- 6/27/2025
For over 50 years, notorious figures like Ed Richardson, Paul Ferris, Frankie Fraser, and Walter Norville have dominated headlines with their criminal exploits. This episode brings you firsthand accounts from some of the most feared and respected men in Britain's underworld. Hear their stories of violent confrontations, extortion, blackmail, and involvement in the drug trade.
Uncover the intricate web of criminal enterprises, from notorious mob families to high-stakes heists, as we delve into the compelling stories behind the criminal masterminds and law enforcement efforts to bring them to justice.
Uncover the intricate web of criminal enterprises, from notorious mob families to high-stakes heists, as we delve into the compelling stories behind the criminal masterminds and law enforcement efforts to bring them to justice.
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TVTranscript
00:01Villains, gangsters, or faces as they prefer to be called,
00:05are the men that have been making newspaper headlines
00:08for all the wrong reasons over the past 50 years.
00:12Some are instantly recognisable, but many are not.
00:16If you don't stick a gun in your face, you're going to open up the door.
00:20I've got no worry about it. Even if the glass is bulletproof,
00:23and you know it's bulletproof, you're still going to open up that,
00:26because you're not going to trust your life against a bit of glass.
00:29Men like Eddie Richardson, Paul Ferris, Frankie Fraser, and Walter Norville,
00:36who have inspired fear and respect in equal measure for decades.
00:41People did fear me, yeah, because I was dangerous.
00:45In this new series, some of Britain's most infamous and influential characters
00:50have agreed to go on camera and tell it how it was and is.
00:54All of a sudden, I went,
00:56I went, you move, I'll blow your fucking head off.
00:58Obviously, I didn't have a big gun in my head like that.
01:00I went, argh!
01:02So I took a dive when the shot went off, obviously,
01:04to get behind me motor.
01:05And after I got behind me motor, I waited two seconds
01:08and I took a dive on the front door,
01:10and I slammed the front door behind us and got behind the brick walk.
01:13And that's when bullets all kind of coming through the front door.
01:16I've had aggravated burglary, torture,
01:20people being kidnapped and broken legs, broken arms,
01:24blackmail, racketeers, extortion.
01:27I've been done for everything you can think of.
01:29I'm not an electrician or a plumber or a dentist
01:33that ran for my arm and my crook.
01:35And I get back into serious crime.
01:38And it paid dividends for the next five years.
01:42My name is Bernardo Mahoney.
01:44I was a friend of the Cray Twins
01:46and a member of the infamous Essex Boys firm.
01:48I know this world, I know their faces,
01:51and I'm going to give you a no-holds-barred history
01:54of the British Criminal Underworld.
02:11For more than 50 years,
02:13two ruthless gangs have dominated the Tyneside underworld.
02:17Initially, the Conroy and the Sayers families
02:20live side by side in relative harmony
02:22in the West End of Newcastle.
02:25But the birth of the drug-fuelled rave culture
02:27in the late 1980s changed everything.
02:31Both with the intense desire to take complete control
02:34of the North East,
02:35the families went to war with one another
02:37and with anyone else who stood in their way.
02:40What followed was a street war of mindless violence.
02:44We've come to Newcastle to speak to Paddy Conroy.
02:48The Conroys are probably the city's most infamous family.
02:57During the 80s and 90s,
02:59they were pretty much untouchable in this city.
03:03And they were allegedly involved in kidnap, torture,
03:10and they've also been accused of several high-profile murders.
03:17But in fairness, they've not been convicted of any.
03:21And Paddy feels very strongly
03:25about allegations made against him by people in trials.
03:31And basically, he wants to have his say and, you know, clear his name.
03:40They called my dad Mr Newcastle.
03:43That's what the folk used to call him back in the 60s and 70s.
03:46He robbed all the post offices,
03:48robbed all the stately homes.
03:50He was a fighter as well.
03:52He was a hard man as well.
03:54Part of him had been a villain.
03:56But part of that, he was a decent fella, you know?
04:01Yeah.
04:02So what was the police view of him?
04:04What did they think of him?
04:06How did they treat him?
04:07The police were for a war door every week,
04:09for one reason or the other.
04:11And my dad was always fighting with him.
04:13Every week he was fighting with him.
04:15One cop I was getting knocked out in one place over.
04:18All his life.
