. Was like standing like that. They drove on in a car. But my life's at stake. I've already been shot and I know how it feels. So [music] I was taking it deadly serious that before I got shot again. I I was killing whoever was coming for me. >> Yeah. In Manchester, [music] organized criminals have held a grip. >> And that's how it feels. Like I have never been shot, but I've I know people that got shot or in my in some of the neighborhoods I've lived in and it's like I ain't trying to go through that. So at any cost, I will avoid that. like >> over the city for decades. One man who's been part of >> back in those days >> is Cody Lache. >> Big Cody [music] and Mark. >> I was living in uh Rodale um and I became involved with a [music] with a group of drug dealers that was moving large amounts on a national scale of heroin and crack cocaine. [music] I was driving around in Porsche Cayens's, Subaru Impresses. I mean, Mitsubishi Evolutions, BMWs, M3s, convertibles. The first aim and the end goal [music] in that world is money. But there was that much money coming in. I was sick to the back of teeth of seeing it. Did I like revel in it in the criminality and the power and the absolutely going out to clubs, drinking crystal champagne, and living that sort of life and stuff? It was cool. How Lay and his gang paid for their lifestyle was simple. [music] They sold drugs to anyone that wanted to buy. I can't. >> And you got to remember y'all, like I want to let like people know like there's multiple fat there's multiple levels to being in the streets. You could be a full-blown gang member. You could be a crash out. You could just be a hustler. You could be somebody that just live in the hood and and got friends that are involved in a bunch of stuff. Like it could be multiple facets. You don't got to be the most violent person to be from anywhere to be involved in the streets. You could be involved in the streets by association. Like you like, you know what I'm saying? Like a lot of y'all be in the comments like, "Oh, you're not this. You're not that." But I'm like, it You don't one you don't know me. I don't know you at the same time. But it's just like you know what I've been through is what I've been through. What I've seen is what I've seen my everyday life when I was in Chicago was my everyday life. It's it is what it is. >> You love heroin [music] is is like a house brick. If you cut it with a cutting agent, you go from one house bricks to two. [music] You just doubled your profit straight away. Just doubled it straight out. That's how easy it is to make money within the drugs world. Looking back, I wish I wasn't involved in that world. But the truth is, it made me a hell of a lot of money. And I wouldn't have had that money if I wasn't involved in the drugs gang that I was involved with at that time. [music] >> But dabbling in major drug dealing put Lache and his gang in danger. other firms who wanted a slice of those profits began to cause trouble. >> There was a time where a rival gang uh in Rodale on Kingsway attacked one of our lads. >> I've never seen this and I don't know if this is going to be able to go up on YouTube, but it'll be on Patreon for sure. >> Uh and him up pretty bad. like massively took hammers to him, golf clubs, baseball bats, um just because we we'd taken over their territory sort of thing and they they jumped out and he attacked him and uh they left him fighting for his life. He was in a bad way, man. He broke his jaw, they broke his eye socket, they stabbed him, he had a punched lung. Damn. God, his eye socket. >> He had a bleed on the brain. Um, he nearly died, man. And all because of a a drugs war. >> He said that lightly. All because of a drugs war. But at the end of the day, that is that's everything. Whoever controls that market controls the neighborhood. Like that's that's reality. >> When you're part of these drugs [music] gangs or you're part of a gang, death is an occupational hazard. It comes with a territory. It's like you can't be a diver in the Olympics and not get wet. You can't let one of your boys be in that regard. So obviously your first angle is revenge. You want to do worse to them than what happened to your boy. And you want to make sure that if he if they attempt to murder your boy, you want to make sure that their boy's dead. If you're involved in that world and you just and one of your boys takes a beat and you don't do nothing about it, then your gang's going to lose your street reputation like at the drop of a hat. >> For some of y'all, they would that would be called wet. They would know y'all wet. I was recording this whole time. I'm going to have to edit the video. It's like someone attacking my mother. You know what I mean? I I take it personally. [music] It angered me a great deal. And I um Yeah. Let's just let's just say that um payback was paid and then some. You had to do what you got to do, man. [music] >> While >> Yeah, the streets is cold, man. Because you could go on the streets just trying to make some money, but the streets is always going to be the streets. You're going to never out you're gonna never be able to out outsmart the negativity that comes with it. like you're not you could try to be nice to people, you could try to include people, but somebody's gonna always want the top spot. That's just the nature of it all, bro. >> Benj attacks are common place amongst the drug gangs. They were once a daily occurrence across the city in the area of Moside. >> Detective Rod Carter dedicated [music] his career to combating violence between two main gangs. criminologist said Manchester had adopted the LA the Los Angeles gang uh model whereby you had two prime gangs and all the offshoots all the different factions would be affiliated to one side or the other. >> In LA throughout [music] the 80s it was two gangs called the Bloods and the Crips that ruled [music] the streets. They had their own uniforms, their own territories and everyone knew to avoid their wrath. >> Yeah. And they were very organized too. And by [music] the mid 1990s, that same culture had arrived in England and onto the streets of Manchester. [music] The two main gangs here came from the Alexandra Park estate [music] in Moside and they formed on either side of the main road. >> Okay, so this is Okay, so I was on this side. I didn't even explore this side. See, this is the thing. This is why I need to go live so y'all could tell me like, "Oh, turn here, turn there." You know what I'm saying? I I got dropped off at the park. There's a big arch and it says Alexandria Park. I got dropped off right there and we went up the straight We went I don't know if it's south. I don't know. We went straight up uh away from the Heineken um brewery. We went straight up and then we turned we came around. We went to the walk to the end of the park and came around and that's where the video starts that I totally was telling you about. [music] >> One side of the estate became known as the Gucci the other side became known as the Dodington. >> We was on the side very close area to each [music] other. It was all about who was the Mr. Big [music] and who had enough runners to cover that territory and then to keep other people [music] out. Guns were synonymous with drug dealing and uh these gang [music] masters. >> But rivalries and shootings didn't start off because of drugs. In fact, the biggest war in Manchester's underworld between the Gu and Dodington crew started over something more trivial. >> What is it going to be? [music] >> The two groups coexisted for probably about 18 months really with no real issues. Of course. >> Tell me what was the trivial thing. >> He was one of the um the main men in the Donington. Went on holiday to New York. >> Yeah. >> And bought himself a leather jacket. >> He left this at his girlfriend's house who lived on the other side of the estate. One of these young Guards had seen the jacket and thought, I'm going to I'm going to wear that and walk [music] around the the streets in it. But what was at the center of that conflict? A girl. So a Dodington member left his leather jacket at his OPG girl crib and a Gucc member seen it. How this gu member seen it? How? and she let him take the jacket. Told you it always start with a female, man, when it come to with this type of stuff. >> This was seen as horrendously disrespectful. Uh and 2 days later in March 1991, there was a drive by shooting. >> Oh, this '9s '8s '90s >> over a jacket is crazy. >> If you were to ask members later into the 2000s what caused it all, they wouldn't have an idea. They wouldn't have a clue. >> [music] >> Nah, beefing over. Y'all started this over a jacket. But I still think the underlining factor was how did bro even get my jacket? You know what I'm saying? Who How was he in your crib? You feel me? Like >> a feud that started with a leather jacket [music] has continued. And Ro, >> you can say it was a leather jacket all you want. I'm going to say it was a girl and a leather jacket. >> Now claims up to 50 murders are the result. [music] >> So I was to drive along this normal street, normal width. To the left hand side is what would be classed as a territory of the Donington. On the right hand side [music] would be classed as a territory of the Gu. The distance between them is ridiculously. It is the width of this one road. >> Not surprising. At the time, Manchester was known as Gunchester and Gulo was probably one of the the most famous closes in the country. And the amount of negative press that the city got was unbelievable. At the end of this road here at this junction, a man by the name of Orville Bell was shot through the throat. >> Orville Bell was Jamaican. Had to be. That's a Jamaican name. Orville. my one of my best friends. His name Orville. >> There's a shop on the left on that side there where uh Benji Stanley, a 15year-old was shot through the window. The shop here used to be a nightclub. Um [music] Kevin Lewis, a member of the Doington, came out there and walked around to his vehicle on this corner here where Gumen were waiting and he was shot point blank range in the head. The shootings were you hurt me or [music] my friends who I love, I'mma come back to your estate and shoot some of your friends. That's what the war was over. >> So basically in Chicago, man, if you go to a club, you got to So if you go to a club and you like a member or you or you you know or you got beef in the streets, you got to you really can't take no Uber. You don't want to be in an Uber cuz they follow your Ubers. That's that's one. Um, you got to drive. But if you drive, you got to go, you got to get a park right in front of the right in front of the spot. Now, that normally goes against everything that you ever preach because you don't want to park in front of the spot just in case it go down. You want to be able to get a get to your car without being seen in a getaway vehicle. I get it. But if you really got ops, you shouldn't even be at the club. But you would want to be like I you don't want your ops to think you being forced to stay inside at the end of the day by them. You don't want that. But walking to your car is insane. Nah. No. I'm gonna go ahead pay for valet. It don't matter what's in my car. valet. Don't worry about this. >> There was a lot of tit for tat and [music] gangland shootings, one gang against another. So, they would go out and use a [music] gun against a rival gang member. They'd be taken to hospital by the gang [music] and dumped outside the hospital. And then the night after that gang would go out onto the other person's territory, the other [music] gang's territory and a similar act would happen and a similar wounding. [music] >> So basically what she's saying is initially, [laughter] let me break it down. Initially I run into the ops, we get into it, we come up on top one zero. It ain't even got to be to be one zero. We we we we we accomplished we we came back unscathed. You had to go drop somebody off at the hospital allegedly in GTA. Um but at the end of the day, we can't go out like that. We got to spin about this. We got to spin. We got to get the get back. We have to. It's a must allegedly in GTA. Um, and it's a never- ending cycle. It's vicious, too. >> And the tit fortat shootings like, "You keep to your area and [music] I'll keep to mine. You keep to your drug customers and I'll keep to mine." >> That's cat, though. That ain't going to happen. >> These tit fortat shootings weren't just between the Gu and the Dodington. Other gangs existed, [music] too. But they all chose a side and affiliated themselves to one or the other. Matthew Norford's gang in Rush Holm sided with the Gu and quickly introduced Norford to the underworld. >> First time I seen a firearm, it was a 22 Dillinger and it was me older brothers and it was a snap and cap. That means you snap it and just you put two bullets in it and close it back. >> Um, and I remember thinking I was John Wayne cuz he had two of him. So I remember just in my room like that in a mirror with the guns and I remember thinking, "Oh, I'm a guy." >> That's crazy. The first one I ever seen was a 22 also. store. I shoot anybody. A >> revolver. The >> first time that you did end up pulling the trigger, do you remember that? >> Yeah. I think it was 15. Um, some guy was walking through my estate, the back of my estate, and I just happened to be going to sell some drugs and I've seen him and I just, who who's that? And he's looked up and he's turned and run. I didn't even see his face. I said, "Who's that?" And he's turned and ran. Well, you must be an enemy. So, I've just pulled out was a 38 revolver and just shot all six bullets. I didn't catch him. I was 15. I didn't know how to shoot. I just pulled out, aimed, and just started shooting. >> They have no experience with firearms. They have no training [music] with firearms. I've known many gang members shoot themselves. I've known innocent houses have bullets put through them. The wrong houses have bullets put through them. >> I remember the rush coming through. Like, wow. It's kind of like you're the master. You could end his life. The adrenaline's pumping [music] with that loud bang and you're going back to your boys and you're telling them, "Yeah, I just shot after some some prick and he ran off scared and they're all you're all laughing and it's like [music] the more you do it, the more you don't have a conscience or you learn to justify you." >> That's a fact. That's a fact. But like I bet looking back in hindsight, you're just like, I was an idiot. [laughter] Like you got to look back like that was dumb of me. Like I thought I was the coolest. That was stupid. your actions like, [music] "Well, he's a prick. He would have shot me if I didn't shoot him. >> He ran." [music] >> I once spoke to an individual who had been shot. It was a drive by shooting and a M 10 machine pistol was pointing out of the window and the trigger was pulled and hit this particular lad was speaking to in the bottom. So I spoke to this individual and said, "Why will you not give a statement? This this man's trying to kill you." And his reply was, "I don't want no man to go to prison. I'm just a pure soldier. If I die, I die." [music] >> The code of not snitching. And why would I want that person to go to jail? I'd rather go and hurt that person myself cuz you shot me. So I want [music] to get you back or one of your gang members. >> That is that makes sense in the street code to to law-abiding citizens. That is stupid. I just go, "Yeah, yeah." To law-abiding citizens, that is dumb. But no, no, no. I don't want no free man. I don't want nobody that that attempted to hurt anybody like me and my make people locked up. Free them till it's backwards. Then white tumm That is literally the code out there. I swear. the ridiculous pathetic mindset that some of these people have. [music] >> While gang members accept that death is a part of gang life, >> a cold world, >> sometimes innocent people can get caught in the middle. >> Stay out the streets, yo. >> As we continue up the road here, behind that basketball court, the yellow structure on the right hand side, [music] 15year-old school boy by the name of Jesse James was shot several times um and died in the park. >> [music] [music] >> Jesse James um was a 15-year-old school boy um living in Mosside with his family [music] and he was out um with his friends uh on bicycles around the area. So they were going cycling [music] through the park looking for somewhere else to hang out. >> The offenders were [music] seen to >> come out of this junction here on CCTV and go into the park um through the gate there. They were actually in the park for around half an hour before Jesse rode in and they were lying in wait for uh anybody to [music] come through really. And at the end of the alleyway there, there's a blue there's a little blue wall that has now been decorated as a as a tribute to Jesse. That's where the offenders were behind. It was about 1:00 in the morning when [music] shots were fired and the Jesse's friends all went in that direction and Jesse veered off and unfortunately Jesse [music] fled on his bike into the path of the gunman >> or gunmen. [music] He was shot several times and [music] he was killed. It's a terrible tragic case. Was he [music] just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Was it mistaken identity [music] for someone else? Was it just