It was the highest-value burglary ever recorded in Britain. PA, 'Catching Britain's Biggest Thieves' is on BBC1 tonight at 10.45pm. It sounds like something out of a movie - only all these crime lords were caught operating on Midland streets. "Let's say, hypothetically, you're in a bank, and you see a man wearing a stripy jumper and he is waiting behind a man with a suitcase and when they both leave the guy in the jumper rushes out and pounces on the other guy. It was hard to say whether the stories were reliable, or indeed whether he was accusing the police or local residents. "I'm not saying they weren't in trouble," Jimmy says. It is little wonder that the group struck fear into the hearts of homeowners for miles around their base, a caravan site at Cleeve Prior, near Evesham, Worcestershire. You can unsubscribe at any time. Police found a huge stash of loaded weapons, cash and drugs. He's spent the best years of his life behind bars, and heads a notorious crime gang said to have plundered £80m of treasures from the grandest houses in the land. Michael Nicholls, the partner of Ricky's daughter Faye, had 17 convictions for deception, theft, burglary and dangerous driving. Graham pleaded guilty to an array of drugs and weapons charges and was sentenced to 24 years behind bars at Derby Crown Court. The guy with the stripy jumper saves his life. Birmingham attracted a record number of tourists last year as fans of Peaky Blinders flocked to explore the world associated with the hit BBC gangster series.. And I watched it a couple of times and then I decided to take the money.". He is the head of a notorious traveller community, and his reputation among the local population precedes him. In 2004, Jimmy invited a BBC film crew to Cleeve Prior in a bid to document how his family lived. Also discovered at the property was £354,795 in cash. Antiques worth tens of millions of pounds were taken in Britain's most costly domestic burglary. Once constantly shown on the “First 48” television show, this map shows the real hoods within the Birimingham Alabama ghetto, from East Side to West Side to North Side, and some of the Birmingham Alabama gangs areas, even though the city is not as affiliated with national gangs like other cities. But Mema was the brains behind the audacious drugs operation. Beat officers stood guard as others searched the house on May 22, 2018. I don't think I can put my hand on my heart and say they're [all] innocent. "I don't know what they are doing. Birmingham natives and foreign nationals from countries such as Albania regularly fight for turf in drug-dealing, gun-running and modern slavery operations. Anslow was also found guilty of escaping from custody, adding another seven years to his original sentence. The suspected gangster at the heart of world boxing By Darragh MacIntyre Daniel Kinahan has been named in the Irish courts as heading one of Europe’s most brutal drug gangs. ", At this point, Jimmy's mother, Muriel, 74, arrives in the café to join us. Irish gangsters are reportedly rebuilding their empire from Birmingham as they lay low in the UK amid a new wave of violence in Dublin.. Detectives are working with their counterparts in Ireland to root out the leaders of the feared cartel said to laying low in the West Midlands. A 4x4 with a fence-post fixed to the roofrack to form a crude but effective battering ram had been used to, in effect, ram-raid her home. The experience had been uncomfortable. Maybe that's part and parcel of why some of us became thieves. "We were like slaves. "But they have been used as scapegoats on this.". Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire: Property tycoon Harry Hyams's mansion was raided in February 2006. Uk, Birmingham-based grime MC Mist surged out of the mid-2010s grime resurgence, demonstrating that you don’t have to be from the city of London to be taken that seriously in the U.K. success sure can come from anywhere. He had a complete breakdown and he became a religious crank. It’s an unenviable reputation, but Birmingham is once again being flagged as the gun and gang capital of the UK. "Before any of us were questioned, we were named in all the newspapers. The Peaky Blinders were a criminal gang based in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century and, to a lesser extent, in the early 20th century. Because we were poor. Ricky's son Albi (Chad's brother) had 10 previous convictions, for offences including theft and burglary. 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He claims his probation officer reports on his whereabouts directly to the Home Secretary, but it is the actions of the rest of his family that have sealed his reputation. The long read: There are almost 5,000 criminal gangs in the UK. Anslow, 35, was sprung from a prison van by a gang of sledge-hammer wielding thugs while being taken to Stafford Crown Court from HMP Hewell in January 2012. The BBC documentary, Catching Britain's Biggest Thieves, tells the story of how the Johnsons were imprisoned. Anne Gascoigne, a 75-year-old widow, was sleeping when the double doors of her manor house exploded inwards. Despite my protestations that I would be late for my train, there was no arguing. Jimmy was in prison for the post office robberies during much of the crime spree for which his relatives were arrested. Crips is an african-american gang which were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969. He's spent the best years of his life behind bars, and heads a notorious crime gang said to have plundered £80m of treasures from the grandest houses in the land. By the late 1980s, the Johnson Crew, named after their Johnsons Café hang-out, controlled the drugs market and nightclub security across a huge swathe of the city. He never committed one crime when he was with me.". Gang-related organised crime in the United Kingdom is concentrated around the cities of London, Manchester and Liverpool and regionally across the West Midlands region, south coast and northern England, according to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. 