 Location London Borough of Hackney, located west of London Fields park on a number of estates including Blackstone and Fields estates in the E8 postal district. History London Fields Boys originally formed a significant part of the Hackney Boys until the late 1990's and early 2000's. The London Fields Boys were the most active part in terms of rivalry with the Tottenham Mandem, sometimes talked of as Hackney versus Tottenham. The London Fields gang started on the Fields Estate and nearby Blackstone Estate, these areas being referred to as 'Fields Block'. They had membership in other nearby estates predominantly adjoining the west side of London Fields Park. This wider area is more commonly known as "Mash Town". Older members of the Hackney Boys began to move into music production and adopted the group name Mash Town. The music group is closely linked with the London Fields Boys as are a younger generation known as 'Ride Out Squad'. Most of the original oldest members of the gang are in their thirties, many of them are serving long prison sentences for firearms and drugs offences. Because of the close links with E5 during their years under the Hackney Boys label there have been members of the gang known to reside in E5 around Hackey Downs and Clapton. Areas of E5 that are allies of Fields include Amhurst Road and Evelyn Court, Lower Clapton and at one time the Pembury Boys. Whilst London Fields were descendent from the Hackney Boys another large gang was present nearby that had descended from a gang that was known as the Rowdy Bunch - they were the Holly Street Boys. The London Fields Boys have a longstanding rivalry with the nearby Holly Street Boys, which is considered to be the first ever 'Postcode War' in London.  The first ever 'Postcode War' in London was not a rivalry between different post codes, but rather conflict between gangs from the same postal code district. It began with fights between young men belonging to the London Fields Boys and Holly Street Boys. The two areas lie less than half a mile between one another, and many consider Queensbridge Road to be the boundary. On the western side of Queensbridge Road there is the Holly Street estate, whilst on the eastern side of Queensbridge Road there are the Fields and Blackstone estates. Some members of the London Fields and Holly Street gangs had attended school together at London Fields Primary School in the 1990's and were friends from a young age. A plaque on the outside of London Fields Primary School bares the hand prints of young people on a 'Unity Tree', it includes hand prints from both London Fields and Holly Street members. As teenagers the two areas grew to become rivals. What may have been one of the first incidents that contributed to the later rivalry was a fight between a Holly Street Boy, referred to as Little Mark, and a London Fields Boy known as 'Paperboy'. When Little Mark come back to the Holly Street estate after having been in a fight with Paperboy his friends from Holly Street decided they would go back over to London Fields to have a fist fight. The group of Holly Street Boys who went to London Fields was said to have initially numbered twenty and included Pepe Brown, a large well built young man who was dubbed the 'God of Hackney' in the media. However, by the time the group had gotten to London Fields their numbers had almost halved as some boys essentially bottled it, including Pepe Brown. A large fist fight occurred between the boys from the two areas. During the fight in comical fashion a member of the Holly Street Boys mobile phone started to ring, everyone paused what they were doing whilst the boy seemed to be on the phone to his mother, telling her yes everything is okay and I will be home soon kind of conversation took place. Quite humorously after the call everyone got back to business in what was the 'best fight' ever between the Holly Street Boys and London Fields Boys. And that quite possibly was the beginning, nothing more than young men fighting, as young men from different areas had done for generations. This was in 1998-99. These young men who had once been friends went on to become involved in more serious battles involving knives and other weapons. Previously, much of Hackney had been more cohesive in their efforts against the Tottenham Mandem, who killed a number of Hackney Boys. Some felt that the conflict between London Fields in particular against Tottenham was bringing problems to other Hackney gangs, also being targeted by Tottenham. What made the Holly Street and London Fields conflict unique was the close proximity between the two areas. It was undoubtedly the first ever territorial war within a single post code district to have occurred in London. In 2003 members of the Holly Street Boys, including Pepe Brown, shot dead young Jadie Brissett on the Fields Estate on June 9 2003.  