a case of that anybody was fur game? [music] Who knows? >> Jesse's killer has never been found and the case remains open. >> [music] >> In Manchester, there's currently more than 60 gangs, all with their own hierarchy, their own area, and their own ways of making money. Matthew Norford was part of one such gang in the Rushmol part of the city. But like every underworld figure, [music] his journey to crime began when he was a kid. The situation for me was I love my brother. I didn't have a dad as a role model, so I chose to follow Gary. That's the only person who would ever give me advice. Might have been the wrong advice, but that's the thing, man. That's why a dad is very, very important cuz when there's a single mom, she can only do so much. A single mom, don't get me wrong, shout out to all the single moms out there, but their plate is full. They're take they they got boys. They trying to raise men. They trying to pay the bills. They trying to keep the lights on. They trying to keep food on the table. They're going to miss a lot. That's why it's very important to have a dad, man. Because you got to really pay attention to who your kids is listening to. Who's in your kids' ears on a day-to-day basis because normally whoever is in their ear is whoever they going to take after. You know what I'm saying? So >> that was my role model. Gary was extremely active. Intelligence had suggested his involvement in various kinds of criminality, including murder. I suppose he was the man really within that group. [music] I've seen my brother sell drugs. Um, and he said to me one day, "Bro, you got to give this to SS and such." I ran around the corner, gave it him. He gave me some [music] money. I gave it my older brother. He gave me £20. I felt on top of the moon with 20 at the age of 12. >> Matthew [music] was um late teens when I first met him. >> Did you know he was on a path to to trouble? >> I wouldn't have known her if he hadn't been. >> He was groomed by other members of his family to become involved in it. And he'll openly admit that. I didn't know what >> even family family members ain't nothing either. You know what I'm saying? And of course somebody you know I trust them. He's family. Family ain't always got your best interest at mine, man. Family will that's the that's the that's one of the hugest parts of gang culture. Oh, my family did it. So my family this my family. All right. >> What's happening? You think that you're at 12 you're somebody big when you can go and give your mom £10 and say, "Oh, you ain't got to give me bus fair to go [music] school cuz I've got it." That makes you feel like a man. You know, you're a little kid ripping about on your bike selling drugs. So, all the gangsters know who you are. The drug dealers know where you are. They gave me the nickname skelly. Well, I was somebody to to the people I looked up to. You seeing all these gangsters with the jewelry, [music] you know, you get sitting in the cars of these fast cars. Wow, they're real gangsters and I'm a part of it. Oh, I'm chilling with them. It's fascinating. >> As Norford got older, his crimes got more violent. And one prefer >> another thing in Chicago that we don't do is um we'll do it, but we'll be on a on you know, you got to be on your P's and Q's. You got to be very vigilant. We don't sit in a car. Like we don't sit in the car for what? [laughter] Like like like you know how you sit in the car and you have a conversation on the phone or you have a conversation with somebody who's next to you and you just you know you're just chopping it up. Nah. N at least I didn't do that. That was too dangerous. That was very dangerous. Um one because your ops or don't you don't you might not even have ops. Let's keep it a buck. Wherever you're living, whatever neighborhood you're living in has ops. And their ops are spinning the block. They're spinning. They're looking. So if you're in the car and the car is running, you're a target. Never sit in the car. We never pull nose into a parking spot. So you know how you can park straight forward and you can pull in and you can just pull in and then you got to back out to get out. No, no, no. I back into every single park. Back into that park. So if anything go down, get in the whip, pull right off. No waiting time. I ain't got to back out. I ain't got to do nothing goofy. Just get right out of dodge. That's two things I do not do. That's two things I, you know, preventative maintenance. Really tactic for his gang was that his crimes [music] got more violent. And one preferred tactic for his gang was the targeting and robbing of rival drug dealers, [music] a crime known as taxing. >> Robbing drug dealers is the easy way of doing it. >> We call that hitting a lick. It's a victimless crime. You can't tell on me cuz that's called hitting a lick. >> Really? Because [music] you're robbing somebody who isn't going to make a complaint. >> Yeah. >> Obviously, because you can't say to the police, [music] "All my drugs have been sold." It costs so much to buy a bullet, £5 per bullet for certain guns. And if your gun takes 15 in a clip, imagine you times that. Then you got to pay for houses to stash your guns in. Then you got to pay girls to transport your drugs and hold your [music] guns and drugs. Then you got to pay your workers. Then you got your own lifestyle, your your petrol, your cars you buy by the truckload, your guns, your watches. If you're making £40,000 in 5 minutes, it goes that easy as well. And I spoke to a gang member in relation to it and you saying, "Well, you know, you give 10 grand here, 10 grand there, and before you know it, it's all gone. And it's that if it comes easy, it goes [music] easy. >> So all that I go for a bad patch, I think right I need some money. 