‘New gangs have roots in the 80s’
POLICE say a new, brazen generation of Manchester criminals have their roots in the gangs who terrorised the city in the 1980s and 1990s.
The claim is made in a new BBC documentary which followed police in Manchester over two years.
It looks at how organised crime groups are increasingly targeting other criminals for money.
Det Sgt Julie Connor revealed shootings and stabbings are now disturbingly frequent but the violent kidnaps are especially ‘crazy’ in number, with monthly cases in double figures.
And gangs, driven by the ‘high stakes’ money, are more likely to carry them out in public, placing ordinary people in the crossfire.
Just last month in four consecutive night shifts her division was alerted to four kidnaps - two in one night.
DS Connor said: “The gangs have roots from gangs around in the 1980s and 1990s.
“It’s the children and grandchildren of those gang members you are now finding in gangs.
“We are seeing an increase in violence, people being shot in the legs, stabbed, their faces cut.
“With the rise in drugs there is a lot of money floating around in the criminal world so there is an increase in criminals robbing other criminals.”
She added: “The kidnappings are just all the time, it’s crazy really but it’s a lucrative business.”
Violence within gangs is also heinous, especially towards women.
DS Connor said: “If a girl disrespects a criminal male they will have their head shaved.
“Rape is used as a punishment.” She was speaking ahead of new BBC series The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime.
Last night’s first episode charted DS Connor and her colleagues as they focus on two kidnappings in November and December 2018.
In the first, the victim was snatched in front of his children and taken to a house where he was tortured until he agreed to hand over £34,000.
Just weeks later, a second man was found bleeding on a street, his face so swollen that his eyes looked like they had disappeared after being battered.
By the late 2000s, gang-related gun crime had fallen from its 90s peak thanks to successful police operations.
But DS Connor explained the mobs never went away and, as the attention shifted from them, they were allowed to quietly expand.
She said she has dealt with 15 crime gangs, adding: “A lot of the lads in the 1990s grew up and got into international drug dealing, people trafficking.
“A lot invested criminal money into businesses and had become semi-legitimate touch.”
DS Connor believes underlying causes such as deprivation were not tackled and police cuts also played a role.
And the situation isn’t unique to Manchester.
The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime airs on BBC2 at 9pm on Tuesdays and is also available on the BBC iPlayer. and harder to