Gangster
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A brand new series of Gangster tells the story of Birmingham's notorious Burger Bar Boys a gang born out of the Handsworth riots in 1985.
Gangster
2M ago
The EncroChat hack has given the police unprecedented access to the secrets of organised crime. Nearly four years on from the hack, the detective who led the Met’s EncroChat investigation, DCI Driss Hayoukane, reveals what the police have learnt about OCGs which they didn’t know before.
Presenter Mobeen Azhar hears about the impact of the EncroChat operation from Driss and from the National Crime Agency. There have been thousands of arrests, 200 threats to life averted and tonnes of drugs seized. But has taking out the kingpins cut crime? Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for B ..read more
Gangster
2M ago
The truth unearthed about Met police officer PC Kashif Mahmood is stranger than an episode of the fictional drama Line of Duty. And it was evidence unearthed in the EncroChat operation which made him plead guilty.
PC Kashif Mahmood had won five awards for his outstanding service as a police officer. But he was secretly working for an OCG in east London.
A detective from the Met police’s anti-corruption unit talks publicly for the first time about the most brazen case of corruption he’s ever seen.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen ..read more
Gangster
2M ago
Little is known about who invented the EncroChat network and who owned it. Even the police who investigated the criminals using the network, know little about who’s behind it.
Journalists David James Smith and Joseph Cox explain what their investigations into the company reveal.
Plus, why an expert in cryptography thinks the whole EncroChat operation could fall apart on a legal technicality.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds ..read more
Gangster
3M ago
In the wealthy village of Denham in Buckinghamshire, Lee Hannigan and Harry Hicks-Samuels play the part of successful businessmen really well. Hannigan has a car garage, a mansion with a Ferrari on the drive and a place in Dubai. Hicks-Samuels is only 27 but has a watch business and flat in a luxury development.
But the secrets of where their money really comes from are on their EncroChat phones.
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds ..read more
Gangster
3M ago
Police across Europe prepare for a top-secret operation: the hacking of EncroChat, an encrypted phone network favoured by organised crime groups.
EncroChat’s server has been discovered in northern France. The French police are planning to secretly inject some code into the users’ next software update. If it works, police could be reading the criminals’ messages for weeks.
At the Metropolitan Police in London, DCI Driss Hayoukane is summoned to a confidential meeting where he hears about the plan. He realises this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and decides to put his retirement on hold.
Pr ..read more
Gangster
3M ago
A 6-part true crime podcast documenting the biggest organised crime bust in British policing history. It happens in 2020 when police in France penetrate an encrypted phone network called EncroChat. According to police, the phones were used exclusively by criminals. For over two months, police forces across Europe were reading the secret communications of major league criminal networks. The Metropolitan Police, working with the National Crime Agency and other forces, used this information to uncover the workings of organised crime groups. “It was like being in a room with them and they are talk ..read more
Gangster
4M ago
Despite the landmark trial of 2004-05 leading to several convictions for the murder of Charlene and Letisha - the gang murders in the city continued. What more could be done to tackle the violence?
In the final episode in the series, we look at how a combination of one man’s brilliant gang mediation and West Midlands police’s Operation Ventara slowly started to turn the tide and begin the process of restoring peace to the city of Birmingham. At the same time as the police were making inroads into dismantling the Burger Bar Boys’ operation in the city, the gang’s ambitions had begun to stretch ..read more
Gangster
4M ago
It’s late 2004 and the buzz of police helicopters and sea of armed police around Leicester Crown Court creates a tense, intimidating atmosphere as one of the biggest murder trials of the decade gets underway. West Midlands police have the men they believe responsible for the deaths of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare ready to stand trial for their crimes. But this was not going to be an easy conviction. Detectives had identified 75 people they believed could provide key evidence - yet all of them refused to testify. Then a break came from a man in prison who told prison officers he had s ..read more
Gangster
5M ago
As the new century begins, the gang war in Birmingham intensifies. Bloody retaliation follows each shooting and we eventually reach the point where there is no longer any trace of mutual respect between the gangs. A gang war that began with vintage and adapted firearms had reached the point where submachine guns were the go-to weapon of choice. On January 1 in 2003, a group of innocent teenage girls were getting ready to celebrate the arrival of the new year together at a party in the heart of the Johnson Crew’s territory. Meanwhile, the Burgers were after revenge following the death of member ..read more
Gangster
5M ago
With the Yardie threat receding, the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys vied for dominance in the city. Guns became the weapon of choice, and nowhere felt safe; even the celebratory Handsworth Carnival turned into a scene of extreme gang violence. Territorial battle lines were drawn, with the Johnsons claiming the B6 postcodes of Lozells & Aston, and the Burgers controlling the B21 Handsworth area. It was in the 1990s that the names of key players began to emerge through the smoke of gun barrels. Known by their street names, the powerful and intelligent leader of the Burgers was dubbed ..read more