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A drug lord Ivan Graham ran a £35 million crime empire has been jailed for 24 years. They were often in the thick of mass street brawls, which could last for hours as rival gangs tried to assert their dominance. The vast amount of drugs and the four loaded weapons were removed. He laid down what sounded like a challenge, a way to allow me to see for myself the attitude society has towards travellers: he would, he said, allow me to live as one of his family, to pose as a traveller myself. "All the dirty gutless people that put the 'dairy' [blame] on other people – don't think I've forgotten about those boxes, because I'm coming for them.". Just released from jail,he's out to reclaim his empire "The young ones are not my generation," she says. Over three years, their total haul is estimated to have been £80m. The court heard Mema had run a highly ‘sophisticated and organised’ gang and supplied high purity cocaine in commercial quantities. During the trial, which began in August, jurors saw surveillance footage of the drugs gang conducting various secret meetings around Oxfordshire and the West Midlands. The most “significant” investigation into organised crime ever seen in the UK has seen 746 suspects held – some described as “iconic” who have escaped justice for years. They can control it and they can do what they want. Well let me tell you that again, and put in some details that I left out before. “The conviction of Mema represents the culmination of a prosecution where 17 offenders have been previously pleaded guilty or been convicted and the total period of imprisonment imposed is over 150 years.". But we have been treated like that all our lives.". The first began in January 2007 but lasted only a few days. "We had two to three hundred armed police bearing down on our family, our children. "They have these big cases against them and they never get the severity of the sentences we have had. Michael Palmer, from Tipton, was also sentenced to four years and 11 months after admitting to money laundering and possession of an offensive weapon. It was previously stated in court that “more than 1,000 exhibits” were found which helped the prosecution prepare its case against Graham. The kingpin went on the run as he faced a lengthy jail term for heading a major drugs ring that sold and distributed cocaine and cannabis across the West Midlands. The second trial started in January, and sentencing took place the following month. Travel back to the roaring twenties to the city of Birmingham after the first World War. Perhaps most famously, the stately-home robberies included the theft of snuffboxes worth £5m in June 2003 from Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust property and home of the Rothschild family, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Map of Birmingham Alabama Hoods. His most audacious crime was the founding of Christian Construction in 1995, a charity he said "would take young criminals off the streets and teach them a trade". His customers included drug dealer Khalad Uddin who acted as a national co-ordinator, facilitating onward supply to other criminal gangs all over the UK. Cocky Warren - who made £87m out of a single drugs deal - is Britain's most successful gangster ever. ", In October 2005, the police forces of Gloucestershire, Thames Valley, Warwickshire and West Mercia pooled resources to investigate the thefts. Abi Keogh, then Fewtrell, with her dad Eddie who she had no idea was one of the UK’s biggest gangsters (Picture: SWNS) A father’s secret identity as a notorious gangster … He says they are required to report his presence to the authorities whenever they see him around town. After the case Warren Stanier, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “In this case a substantial quantity of cocaine has been removed from the supply chain and offenders at the very top tier of drug supply in the United Kingdom have been removed from society for a substantial period. "Travellers have always been persecuted since God knows how long," Jimmy says. In March 1990, he staged a rooftop protest at Horfield Prison, Bristol, and he reportedly staged a tree-top protest after he was charged with stealing caravans in 2000. The map shows a cluster of gangs in Camberwell, south east London, including Moscow17, which Incognito belonged to. A police raid at a home owned by Graham uncovered four terrifying loaded weapons including a Uzi sub-machine gun fitted with a silencer, a Walther PPK .22 calibre pistol, a Smith and Wesson .38 calibre revolver and a stun gun disguised as a firearm. I enjoyed our meeting for the most part, although not when things were out of my control. But today, outside the café, he goes his way and I go mine. The breakout made him Britain's most wanted man at the time. 1 Pablo Escobar: $30 Billion Number one on our list is Pablo Escobar , born December 1 st , 1949 in Antioquia, Colombia. Upper-class or not, does Johnson ever feel sympathy for his victims? They were convicted of a series of spectacular burglaries that targeted some of Britain's grandest stately homes between 2003 and 2006. I was looking after him for a short time. His drugs gang has now received a total 150 years in jail sentences. "Same as any woman with eight kids. But now Jimmy Johnson is fighting back – and claims his clan are the victims of a massive Establishment stitch-up. The UK's 'biggest ever crime bust' has seen more than 700 suspected crooks arrested and murder plots foiled - as well as millions of pounds of