50 grand's turned to five grand. [music] So we planned, you know what, let's go and rob such and such. Parked outside his house, waited till he went in. Soon as he went in, ran behind him, put a gun to his head. His mom and girl were screaming, put a gun to their head, marched him upstairs, got his I think he had £20,000 under his bed, took him somewhere, did whatever we did to him. E phone, made a phone call, and got another 20 grand dropped off. [music] >> There's an art to everything, you know. Sometimes you have to go in there and you might have to injure him before you ask for a penny so they know you're serious. >> How far would you were you prepared to go? >> Well, somebody's penis has been burnt. >> Dang. I know you burnt the some meat. You trying to get that get back for your meat? Hey. Hey, buddy. It's wicked here. >> Someone would slice people up and put vinegar and salt in the wounds. We know you've got it. We're going to get it from you. And there's only We know as a human being [music] there's only so much pain you're going to take before you give up the money. And who you going to tell the police? Where'd you get £60,000 from? Drug dealing. So that's why we went for gang members. They can't really tell the police. This is very interesting. >> While taxing is a good way to earn a quick buck, organized criminals prefer the regular income that they can get. >> Yeah, we call taxing like taxing for us is just putting a little bit more on it than what it really is than what it normally would be. You want to do business and you you op or you mess with ops or you or anything. You not from where I'm from or Yeah. Put a little tax on it. through drugs. And it wasn't just gangsters who profited from illegal narcotics. Door staff in Manchester nightclubs were in on the action, too. >> 100% same in Chicago. >> The door staff began >> till today >> by taking payment to turn a blind eye to the dealers in their clubs. But it didn't take long for the door staff to realize that they could make much more money if they were actually in control themselves. So with the door [music] staff competing with the traditional shape of organized crime, you had an increase in violence. I was doing the doors [music] for a long time. Um, and I was working on a certain door and I was I was the head dorman and I was getting like I was only getting £15 an hour. When I took over the door, I was told by the bar manager, "Look, these gang in the corner, they're the West End gang, the West End being an area of Ashton. He was openly selling drugs in the club. Openly selling drugs in the club. [music] As they've been in a few weeks and stuff, I said to one of the elders, "Listen, you guys want to sell drugs in the club exclusively?" I said, "I want a bit of the action." I said, "How [music] about this? You give me a backhander." I said, "I will search everyone that comes into this club apart from your lads, [music] right? Whatever drugs I take off them, I will sell them back to you at half the price that they go for." So, I sell it back to them at Twitter. They they'd make 20 quid on top. I'd make money. They was making money. They sell drugs exclusively in the club. [music] And then I got invited to a barbecue with a with a lads down in Drosden. >> They invited you to the cookout. I can see it on me. I see it. You one of them. Yeah. >> Was having food and stuff like that. We started to talk shop. The lads just said, "Look, what a gu. What a gu, man." And I was like, [music] obviously you know who the gu gang are being from Manchester, being a street kid. the Gu had a had a fears some reputation on the streets of Manchester sold I started selling cocaine on the door and that's how I became involved with them and associated with them and stuff like that through doing that [music] >> Cody Lache had landed himself in a prime spot dealing for the infamous Guang but the Gu had a long-standing rivalry with the Dodington and that would bring trouble to his club >> one night there was there was only two of the lads there and there was two two [music] like young lads and stuff. They was they wasn't big lads or anything and they ended up getting into an altercation with some other people. We backed them and ended up smashing these kids up with them and then after we [ __ ] [music] them up. We heard sirens, right? So, we genuinely thought it was for us. We ran back into the venue. I ran into the back and one of the lads followed me into the back. I said, "You can't come down here, bro." And he pulls out a he pulls out a 357 Magnum. >> Said, "Yes, I could. Yes, I can and I will." >> It was locked and loaded. Um, and all the rounds were in the barrel. And he said, "Look, I need to get rid of this." I was gloved up. I had leather gloves on, so I know I wouldn't leave any fingerprints or DNA on the weapon. >> Uh, so I got rid of it. Uh, I got rid of it out the back of the club, past the bottle bins and everything like that. >> Lach's brush with the Gu took him into potentially deadly territory, but it was the two Guang that held the biggest reputation [music] in the city. calling Joyce and Lee Amos were known within the gang world as [music] the Mr. Bigs. >> Joyce and Amos were very, very dangerous people. [music] >> The most violent, the most deadly gangs are the ones that >> I've watched a documentary on the Gu uh Guver verse. Was it was Dodington? Yeah, I guess it was Dington. I thought they went by something else before, but but yeah, I I know about them. >> On the smallest little win, they'll [music] go over the top and that's how they become feared, dangerous, respected. [music] >> The grip that they had on that area for a number of years. Um, [music] you can't underestimate it. >> It was big fish, man. And they were targeted relentlessly by [music] the police, undercover surveillance operations and stuff like