How London Street Gangs Actually Work | How Crime Works | Insider

My name is Omar Sharif, I was previously involved in gang activity in London and this is how

crime

work

s. I was involved in

gangs

from 2005 to 2011. I am grateful to still be alive, although I have come very close to losing my life in

gangs

. They put a lot of knives in my neck and stomach. They stabbed me twice in the right leg. They have pointed guns at me. The gang structure is almost like having a job. OK? You have the rookies that come involved. Then you have management. Then you have top management. I got involved in a gang when I was about 13,

actually

selling candy at school.

One day someone came up to me and said, "How would you like to make more money?" And at first I knew what he was talking about. I was scared, but when he started mentioning things about, you know, you can be a man, you can support and help your parents at home. And when you come from council housing and sometimes things aren't easy, that kind of language is enough to make you say, "Well, okay, can I do this?" When you join at the age I did, you're considered younger. A younger one is the

street

soldier. A younger is the person who has just been employed in the gang.

As part of the gang initially when we were younger, we have to put certain things away, we have to make deliveries, we have to be on guard. They tell you where to go, what to do, not to look in the bags, not to look in the boxes. It's just that you're a yes man. And we admire our elders. So, our elders are the people we aspire to be. Those who have money, you know, at one time, they had Gucci belts, Rolexes, gold teeth, nice cars. In a gang, the oldest is not always in charge, but he is almost like a middle manager.

Then he takes control of what goes in and out of the area, who sells what on certain

street

s, the management of the money, the distribution, and he or she will have the... he or she. It could also be her. They will have connections with the people above. So he's kind of the chain of command. So they are the ones who usually even prepare people to form a gang. They are the ones who, when things get a little bad and people are beaten, sometimes kidnapped, sometimes threatened, call the elders. But I know from experience that even the elders, whom we admire, are talking to people above them.

I have seen people who are above the elders who are nothing like us, who are nothing like us. I can guess the jobs they do and they are deeply rooted in society, which opened my eyes. Because I thought, even when I was a young black man in London, that only guys like me do this kind of thing. But in reality, we are just his foot soldiers. So even our elders, who we wanted to become, are still the man who says yes to someone else. The people above our elders in the gang, the highest in the hierarchy, from what I understand, this couple, they were huge on the property scene in the UK.

They weren't involved in the dirty

work

, but a lot of the money that went into their businesses came from the money that a lot of the foot soldiers, the younger ones like me, would earn and pass through the food chain. It's scary to think that when you go to a bank or talk to a lawyer or walk around Greater London and you talk to someone who is quite high up in business, for example, they have interesting habits on the side, or hobbies on the side, because I have seen it with my own eyes. The way street gangs make money here in London includes things like kidnapping; there are hits, where someone wants someone to be hurt or killed; but the most common way, which I would say is the one you hear or see most of the day, is selling drugs.

Gangs usually have things called trap houses or gangs. Trap houses are places from where drugs will be sold, where weapons could be stored. There, for example, gang members will live or care for. And these are acquired in various ways. These could be places where squatters have been for a while. It could be the house of another person who belongs to the gang. And these are safe places for the gang. So if something happens, we'll get a call saying, "Okay, meet us at the trap house." We know where that is. Address is never texted over the phone.

They never talk on the phone. It is always told verbally, so there are no traces of where it could be. And if they are in the area where the gang belongs, the police will initially make a connection immediately. Gang wars can start over the smallest or most important things. Smaller things could be that they were in a club or at a rave, and from there someone gets stabbed, and then it's all in all, we have to retaliate, we have to send a message, we have to show them who we are. So they called everyone, and it was no longer just one person against one person, but it was

actually

gang against gang, zip code against zip code.