04:20That's what the relationship we had with the police like.
04:22And the police,
04:24they sort of tarnish you all with the same brush
04:27and give the whole family grief.
04:28Yeah, yeah.
04:29Because of your father.
04:30We grew up as kids
04:32with our father having to put up with them
04:34coming through the fucking door.
04:36Twice I woke up one knee and they were claiming over my bed.
04:39They'd put a ladder out of the back window
04:42and claim through my bedroom window.
04:43They were looking where Ronnie Biggs had escaped.
04:46And that's what they were doing that night.
04:48They didn't even knock and they were just coming in
04:50when he was asleep.
04:51When he was drunk and hoping to get him
04:53before he woke up.
04:54You know what I mean?
04:55To stop the fighting.
04:56But every time they were rid of the hoose,
04:58coppers were getting took away in ambulances
05:00and he was getting carried away.
05:05Paddy was getting a reputation as a young man
05:07who could handle himself
05:09and was offered a job working on the doors in Newcastle.
05:12I think the first time I was on the door
05:14when I was about 16 or 17
05:16when I just was with me dad
05:18and we called in that 69 club
05:20and big Billy and Paddy were running it
05:22and me dad knew Paddy.
05:24And when he went for a drink with him
05:27up in the club, Billy and Paddy
05:29they just stuck me on the door.
05:30You know what I mean?
05:31That was my first night on the door
05:33when I was just about 17.
05:35Billy was a big ex-professional boxer
05:39of his day who nobody could touch
05:41in a fight
05:43during his period.
05:45He could fight with fun.
05:47He wasn't a villain.
05:48He wasn't a bad man.
05:49He was just sort of a hard man.
05:51He's got a lot of respect for Billy in the North East.
05:55Paddy at Wheelers.
05:59Gets it.
06:00You know.
06:01Nice lad.
06:02Little bit of a jumpy jack
06:05and got a bit cheeky now and again.
06:07You know.
06:08But alright.
06:09You know.
06:10Well known.
06:12Very well known.
06:13Respected.
06:14You know.
06:15Hard man.
06:19Another well known face from Newcastle's club scene
06:26was Kenny Panda-Anderson
06:28who was one of the North East's criminal elite.
06:31He was a founding member of the Geordie Mafia
06:34and has a history of convictions stretching back
06:36more than 50 years.
06:38In 1969 the Crays came to Newcastle
06:42to discuss the purchase of some gaming machines.
06:45When they were asked to leave the nightclub they were in
06:48Panda was given £2,000 to give to the Crays
06:51by the frightened club owner
06:53once he realised his mistake.
06:55Panda didn't rate them at all
06:57and put it straight into his pocket.
07:00It wouldn't have lasted a weekend.
07:03Not a weekend.
07:04They could only fight.
07:06I'm not in my pocket.
07:08I did.
07:09I met them twice.
07:10It was half looking.
07:11Ronnie was looking like a ride.
07:12I was going, what's the matter?
07:13What are you looking at?
07:14You know.
07:15What are you looking at?
07:16You know what?
07:17They never bothered me at all.
07:18Freddie Foreman.
07:19Different man.
07:20But he got a different style.
07:22They weren't even gangsters, man.
07:25They had good people like Joey Pyle
07:27and people like that.
07:28They weren't actually on their farm.
07:29Oh Freddie, never on their farm.
07:30But they helped them out when they were in trouble.
07:32They couldn't do nothing else.
07:33When they come to Newcastle
07:35they were double lucky.
07:36They were double but they were sat quiet as could be.
07:39The Crays had plenty to fear in Newcastle.
07:44As well as the Conroys there were two other major crime families in the city.
07:48The Sayers and the Harrisons.
07:50Both had a mafia type reputation for blackmail, robbery and drug dealing.
07:56And both had large families who meted out violence.
07:59They all lived and fought each other on the streets of the West End.
08:03Paddy Conroy first met John Henry Sayers on the door of a nightclub called Wheelers.
08:09No, when I was working at Wheelers,
08:12my brother Lenny asked us to try and get fucking John Sayers a job on the fucking door.
08:17I didn't really know John Sayers.
08:19And I couldn't be fucked down with my door on me
08:21but my brother Lenny fucking pestered us.
08:23So I asked if I could stick him on the door.
