By Tom Wood
Contributor
Criminal gangs have been with us since time immemorial.
Some have their roots in family, religious ties, or political affiliations. Many have been despised as outlaws, but a few have been judged kindly by romantic history.
When you boil it down, Robin Hood and his ‘merry men’ were really only gang poachers, Rob Roy McGregor was a glorified cattle thief, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Hole-in-the-Wall Gang were actually murderous armed robbers.
But stripping away the sentiment, all gangs have much in common. There is always strong – even brutal – leadership, a shared cause, and the most successful are usually specialist criminals formed to take advantage of a particular supply and demand gap.
The Mafia rose to power on bootlegged booze during the prohibition era, the now famous Peaky Blinders on pickpocketing and horse race betting scams, while the razor gangs that made Glasgow infamous specialised in extortion and protection rackets.
But since the first wave of heroin engulfed us 50 years ago, our gangs have mostly specialised in contraband – first drugs, then guns, and now people. Whatever pays most, the components of smuggling are fundamentally the same.
Today they are dignified by the title ‘organised crime groups’, but beneath the surface all gangs are recognisably similar, with the same strengths and weaknesses.,
They are held together by the bonds of loyalty, fear and greed. They rise in the same environments and they fall for the same reasons.
And just as the dynamics of criminal gangs have remained fairly constant, so have the reasons by which they fall.
Sometimes they are broken up by force, such is in the case of Glasgow’s great chief constable of the 1930s, Percy Sillitoe, who smashed the razor gangs with his doctrine of ‘reasonable force’, which was anything but.
“They are held together by the bonds of loyalty, fear and greed. They rise in the same environments and they fall for the same reasons”
Volunteer coach Stuart Lawlor
Sometimes they are infiltrated by undercover agents, such as the penetration of the Provisional IRA, which eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement.
And sometimes, they are consumed by bigger gangs in vicious turf wars, such as Al Capone in 1930s Chicago, or Glasgow’s so-called ‘ice cream wars’ of the 1970s and ‘80s.
Occasionally, they self-destruct in an implosion of internal warfare, which brings us to our present situation in Scotland.
‘When thieves fall out, good men prosper’ is an old proverb but, like many, there’s a strong thread of truth to it, and recently we have been witnessing a prime example played out on the streets of Scotland and further afield.
The monumental falling out between two West of Scotland crime families has led to months of reciprocal stabbings, shootings, and arson attacks.
It’s alarming to think of a gun war on our streets, but when the dust eventually settles, the gangs involved will find that neither has won, and both have been seriously damaged or destroyed.
Such a falling out among thieves is not uncommon, and usually only benefits other criminals, the tabloid press (which loves a good gangster story), and Police Scotland’s criminal intelligence units which reap the richest of harvests.
Right now, analysts at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh will be shaking their heads in disbelief at the ongoing bonanza of information coming in about these usually secretive groups.
Ideally, criminal gangs operate quietly, below the radar, with apparently legitimate ‘front’ businesses. However, the two main characteristics of most gang leaders are a raging ego and extreme paranoia.
They know that there are advantages in keeping a low-profile, but they find it hard not to flaunt their power and success. Like the preening of an ‘alpha’ pack leader, this is a way of declaring their ascendancy.
Unfortunately for them, it also draws attention to their unexplained wealth, and inevitably leads to closer examination by the authorities.
Gang leaders spend their lives looking over their shoulders, searching for conspiracies. Since they have usually reached the top by treachery, they expect to find it everywhere – and they inevitably do.
But when a gang war breaks out, all caution and good business sense is lost. Long-running, bloody arguments can break out over the most trivial of incidents. Any perceived slight can lead to conflict, but it’s usually about territory.
Most criminal gangs nowadays deal in contraband. Gone are the artful pickpockets, the armed robbers and the safe-breakers.
If it’s not online scams, then it’s contraband, drugs, money, guns, or people. Smuggling routes and markets are crucial, and any disruption is disastrous.
To make the system work, low-order minions act as facilitators. But when fighting breaks out, getting the right personnel can be difficult.
Drug couriers don’t always make good foot soldiers. Violent they may be, but they tend to get caught – and when they do, and face serious charges, old allegiances evaporate as they desperately try to save their skins.
“Gang wars have been fought for centuries, in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of flags of convenience and false loyalties”
Running coach Colin Thomas
For criminal intelligence analysts, it’s the jackpot. Gang members, safe houses, and even stashes of drugs and guns are gradually revealed.
While the gangs battle it out, they are slowly being picked apart by well-structured police investigations supported by computer-assisted admin systems, and the latest in forensic and surveillance technology.
When the gangs have fought themselves to a standstill, most members will be in jail, exile, or worse.
But what happens then? One thing we can be certain of is that other criminal groups will be ready to step up and fill the vacancy.
The iron laws of supply and demand will not be denied. As long as there is a demand for drugs or other commodities, then there will be a supply.
And who will replace the present crews? It’s a question that will be vexing the analysts of Police Scotland right now.
New gangs moving in can spark fresh and equally bloody turf wars, as they struggle to displace the remnants of the old order.
Will it be a home-grown insurgency, junior survivors from the old regime moving up, or a hostile takeover from some of the fearsome Albanian or Romanian gangs?
It’s naive to think our organised crime scene could not get worse – it most certainly could.
And there’s another problem. Our prisons are now filling up with gang members who have not forgotten their loyalties or their rivalries.
Serving long sentences, many will have nothing to lose, and will look to their old gangs for protection.
Our already beleaguered prison system is bracing itself for a long period of increased tension and violence, adding to the existing problems of overcrowding and a shortage of staff.
Our prisons may become the next turf where gang wars are played out. Does anyone remember the violent prison riots of the 1980s?
Gang wars have been fought for centuries, in all shapes and sizes, with all sorts of flags of convenience and false loyalties.
Right now, we are witnessing the latest, but certainly not the last, chapter in that long story.
Tom Wood is a writer and former Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian & Borders Police
