# The rise and fall of Brixton's GAS gang



## ringo (Jun 12, 2012)

Article from the BBC website. Not sure about the rise and fall part, I suppose they're suggesting that because quite a few of them are inside they're a spent force, but the article doesn't give any more info to back that up/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18398190

*Many people will know about the crimes of the GAS gang - based in Brixton, south London - but fewer know of the gang's history, writes the Today programme's Andrew Hosken.*
At least six killings have been linked to GAS in recent years and, in the last 12 months alone, eight suspected members have been jailed for murder or attempted murder.
Earlier this year, three GAS members were jailed for life for one of the worst gang-related crimes in recent years.
Nathaniel Grant, Kazeem Kolawole and Anthony McCalla were sentenced to minimum jail terms of between 14 and 17 years each for the attempted murder of a rival gang member and grievous bodily harm in a deadly attack which left a five-year-old girl paralysed from the waist down.
Thusha Kamaleswaran was shot in the chest during the attack while she played in the aisle of her father's shop in Stockwell Road.
Our investigation has discovered that GAS, based in the estates of Angell Town in Brixton, came into existence four years ago. The members were the young members - the so-called "Tinies" - of a dying gang called Organised Crime, or the O.C.






Nathaniel Grant, Anthony McCalla and Kazeem Kolawole were jailed for life

They want on to form GAS which, depending on who you speak to, stands for a number of different things.
The two most repeated are Guns and Shanks (gang jargon for knives) and Grip And Shoot. But then again some would tell you it means Grind And Stack. But there is no definitive answer - this is not an organisation with a headquarters offering explanations.
The gang quickly established itself as a cause of crime and serious violence among young people in the Brixton area. In April, the Kamaleswaran trial heard how GAS could be linked to as many as three quarters of the incidents of serious violence involving young people in the area.
Claire Belgarde is the strategic leader of the Young and Safe programme which works with Lambeth Council to offer support to the 400 young people thought to be involved with gangs in the borough.
"We have a number of gangs and they have their own unique profiles," she said.

"One of the things we do see around GAS is that they have evolved. The young people that would say they are associated with them are living in an area that is multi-generational in terms of these gangs and each generation has a new name for it.
"They are associated with high levels of violence but I would say that is as both victim and perpetrator."
The GAS gang has approximately 50 members who will have varying degrees of association and participation.
The figure most prominently associated with the gang is 19-year-old Agassi Odusina, better known as the rap singer Sneakbo.
But in an exclusive interview with the BBC, he admitted that while police considered him to be the boss of GAS, they were wrong.





Rapper Sneakbo strongly denies he is or ever was the boss of GAS

"Something happened around my area; someone got killed and I was arrested for it," he said.
"And when I went to jail I'm just thinking 'this is how easy I could lose my freedom and my life' and then the case got dropped and I got out and that's when I started taking music seriously."
Last year, Sneakbo was jailed for breaching the terms of a five year Asbo. He had threatened the lives of a woman and her seven-year-old daughter. In November, Inner London Crown Court suspended his eight-month sentence and released him to pursue his successful music career.
One of his better known raps is "I am a Boss", which helped fuel police suspicions.
Sneakbo strenuously denies allegations that he is or was ever the boss of GAS, adding: "Before I even got nicked for that murder, the police called me the boss of GAS. But I wasn't the boss; I wasn't the boss of anything - it was just the name of the song."
'Tide turned'
The Metropolitan Police estimates that there are around 250 street gangs in London. In police and council circles, GAS became one of the most notorious.
To a large extent, these gangs replaced the so-called Yardie gangs of violent, predominantly, Jamaican gangsters, who came to London in the 1980s and 1990s to deal in drugs.
GAS is one of the most bellicose gangs in London. It is currently "at war" with three other local gangs: ABM (All Bout Money) in Stockwell; TN1 (Tell No-one) in Tulse Hill; and the Peckham Young Guns across the borough borders into Southwark.
Leading gangs expert Dr John Pitts, the Vauxhall Professor of Social and Legal Studies at the University of Bedfordshire, explained that the GAS gang "very unwisely - got into conflict with a lot of other groups that had fragmented so that there was a point, I gather, where they had a beef - a dispute - with everybody.