And now we're talking about 50 to 100 more people. It got to a point where we were having zip code wars, meaning it was my block, NW1, versus NW5. These gang wars started because people started getting greedy. People sought power. People were simply looking to be significant. And people also wanted to get up. Zip code wars are also called interstate wars. This is something that started even in the 60s and 70s, and the areas became smaller or larger. And it is a way to protect the territory. Now there are things called block wars, property wars, where even within the same zip code, there is so much rivalry.

There is such a demand of who is more important. So it goes from area, zip code, now to blocks, which creates further division. Years ago, there seemed to be one more reason they were going to war, because something big happened. Even recently, he was counseling about 10 young boys at a school, and one of them told another that something offended him about his mother. And that spread from school. And because it was filmed and posted on social media, one of them ended up getting stabbed. There was a video of about 60 people fighting. I could see weapons. I saw machetes come out.

Why are they fighting? It's basically nothing, really. Those fights don't happen over drugs, they don't happen over a threat from someone outside. They're just two male egos who can't have a conversation, and that has to result in violence and sometimes even death. Although weapons are easy to obtain, knives are still the biggest problem. We surely hear more deaths from knives than from gunshots. Maybe because knife laws are not as regulated. Because they say that if you carry a knife, they'll put you in prison for four years. But then I hear people get three, four, five warnings.

So people don't really take the law seriously. And nowadays, when you hear about someone being stabbed, it's a young man against a younger man. Older people don't get involved in things like that. And these young people will not be able to get their hands on a gun unless they steal it from someone or steal it from the trap house, for example. For anyone under 18 to get a knife, it's as easy as going to Amazon and clicking on something for next day delivery, and they'll receive it. It is not regulated. I know even on Snapchat there are accounts on Snapchat every day where they say, "Hey, we have five machetes.

We have five knives with knuckles attached. Who wants this?" I have seen axes with chains. Why are they doing these things? Why don't they ask for an identity document? Some of them might say, "You must be over 18 to buy this." That's never deterred anyone under 18 from saying, "Okay, I shouldn't do this." They don't know that by making that sale and then delivering it to that house, that young man goes and kills someone here. They are part of that cycle. But they are very attached to it. In the UK, there is a law about carrying a knife, approximately in size and the blade itself is less than 3 inches.

It has to be foldable and you should not carry it for the wrong reasons. I mean, I've been stopped and searched before, and sometimes I had a knife on me, but I had a folding knife and I wasn't in a state of rage. Then the guy told me, actually, if he had caught me and I was angry, then he would have arrested me. And that made me realize that they don't really have a right way to control this. Because I know a lot of, well, I knew a lot of guys who would carry bigger swords, that can't be bent.

And they would be walking with those on the main streets, for example. I have never heard of anyone going to prison for carrying a knife. I grew up in Marylebone, which is essentially a very, very nice area. However, there is a divide, because there is a side of Marylebone where there are very nice mansions and nice flats with nice cars. That's not where I lived. I lived on the other side. I lived on the other side, where there are municipal flats and tower blocks. Even though it is just around the corner, we are brought up with a mindset and belief system that we are not good enough for.

It's easy for anyone to be interested in joining a gang, for many reasons. For young people it usually has to do with money. The other main reason is that belonging. It's having a family, having that brotherhood, a brotherhood. We don't go to private schools, right? We only go to public schools and that's where it all begins. I didn't run up to a gang and say, "Hey, I want to be in your gang to make money." I tried to follow the right path. You know, I borrowed some clothes to go to the interviews. I applied for 50 jobs when I left school and no one said yes to me.

If society doesn't allow me to make money this way but there is a lifestyle that could, where do I go? The first thing they do is make friends with you, they welcome you. So they make you feel part of a family. The second thing is to spoil yourself in some way. You know, if they know you need money, they give you some money. If they know you're hungry, you get some food. Then they test you in some way. They may ask you to hold something for them. You may be asked to be somewhere at a certain time.