dirty cash, two tonnes of … The West Indian involvement has been key to the spread of gangs in many UK cities. [citation needed] Billy Hill: 1911–1984 1920s – 1970s he asks. All in all, it sort of created a personal vendetta against us. Wiltshire joined five months later. Instead, he pocketed it. As we leave, Jimmy points to people he claims are shop security guards and undercover policemen. In October 2005, the Formula One tycoon Paddy McNally's home at Warneford Place in Sevenhampton, near Swindon, was also targeted – silverware, porcelain and clocks worth £750,000 were stolen. Patrick Bet-David has a sit down with Dave Courtney - self proclaimed gangster and yellow pages of the Underworld in London. Needless to say, Jimmy was not happy with the results. And once we had finished working in one place, we had to move on. That's certainly why I did. The sophisticated 'carousel' operation involved drugs being driven into the West Midlands – including to a rented warehouse in Kings Heath - from where they were sent on to southern Ireland. The rich, the people who owned the land, would tell us to leave. Erald Mema, took a 'leading role' involved with class A drugs as part of a cocaine conspiracy between June 1, 2016, and December 2, 2016. It was not me who corrupted him – it was the system. What's relevant is whether my family had fair trial. Jimmy is well built, despite his age – the result of a power-lifting hobby. ... as well as from Star City and any cinema in the UK, police said. When I went to a children's home in South Wales, it was full of paedophiles and child molesters. "It was hard growing up in my community," he says. How could this possibly take place without anybody talking to us? After some arguments with Jimmy, she eventually speaks. They took what he said out of context. There is time for one last thought. Our. "I started to read books and go to museums and auctions. The young man quietly tells Jimmy that the coffee shop is now closed for the day – but Jimmy can be charming, and he quickly changes his mind. The gang's methods of gaining access were not tremendously intricate. Jimmy says he knows where they are. Erald Mema, took a 'leading role' involved with class A drugs as part of a cocaine conspiracy between June 1, 2016, and December 2, 2016. crime lords were caught operating on Midland streets. My mother and I were working the fields and these people used to bring the money to a shed for the families and that's where they would collect their money. Faced with poverty in inner-city Birmingham and the threat of the far right, young people banded together in groups which soon turned to petty crime and robbery. Uddin was jailed for his role in the drugs network in September 2017 and sentenced to 16 years at Birmingham Crown Court. It's all about context. But Ricky is older. Read our full mailing list consent terms here, "There are gangster families who have never gone through what we've been through," Jimmy says. after being attacked by four thugs in a Birmingham pub car park. The Johnson family's presence in Cheltenham stretches back to 1952, when 16-year-old Muriel Slender, Jimmy's mother, married his father, the travelling Irishman Albert Johnson. If the perpetrators of these crimes had been robbing council houses, what would have happened? Twelve men were previously sentenced for their involvement and were sentenced on May 22 2017. For instance, the amount of police power that was put into Lord Rothschild's burglary – it was like the Crown Jewels had been stolen. ", When the trial for the stately-home robberies took place last January, both Chad Johnson and Danny O'Loughlin, whose father is married to Jimmy's sister Jane, were already serving time. This is not to say that all British gangster movies are tragic and boring. And, while Jimmy is a self-confessed "gangster" who accepts his family's troubled past, he disputes the honesty of the criminal justice system that has imprisoned his relatives. "My mum had to struggle through it," Jimmy says. Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury: Snuff boxes worth £5m were stolen in June 2003 from the Rothschild family home near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. “No one reading the newspapers, watching the television news can be in any doubt criminal enterprises such as yours generate violence, serious violence, involving the use of guns and knives.”. They kill the people you love.”. Williams fronted a massive dealing operation from a subway for a Jamaican drugs baron believed to be heavily involved in gun crime. While still at large Anslow, from Tipton, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis and sentenced to 22 years behind bars. He came across as saying, 'If I have to rob the rich, I will.' William "Billy" Kimber, born 1882 in Summer Lane, Aston in Birmingham was head of the Birmingham Boys. Until you get the whole truth, no one is going to get a fair decision. Albanian crime lord Erald Mema who headed up a multi-million pound UK-wide cocaine racket was jailed for 25 years. With regards to street gangs the cities identified as having the most serious gang problems, which also accounted for 65% of firearm … Chad was in the middle of a three-and-a-half-year sentence, after marrying an heiress in 2002, convincing her to sign over her flat to him, and leaving her bankrupt in the process. Vue Cinemas, Britain’s third biggest operator, decided on Monday to stop showing Blue Story at its 91 UK venues after 25 separate incidents at 16 cinemas over the weekend. At its most audacious, the gang made off with antiques, jewellery, porcelain, crystal and china worth £30m in a single raid on Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire, the home of the property tycoon Harry Hyams – the man who developed Centre Point in London – and the house