08:25So they said they would try and Billy and Paddy.
08:27And I think it was the first meet.
08:30I was fighting with the gates of the lads.
08:32There was a few of them.
08:34And they ended up on my back and they were on top of us.
08:36They were all coming in and walking ourselves all the time.
08:38And when I was doing on my back with them on top of us,
08:42my doorman come up and he says,
08:44how are lads, one on to one.
08:46And I'm on my back fighting with them,
08:48getting my fucking head punched in.
08:50And that was his help, how are lads, one on to one.
08:52And that was his finish after that.
08:54He was gone a week later.
08:56Not for anything other than he was shit as a fucking doorman.
09:03Slowly the violence escalated.
09:05One night the Conroy's other rivals, the Harrisons,
09:07petrol bombed the local house,
09:09while a young girl and a child were inside.
09:11For Paddy this was a step too far.
09:13But the fire engines have come through it and shot up the street,
09:18next to the pub.
09:19Two of them with the lights flashing and sounds gone.
09:22Well that's where we lived in them three streets.
09:24So I says to him,
09:26get out to see where them fire engines have gone.
09:28Just to make sure,
09:29because when it was.
09:31So he had a walk in the pub,
09:33along to the street,
09:35and he come back and he says,
09:36who's this unfair?
09:38Kids' bedroom under.
09:39The Harrahs had just put a pedal on through it.
09:41Little girls burnt on.
09:43But the problem that,
09:45they'd put the fire out and everybody was all right.
09:47But the horrors had done it.
09:49And in more area,
09:50there'd always been rules,
09:52unwritten rules,
09:53like you didn't do them sort of strokes,
09:55pedal bump people's users,
09:56from old.
09:57So I went berserk.
10:00You know, they shouldn't be doing it.
10:02So I thought,
10:03right, I'll catch them,
10:04or the next time I see them,
10:05I'm going to fucking pull them.
10:08The Harrisons and the Conroys
10:10eventually agreed to meet and have a straightener.
10:12A one-on-one fight between family members
10:15to settle the bad blood.
10:17They wanted to arrange a fight,
10:19a proper fight,
10:20the way they.
10:21So I said,
10:22they come to see me then.
10:23So I said, no bother.
10:24The father did.
10:25But they wanted to fight one of my nephews and my brother.
10:28So we arranged a fight between
10:31one of my nephews and one of their lot,
10:33and my brother over one of their lot,
10:35just to keep it right.
10:36And it was supposed to be just me and the dad there,
10:39when the fight was happening.
10:41But what had happened was,
10:43my brother kind of fucking fight,
10:46and they brought the best fighter to fight him.
10:47You know what I mean?
10:48He's never had a fight in his fucking life all day.
10:50He's not a man for being a fighter.
10:52He's not like the rest of us.
10:53So he got chinned.
10:55He got put on his back, to be honest.
10:57He was fighting a big, young fella.
10:59You know what I mean?
11:00He's a lot hole in him.
11:01Which he kind of did,
11:02but when he was doing,
11:03he started kicking him, this fella.
11:05And I heard, well, Lenny say I've had enough.
11:08So I thought, right, I'll stop now.
11:10And he didn't.
11:11He spooked him again.
11:13And Lenny said, I've had enough.
11:14And I heard him say he'd had enough a few times,
11:16I couldn't help myself.
11:18But it's gone in.
11:19So I've done him.
11:23But there was a load of them hid behind the bushes anyway.
11:25It wasn't just the dad there.
11:26They had enough five hid behind the bushes.
11:28And they come out, and I got hit with bricks,
11:30and got stuck into them.
11:32I made them run away.
11:33But they wounded us with bricks and that
11:35before they got away.
11:36Run off.
11:38That's what happened to all the hours.
11:40And they left out.
11:41Well, you know.
11:42Led on to fucking all that shit.
11:47Well, the Conroys are known all I want.
11:50You know, they've got a name like the...
11:54The Hallisons.
11:58The Sears.
12:00They've all got...
12:01Where it's...
12:03Ooh.
12:04You know.
12:05People get a bit worried.
12:06Do you know what I mean?
12:07But...
12:09Like I said, I think people who can handle ourselves
12:14respect other people that can't handle ourselves.
12:17I mean, it's not that we'd put any of the other ones down.