that. Gang members always have nicknames [music] and Colin Joyce was known as Piggy and Liamos Cabo. >> Piggy and Cabo leaders, man. Respected leaders of the Gu. Fear and respected leaders of the Gu. >> What was it like as a person? Could you get on with it? >> I got on I got on all right with Colin. Uh I think I did anyway. Colin was not dafted by any stretch of the imagination. He had a reputation for being a very good drug dealer. He had a reputation for being ruthless. He was good at what he did. >> He control dangerous. >> He was the manipulator. >> I think he manipulated >> the authorities as well. They basically um ran their own gang, ran the drugs, and ran the guns. >> They were strapped um locked and loaded and wouldn't think twice about pulling the trigger. [music] >> In fact, they were so dangerous that police in the city stepped up their operation [music] to bring them down. Greater Manchester Police did [music] form a uh group of officers uh called Excalibur who were basically um deployed onto the streets to get to [music] know these gang leaders and gang members and to get information and [music] to try and keep one step ahead of what was going on. [music] During the late 1990s, I investigated three [music] murders where the people of interest, the suspects, if you will, were Colin Joyce and and Lee Amos. [snorts] They were never convicted. Um, they weren't even arrested in relation to him, but intelligence would suggest that they were responsible for it. when they'd gone to prison in 2000 in 2000 beginning of 2000 for possession of firearms which included a scorpion [clears throat] machine pistol. Um there was a bit of a lull in in in gang. >> They're still locked up ain't they? >> Police had managed to lock up the two leaders for possessing [music] guns. Joyce and Amos were off the streets and gang life quietened, but it didn't disappear. >> Yeah, Scorpion. >> Le Amos's brother, God bless him, may rest in peace. Steven Amos was shot dead outside Beex's bar in Ashton on the line, probably 150 yards from where I was running the door. Um, he was shot dead. [music] >> Lee came out in 2005 on prison license. >> Was that Scorpion machine pistol? Was it fully automatic or was it semi? I'm curious. Maybe semi. I know that shoots 9 mm cuz they called it a pistol, but I know it got a handle because they called it a machine. So, like [clears throat] I would like to know. >> Um, but absconded from that prison license and went on the run. >> George came out in 2007. [music] Prior to him coming out, there was a buzz on the street. You [music] could tell gang members were getting excited about coming out. >> Everybody knew Amos was Uh, and other gang members were jostling for position. All of them wanted to be near him. All of them wanted to be his right-hand man, and none of them were going to be because Lee would always be his right-hand man. And the day came out, he went to a bail hostel um in north part of the city. And I went and met him at the bail hostel that night. He portrayed the fact that he was he was out of the gang scene now, that he was he wanted to go straight. [music] George did exactly what he was expected to [clears throat] do >> and he played the game [music] >> which resulted in the relaxing of a of a sign on time at at 7:00 in the evening. >> With Joyce showing good behavior, the terms of his release were relaxed [music] and he didn't need to be at his bail hostel until 9:00 p.m. >> He couldn't wait any longer to get back involved again. And [music] 2 days after that license condition was released, he was cruising around South Manchester in an Audi with firearms on board looking for somebody >> on the Friday [music] evening. Um, a man by the name of UKL Chin who was associated, should we say, to >> Oh, he was a friend. I I remember this story. >> He was a friend of somebody. You cannot be a friend of a gang. [laughter] No, no, no. If you got a homie that got several ops, rule of thumb, you are now a op of dangerous gang members. They're looking for you, too. No, no, no. Uh UKL Chin was driving his uh red um Renault up man into town uh and the silver Audi pulled up alongside the car. Seven shots were discharged into the car and uh UKL died. The Audi then took off and disappeared. UKL died. you out eventually >> in GTA um in GTA RP server Chicago. Um I I was once in a situation like this. Somebody pulled up next to me when I was driving. Keep in mind, one way this way, one way that they pulled up next to me in GTA and you know, very similar, but I'm still alive. No, I'm just All right, continue. GTA 6 is a cold game, man. It's crazy what you could do with the like with just like the, you know, the graphics and stuff >> and uh UKL died. >> The Audi then took off and disappeared. >> Rockstar Games. >> George killed a man there who with children, had a family, he wasn't under threat. He just said, >> doesn't matter, man. If you're a friend of an OP, you're an op in this lifestyle. put yourself in this lifestyle. Yes, we're all civilians right now, but in this lifestyle, if you're a friend of an OP, if you are associated with gang members and you're hanging out with them, you're one of them. You can't get around no other gang members from the other side and be like, "No, I don't I don't know." But you be with them, so you are because that's what's going that's what it's going to be. RIP though, but I'm just giving y'all what like this is like this is real life. Like let's prank it in Chicago, man. I can't be I'mma give you an example. Like say it's a bunch of Latin Kings. They under the five. So let's say it's a bunch of Latin Kings and I'm me and I and I'm walking down the street, but I be with a bunch of GDs all the time. All the time. I be with them. I be with them. You know what I'm saying? I'll be with the members all