Brixton's Angell Town: The Met estimates there are around 250 gangs in London
"To cut a long story short they bit off more than they could chew. At one point they were riding high and a lot of people were frightened and I think the tide turned when a lot of people worked out that a lot of people were against them."
The Metropolitan Police estimate that gangs could be responsible for one in seven crimes and rapes. More than half of the shootings in the capital are gang-related.
Like many similar gangs, members of GAS are not thought to earn much from their crimes - mainly robbery, petty theft and low-level drug dealing. Detectives at the Trident Gang Command of the Metropolitan Police are most concerned with the gang's trade in death and violence.
Det Ch Supt Stuart Cundy, who heads Trident, told the BBC, "There is no singular gang in terms of why a gang exists or doesn't exist. Some of them are based very much on peer group; some on locality; some on post code. Some are drawn together to further their criminality.
"There is the whole spectrum across London. What we are doing as the Met Police is tackling gang crime in all of its guises.
"Ultimate success for us is stopping the killings... the shooting and stopping the stabbings - stopping primarily young men getting seriously injured right across London."


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## Ms T (Jun 12, 2012)

i haven't listened to it yet, but it's an online version of a piece he did for the Today programme yesterday.  Might be worth seeking out on Listen Again.


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## prunus (Jun 12, 2012)

In no way relevant, but I'm amused by the above-mentioned Tulse Hill gang choosing the moniker TN1 - the postcode for Tunbridge Wells.    Perhaps they're disgusted by the behaviour of modern youth.


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## Brixton Hatter (Jun 12, 2012)

there's some more discussion of this over on the chitter chatter thread: http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/brixton-chitter-chatter-and-news-june-2012.294311/page-7


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## hendo (Jun 12, 2012)

A better radio piece than online IMHO; and definitely told me a shedload of things I didn't know.


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## ericjarvis (Jun 12, 2012)

hendo said:


> A better radio piece than online IMHO; and definitely told me a shedload of things I didn't know.



Be warned, it's not easy to pick out the truth in reports about this lot. They may not be much cop at diplomacy, but GAS (like their predecessors PDC) are dab hands at PR.


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## Mrs Magpie (Jun 12, 2012)

ericjarvis said:


> Be warned, it's not easy to pick out the truth in reports about this lot. They may not be much cop at diplomacy, but GAS (like their predecessors PDC) are dab hands at PR.


innit...I love how years ago PDC (Peel Dem Crew) told the Guardian that PDC stood for Poverty Driven Children. They know their audience  That one is still trotted out.


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## CH1 (Jun 12, 2012)

I can't wait for the next instalment. They are talking to a single mum who persuades gang members to give it all up. A woman called Mimi "fitting that description" has turned up a couple of times at the Police Consultative group with young men in suits who testify how their lives have been turned round. True born again stuff. But that's what they need isn't it?
Go back to 18th century London. John Wesley terrified the drunkards into becoming Methodists & signing the pledge. The effects lasted right up until the beginning of WW1.  Villages in Wales had 3 types of Methodist chapel - Wesleyan, Primitve or mainstream and NO PUB.

I know you lot won't like that - but I bet some Welsh livers were saved from sclerosis, as well as their owners for the hereafter.

This morning's Gas Gang feature was at 7.30 am - just before "Thought for the day" (appropriately enough I guess)


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## Mrs Magpie (Jun 13, 2012)

CH1 said:


> .....their lives have been turned round. True born again stuff. But that's what they need isn't it?


I think it's about 'family' and belonging. There are gang members all around me. All of them are really lost boys, looking for acceptance. They aren't all a product of poor 'problem family' parenting by any means. In fact a lot of them are from the archetypal 'hard-working families'. They don't see much of their parents as a result. They need attention and they get it from the sense of belonging to a group of similar boys and young men. 
A lot of gangs aren't malign at all. It depends on the make-up of the upper bits of the hierarchy. They're the ones that set the moral tone.