12:22It's just...
12:24Like if I was a hard man and I went to meet another hard man,
12:28we would get on straight away.
12:30That's just the way it is, you know.
12:33The proper man is somebody saying,
12:37Yeah, come on, I'll fight you.
12:39You know what I mean?
12:40And stand toe to toe.
12:42And when you've...
12:44When it's finished, shake hands.
12:46You know?
12:48That's what I've always done.
12:49I've always picked people up.
12:51You know, and made sure they're all right.
12:55Didn't hold a grudge or nothing.
12:57You know?
12:58And I kind of...
12:59I don't think there's many people held a grudge against me
13:01because it's always been their fault, mainly.
13:04and there's been a very good thing.
13:06It'll put me on me.
13:08This is the...
13:10Just off Westmoreland Road,
13:12in the west end of Newcastle.
13:15Which...
13:16The Conroy family...
13:18Lenny Conroy had his father, Paddy
13:21and his brothers, controlled
13:24controlled for um since the 1960s really and their name still commands respect in these areas
13:39the violence between the conroys and the harrisons got worse with both sides having to wear body
13:44armor and carry guns when they left their homes one night the harrisons ambushed one of the conroy
13:50firm michael the bull bullock as i was running up the estate i had dress shoes on i could hardly run
13:57i shouted a young lad called robert to get his front door open get your door open because we've
14:03got security doors there they're all chasing us had all sorts of weapons and i remember getting going
14:08through his gate and that's when i got a samurai sword across the back of my neck and as i've turned
14:13around i got it stuck through my lungs and i grabbed onto the sword and luckily they didn't come through
14:19the fence they were over the fence punching us in the face and that and then robert lee's mom morgue
14:25all board opened that door when i heard the door and i was fortunate to get there because i was
14:30pinned to the ground i was fortunate to pull the sword out i staggered in and collapsed and she slammed the
14:35door shut and they couldn't get in and then they were off i got a they got us an ambulance i tried to
14:41throw a lass out the ambulance because i thought i was dying i couldn't breathe but fortunately i survived
14:47this is because i was a bit overweight at the time it was quarter of an inch from my heart the the blade
14:52of the sword not only were the conroy's at war with other gangs they were also taking on the police
15:03on the 19th of july 1988 paddy conroy and three friends got into a scuffle in the center of newcastle
15:11they sped off in their car and were chased home by the police
15:15the resulting struggle in front of his northbourne road home turned violent and paddy was beaten
15:20unconscious and arrested the scene was witnessed by all of his neighbors
15:26they'd hit me over the head with a truncheon before i got near them so i just thought
15:30fuck this i ended up chinting the two of them then my band loaded them pulled up
15:34and they just fucking kicked fucker of us unconscious kicked us unconscious dragged us away
15:42um and when i got the police station next morning they said i'd injured one of them on the head with
15:47me phone mobile phone i hadn't like it was my next owner about doing that and they said they planted
15:53a knife on us soon there was a knife in my pocket when they lifted us off the ground
15:57but i didn't have a knife on us that night over 70 people attacked west end police station with
16:08bricks bottles and thunder flashes police cars were overturned and set alight and the area became a
16:15no-go zone when the police attacked paddy two of the police officers had him handcuffed lying on the
16:22floor and he was arrested but then a police woman walked over to him when all the police came and
16:28she booted him and when he moved with the pain that's when they all attacked him now the neighbors
16:34were there watching it you're talking about the the street we're all watching and protecting like
16:38kicking off and they got the dogs out to try and get people to get in the houses but we all had little
16:42porches so they refused to in the scene what had happened the scene the police attacking him
16:49so that's why the the the neighbors were up in uproar and that's why so many people wanted to go on
16:54the march because they knew it was wrong conroy was eventually sentenced to six years
17:02sparking a rash of protests and even a justice for paddy conroy campaign
17:09michael bullock had his closest friend climbed the time bridge in the center of newcastle to protest
17:14the city was in uproar i climbed up on the bridge and another lad called joe climbed up he could
17:21only get up to the first rung because of all the burglar grease i got up to the top um after an hour
17:28the police well the police come on he says all right mr bullock you've had a protest
17:32chief superintendent swift i can't fuck off you know what i mean so he asked paddy's brother billy
17:38to get his or down billy refused so the rest of them for drunk disorderly it was 10 o'clock in the morning
17:48after the protests tragedy soon struck both bullock and the conroy's
