Hoods: The Story Of The Nottingham Gang Wars, by Carl Fellstrom

[GangstersInc]

In 2004, the horrific murder of a middle-aged couple in their village bungalow lifted the lid on the great untold story of British organised crime. The slaughter of John and Joan Stirland revealed an evil empire of powerful ganglords, contract killings, police corruption and punishment beatings. And at its dark heart was the East Midlands city of Nottingham.

A prosperous and cosmopolitan centre of business, education and leisure, Nottingham fell under the shadow of a massive rise in gang-related violence. Eventually its police were investigating so many murders they had to appeal to other forces for help, and the influx of drugs and weapons saw the city labelled 'Gun Capital UK'.

Hoods traces the roots of the gangs, revealing how economic dislocation and the clash of cultures between working-class white residents and black immigrants from the 1950s onwards created an alienated underclass who turned to crime. In the 1990s, a far more malignant breed of organised criminal took over. Prominenet crime families who had been involved in armed robbery, protection rackets and extortion now looked to control the recreational drugs trade and forged links with others in the UK and Europe to import wholesale quantities of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines, accompanied by an orgy of gunplay. By 2002, shootings were running at one a week.

As local police struggled to cope with the mayhem, MI5 and the National Crime Squad launched a massive undercover investigation into the bloody reign of the Nottingham 'untouchables'. It led ultimately to the dismantling of some of the UK's most powerful criminal networks.

Hoods is a sobering account of what happens when the rule of the gun supplants the rule of law and fear stalks the streets.

About the author: Carl Fellstrom has written extensively for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and Daily Mail and has contributed to The Observer, the Guardian, the News of the World, The Sun, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mirror and The Mail on Sunday. He has also worked on documentaries for Channel 4, BBC and ITV.

[GangstersInc]

Currently reading this book (review will come in the near future) and it is really good! Not much is known about British organized crime to mainland Europeans and Americans, and this book is a great source for info about crime in Britain with a focus on Nottingham.

Several pages with high quality photos and mugshots as well. I highly recommend it!

[Paul-Chafs]

I ordered it and recieved it yesterday, started reading and couldnt stop, it was really good!! reccomended.

[nottsboy]

for me personally i felt this book written by carl fellstrom was not exactly a true telling of crime in nottingham as a resident in nottingham alot of what was written was over the top and i felt the true crime familys were never exposed probably due to them being to high up the food chain,one thing that is true is the corruption how did you all find the book in the end?

[dannymc]

Fantastic book very informative about crime on a street level. Did the kid who was susdpected of hasving been fed to the pigs ever turn up?