the time. You see me in pictures. You see me kicking it. You see me, you know. And then I get and then I'm walking somewhere and then a bunch of kings see me like, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, on him. Ain't he one of them? I got to duck my taco. It's too late. I can't be like, "No, I'm not nothing." No, I'm affiliated by friendship. Friendship brought me here. At the end of the day, man, he pulled up alongside him and shots were discharged into the car. The reason he looks for people, he was looking for people is that's what he enjoys doing. >> Now Joyce was on the run and [music] making plans to kill again. boy like King Vaughn. [music] >> In Manchester, it's estimated that 800 people are associated with one of the many criminal [music] gangs, but few will rise to the top and become leaders. One who [music] did was Colin Joyce, the feared man in charge of the Guang. In [music] 2007, on a Friday night, he committed a drive-by shooting, firing seven times into a red car and killing rival gang member Yukall Chin. [music] George returned to the bail hostel for 9:00 that evening. Um, and stayed and didn't do anything [music] out of the ordinary till Monday. That Monday night, he didn't go back to the bail hostel and he went on the run. [music] Around a month later, uh it came time for [music] uh UKL's funeral. Um there was a feeling and there was intelligence to suggest [music] that they um try and attack or try and disrupt the funeral. >> Uh we policed the cemetery and we policed the wake afterwards very tightly. >> Um and then at the end of the night, uh we finished uh night patrols took over. the weight dispersed. Um, [music] but several, well, quite a few people went back to the UK's house. >> Are you on your own time? At that point, the police said, >> the police were giving it drivebys [music] every 5 minutes to ensure there was no issues. And then during one of those um 5minute periods, three vehicles pulled up to the end of the close and shots were discharged. So, a man by the name of Tyrone Gilbert was fatally wounded and died. Tyrone Gilbert was affiliated to the Longside Crew, but had recently [music] vowed to leave his criminal past behind. >> You can't leave it. You can't. What's done is done. What's done is already stamped. You can leave. You can have a different mindset. You can want more for yourself. But what you have done and what your affiliates have done, it remains. And that's the thing. It ain't never over. You got to relocate. RIP to that young man though you was trying >> and George was subsequently arrested um [music] after a lot of surveillance work was done uh and they stood trial for the two murders. [music] Uh I managed to secure intelligence that put Joyce into uh the kill car for the UK chin incident. [music] uh and he was convicted of both murders and he was sentenced to a period of minimum of 39 years imprisonment. >> Okay. >> Amos was found guilty of one murder of the Gilbert murder and he received 35 or later reduced to 32 on appeal >> and [music] three other individuals were also found on Gilbert murder >> as a result of that trial. >> What year was this? What year did they get sentenced? Cuz >> shooting incidents around South Manchester dropped by over 80%. [music] Uh, >> damn. They got locked up and dropped the the the in the next 12 months >> when [music] Colin Joyce >> Oh, they was demons. >> Le Amos were taken out of the gang [music] scene >> in Greater Manchester. That was absolutely massive for the area [music] and the communities really did breathe and the police a [music] big sigh of relief. The Gucc gang were jailed for 235 years between 11 of them. That just shows how prominent the [music] Gu was reference firearms in this city. Nine of them were people that I used to associate with when I was doing the doors. [music] >> How many wannabe Colin Joycees or Lee Moses are there out there? How many people are on the path to that level? [music] >> How many more Colin Joyoes are there? Not many. >> Colin Joyce was given a [music] longer minimum sentence than Peter Sliff, the Yorkshire Ripper was. >> Dang. >> In that gang [music] scene, in that kind of gang scene, I don't think there'll be another. >> That's normally what it is, man. Remember, you head of the gang and you the top guy and you the most violent and most influential, you going to get a lot of time, period. Because they trying to set an they trying to set a [snorts] example out of you. You got to be that, you know, you got to be that, you know, you got to be that uh that person. You got to take the fall for everything. Like, all right, this is what you want to do. So, this is how we going to play it every single time. You got to chill out. >> [music] >> Kelly Joyce or or Lee Lee Amos. >> You say that crime pays. Eventually every dog gets caught. You will at some time it might be 10 years, 5 years, 15 years, 20 years. Eventually [music] you will pay. >> Especially if you're super violent. Yeah. You going to >> People pay with a life. When death hits, it can send ripples through the underworld, and sometimes it can provoke violent retaliation. In 2011, Matthew Norford's brother, [music] Gary, lost his life following an attempted armed robbery that went wrong. >> Gary's my older brother. Gary would come and he doesn't play. Gary would shoot your mom. Gary is he's serious about [music] his brothers and Gary. >> All right. Gary. Gary knew what was associated with this life. Then >> Gary was a serious gangster. >> I knew Matthew and Gary were very, very close. Following his death, I made the suggestion that Matthew not be allowed to go to the funeral because had he gone to [music] the funeral, I believe he would have taken that other path. And there were gang members there who would have provoked him [music] into seeking