Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang ...

3.3.6. Conflict amongst the age ranks
More recently the younger generation in some groups has rebelled against their
olders. Often in circumstances where they have been „bayed‟ (teased or bullied),
conflict has arisen between the different generations and as a result one gang
has become two 24 .
There have been numerous cases in London in the past two years where older
teens and those in their early twenties have been murder victims to the younger
generation. For example those charged with the murders of Nicholas Clarke
(aka „ratty‟) and Rowan Durbar in Newham was secondary school aged.
However, there have also been incidents of violence against young teenagers
by older men.
“The Youngers got no respect for the elder‟s no-more in a lot of places.
They ready to put in work to leap frog you in the ranks, its no long ting to
them. Even the beef ting, us olders grew up knowing who our rivals and
enemies are but the youngers isn‟t got no respect for that they will link up
with longstanding rivals and start wars with long standing allies without
care for the olders, it‟s disrespectful” 25
3.3.7. Links built through the prison system
In some cases gangs link up together whilst in prison, with links commonly built
around the in-prison drugs trade. One of the better known gangs formed in
prisons is the “Northern Line”, a connection of gang members from north
London, mainly Haringey, Enfield and Islington. Members of Northern Line
come from gangs who are rivals outside prison. On release the connections are
used for business deals amongst gang members. Furthermore, criminals who
may not have been gang involved on entering prison sometimes associate with
gang members in prison and then join the gang after release. The street conflict
however remains as it is usually, spearheaded by the younger generation. Older
members also see the street conflict as a good tool for keeping police attention
24 This has been derived from just several examples in Haringey, Peckham, Lewisham and
Lambeth. However, the details on a number of the 2007-08 murder cases whereby there is a
distinct age difference between killer and victim of “gang-related” incidences could imply this is
more widespread. Furthermore, statistics on suspects of shootings has shown those aged in
their teens to have doubled since 2004-05 in both numbers and as a proportion –
http://www.london.gov.uk/gangs
25 Older Peckham boy talking about the younger generation and in particular a link up for the
Notting Hill Carnival of Peckham and Deptford youths, at Notting Hill Carnival, Golborne Road
2008. Many olders have spoke about the disrespect youngers show with regard to longstanding
rivalries and alliances and in some cases have solely blamed youngers for the fall out
of older gang members based on the actions of their younger relatives (a Brixton gang member
talked about the escalation on this basis between two SW9 gangs). The older members
explained that youngers are often unaware of the history and incidents that have happened
such as murders. However, in Tottenham, it was described how older and original gang
members oversee each “gang neighbourhood” in N15/N17 to ensure total co-operation and
unity between the cliques and sort out any younger conflict should it arise (as stated by several
older gang members from Tottenham during a meeting on the Stonebridge Estate N15 2007).
An older Peckham Boy also described a similar process in Peckham where unity in the local
area is promoted and conflict suppressed and hidden from rivals.
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