Burger Bar Boys and StreetFighter feud as Britain’s most harmful gangs mapped

Mapping the patches and fault lines of Britain’s criminal underground is a difficult task.

Areas of influence shift, gang names change, and those involved can quickly go from the streets to the cells, or too often the morgue.

Despite this, the Daily Star has spent weeks pouring over crime stats, police reports and public testimony to accurately map the gangs with the most influence on this country’s criminal underbelly.

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Here’s what we found:

London

London’s criminal underworld in many ways mirrors the city itself – massive, diverse, complex.

The capital is home to a number of powerful, international criminal enterprises, as well as smaller, more localised operations often separated by a postcode digit or estate border.

London’s streets are scarred by the revolving door of powerful syndicates that at one time have ruled the roost.

From the infamous Kray twins, to the Adams family of Clerkenwell, seemingly untouchable enterprises rarely stay on top for too long.

While we can’t know for sure which group commands the most power over the UK’s largest city, the Albanian Mafia are certainly a contender, supposedly controlling a large share of illegal drugs, especially cocaine, in the city.

Albanian criminal groups also allegedly control a large portion of the prostitution market in the UK, and are involved in people trafficking.

Its worth noting that the Albanian Mafia is not necessarily a homogenous organisation, but rather a number of different groups, many of which do have alliances, made up of individuals from Albania.

The most infamous of these splinter groups is no doubt the Hellbanianz.

London’s region-based gangs are particularly difficult to track, given the regularity of name changes, splintering and merging. Often named after a postcode or landmark, hundreds of groups operate across the capital.

With a primary focus on drug dealing, these groups, such as Mali Strip, OFB, and NPK, also make their money from robbery, extortion, and arms deals.

Birmingham

Like London, Birmingham is home to a number of regionalised gangs, often defined by individual postcode. These groups differ largely in size, as well as in the severity of their crimes.

Two of the largest street gangs in the city, who share a bitter and at times deadly rivalry, are the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew. The two groups are heavily involved in the illegal drugs trade.

Both gangs can be traced directly back to the 1980s, and take their names from their respective meeting spots, a burger restaurant on Soho Road and Johnson’s cafe on Heathfield road.

The two groups were initially friendly, however according to local sources two lead members fell out while playing combat-based video game StreetFighter.

The feud escalated during the 2000s, and the city saw a number of tit-for-tat killings, including the murder of two teenage girls at a party by Burger members.

The Burger Bar Boys are known for wearing red (as well as sometimes green and purple), and the Johnson Crew wear predominately blue.

Both groups have splinters and subdivisions. The Burger Bar Boys splinter groups include the notorious BMW (Birmingham’s Most Wanted) gang, and the Johnson’s include GMG, both of whom are said to be heavily involved in the crack cocaine trade.

Manchester

Manchester has long held a reputation as a city with a violent underbelly, being nicknamed ‘Gunchester’ in some criminal circles.

Similarly to Birmingham, two large, feuding gangs hold a great deal of power in the city. These gangs are also partly formed of a number of offshoots and subdivisions.

The two largest gangs in Manchester are The Gooch Close Gang, normally referred to as ‘The Gooch’, and the Doddington (originally Pepperhill) Mob. The pair are both based in Moss Side, in and around the Alexandra Park estate.

The late 90s and early 00s saw a huge rise in violence between the two gangs, with shootouts and drive-byes becoming regular occurrences.

After a police crackdown lead to a catalogue of arrests in 2009, including that of Gooch leaders Colin Joyce and Lee Amos, the city saw a reduction in violent crime.

Liverpool

Like many port cities, Liverpool has long been a source for crime syndicates to bring drugs, weapons and other illegal produce into the country.

A number of international crime groups, such as the Kinahan Group, are said to traffic through the city.

The city has also seen spates of violence in the form of turf wars, especially between the Strand Gang or Nogzy Crew and the Croxteth Crew. Both gangs control much of the drugs trade within the city.

The feud between the two led to the tragic death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was caught in the crossfire during a 2007 shootout between the groups.

Northern Ireland

Northern Irish gangs mostly follow the sectarian lines drawn up during The Troubles.

Many paramilitary groups, both loyalists and republicans, turned their attention from terrorism to the drugs trade, as well as prostitution rings, extortion and robberies during the 2000s.

These groups already had access to firearms, and had contacts in the European criminal world and beyond.

Over time, the sectarian split has slightly blurred. One of Northern Ireland’s most powerful gangs, The Firm, are made up of both Catholic and Protestant members.

The Firm are believed to have ties to Albanian groups in mainland Europe, and reports say that the group is more interested in making money than it is in religion or politics.

Rest of the UK

Almost all of the UK’s cities have postcode related gangs operating to some degree.

Furthermore, many gangs operating out of UK cities have control over the drugs trade in more remote locations, running infamous county lines operations.

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