And usually they have set something up for them to steal from you on purpose. They prepare you in some way to see what you say, because they are the ones controlling: "Oh, can we trust this person?" It's really bad the way they make you trust them and love them like family. But you're just a pawn in a bigger game. In a gang, it's almost like forming a fantasy football team. Different strengths. Someone could be quick. Someone could be a good driver. Someone could be a good fighter. Someone could stab you and not care. Someone could steal.

So when they recruit for a gang, I would say there are qualities that they look for. The first thing they look for is loyalty, but they also look at how they can strengthen the gang. What can that person bring to the table? New gang members are recruited on a geographic basis. So, I think local recruitment is the priority for a gang, because they need to have high numbers. They need to have a certain number of people on the road doing certain things, a certain number of people moving, distributing and managing. So in the UK we have something called county lines.

And this is where a lot of inner city gangs, there's no territory anymore, everything's been divided up, so now they're thinking, "Okay, how can we expand?" So county lines are where these gangs want to operate in smaller towns, smaller cities and rural areas. And they usually use young people for this. You may have heard of the term "going OT," which means getting out of town and is facilitated by seniors. So, the seniors would have someone in their place who maybe lives in a smaller town. They may have someone who has a farm somewhere. Train tickets, everything is paid for for the young man.

They give them a budget, they give them money for lunch and things like that. They will tell them to dress how they normally dress. They give them a backpack, they tell them: "Look, don't open the backpack. Here is the address. Go here, wait here or call this number," for example. The goal of doing that is for the police to say, "Well, he's a young person. We don't have to search him." I think in some ways the UK is influenced by the US, not just in the rap scene. I know the drill scene came up, but there's always a little bit of competition too.

For example, America, the Bloods versus Crips, who also came here in the UK. And that was a massive scene for a while. There was a period when they simply became colors. Then there was only the bandana, which represented what color or what gang you are. That's why we're starting to see, you know, music videos getting dirtier. We started to see more murders. We started to see more guns on the street. So in the United States we have gangs like VMF and GD, which have been around for over 30 years. Latin kings. I feel like in the UK the gangs are more divided.

Here in the UK you can own a property, a block. And even within that bloc, it is divided. You know, from block to blockblock, from street to street. That's what I experienced and today I'm sure it's even worse. So for me the main difference is the size of the trade. But they also seem to have more stability and more structure in the way they create longevity. I think social media plays a huge role in increasing gang violence because of the exposure they get. I interviewed a young man in prison and he said that the reason he killed the people he killed was because of the songs he had heard.

He said he wanted to recreate that in real life. And I focus on young people because they are the most vulnerable. They are the ones who are not able to make a decision for themselves yet. I'm sure there will be some collateral damage from these things. Because when you listen clearly, if you can understand what they're saying in these workout songs, it's scary. What can be sold, heard publicly and shared on the radio, for example, because young people listen to it and want to replicate it because they think: "Ah, okay, now he is my role model, my idol." In order to be seen as successful, I need to do what he's doing." For kids to avoid being targeted by gangs, for me it comes down to discipline.

It's really understanding what you're getting into. I think the way The way gangs are controlled today is difficult, because it made me feel very embarrassed, you know, being stopped and searched in front of my mother. And, you know, she cried at home and said, "Why do you think. that my son is this kind of person?" And I hated seeing her angry. But if I put my hat on, I think, "Okay, well, if we stop and search everyone who looks like the criterion stereotype, we could find another gun and take it out." off the streets." To me, that's the wrong approach, because not everyone who looks a certain way fits that stereotype.

I think the stop and frisk policy should be reviewed, because if you find a young man and he's carrying a folding knife less than 3 inches long, they will take it off, pat your wrist, and say, "Have a nice day." "The next day he will go get the exact same knife somewhere else and bring it back. Instead of creating or deepening that hatred, you should try to create a relationship by doing things like going to school. I've always said to talk their language. If you want to watch them, sit down and talk to them. A brother of a friend of mine, a while ago he was caught on the street.

