GANGS’ REIGN OF TERROR

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 28 June 1935, Page 11

GANGS’ REIGN OF TERROR

OPERATIONS IN GLASGOW LEVY OF “PROTECTION" MONEY ALL KINDS OF WEAPONS USED. The gangsters have come to Great Britain, Glasgow, second city of the Empire, population 1,250,000, frankly acknowledges their reign of terror. A thousand young men—not 40 are more than 35—rule the poorer class districts. Their insignia of office, says a writer in the “Sunday Dispatch,’’ are the broken bottle, the razor-blade, the “cosh,” the knife, and—newest and most effective of all—the bayonet. Rarely are guns carried, although they can be bought from seamen cheaply. Police authorities throughout the country are anxiously watching a new drive in Glasgow against the gangster. They ask: Is it going to spread P Will the gangs be smashed or. . ? If you could go into the dance-halls and gang clubs you would hear boys of 22 boasting that the police are baffled by their ci'imes. Because nobody will talk. COMMON ENEMIES. The gangs began before the war. They were organised as religious clubs. There were nightly fights—but with fists and feet only. Back from Flanders came men who had see death on a daily schedule. And the gang wars took o na new, sinister significance. Now, a new generation has the sense of values of the men Avho came back. A clashed face, a leg ripped open, a nose broken —-you do not “squeal.” The police are the common enemy. There are four main gangs ing Glasgow. The Billy Boys and the Derry Boys began as Protestants; the Kent Star and the San Toy gangs are Catholics. There are half a dozen smaller ones. This is the story of F., one of the leaders of the Kent Star gang. F. is about 24, Irish born, small. He is regarcled as one of the “clever” men. He is intelligent and speaks, well. A year or two ago he had a good job as a shop manager. He had been “in tow” with the Kent. Stars since he was 14 because he had the reputation (f being good in a "Though house. (PAY FOR PROTECTION. He is “on the parish”—as they call the Public Assistance Committee. But he never gets up until 11 in tho morning. He dresses better than I do. And he can always buy a drink, because bookmakers, shopkeepers, tipsters, auctioneers and stallholders on open markets pay him a “pension..’-^ That means he calls on his clients once a week and receives 10s here, os there. . '. for “protection.” , A refusal to pay a “pensioner” means that there is no “protection and one’s stall is overturned, one’s goods are smashed or ruined, accidents happen to one’s windows. And there is always the threat of a personal attack. A razor-blade inserted in the bottom of a walking-stick or in the peak of a cap suddenly snatched off and swung against one’s face or legs is very uncomfortable. “Nobdoy will complain to the police,’’ F. said. “A member of one gang attacked by another will awa.vs keep mum* RAZORS AND KNIVES.

“He gets the best lawyer. A subscription list is started. It is taken round by members of the gang to shop-, keepers, dance hall proprietors and publicans. “They are very glad to pay. If they do not—accidents happen to shop windows; fights which cause a lot of damage and scare patrons away happen in bars and dance halls. The average dance hall proprietor is quite happy to have you go round with a subscription list among the dancers. I myself have collected £2O in a night in. this way. “Similar subscription lists are taken round to pay a man’s fine, to' keep ins family while he is away in prison, or to buy him clothes and boots w r hen he comes out after a long stretch. “Sometimes tho‘Billy Boys and the Derry Boys venture in force into our district or we go into theirs. Then there is a street fight. Razors knives, tiles, and bayonets are used. This usually happens on a Saturday night when there has been heavy drinking. “A man who gets hurt in a street battle will not squeal to the police as a rule. It would not pay him. In any case, there is usually no independent witness, and the police are less.”MUG’S GAME If a man goes to the police tho gangs warn him that his “broad is maiTceu.” That means he can expect trouble. He may be “coshed” (hit across the head or face with a stick or bottle), “chibbed” (slashed with a razor), or “daisy-rooted’’, (thrown to the floor and kicked).

The new gang weapon, F. explained, is tho bayonet. It is carried in a special pocket down the inside of the trousers. Mostly the bayonets are old and rusty. They have little cutting edge. But a blow with a bayonet at the base of a man’s skull will knock him unconscious. And the point held against his throat is very persuasive. These bayonets, mostly war souvenirs that have passed through the hands of junk dealers, can be bought in certain districts freely. Another favoured weapon is the 12in file carried up the sleeve. It makes an unpleasant wound. Billy Fulton, who is well-known in Glasgow, was a ship’s boilerman. And once he wa sthc acknowledged bass of the Billy Boys.' “I have come to the conclusion that it is a mug’s game,” he says. “I am 28 now, and altogether I have spent 51 years of my life in prison. X u ent down first at the age of 16. I was involved in an affair in which a man was stabbed. My sentence was three months POLICE CONFIDENT “iNow, I ai£ president- of two clubsMany of our members I know are Billy Boys. So long as they ‘behave them-

selves inside the clubs it is not my business. If there is any rough stuff I can soon stop it- “ The real trouble is unemployment. If tlie lads had steady jobs to go to you would soon hear no more of the gangs. There are possibly 500 or 600 Billy Boys to-day, and about as many in the Kent Star and San Toy.” But Captain P. J. Sillitoe, Chief Constable of Glasgow, is confident that the city will win its war against the gangsters. “There are fewer outbreaks of street fighting,” he said. “A lot of trouble boils clown to hooligans fighting in a drunken brawl. The mobilisation of the force with fast cars and the extension of the police box system is helping as to get to the set of the trouble more quickly. “The police have a very difficult task. It is almost impossible to get witnesses. They fear reprisals.”