17:53the bull and paddy's brother neil were doing some door and security work for a man called harry perry
17:58at the green tree pub rather than pay them wages perry gave them a gun it was a fatal mistake
18:05neil wasn't even going to go out that night but we went up there to see if we're getting paid and
18:11he offered me a gun so we went upstairs got the gun i thought we'd unloaded it um unfortunately we
18:19hadn't there was a bullet still left in and neil was carrying on he pointed at it i won't hit door
18:25he went to your man and then i grabbed the gun and when i grabbed the gun unfortunately it went off and
18:29and it resulted in neil dying did you say when he was shot he was when he was shot he was he was
18:37shot he took a head wound he was shot in the head um the next thing harry perry come running in
18:45because he'd been in a different room where you want an empty bar upstairs so i was just screaming
18:49and shouting get an ambulance get an ambulance i was cuddling neil i was trying to give neil like
18:54resuscitation and everything and perry just kept shouting where's the gun so i went there's the
18:59fucking gun and i threw it at him and i was shot and get an ambulance and the next thing i knew
19:04it was as if i was in the twilight world because all of a sudden the firemen come through the doors
19:09and they picked me off him and pulled me away and then they were trying to resuscitate neil and
19:14then the police and everyone was there and then they took neil away and they took me to the police
19:19station but i refused to speak to the police i wanted to speak to paddy so they then brought paddy
19:25desires and i was my head was just gone so when i gets in to the police station i took us into like
19:31a cell with a table one of them interview type rooms but it was a prison cell and he was lying on the
19:36table pool so i stretched it across the table he was down there and he couldn't even lift his
19:41lift his head up the cop was sitting facing him and i just looked at him i just says just tell us one
19:47thing and when he looked up i went was it an accident he went i said that'll do keep your
19:52fucking move shut so i was more worried because he got nick for the gun now bull because there's a
19:57gun involved you know i mean he's going to jail for that harry's going to jail for it's just a
20:00fucking accident i don't know exactly what's happened yet but it's an accident
20:08neil's death just stood in my head and it just it just changed my life it was just i just couldn't
20:13comprehend it we've been friends for a long time we've done everything together
20:16that it just way it just devastated us it's it's i've never recovered from it um
20:25it's just something that i wish i could turn back time i wish yeah a lot of things different but
20:30just totally just devastation
20:36the west end became a war zone and as the gang violence escalated all the rules about not
20:42targeting private homes and family members went out of the window one day the harrisons turned up at
20:48paddy's house but they've got guns and then one of them's letting one of the shotguns scan it must
20:55been out the window with the other side of the passenger window but it was at my front door
21:00so i took a dive when the shot went off obviously to get behind me motor and after i got behind me
21:05motor i've waited two seconds and i took a dive for the front door and i slammed the front door behind us
21:10and got behind the brick walk and that's when uh bullets all kind of coming through the front door
21:15so i waited till it stopped for a couple of chris couple of shots so i give it about 10 seconds
21:19then i see my daughter along the end of the passage in the kitchen so i had to take a run along the
21:23passage just to get there well that's when getting all the kids in from the backyard when all the shots
21:28were getting off so i had to run along the passage then to get me a daughter out the way of the final
21:33nine and before i got to the end i was shot in the back i was i thought i was
21:39and i ended up on the floor i'll tell you i've kept the bullet for a long time she got rid of it
21:43when i was in prison but what i had done was that it hit above the door you know the big concrete
21:48little and then it ricocheted through the glass above the door and then hit us on the back so it
21:55was like getting hit with a catapult really with a big lead bullet you know what i mean
21:58every day there was shootings in the area so every time you go went out in your car you
22:08you are you're expecting to get shot at you know because it was it was just it was that rife at
22:12the time even though there was 22 shootings i mentioned in my court case that was 22 that got
22:17reported there was a lot more than 22 shootings over that time but just not like that had happened in
22:22newcastle before i don't think and they didn't know what to do with it themselves they just they
22:28just had to sit and monitor it and pick the pieces up when it was finished that's where i viewed it
22:38word reached paddy conroy that the harrisons had desecrated the graves of his father and brother