First Casualty of the Holly Street & London Fields Gang War (see full version on Hackney Borough page This is a dramatised version of events told by author Graeme McLagan, extracts taken from his book Guns and Gangs, information and version of events told are from the case files of Operation Trident rather than those involved) In the summer of 2003 at least nine gang members in a convoy of three cars went to the London Fields area. At the time senior members of the LFB, men in their mid-twenties and thirties, were known to be at a wake for a Jamaican who had been shot dead. The convoy spotted members of the Fields Boys playing "money-up" by their estate. At that point, three hooded men emerged from the cars armed with guns, including a long-barrelled handgun, and fired at the group. The intended targets, those involved in the robbery of Salmon and disrespect of Brown, were not thought to have been at the location, instead anyone from the estate would have been targeted indiscriminately. Jadie Brissett died from gunshot wounds. All of those involved in Brissett's murder and its violent aftermath were born in London and brought up by their mothers. With their fathers either in prison or with other women, they had no positive male role models. All had underachieved at school, had few if any qualifications and had no jobs. They saw the only way of getting money, girls and respect was through drug-dealing or robbery — often both. Like the others, Brown, the youth shown disrespect by the LFB, had a disturbed family background. He presented serious behavioural problems at four different schools, eventually being shunted off to a special-needs boarding establishment and returning home to Holly Street during holiday times. From 2000 onwards he was committing serious violent crime. He stabbed a man three times during a fight at a party and was sent to a young offenders' prison for a year. Then came a conviction for abusive behaviour, assault and knife possession. Later, he was one of 20 youths arrested in connection with the stabbing to death of an Asian at the Notting Hill carnival. Brown had been "steaming" — one of a pack running through the crowds, stealing as they moved through and fighting or intimidating anyone who resisted. Found guilty of violent disorder, he was given 21 months — reduced to 12 after he gave evidence at the trial of the boys charged with murdering 10-year-old Damilola Taylor. He said he heard some of them discussing the stabbing while they were on remand in prison. Several weeks before Brissett's murder, Brown was caught up in a dispute which may have contributed to the shooting at London Fields. It was between his Holly Street gang and the LFB and involved the earlier shooting of an LFB man. During an argument outside a court, Brown was stabbed in the back. Then just a few weeks before Brissett's murder, Salmon was flaunting his money, wearing a large platinum chain round his neck. He was out driving one evening in Hackney with a girl when an armed gang of about 10 youths ambushed him, surrounding his car. The driver's window was smashed, and a youth reached in, tearing the chain from his neck. He saw another youth with a gun in the passenger seat. When he got out, Salmon was stabbed in the chest, and his car and mobile phones were stolen. He was taken to hospital and the police were called. He said he recognised Brissett and two other LFB members as his attackers, but did not want police to pursue it because he was making his own attempts to have the car and chain returned. He had phoned one of his stolen mobiles and spoken to one of his attackers, who told him he had been hit because he was "boastie" — too flash. After threats of violence from Salmon, the chain was given back to him at a cafe and his car was left outside a police station with the keys in the ignition. Joining Salmon and Brown for the London Fields attack was another drug dealer, Mark Lawrence, 21. He had moved to Hertfordshire, where he lived with his girlfriend and child, to deal drugs. He was tough, arrogant and had a violent record, including convictions for robbery and assault. His first offence was at 18, when his car was hit by another vehicle. He chased the driver, a 70-year-old, and beat him savagely. The man was so frightened that he refused to give evidence. Within hours of the Brissett murder the retaliation began. Heading the LFB's list of culprits to be hunted down was Brown, recognised at the shooting because of his hulking size and lumbering gait. He had disappeared after torching the Escort car he used in the murder to avoid being linked to it. But his relatives were still around and vulnerable to attack. Two days after the killing, his half-sister was confronted in the street whilst pushing her baby in a buggy. Holding a gun to her head, a man demanded to know where her brother was. She was told: "Your brother is an idiot and has to pay for what he did." One of Brown's Holly Street gang had bullets fired at his house. Another of Brown's associates was shot dead a year later. Joseph Ashman of Stratford walked up to Lamont Silcott whilst in his Mini Cooper in Bow and shot him in the head. Ashamn had only just finished serving time for manslaughter in Forest Gate when he shot Silcott in the head with a semi-automatic handgun at close range. Within hours of the Brissett murder, Salmon learnt the LFB were after him. He bought a bulletproof vest. One week after the killing, the avengers struck. But it appeared to be a case of mistaken identity. A friend of Salmon's, driving the same type of car, was shot and injured. Another boy, Danny Williams, who was 18, had driven one of the three cars to London Fields. The following day, knowing the vehicle would be traced, and worried it would provide the police with clues, Williams gave it to a friend to get rid of. With revenge shootings taking place, he wanted to escape the area. To raise money to get away, he joined others in a robbery at a car auction, snatching £5,000 from a dealer. Another in the pack who had been in Williams's car got away — Jermaine Allen, 19, also known Faghead. He was attending a college, where he heard that the LFB were looking for him. After recieving a threatening call on his phone he changed his mobile number and fled to Nottingham. When police arrived at the scene of Brissett's murder on June 9, 2003, they faced a hostile crowd, with some accusing the authorities of contributing to his death by delaying an ambulance because the victim was black. Over the next few days, the names of at least three suspects, including Brown and Salmon, were given to the 30 or so officers working on the case. Two weeks after the murder, police spotted Lawrence in his black Megane. Calling up reinforcements, they followed him to a housing estate, where a police car blocked the only exit. After a struggle, he was arrested and found to be wearing body armour. "That's the sort of life I lead", he explained. In the boot was clingfilm used to wrap "rocks" of crack. Under the armrest in the car's back seat was a blue ski mask, which Lawrence said he used to hide his face when drug-dealing. During the trial the defendants were separated by security guards. Three of the accused — Lawrence, Williams and Allen — had broken the "no grassing" rule by naming others. Throughout much of the prosecution evidence the main suspect, Brown, behaved strangely in the dock. He was the closest of the defendants to the public gallery above, where members of the Brissett family were sitting, including Brissett's mother, Lana, who never missed a day of the trial. A powerfully built man, Brown sat there for hours, sucking his thumb. Those in the public gallery complained that Brown was not displaying signs of immaturity but, with his thumb in his mouth and his index finger resting on his nose, was making the sign of a gun. He said he felt threatened by those above and that some of them had been making gun signs at him. Last into the witness box was Salmon. He described how gangs in east London were named after the estates where they were based. There were the Pembury Boys, Jack Dunning Boys, Stamford Hill Boys, and those from Tottenham. The Holly Street Boys were also known as the Rowdy Bunch. He talked about having sold cocaine and crack since he was 16. Brown, Lawrence and Salmon were found guilty of murder. Crimes of Violence Following the murder of Jadie Brissett by the Holly Street Boys, younger members of the London Fields Boys were blamed for the murder of a teenager in Mare Street. In September 2004, a bright student who dreamed of becoming an architect was stabbed to death whilst attempting to keep the peace between his friends and reportedly young members of the Fields Boys. Robert Levy,16, stepped in to break up an argument between his friend and another youth when he was stabbed in the chest near to Hackney Town Hall. Following his death friends and relatives set-up the 'Robert Levy Foundation', aimed at dealing with the issues that contribute to the violent aspects of youth crime in London. For the next couple of years the Holly Street and London Fields war was very much burning and firearms exchanges between younger members of the gang became common place in the mid-2000's although thankfully fatalities were rare. Between September 2004 and January 2006 there were 327 gun enabled crimes recorded in the borough and over 1,000 knife incidents. The Holly Street estate and Broadway Market area of London Fields areas often became the settings for shootouts and it was a wonder that innocent by-standers never got hit. In one incident at Broadway Market teenagers fired a volley of shots at-one another in broad daylight as shopkeepers watched on. It was one of several exchanges that gained attention by the summer of 2006. In another of the incidents picknickers dived for cover in London Fields Park when a motorcyclist opened fire on a group of youths. As well as shooting incidents and fights with their rivals, the gang were involved in a range of other activities including robbery, home invasions and drug dealing, although it is really only the violence that has made the headlines. One teenage member of the gang was convicted of ransacking student flats after breaking into propoerties at accommodation in Holloway's Campdale Road in 2006. The gang - all wearing hooded tops - managed to steal a laptop and credit cards from unoccupied rooms. One of the students who woke up during a bout of offending called police and the boys fled and caught a minicab nearby. But they were forced to flee after the suspicious cabbie flashed his lights at a passing police van for assistance and they were later caught. During 2005 and 2006 London Fields Boys created a gang with nearby Haggerston that was called 'Haggerston and Fields Combined' (HFC), although it was to be a short lived coalition which compensated for some heavy losses, in terms of prison sentences, amongst older members. Emilio ‘Crime’ Thompson of the London Fields Boys was accused of gunning down a clubber at the Asian Centre nightclub in Hackney in a misguided revenge attack in September 2005. He wrongly believed that Dayne ‘Bertie’ Thompson had stabbed him during a previous incident. Dayne needed emergency surgery to save his life after suffering serious injuries to his kidney, liver and abdomen. He was standing in the general foyer of the club when he was shot at