where Oliver Cromwell planned the subjugation of Ireland. You can see tattoos creeping out from the sleeves of his suit. Spetchley Park, Worcester: A library window in this Palladian mansion was smashed in November 2005, but the thieves left empty-handed. Listen as James Mulvey talks about his life as a crime lord below: After a 10-week trial, which concluded in June this year, Mulvey was convicted of four counts of importing and exporting class A and B drugs between May 2006 and February 2007. Officers also seized 5kg of cocaine, 3.6kg of heroin, 1kg of crack cocaine, 40kg of cannabis and more than £350,000 in used notes during a two-day raid at the property in Derby. He apologises profusely for his lateness and insists he buy me a coffee. We're being targeted by a group of people who run the country. "I think this whole trial with my family proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the upper classes can manipulate the judicial system. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. The drugs lord was sentenced to 32 years in jail for his role in a £68million smuggling operation. 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For one, he hasn't got the bottle. They were the people who started telling lies about me. An English Gangster and drug lord who has also held Irish nationality. I wonder if there will be any more to our encounter today. For several years Kimber was probably the biggest organised crime boss in the UK. But the old family firms are gone – today’s big players are multinational, diversified and tech-savvy It took police officers more than two days to search the property after the the raid at an address in Wakami Crescent, Chellaston, Derby. The Wolverhampton Wanderers fan even spent £36,000 on sponsorship at the Molineux Stadium, and told people his wealth was the result of a big gambling win. Prosecutor Rose Harvey said: "One of the areas that was searched was a back garden shed and in that shed were hundreds of bin bags full of wraps which relates to kilos of drugs. In 1997, he was sentenced to three years in prison when it transpired that he was using the charity as a front to con pensioners, pretending he was conducting essential building work and giving the money to charity. The family, in fact, had two trials for the stately-home robberies. I can't in my heart say they didn't do these crimes because their whereabouts I don't always know. The final, mythical showdown between the Kray twins and a rival gang from Birmingham has been revealed in an explosive new book.. He speaks in a fast and furious jabber, with a thick West Country accent, and peppers his speech with a curious slang. "It is believed there are at least two years' worth of wraps there. He was convicted of two conspiracies to supply cocaine, between June 1 2016 and December 2 2016. During the trial, we have had no equality of arms. In his sentencing, Judge Ross said: “You are a rarity, you are the top man when it comes to this organised crime operation. At the time of his sentencing last February, Ricky had 22 convictions for 57 offences, going back to 1965. He took me to a caravan site, where he rattled off incomprehensible stories about wrongdoings against travellers. Around the time of the murder, Mulvey was covertly recorded saying “...but this is what my life was, I've tried to get away with it, but I don't want you involved in it, do you understand how these people work? If you look at what he said on the television, he said they think we're 'pesticides', he was trying to say they think we're 'parasites'. There was a series of arrests, and in June 2006, Jimmy says, the family home was raided at Cleeve Prior. On a previous occasion (I have met him twice before this particular rendezvous in the café), he offered me a lift back to the local train station in Cheltenham. "Ricky may have conned a few old women because that's about his level, which I find disgusting personally," Jimmy says. Yes, Billy Kimber was a real Birmingham gangster and leader of the real Birmingham Boys. Implicated in the Gangland murders of London crime figures Gilbert Wynter and Solly Nahome. The Birmingham Boys were a street gang who had significant power in … The proximity of the gangs … If the prosecution and the police and the judges are allowed to get away with this type of treatment, then people should worry about who is going to be the next target. ", Jimmy is working towards recovering the Waddesdon snuffboxes, which have never been found. "He is addicted to heroin. The Accidental Gangster, … That formed the basis of every report done on me afterwards.". Police are now appealing for information. "This is the biggest number we have ever seen for any film in a such a short time frame." ... he played the role of one of London’s biggest cocaine dealers in Layer Cake. It … explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. We touch on his desire to paint a reliable picture of his world. "My brother Ricky is illiterate. I feel I have got the fucking right to rob the lords out there. While criminal (by their own admission), the Johnson clan claim their situation is more complex than the label as "Britain's No 1 crime family" suggests. "He came to me to apologise about that," Jimmy says. "Me and my brother used to fall out the whole time over things like this. ", When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. But Ricky is innocent. He went on the run to Northern Cyprus following the escape, which included an associated sending him a coded message in a Christmas card. He becomes noticeably more nervous. We worked in a field. In fact, the guy with the suitcase is standing outside and there is some breeze block falling from the roof that is going to crush him. He criticises the press, too.
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