Manchester and Englands First Modern Street Gangs

In the mid 1980s a growth in violence amongst African youths from the west side of the Alexandra Park Estate in South Manchester who were rivals to Africans residing north of the city in Cheetham Hill began to gain media attention. Cheetham Hill was populated by Afro-Caribbean’s who had decamped north of the city (to the spill over estate of Cheetham) from Moss Side in south Manchester. The two estates had many connections and allied loosely as not to carry out business in one another’s turf. A robbery by Cheetham Hill in what was seen as Moss Side area in 1984 followed by a dispute over a woman brought the two areas into conflict. Cheetham criminals were the first to show firearms in a Manchester where gun crime was still rare.

Towards the end of the 1980s another group of young men from the eastside of the Alexandra Park estate began dealing from Moss Lane. They used the Pepperhill Pub in Bedwell Close and later became known as the Pepperhill Mob. The money being made from dealing by the Pepperhill Mob attracted the Cheetham Hill gang to begin taxing them of their money. Unlike the first conflict where Cheetham Hill had carried out most of the attacks on Moss Side, the Pepperhill Mob showed they would defend themselves and the second conflict in a matter of years broke out between Manchester criminal groups north and south of the city centre. The dividing line did in fact become Manchester city centre.

The gang wars in Manchester first gained national media attention in the Guardian newspaper on 7th June 1988. In the article, Cliver Atkinson, deputy head of Greater Manchester CID said, "We are dealing with a black mafia which is a threat to the whole community, and fear that unless we can apprehend the leaders, it is only a matter of time before an innocent person is killed." This came after concern over eight shootings and a gun related murder in Moss Side and Cheetham Hill when gun crime was still rare.

A report two years later on 15th December 1990 in the Guardian newspaper described how the easy access to drugs and guns was causing unease in some Manchester housing estates. It focused on the growing attraction of violent crime and combat in the concrete jungle. Throughout the early 1990s a great deal of national media attention was given to the warring gangs of Manchester. The city was dubbed in the media as 'The Bronx of Britain', 'Gangchester' and 'Gunchester'.

Whilst the city had become divided between Cheetham Hill and Moss Side, at the end of the 80s another conflict began. Alexandra Road divided the small estate of Alexandra Park. There was to be no dealings between the north and south of the city. However, youths from the west-side carried on dealing with Cheetham Hill and they began to war with the Pepperhill Mob. The youths on the west-side who lived around Gooch Close later become known as the Gooch Close gang. Gooch Close still exists today but has been changed to Westerling Way.

The war between the Gooch and Pepperhill saw a surge in violent assaults and drug related murders. At the height of it all, the Pepperhill pub was closed down and the remaining members regrouped around Doddington Close and become known as the Doddington Close Gang.

While the 'elders' were a threat to society the 'youngsters' to come up beneath them were even more ruthless in the trade and conflicts between the east and west of Alexandra Park were commonplace into the mid 1990s. In 1994, Andy Nott, crime correspondent for the Manchester Evening News reported that 'Gun Gangs Call a Halt to War in the Streets', on 13th August. A truce was agreed and after the initial summit two Los Angeles street gang members who were once deadly rivals with the Bloods and Crips visited Moss Side.

In 1995 the truce broke down following the murder of Raymond Pitt. Rays younger brother, Tommy Pitt, broke away from the Doddington Close Gang to create the Pitt Bull Crew, meanwhile in Longsight, east of Moss Side, Julian Bell formed the Longsight Crew. Conflicts arose between the Longsight Crew and Gooch, Longsight Crew and Pit Bull Crew, Pit Bull Crew and Doddington and the Doddington and Gooch. Tit-for-tat gang shootings increased dramatically toward the end of the 1990s.

Over the past several years other gangs such as the Young Longsight Soldiers have appeared and gangs have splintered into smaller groups such as the Young Gooch. The gang wars that started over 20 years ago are still somewhat present in today’s Manchester. The most recent example being in February 2006 when five men from Moss Side were jailed in what was thought to be a gang feud between the Gooch and Doddington in Manchester city centre.