revenge. >> My plan was to go and murder a lot of people and cause a lot of trouble. >> Him not going, despite how painful it was for him at the time, has probably meant that he's [music] his life has changed and he's not dead or in prison. >> Gary died July 26, 2011. I said to everyone in prison and all the guards, I said, "Listen, [music] I'm out of it. My brother's died. I'm out of it. I don't go to clubs in town where all the gangsters go, I don't rave. I don't sell drugs. I don't do none of that. I'll go work. I go gym. I'll go home and look after my family." And I never thought I'd be happy without Gary. Just shows you what you want to do when you're positive. >> You still live in Manchester. The reality in being involved in a street gang [music] as a young person or as a vulnerable person is that you are going to be used, potentially abused, [music] potentially murdered. And most definitely if you're in it long enough, you'll have the police coming through your door. >> Is it worth it? No. When you get sentenced and that judge slams that gavvel down and says 4 years, [music] you want to say to the judge, I will go work at McDonald's right now. I do not want to go to jail. But the judge just turns around and says, "You you knew the consequences and you still decided to do it." >> That's a fact, man. Nowadays, 2026, [sighs] people know what they getting into 100%. They know what to come with, they know everything. So, if you meet crash out in right now, all he knows, he's a fully aware of what he's getting himself into. Doesn't care. >> Crime doesn't pay. And at the end of the day, you don't want your mom and your dad and your brothers and your sisters having to bury you and planning your funeral. [music] No mother should have to bury her son. Um, and tragically, it's happened [music] here in Manchester uh countless times. I got shot in both my legs, my penis, my testicle, and I've got a bullet in my leg. I lost my brother. My other brother got stabbed. You have to take it on the chin cuz you signed that piece of imaginary paper to say you will give your life to the streets. So, as a gang member, I don't feel bad that I shot other gang members. You joined it. You were trying to shoot me. But for all their girlfriends and sons and daughters that have, you know, [music] I've injured their dad, I do feel sorry for them cuz they've got to live with it. Their mom's got to live with it. So, I do feel sorry for the innocents, but the ones who got involved in the game, you can't really moan about it. >> [music] >> It's a sad indictment on society where kids are willing to go out [music] and shoot each other for no reason whatsoever. [music] Life's too precious to throw it away over >> it is. But like you got to understand, man, a lot of these kids, they feel like they living for nothing. They feel like nobody's ever listened to them. They feel like they can't achieve anything. They feel like nobody's got their back. They feel like everybody's against them. So, you know, the one thing they turned to that took him in as a family is the gang. You know what I'm saying? This is what happens when you cut funding to community centers or to to after school programming or combined schools and mixed neighborhoods or or you know, whatever else that's done to budget cut, you know. There's a yin and a there's a there's a there's a react there's an action there's a react wait what is it called there's a reaction what is it a reaction to every action so >> what the fact that I live on a different side of the estate than you do and for [music] what reputation >> no to feel like you belong and that's the disconnect It's not for reputation. It's to feel like you belong. I belong to something. I don't got no dad. My mom's not here now. I belong. I belong. So because I belong and these people could brought me in. Like I'm going I'm going to do whatever to stay to keep this feeling, you know, do something to stop that, to fort that. a reputation when you're doing 39 years in prison. What goes a reputation when you're 6'4? >> I just said preventative maintenance. There's a lot of preventative maintenance that you can go around these neighborhoods and you can talk to 8, seven, six, six year olds and they could just stop it right there. Well, what sports do you like? Okay, let's start a team like like let's do something. Let's a community center anything. Keep them busy. When you've known a gang member and you'll [music] see him perhaps lying in a morg with a plastic bag over his head and plastic bag over his feet, that's the reality of it. That is the reality of how sad and how pathetic this is. Young men killing each other for [music] no reason whatsoever. >> I say when you look in your heart and you know it's not cool and maybe you think it's cool cuz you've [music] not been through nothing yet. You've probably just sold a bit of drugs and police have not kicked your door in. no gang members have tried to rob you. You know, you've not been in a house where a drug addict's overdosing and blood shooting up the wall. Maybe you've not seen someone get shot or get stabbed up in [music] front of you and bleeding out. But the longer you're in that life, the more chance you've got of going to jail or getting injured. >> Rod Carter [music] dedicated his career to bringing down the gangs, but he left the police with unfinished [music] business. >> I believe they save lives. I believe they help people who are in very, very difficult [music] positions. and I did it to the best of my ability. There's a couple of individuals I would like to have seen get their just desserts and go to prison for as long as they deserve to. There they'll come. It's a pretty good documentary, not going to lie. Tall, leave a like, comment, subscribe, turn on your post. Let me know what you think.