close range by Emilio Thompson. Dayne later identified his attacker in an ID parade having known him by the street name ‘Crime’. Crime who had refused to report the incident or co-operate with police after he himself was stabbed saw the person he thought was his attacker at the club and took out a gun and shot him in Dalston Lane. Four years later in 2009 Reginald Berko, 25, also known as Reggie B, was stabbed to death in Hoxton. Dayne Thompson stood trial for the murder but claimed he had been framed by members of the London Fields Boys claiming to not even know the victim. He believed he was being set up for having given evidence against Emilio Thompson who had shot Dayne in 2005. Emilio was convicted for shooting Dayne in 2006. Following the arrest of Dayne, in relation to the murder of Berko, he told police in a prepared statement that he believed to have been wrongly identified by Justice King. King was allegedly a drug dealer also with links to members of the London Fields Boys. Dayne believed the motivation was revenge for the conviction arising out of him being shot. Both Berko and King were linked to the Fields Boys and following the murder King claimed that he had seen Berko chatting to the suspect who Berko called ‘Bet’ – similar to Dayne’s street name of Bertie.  Due to the inference in the case no-one was brought to justice. In 2007, London Fields affiliate David Nowak was murdered by rivals from the Holly Street Boys during an incident on the Somerford Grove. The 16-year-old Nowak was said to have bragged about knifing a Holly Street Boy before he was attacked. It happened after youths had gatecrashed a party by Farleigh Road in Stoke Newington. A group of up to twenty Holly Street Boys were loitering outside the party when they came into confrontation with rivals including Nowak. Members of the Holly Street Boys hurled bricks, knives and pieces of wood at their rivals after having accused them of stabbing two of their group in a clash outside the venue. Seconds before Nowak was stabbed he was seen to pull a blade from his waistband and shout ‘I shanked your friend and I licked the blood off the knife’. (image right, Farleigh Road murder scene) Eleven members of the Holly Street Boys were arrested for the murder of Nowak and the attempted murder of his friend who was also stabbed during the incident. The long running trial resulted in just one conviction, Dolovan Barzey was convicted of stabbing David’s friend and for violent disorder, however all suspects were cleared of murder. Earlier that same month police officers had been commended at court for having apprehended suspects who threatened them at gun-point and drove at them in a Porsche. The incident, from late 2005, took place after officers interupted a firearms sale in the London Fields area. London Fields gang members Olanaiyi Olawaiye and Yusef Farah were jailed for the offence. Olawaiye brandished a semi-automatic handgun when police tapped on the car window whilst Southall gangster Ahmed Osman Hersi jumped in his Porsche and rammed into the police officer injuring his knee, Hersi was traced after leaving behind a jacket containing two handguns worth £3,000.  By 2008, London Fields Boys were involved in more serious violence with a range of gangs besides the Holly Street Boys. The younger members at this time were building their rivalry with the Pembury Boys from E5 and Ballance Road from E9. The Ballance Road and Pembury areas had linked up to form a larger alliance from E9 to E5 (925) which remain rivals with London Fields and Fields associates from Gilpin Square. Originally Pembury had been close to London Fields since the days of their conflict with Tottenham Mandem, whilst Fields had a long confrontational relationship with gangs from the Well Street area of E9 (which included Ballance and Kingshold)In 2008 Shaquille Smith, known as Festa, an associate of Pembury, was murdered in St Thomas's Place next to the nearby Kingshold estate. At the age of 14 he was the youngest knife crime victim in London in 2008 after being stabbed to death just yards from his home following a confrontation with members of the Fields Boys (pictured left). The Fields members had been riding their bikes around Hackney looking to intimidate and harass rival areas, they set their sights on Shaquille after seeing him talking to the brother of one of their rivals who was known as ‘Pinky’ from the Pembury Boys. The confrontation escalated after members of the Fields gang were bitten by a dog before they proceeded to attack Shaquille. Godiowe ‘Goodz’ Dufeal, George Amponsah, Amisi Khama, Leon ‘Little’ Atwell, Kadeen ‘Kidz’ Dias and Freddie ‘Chips’ Amponsah, all of the Fields Boys were identified from CCTV footage minutes before the murder. Shaquille was an utterly blameless young boy in this incident whilst the intended target, Tyrell Goather, was only at-risk because he was related to a rival of the Fields Boys. An illegal immigrant agreed to turn supergrass in the murder trial to avoid being deported - Charles Dixon, 18, was with the Fields Boys when innocent army cadet Shaquille Smith was stabbed to death. London Fields were blamed for the death of another teenager in 2008, that of 16-year-old Ahmed Benyermak who was affiliated with the Kingshold Boys. Benyermak was with a group of friends on the 13th floor of a tower block on Paragon Road when they noticed that members of the London Fields Boys were approaching the block on bicycles. The boys attempted to flee the tower block and Ahmed Benyermak become separated from his friends whilst trying to escape. He climbed onto the outside of the block via an open balcony and then made his way down several floors attempting to get away. Upon reaching the 7th floor he lost his grip and fell to his death.  