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## stuff_it (Jun 13, 2012)

CH1 said:


> I can't wait for the next instalment. They are talking to a single mum who persuades gang members to give it all up. A woman called Mimi "fitting that description" has turned up a couple of times at the Police Consultative group with young men in suits who testify how their lives have been turned round. True born again stuff. But that's what they need isn't it?
> Go back to 18th century London. John Wesley terrified the drunkards into becoming Methodists & signing the pledge. The effects lasted right up until the beginning of WW1. Villages in Wales had 3 types of Methodist chapel - Wesleyan, Primitve or mainstream and NO PUB.
> 
> I know you lot won't like that - but I bet some Welsh livers were saved from sclerosis, as well as their owners for the hereafter.
> ...


In context does that mean there are no weed dealers on her estate? Think of the kids!


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## CH1 (Jun 13, 2012)

stuff_it said:


> In context does that mean there are no weed dealers on her estate? Think of the kids!


If you heard her this morning @ 8.40 am, it sounds like she is more concerned about her kids and their friends getting into bad company, stealing trainers etc than whether people were smoking wee (as we say in Ghana).
She saw the gangs as a major problem in that members indulge in immoral and risky behaviour for immediate gratification - such as new trainers etc.
And also had no realistic hope for the future.
She did also say that at one time the "youth" needed passwords to get into their own estate. This being their own mechanism of self-protection against rival gangs.
Can't see anything wrong with her analysis - can you?


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## stuff_it (Jun 13, 2012)

Unfortunately hope for the future is in increasingly short supply.


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## ericjarvis (Jun 13, 2012)

CH1 said:


> If you heard her this morning @ 8.40 am, it sounds like she is more concerned about her kids and their friends getting into bad company, stealing trainers etc than whether people were smoking wee (as we say in Ghana).
> She saw the gangs as a major problem in that members indulge in immoral and risky behaviour for immediate gratification - such as new trainers etc.
> And also had no realistic hope for the future.
> She did also say that at one time the "youth" needed passwords to get into their own estate. This being their own mechanism of self-protection against rival gangs.
> Can't see anything wrong with her analysis - can you?



Not in the slightest.

Incidentally the problem drug, at least on Angell Town, is crack. By and large the gang aren't consumers of it, but some deal. Gang crime isn't to fund drug habits, that's mostly petty stuff by "freelancers", the gang members are mostly after status symbols.


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## shygirl (Jun 14, 2012)

Pastor Mimi has done some incredible work with young people in Myatts Fields and the surrounding area.   I have heard directly from yp in other areas that a lot of the kids really did turn away from gang life/crime. 

I am concerned that there's not really an analysis of how much influence older (adult) criminals/dealers have on some of these gangs.


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## shygirl (Jun 14, 2012)

I recall one time when a largish group of yp belonging to Mimi's group were travelling to West Norwood to attend a cpcg meeting to share their experiences of stop & search, etc.  They were all stopped and endured an unpleasant stop & search experience.


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## Brixton Hatter (Jun 14, 2012)

apparently there is another infamous gang roaming the streets of Brixton and terrorising people in local pubs at the moment, handing out verbal abuse and generally putting the shits into folk, going by the name of the u.7t5 gang


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## Badgers (Jun 14, 2012)

Brixton Hatter said:
			
		

> apparently there is another infamous gang roaming the streets of Brixton and terrorising people in local pubs at the moment, handing out verbal abuse and generally putting the shits into folk, going by the name of the u.7t5 gang



 

Sign me up


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## Brixton Hatter (Jun 14, 2012)

Badgers said:


> Sign me up


you have to go through the initiation test first...


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## Badgers (Jun 14, 2012)

Brixton Hatter said:
			
		

> you have to go through the initiation test first...



