Local Gangs

Ali

This is an interesting Gang Map of London. The link in for what we have around here <https://sites.google.com/site/londonstreetgangs/borough-pages/islington>; Apparently the Blue Cage/Blue City Gang hang out in the estate around Marquis Road and Youngas Bout Money on the Holley Park Estate. I wonder if the forces of law and order use this tool and whether it is accurate?

miss annie

I don't really find this too worrying - it's hardly the Bloods and Crips is it? I (perhaps naively) like to imagine that the forces of law and order have a reasonably good insight into what the local urchins are up to, or at least more comprehensive information than that site offers.

Sevlow

The Blue Cage gang has got to be a joke. The kids that hang around the blue cage / basketball court number in age from about 7-15 their ball sometimes comes into our back garden and they are very polite about asking for it back!!

Arkady

What do the colours signify, I can't see a key.

sincers

If we re-formed the Red Hand Gang, would this help?

Ali

Not sure we should assume that all gangs are bad as I guess these young kids are just really hanging out as it gives them an identity and is probably more fun than spending time wit their family. I also have come across a London wide Murder map at <http://www.murdermap.co.uk/murder-map.asp>; Seems to me for some reason in the case of both maps that there are clusters around social housing areas

andy

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Marquis

That said - I was once called Big Nose Man by one member of the Blue Cage gang! If that isn't horrendous what is?

krappyrubsnif

Aha - so you're Big Nose Man! Often seen you on SGR along with Shouting Man, Cowboy Man and all the rest (SG Org passim)

Marquis

Does that mean you are in the gang too?

sincers

Big Nose Man! Thats terrible. They've 'so' disrespected you. You could probably go to police or the NHS and get some counciling and ting. have you reported it to SNT?

Marquis

Oh yes, the pain was incredible, exacerbated by the fact that the offender was about seven years old. At the present stage I can't yet determine the depth of the emotional scar that will remain, but the pain still lingers. All in all, harmless as they may appear, the Blue Cagers certainly have their ways!

sophie

i think the colours on the map correspond with their gang colour. crip sets are blue, blood sets are red. that website has just diverted me for an hour. it's hilarious.

andy

I was set upon on Parkland Walk by the notorious Holly Park Montessori. One of them had a stick.

miss annie

You wouldn't want to meet our Brownies on Parkland Walk, they can be terrifying en masse.

Roy

It looks like that site is in the midst of being redesigned at the moment, which probably explains why it's a bit incomplete, with map keys missing etc.

The old maps (complete with keys) from the old site appear to still be available on Google Maps if you have the link (which fortunately I saved.)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/user?uid=112155238529941601716&hl=en&gl=uk

-roy (Just N4-curious atm)

Roy

Oh, I see, the new one has the names of the gangs, too, you just have to click on the coloured areas to see them.

Don't mind me; I'm just being slow here.

-roy

Siolae

The comments on this thread are unbelievably naive. The map is reasonably up to date in terms of which gangs are currently active and which are inactive. However if you believe that the local gangs are a bit of a joke as implied in several of the posts that is only because you are fortunate enough not to live in that world.
Gangs are fairly affirming for young men. They give many young men a sense of purpose and belonging. But the same cannot be said for young women.
So ...not wanting to be patronising or anything... here is a little gang education in terms of the effect of gangs on girls. Top of the heap is the "wifey" You are the girlfriend of a gang member. You do not have a choice in this but at least you are not common property among the gang unlike the "links". These are girls affiliated to the gang who are shared in common among the gang. You do not have a choice about this but at least it is usually one guy at a time. Then there are the lowest: the "battery chicks". Once a girl becomes linked to a gang (and this happens around the age of 11-14) she is property and no longer has choices. If girls try to leave (or if they break the relationship) they are often raped, or alternatively their sister / cousin / mother is attacked. This is all real and it is happening in this area now. Not L.A. Here.

Roy

Having just seen the episode of The Hospital (Channel 4) about gangs and stabbings, I really don't think it sounds like it's any kind of positive experience for young men, either.

-roy

Alex

Siolae. What you describe is shocking. If that is what goes on in Stroud Green now, can you provide evidence for that? How many girls are bound to gangs against their will right here? (As opposed to Hackney, Lambeth etc.) This would be from a total population of c.24,000 in Stroud Green and Tollington wards, of which just over 1,000 are females aged 10-19. [(National Statistics.)](http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/Mid-2007_Ward_2009_quinary.zip) I'd have assumed that a tiny number of that thousand are trapped in the circumstances you describe, if any at all. But perhaps I'm unbelievably naive.

sincers

Aren't the lowest of the heap the Tollington slags?

N4Matt

**Adjusts bandana, puts out blunt, twists up fingers and gets my swerve on down to the old dairy**

Siolae

@Alex. Yes I can justify it. It is true and I work professionally with the results of what I am describing on a daily basis. That it probalby why some of the more flippant comments pissed me off, as I am not usually sanctimonious. Obviously I am not talking specifically just Stroud Green, but the surrounding area. But I am talking about North Islington, and South Haringey as this is the area I have worked in with these kinds of kids for 20 years. During this time I have also seen the situation get worse, mainly due to social networking sites which can maliciously label a girl and destroy her reputation overnight allowing her to become "fair game". Once labelled a "sket" a girl in gang culture has very few choices. Leaving means leaving the area: not a choice open to the average 14 year old. Because of links and affiliations between gangs leaving the area also means that there are a limited number of places a girl's family can move to, if they have the means to do so. Gang culture is tied up with the sexual expolitation of young women and this is normalised within this culture to the extent that young girls see it as "just how it is".

Sevlow

I take it all back about the Blue Cagers. Their ball came over again and this time they didn't say please or thank you??!!

If this is a sign of things to come it's time to move out the area pronto!

kreuzkav

I can't believe someone asked 'Is this real?' It amazes me that some people live in their own worlds without seeing this. They go to work, use the tube, come home, go to a nice restaurant and don't notice the other side of SG. Gangs are everywhere. I've seen them mug, abuse, and just walk around in a cocky manner. Maybe it's best not to see it but as I live on SGR itself it's hard to avoid. The murder rate around here is very high. I've even seen a stabbing (but by a lone individual and not a gang). It's not all Crouch End borders!

Emma

Kind of relatedly, I received a newsletter through the door yesterday from the Upper Tollington Park Neighbourhood Watch group. This seems like a good idea, I like the thought of people watching out for each other, especially 'round our way where we don't really know our neighbours and there's a high turnover of tenants in rented flats. Is anyone on here involved with the NHW already?

ActionVerb

@Kreuzkav - any facts to back up your statement that the murder rate here is very high?

miss annie

Walking around in a cocky manner is not confined to gang members. I live very near the Andover estate so I don't think I could be accused of wrapping myself up in cotton wool or not engaging with real life but I really don't see people stabbing, mugging or abusing each other there. I'd also like more clarification about the sky high murder rate in Stroud Green.

sincers

Ditto. I don't think witnessing stabbings is that regular an occurrence. But nor does asserting "the murder rate is very high" paint a fair picture of where we live. Nobody is claiming SG is the knitting capital of North London, but it happens with unnerving regularity whether we like it or not. Assuming that everyone wearing a hoody, cycling on the pavement with a staffy is going to mug or stab you doesn't mean that they actually will.

Sevlow

Basically, you need to man up and stop hiding behind your net curtains.