22:43as far as he was concerned somebody would now have to pay my dad's grave got desecrated smashed the
22:52gravestone up and whatnot it was obviously it was him but we couldn't prove it obviously but
22:58er then someone davy glover who was keep trying to get us involved with his battle with harris
23:05at that time and we wouldn't get involved with him but didn't want out to do him he kept coming to us
23:10saying billy collie had done the grave billy collie had done the grave because he's my wife's nephew
23:14so i kind of sort of keep him away with us i didn't know how to do one though at that time
23:19so i listened to him but i didn't take any notes from him because he's got a personal battle gun with
23:24and then what he had told us where collie had been boasting about it down in the gravestone
23:30in the blue man pub somebody else who was in the pub that night come and tell us exactly the same
23:34who i did trust um and and and they tell us i can't be same as glover that they've been planning to
23:44dig the body up next
23:49according to rumors on the streets at the time a friend of the harrisons billy collier was offered
23:55five thousand pounds to dig up the body of paddy's father cut off his head and throw it through paddy's
24:00front window he was going to get paid to i'd offer them the money to dig the grave up
24:09so if i'm right that's all i want to know
24:12billy collier was then taken to a friend's apartment by david glover tied up and tortured
24:19as soon as i went in i didn't think that harmed him he tied his hands up i thought you're
24:22fucking idiot i should have done that to myself you know making it more serious than what it is
24:27uh all the police aren't even getting involved as far as i'm concerned this day he's already beaten
24:32he's admitted everything and that's it why is police gonna get involved there was no dangers
24:37but when i seen the ropes on his hand i thought oh but anyway he just went parry i'll tell you
24:42anything i'll tell you anything as i walked into the flat and i didn't think he'd know i've been
24:48tortured or anything i just thought they'd tie his hands up or something will have been gone
24:51um so i said i know you will i know you will son it was like that was all real then but i
24:58fucking i was a bit thingy with myself with them wrapping them up you know what i mean
25:02and that's when that's when one of them one of one of them that was there
25:05lent a one says i pulled from any of his teeth photo
25:10and he fucking shit myself and then i want to take to be honest i thought you've what i've looked at
25:14him i just spoke to him he'd never i couldn't see any of his teeth missing but he's a smack
25:17and that's in my black you know what i mean um and he's not speaking though so i can't look at
25:24his teeth i was in a bit of a shock really so i knew my brother-in-law who lived in the next block
25:30um he was safe he wasn't a criminal and out that's just there's just one of them that was there
25:35still there can't fucking get my brother no for two seconds and when my brother-in-law come along i
25:39said to the one who said to us he pulled his teeth out come outside you i got him in my vehicle
25:45he sat next to that i went what you fucking done and you was going mad then
25:49and he looked at us he went i just put the pliers on his teeth and it crumbled i went no
25:55and then just as he sees that i turns it around and there's the police car pulling at the end of
25:59the car park that end of chasing when what not pc 1113 noble
26:05although paddy hadn't taken part in the torture of collier both he and david glover were eventually
26:17arrested charged and remanded in custody to await trial
26:24but en route to a court appearance they arranged for an escape from the prison ban
26:28um so after we gets on the bus and we leaves the prison we sees the lads on the motorway the
26:35picks up soon as we get out the prison what plan was we're just going to pop the window and jump
26:39the work jump out the window straight under the vehicles on the motorway in the other prison
26:43because there was roadworks there there only were a few dash screws they're not going to
26:46fucking stop the other um and that was what plan there wasn't any guns or any great escape and i wasn't
26:53going that was the final decision on that day i wasn't gone he was going on his own um but like
26:58i said we got cuffed the two screws so that was a plan out the fucking window we were supposed to
27:03escape soon as we got outside the prison within a half a mile when the lads are sitting who's
27:11watching for the minibus sees we're cuffed cuffed to two screws at an hour today
27:17then we're getting past the roadworks where we were supposed to be jumping with the van window
27:22and you know it's it's another 20 odd mile in newcastle so they just didn't know what to do
27:26so they just followed the followed the bus and as we were going to newcastle i could see them
27:32driving past the thing and they're looking at us on the bus thinking what they would do and i was
27:36trying not to fucking look at them because the screws the screws sat there and then davy glover who sat in
