Actor who fought gang movie ban caught gloating over street attack
AN ACTOR in the controversial gang movie Blue Story forced a rap rival to take refuge in a passerby’s car during a real-life chase through city streets, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Vic Santoro, who plays Tugz in the gangland drama, uploaded a video taunting his rival after the incident in South London.
The revelations about Santoro’s violent past come after Vue Cinema bosses decided to pull Blue Story from its 91 venues after what it claimed were a series of 25 ‘significant incidents’.
In one mass brawl involving 100 youths – at least one armed with a machete – at Showcase Cinemas’ Star City complex in Birmingham, seven police officers were injured and five arrests made.
Santoro complained about the ban, declaring that the film was a ‘deterrent’ for youngsters aspiring to become gang members.
In a clip of the attack posted online, Santoro can be heard taunting rival Chanel Riscosa, known by his stage name African Child, while an accomplice circles the vehicle, a BMW 4x4.
Its driver, an innocent member of the public, is shown standing at the rear of the car, which is said to have mounted the pavement when Riscosa jumped in.
After the encounter in June, Santoro uploaded the mobile phone videos to his Instagram account and claimed that he had taken his rival’s bag.
‘The brother ran, ran and jumped in a random person’s car, begging for them to call police after eating, eating a lot of them swollen lips,’ said Santoro in the video.
‘AC [African Child] my guy, come get your bag, you’re lucky I didn’t do more to you.’ He added: ‘Your boy just done the 100-metre sprint in Peckham, you’re going to see the footage later. You just got dealt with in Peckham.’
Rapper Santoro featured in a music track last year alongside Blue Story’s director, Andrew Onwubolu, with another rapper recently released from jail, delivering lyrics steeped in knife and gun violence.
Santoro, who also starred in BBC2’s Bafta-winning documentary Gun No6, is reported to have served time in prison alongside rival Riscosa and was once the leader of Ghetto Boys Brockley, a gang based in South East London. They joined forces with another gang, the Ghetto Boys, from Lewisham. Their fierce rivalry with another London gang, the Peckham Boys, in the 2000s, was the inspiration for 15-rated Blue Story.
After the brawl at the film’s viewing last weekend, Showcase Cinemas briefly followed Vue’s lead by withdrawing the movie from its screens before reinstating it on Monday.
Mr Onwubolu, also known as Rapman, questioned the motives of the ban and said there was ‘no connection’ between the violence and his film. Last week, Vue’s chief executive Tim Richards said the cinemas would ‘beef up security’ so they could restart screening the movie at the weekend.
Both Santoro and Mr Onwubolu failed to comment. REAL-LIFE VIOLENCE: Vic Santoro in the videos which were posted online, left and above