Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang ...

murders in the future. There is no time limit as to when these will take place. In
the past, there have been periods of several years between a killing and its
revenge. There are murders that have occurred of young people not involved in
gangs but committed by gang members and so there is also a potential for
reprisals against these gang members.
3.4.2 Links between gangs formed over larger distances and how
music groups aligned with the gangs can promote this
Another of the major changes in the past two years has been the emergence of
cross border alliances. This has been largely as a result of the internet, gang
culture spreading through schools and family ties. Many youth gangs or peer
groups have „my space‟, „bebop‟ and „picot‟ profiles. In many cases something
as arbitrary as the colour the group associates with has been enough for an
alliance to form (for example, Hornsey Grey Gang, Priory Court Grey Gang in
Walthamstow and Grey City in Edmonton) 29 . When there are gang involved
relatives at different sides of the borough or area this can lead to links between
gangs. However, the main reason for the links is on the surface a result of the
music elements of the gangs. Many of the gangs in London are tied into urban
„grime‟ music groups such as PDC (Poverty Driven Children), Suspect Gang,
North star, Mash town and SN1 (Spare No-1). Many of the members of such
music groups are elder gang members who have left the street gang scene and
attempted to move into more legitimate business opportunities, although often
funded still by illegitimate sources.
Conflict is often integrated through the music with tracks being made to
disrespect rival gangs, often involving lyrics that refer to real life conflicts that
have involved robberies, fights and stabbings. The olders tend to tolerate these
signs of disrespect and instead respond with a song. Sometimes, however, the
Youngers cannot tolerate it and respond with violence. My space and You Tube
also provide an arena for displays of bravado and disrespect. A simple search
of just about any younger gang name in London brings back results of their
music videos and threats to rivals.
3.4.3 Mobile phones
Mobile phones play an instrumental part in setting up drug deals, and they can
also play a central part in conflict. Youths can become very fearful after seeing
a mobile phone in use after any kind of conflict. For example, a dispute between
two individuals can result in calls being made for back up and without any
warning a number of people can be called to an area ready for large scale
conflict 30 .
29 Information derived from e-mail communication with members of each gang and as described
on each individual gangs MySpace sites.
30 Information derived from two youth club workers in north London and a youth offending
service client manager in east London. Younger gang members have also described using
phones for back up although it was the adult workers who informed that young people had told
them of being fearful upon seeing phone calls being made following altercations.
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