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SCMP Reporter

At first police believed they were a loose association of criminals bent on little more than making money from drugs and spending it as quickly as possible.

  But a spate of recent killings has worried police in London that the capital faces a new threat from organised gangs known as Yardies, who frequently resort to guns to ensure their status in the illegal drug trade.

  Last week saw the latest murder in a brutal turf war between rival groups, mostly made up of Jamaican migrants fighting for control of the crack cocaine trade in Britain's inner cities.

  Dean Roberts, a 20-year-old minor drug dealer, was shot dead in a street in north-west London by two men armed with automatic handguns. It was the 13th such killing in the area to be linked to the Yardie gangsters this year.

  The gunmen made little attempt to hide their identities and police believe the same gangs have been responsible for other shootings, including one in May when a young couple were shot dead at home in front of their seven-year-old daughter.

  The extent of the feud was reflected in another incident last week at a shoot-out between rival factions outside a north London nightclub.

  Gangsters armed with handguns opened fire indiscriminately across the street, leaving two people seriously injured and police counting bullet holes.

  Yardie gangs began to emerge in Britain more than 10 years ago when they started selling crack cocaine, mostly on housing estates and running small-time protection rackets.

  The name originates from a slang term used in the ghettos of Kingston in Jamaica and some of the groups are believed to have links with similar gangs in North America where they are known as the Posse.

   Rather than arranging large shipments of drugs the groups were responsible for small but frequent smuggling operations and tended not to get involved in other criminal activities.

  But over the years the Yardies have become more assertive and made use of their contacts in the US to get automatic weapons. They are brought into the country alongside consignments of crack, which is estimated to have become a GBP1 billion (HK$12 billion) business in Britain.

  Groups have equipped themselves with Israeli Uzi sub-machine guns capable of firing 650 rounds a minute, and the even more lethal Ingram Mac 10 sub-machine gun.

  Despite the recent increase in killings police believe only about 200 gangsters have access to weapons, but the Yardies are distinguished from other organised crime groups by their willingness to use guns to ensure status within their gang.

  The gangs' reputations have been enhanced by the so-called gangster rap recordings that refer to the activities of Yardies and feed the street credibility of the criminals in their communities.

  Detectives have identified at least three gangs, two of which operate in north London, the Kick Off Head Crew and the Much Loved Crew, while another group known as the Black Rose Criminal Posse is established south of the river Thames.

  Leadership of the groups changes frequently as the life expectancy of gang members is short, with members as likely to be killed by one of their own as by a rival gang.

  The recent spate of violence is said to stem from the arrival of a new clique of gangsters from Jamaica trying to make their mark in Britain, and the frequency of the recent shootings could reflect the struggle for power within the different gangs.

 In the borough of Harlesden where many of the attacks have taken place, the Yardies appear to have taken control of the streets with graffiti even covering the walls of the local magistrates' courts marking the territory of rival groups.

  Underlying the police's problems in cracking down on the gangs is their poor relations with the black community and detectives' sensitivities at seeming to target one ethnic group.

  Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cox, in charge of investigating the recent attacks, admitted the recent violence represented a challenge to police control of the area.

  'We have experienced the biggest ever increase in the murder rate. Effectively it has risen by 100 per cent,' he said. 'The average figures for the year are usually about 40 or 50 cases and unless it tails off we will have a total of up to 90, which is unheard of.

  'There seems to be an increasing prevalence for people to carry weapons and to use them. What used to be a punch up can now end up as a murder.'   But Chief Superintendent, Paul Green, the police commander of Harlesden insisted the situation was not out of control.

  'London is a safe city; people do not need to fear leaving their homes,' he said. 'We have extra high-visibility patrols and extra resources to reduce the risk of these murders.'   'The recent shootings in this part of London do not reflect the day-to-day life. London still remains one of the world's safest capital cities.' 



London's crack wars