Quite irresponsibly the London Fields gang were later named, and some feel they they were glorified, in a TV drama called Top Boy starring Ashley Walters (Asher D) and Kane Robinson (Kano). The four part series was a fictional dramatisation which attempted to capture 'road life', although neglected many aspects of the real community in order to focus on representing largely negative stereotypes associated with inner city London. In August 2011 members of the London Fields Boys and Fellows Court Boys clashed outside H&M in Oxford Street in what was believed to have stemmed from a previous fight almost a year previously. During the incident, which occurred in front of hundreds of horrified shoppers, a 15-year-old 'baby faced' member of Fellows Court stabbed his 18-year-old rival from London Fields six times using a 'Crocodile Dundee' style knife. The victim was left with life threatening injuries after sustaining a punctured lung. Police found a blood stained silver knife in the pocket of the 15-year-old boys school blazer during a search of his home address. The boy had a previous conviction for possession of a bladed article. The defence said that the boy had been repeatedly threatened by the 18-year-old since they had clashed the previous year and had begun carrying a knife for his safety but denied being a member of the Fellows Court Boys. He was carrying a knife through fear although accepted this was far from duress. The appropriate sentence for the boy was deemed to be one of eight years detention. Drug Related Crimes An alleged senior member in the London Fields Boys, Fabian
Brissett, was jailed for possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply in
1995. He was jailed again for the same offence, although relating to
Class B drugs, in 1998. A search of Brissett’s home in June 2009 by
police found money counting machines, mobile phones, elastic bands and a shoe
box crammed with bank notes. There was £17,340 in cash it was heard at
Southwark Crown Court which expert analysis claimed to have all been
contaminated with heroin. Brissett, 35, who did not give evidence at his trial in November 2011, claimed through his lawyer that the money was the profit from dealing on internet auction site eBay. The money was said to have been from the profits of internet sales. The court believed that, due to the high percentage of contamination of the notes with heroin, the money was connected with drugs. Brissett was sentenced to serve an immediate period of imprisonment of 18 months.
In January 2011 two men, reported to have been senior
figures within the London Fields Boys, were jailed for a total of 12 years.
Mark Griffiths, 35, and Darren Brissett, 33, had been under surveillance by
Trident officers as they drove in a convoy through the streets of Hackney, east
London. Brissett had pulled over in his Rover to join Griffiths in a rented
silver Ford Fiesta in Danesdale Road when special firearms officers swooped on
the men. The pair fled but were detained by the officers who moments
later found a fully working pistol in the hatchback’s passenger foot well. It
was an Argentinean made hand-gun which had one round in the chamber, two in the
magazine clip and there were a further three cartridges in a cloth bag.
Detectives went on to raid the home of Griffiths were they found a second
pistol which had been reactivated. The stop happened on July 15 2010 when unmarked cars had tracked the men around Victoria Park Road and Cadogan Terrace. Four other men were arrested at the scene who were suspected of being associates of Griffiths and Brissett but they were later released without charge. Griffiths, who had a previous conviction for wounding with intent, was jailed for seven years whilst Brissett was sentenced to five years.  Several days later the men entered the building and emerged with the bag, falling straight into the hands of waiting officers who chased them until they had arrested all four defendants. It was claimed that they had intended to distribute the heroin to lower level suppliers further down the chain. Wale Edeh was found to be carrying a stun gun whilst Shane Drew had on him 16g of cocaine. Whilst on bail Hamad Khan was caught by police preparing heroin and cocaine for sale in a west London drugs factory. He was arrested at a flat in Chiswick Road, Hounslow, surrounded by drug dealing equipment. Shane Drew later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply heroin and he was jailed for nine years. The other men were jailed for period of six to nine years for acting as transporters of drugs. The court heard that they were men who were clearly trusted by the owners of the drugs and were knowingly involving themselves in the drugs trade at a significant level. Allies and Associated Cliques
Rivals Robyn Travis' new book coming soon, "Freedom from the Womb, Prisoner to the Streets"...book coming 9th June 2012, get at Robyn on Facebook read Book Review here |
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Gang Lists > List of East London Gangs >
London Fields Boys (LFB) |
