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2004gangwar

The Collins Crew and Yardies in a gang war on the streets of Soho.

The Gang War of 2004 was a gang war in London between three gangs: the Thieves in Law, the Yardies and the Collins Crew. The Thieves in Law were allied with the Yardies and they went to war against the Collins Crew. The war was started by the Collins Crew, who aggravated both the Yardies and the Thieves in Law into attacking them. The war began and ended in 2004 and was not as severe as the Gang War of 2002.

History[]

Before the War[]

At the end of the Gang War of 2002, the Yardies thrived the most from the outcome and continued to do business in London as normal. Jamahl survived the Sol Vita explosion and carried on running his gang like before. After the war, Jamahl decided to spend more time focussing on guns instead of drugs, as he had always preferred the former anyway.

Between the end of 2002 to early 2004, the Yardies ruled in peace. Things changed however when Jimmer Collins was released from prison in 2004. Due to the death of Nick Collins in 2002, the Collins gang did nothing for two years until Jimmer's return, who resurrected the gang and renamed it the Collins crew.

Beginning of the War[]

Upon returning, Jimmer started having his men sell cocaine in Yardie gang territory. This angered Jamahl, who had never really been keen on the gang anyway. Due to Nick's death, Jamahl no longer had any loyalty or care towards the gang. Seeing the gang as a threat to his own, as well as stealing customers from him, Jamahl declared war on the gang and made them his enemy. The Collins crew provoked Jamahl into attacking them, due to them selling drugs on known Yardie turf. The two gangs started battling one another and competing for control in London.

Around this time, the Thieves in Law, a new Russian gang, entered London and began settling down in the area. Jamahl and his Yardies learned of the gang and found out that the leader was Russian arms dealer Viktor Skobel. Wanting to win the gang war and wipe out the Collins crew, Jamahl decided to make a deal with Viktor. Due to Jamahl being more focussed on guns, he met with Viktor and arranged an arms deal with him. Jamahl requested that he buy a load of guns off Viktor and the two of them became friends. This friendship caused the two gangs to become allies.

Middle of the War[]

Gangwar2004

The Thieves in Law massacre the Collins Crew.

The Thieves in Law did not get involved in the war but became a part of it when the Collins crew wronged them. Due to Jimmer wanting more money and being involved in the skimming machine business, he hired a crew to steal some credit card codes from the Skobel bank, unaware that it's owner was a gang leader. After the crew stole the icon, Viktor declared war on whoever was responsible. He soon learned that the Collins crew were involved in the heist and as such they became enemies.

The Collins crew began to fall apart very quickly. Firstly, a drug flat they owned was raided by SO19 and the drugs were seized by the police. In addition, all the dealers were either killed or arrested. Not long after, a large group of Collins crew gangsters headed over to a boxing gym in Shoreditch. At the gym they confronted Danny West, the man Jimmer had hired to carry out the bank job. The gang wanted to collect the stolen credit card codes, however, the Thieves in Law had already tracked Danny down. Upon arrival, the Thieves in Law murdered Danny and massacred a load of Collins crew gang members. Jimmer lost some of his top heavies and only just managed to escape alive himself from the attack.

The Yardies continued to attack them also, sending a group of men to attack Hector's Place on Peter Street in Soho. Prior to the Yardies arrival, the place had already been raided by Eddie O'Connor, who at the time was out on a personal vendetta against the gang, as he believed they were responsible for Danny's murder.

End of the War[]

The war came to an end not long after. After the incident at the gym, Jimmer fled to his printing works in Shoreditch to lay low for a while. The Thieves in Law tracked him down however and a large number of them headed to the place to confront Jimmer. They killed the gangsters on site and two of the top heavies, Alexei and Yuri Gorsoy, confronted Jimmer.

Jimmer was shot by Yuri multiple times and they tortured him for information on the stolen icon. Jimmer gave up Eddie's name and was then executed by Yuri under orders from Alexei. Jimmer's death marked the end of his gang and brought an end to the war, with the Yardies and Thieves in Law becoming victorious.

Follow up[]

Despite the Yardies and the Thieves in Law eliminating the Collins crew and winning the war, both gangs fell apart not long after. Eddie O'Connor learned the truth about Danny's murder and began taking out members of the Thieves in Law, as they worked for the man who had killed Danny. In addition, the arms deal between the Thieves in Law and the Yardies was interrupted by the police. The police ruined the deal and killed or arrested many Yardies and Russians at the scene. Jamahl's fate is unclear but either way his gang was severely damaged due to this police intervention, as he would have lost a lot of men, money and weapons. Not long after, Eddie hunted down the rest of Viktor's men and killed his top heavies, including Alexei and Yuri. Eventually Viktor himself was killed by Eddie also, bringing an end to the gang in London as they no longer had a leader.

Although the Yardies and the Thieves in Law won the war against the Collins crew and eliminated them for good, they both suffered not long after. The Thieves in Law were eliminated and the Yardies were either eliminated or severely weakened.

Trivia[]

  • Although the Yardies and the Thieves in Law won the war against the Collins Crew, their victory was very short lived, as they were both taken down not long after. The Yardies fate is unclear but are definitely severely weakened, and the Thieves in Law are eliminated completely.
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