He didn't have many drugs on him, but he had enough, and he was arrested and jailed for a while. Yes. someone would tell him, "Hey, listen, we know what you're doing here. How about we offer you the opportunity to make money with us or find you a job?" And you have to think about it like this: prison is a business. For every person who is incarcerated, someone gets paid. It's a good deterrent to some people, because some people might take it as a lesson and say, “Well, I know a friend of mine was carrying something and he got arrested.

I shouldn't do it too." But for most people, this is not enough. More happens in prison than on the streets. This is what we don't hear about on the news. People are dying in prisons. Gangs are still doing the same thing in prison. I think wealth inequality definitely contributes to gang activity, gang violence. The way these gangs make money, and also from personal experience, is through. drugs, predominantly. If 90% of the money comes from drugs and you legalize it, one thing can happen: there will be too much demand, then the gang will start fighting even more because now they have an open market for example, or it could destabilize them, because the moment the companies find out, the pharmaceutical companies will start to get involved, and they are major players.

That will completely eliminate the gangs. So will they have money to buy weapons? Will they even have more money to finance gang wars? It probably wouldn't happen. For many young people who carry knives, one of the reasons, and one of my initial reasons, was because we feel unsafe or we have heard of people being stabbed and we want to be able to protect ourselves. I don't think there is a quick fix to trying to make a young person feel safe. The way to solve the problem and deter them is not through fear, because that doesn't work.

It is re-educating them about the consequences of these things and giving people opportunities, showing them more love. These people who are involved in gangs, they did everything they did just because they wanted to feel the love of the people. They did not receive love from home. They didn't receive that love at home, but when they did something, the gang showed them respect and that was what attracted them even more. One thing that I know has changed over the years and would still help other people feel safe in gang-led areas is the presence of youth centers. And these were places where you could have rival gangs come to the same building, play music together, play pool together, play basketball together.

And it was a safe place. When you have something you're passionate about and something you care about, it eliminates the amount of time you spend with the gang. Eliminate the amount of time you spend on the streets. Schools have an important role to play in gang culture. And it

works

both ways, because I've seen how if you have a school that's in the middle of three areas that are at war, for example, then you have a big problem because, just like in prison, you have to have gang activity in the school. . A community approach will be needed to eliminate or reduce violence and gang activity.

But I think it has to be a complete united front from all levels of society. If I look at London gangs in 10 years' time, I can see the problem getting deeper. I can see a culture that is becoming even more integrated into society. I think London gang culture will almost become a standard for other gangs in other countries. There are young people who do not see the seriousness of this. They'll look at it like it's cool. They will see it as something that must be done, just as I saw it when I was young. So yes. 10 years from now is a scary place, especially as a parent.

Trying to get out of a gang is one of the hardest things you can do. I had no choice. There came a point where I had to go off the extremes. So I left the area where I was from. I had to move to another area. And this is because he had seen people die. This is because they attacked me. I had been stabbed too and in my mind I knew there were two directions for me: go to prison, or get stabbed, or end up dead. But it was in that moment of darkness where I realized I needed to make a bigger decision.

I need to make a decision about what I'm going to do with my life. But it took me going and talking to the people who were my elders and telling them exactly what I'm telling you right now on camera, which is that I've had enough and that, you know, my mental health at the time wasn't good. It's in a good place. I was never able to speak to any of them again. I was not welcome. In fact, they advised me to stay out of the area. Because I was able to get out of the situation, I feel a responsibility to be a voice for other people.

Since I left the gang, my number one priority was working on myself to become a better person. So now I'm a mentor and coach. As a mentor, I work with young people in schools, prisons, universities, helping them understand their thinking and helping them make better decisions. And as a peak performance coach, I work with people to do exactly the same thing, but also to help them understand what motivates them as humans. There are definitely aspects of being around gang activity that I regret. But right now, what I'm doing with young people, adults and people at all levels of society, I wouldn't be able to have those conversations if I hadn't gone through what I've gone through.