Creepy cult  

I am Mr Initiation in some circles


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## Brixton Hatter (Jun 14, 2012)

Badgers said:


> Creepy cult
> 
> I am Mr Initiation in some circles


I was thinking 10 pints in the Albert with the Ed, 10 cocktails on the Ritzy terrace, followed by a 10 hour debate with Onket


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## Gramsci (Jun 15, 2012)

Mrs Magpie said:


> innit...I love how years ago PDC (Peel Dem Crew) told the Guardian that PDC stood for Poverty Driven Children. They know their audience  That one is still trotted out.


 
Yes on the radio , this morning I think, someone called it Poverty Driven Children. They were talking about one gang member who now had clothing range and music business. Implication from piece was that gang membership required same skills as being a businessman.

What can I say. Just helps to confirm my view that business and gangsterism overlap. Its what happens in Eastern Europe my friends from there tell me. Being a thug helps if you want to be a capitalist. You already have that ruthless streak. 

Frankly I found the series of radio pieces started to get on my nerves. There is plenty of people on estates who are having a hard time one way or another and they never get media attention. Especially now with government cuts, "austerity" and the "Localism Bill" bringing in the possible destruction of affordable housing.


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## CH1 (Jun 15, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Yes on the radio , this morning I think, someone called it Poverty Driven Children. They were talking about one gang member who now had clothing range and music business. Implication from piece was that gang membership required same skills as being a businessman.
> 
> What can I say. Just helps to confirm my view that business and gangsterism overlap. Its what happens in Eastern Europe my friends from there tell me. Being a thug helps if you want to be a capitalist. You already have that ruthless streak.
> 
> Frankly I found the series of radio pieces started to get on my nerves. There is plenty of people on estates who are having a hard time one way or another and they never get media attention. Especially now with government cuts, "austerity" and the "Localism Bill" bringing in the possible destruction of affordable housing.


TBF the radio pieces were about gangs - not Eric Pickles vs Angell Town Estate residents

And I greatly admire Mimi - notwithstanding that her churchmanship is different to mine.
I don't see the Gas Gang members acting as Thurifer and swinging the incense at my Parish Church (St John's Angell Town). Or even joining the Church Choir - despite their musical aspirations. Not withstanding our "charismatic" Bajan lady vicar - who decamps to the West Indies to watch cricket if there's any doing. 
Mimi's approach has a proven track record with a certain type of "lost young man".

I would imagine the same might be true at UCKG - judging from the sort of extempore sermons to youths that go on at the 59 bus stop outside on Sunday afternoons. However I think Mimi is closer to God - giving as well as receiving etc. UCKG didn't shape up too well in the Baby P case, and they have a hierarchy of "Bishops" and a tithing system more reminiscent of a Ponzi scheme according to Private Eye.


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## CH1 (Jun 15, 2012)

More gangs @ 7.15 am on Today programme - including interesting interviews at Kings College Hospital A & E.


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## ericjarvis (Jun 17, 2012)

shygirl said:


> Pastor Mimi has done some incredible work with young people in Myatts Fields and the surrounding area.   I have heard directly from yp in other areas that a lot of the kids really did turn away from gang life/crime.
> 
> I am concerned that there's not really an analysis of how much influence older (adult) criminals/dealers have on some of these gangs.



My next door neighbour is researching precisely that as part of her criminolgy degree, so I guess South Bank Uni are looking at it if nobody else. Her tutor seems to be very big on looking at what factors decide whether and how much a kid gets involved in gang activity.


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## shygirl (Jun 18, 2012)

Wow, that sounds interesting.  John Pitts (prof) has also looked at this aspect in his studies of gang life/culture.  One of his reports, 'Reluctant Gangsters', based on gangs in the Walthamstow area, looks at the links with adults.   I think its generally accepted that the majority of youth gangs in South London were initially independent of adult criminal networks, but  I do wonder how much this picture has changed, particularly with drugs fuelling quite a bit of the trouble at the moment.

If your neighbour would like to meet up for a chat, I'd be more than happy to do so.   Not that I'm an expert or anything, but do have some years of experience of working with young people involved in gangs.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 18, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Just helps to confirm my view that business and gangsterism overlap.


and not just gangsterism...


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