27:41the front seat in front of us turns around he sees what passing his gun you know what i mean i thought
27:47fucking shut up you fucking loon to meself and he just turned the run glover then back in his seat
27:54and then he just stood up he went stop that fucking bus we've got help and he just let that one pull
27:58the handbrake on because he was in the front seat sort of behind the driver and we're doing about 60
28:04million on the motorway when he pulled the handbrake on and the bus just went into a i don't know what
28:09never turned over to be honest we just went into a spin like like that without tipping over and we're just
28:14setting up bump landed in the fucking uh where you pulling at the sides there not at the hodshall
28:22proper parking thing parking bit aye but we're pointing the wrong way up the motorway
28:26that's where we ended up it stopped like that off the motorway in there and that's in the two cars
28:32they were buying we just pulled up
28:37paddy went on the run to france and then on to spain before being arrested and brought back to england
28:43under heavy security put us on a plane in newcastle when it gets on the plane in newcastle we
28:49look through the window the tarmac is surrounded what machine gunned cops uh maybe we're thinking
28:55what the fuck's that for it was for me i've never seen machine guns in my life but then the plane
29:01surrounded on the tarmac it was if i was a terrorist we flew to newcastle we landed at newcastle airport
29:08i was in the back of a van left the girls off the plane and went to drive us back to newcastle
29:14and i looked into the back of the van when we were driving back down into the town and the army
29:18escorting us land drivers actually going to from the castle airport due to the police station
29:24and i looked and i'd only ship me so i'd seen the army fucking escort us and uh dudley the copper who
29:31had arrested us was sat and facing us i just looked at him aren't you fucking kidding aren't you
29:36i said a fucking taxi would have done and he just saw the police he'd done
29:44conroy was sentenced to 11 and a half years and locked up again as a high-risk cat a prisoner
29:50but even inside the wars continued in 1996 in white moore prison conroy and sayers clashed
29:57violently so when i got into the holding room he was in the toilet so i just had a walk into the
30:04toilet just just to pull him and he was waiting for us he's fucking landed one right on me fucking
30:11shit whack knocked us off me fucking feet just about didn't expect it like and i hit the fucking wall
30:19i remember hitting the wall after he's hit us i thought i was flying at first i don't know where
30:23i was but i got my feet in and i realized i've hit the wall and my feet on the ground was
30:29slipping the toilet floor so i slipped on my arse then i landed on my arse and then he was on top of
30:34us but i just grabbed him i was up in half a second i just punched his head in to be honest
30:39and there was more to come after their release john sayers had his revenge on conroy on the streets of
30:47newcastle this is the scene of the infamous sayers conroy uh battle and uh over the road there up
30:58just outside the post office paddy's car was blocked in by um members of the sayers gang he got
31:05out of his car to confront them um there was a i can only describe it as a brawl between paddy and a
31:13number of men and when he was laying on the floor after being kicked um he was slashed with a crash craft
31:20knife across his face and the police arrived and paddy was arrested i jumped out the car and i went
31:31straight for him come here you and he just fucking shit himself and got out of that car and he
31:36fucking run and he wouldn't come back i'm come here he wouldn't come fucking back until all his
31:41mates and get into the cars and gather and once i was surrounded with his mates that's when he come
31:46fucking back but anyway i was poorly that day anyway so so he come back so we're just sort of
31:55in the middle of the main road westgate hill outside the post office so we're gonna obviously
31:59this fight's starting um and he managed to get in and punch us a couple of times in and out i was
32:05trying to watch all these fucking lads behind us as well as about 12 of them
32:09and he punched us twice and the lips and out and on the chin but he hadn't hurt us at all and i had
32:18to give me he did a fucking shake to be honest and say what the fuck's going on yeah to myself
32:21and i went oh you're fucking stone you useless cunt i just realized to myself i just had a joint
32:26for the fight um so i just took me time and i thought i'd just get him in and just
32:31fucking take him doing and i did i just sort of went something mad like that i just went
32:35yeah and they must have thought he's went crazy him and he as i don't know he jumped in and i just
32:40thought come here i can't i just took them doing on the floor and wrapped them up i was just about
32:45to give him it really and that's when all jumped on us but it's done says he couldn't fight to save
32:51his life he's a big girl's blows he's one of them who just comes into the ball as soon as you
32:57as soon as he's in trouble he's not a man at all
33:06despite the bad blood between them and cctv footage clearly showing the attack on conroy
33:12paddy refused to help the police or give any evidence against the sayers
33:15that was well i was kicked in the heat and i got slashed off one of them michael sias
33:24he come through with a cut through it was like a jail one you know the craft knife
33:30and then my man as i was getting kicked he just come on top of us
33:35i was on my back on the ground and he sort of stuck it in there this craft knife and i just grabbed
33:40him as it went in just there i didn't know the strength really to pull over the way so i just twisted my
33:45hand like that and as i twisted it that's when he pulled it that's how i only end up getting the
33:51like a thin cut across the top of me face because i'd sort of pulled it out pulled it like that and
33:56it's just as he was cutting us um and i was a bit concussion then i was just i think i was a bit
34:03concussion i remember getting up and down into a shop and blood was pouring all over the shop counter
34:09and then there me pal got us to hospital
34:15another man who became involved in a dispute with the conroy firm was brian cockerel who allegedly stole
34:26from one of their associates cockerel and his partner lee duffy made their living robbing drug
34:32dealers they called it taxing and we got into it because the drug dealers was in them days in the early
34:40late 80s early 90s people used to sell the cannabis and the cannabis was like 3600 pound a key in them
34:47days and there'd be maybe 10 big dealers in every town so they'd get the gear in we found out where
34:54they were kick the doors in take it off and make a fortune off it in them days nobody run the police
34:59like they do now and then that's how we made our money but uh lee got stabbed to death through it and
35:06then i got another tax partner it was uh mark arms a better known as speedy he was shot the dead shot
35:11to death through it and then there's been about another 20 people over the last 28 years i've been
35:16doing it they've been shot to death or stabbed to death so i've been quite lucky to be still here today
35:25these are the type of streets where mainly with taxpayers like this you know council estates
35:30not just separate people who live in council estates but they'd have a little house like
35:34this and we'd go see just for this house just to sit there and have one at the back door and one at
35:39the front and you'd go to the door and they wouldn't answer the door and you'd have to kick the door in
35:43but sometimes they'd run out the back so you'd have somebody who could run with you and you'd have
35:47somebody who could drive and we used to take the cards off them not just the money and we'd take the
35:51jewel because when people buy drugs they might pawn the chains and some of that we'd get a load of gold
35:56we'd take cars off them and the car would just break down we'd just leave it in the street and go
36:00and get another car for someone else and i remember lee getting a convertible one day and he looked
36:05we opened the roof up and the roof just blew off and we'd go and look 70 miles out on the road and
36:09i'll fuck it when i get another one he said
36:14plenty of people threatened to kill cockle but they did so at their own risk
36:19yeah there was a lad who was uh from red car he was telling everyone he was going to have me killed
36:25the one with the bowling ball and he put spikes in everything and drilled bits and anyway we've got
36:30him he put it above the door in his house and he's like when my cockle comes in here he'll pull this
36:34rope and a little money didn't kill him so we seen him and it was it was pouring down it was i think it
36:38was about a wednesday and uh we see him in the street we grabbed him put him in the car allegedly took him
36:46put him in a boat put a bag on his head and uh tie wraps on his feet and his legs
36:52and uh i took him down the gear which is near red car and allegedly kicked him in the sea
37:01eventually cockle's taxing of drug dealers caught up with him when he was set up and ambushed
37:10walked in about 12 lads smashed me over there with a hammer stabbed me in the back
37:16put a gun to me head i dropped a few of them and throw them about the house i was about 24 stone at
37:22the time so they couldn't put me down fight went on for about 10 minutes the boxing lag was in the
37:27kitchen jaw was broken shot and break his jaw who hit me with pot bread bins one hit me with a it was
37:35like a sock made of leather full of marbles hit me in the face and popped me i didn't bust but it
37:41felt like it was uh stabbed me i've got 176 stitches uh i was two pints of blood they battered me with
37:50baseball batting hammers and stabbed me and uh i finally went down in the end and they never broke
37:57a bone in my body i'm still trying to get back on fighting back but uh left me for dead i said that
38:02would be the end of him so took me to hospital the hospital said if you weren't so big the muscle tissue
38:09saved you from the skeleton tissue from being broke um you've probably been a dead man
38:17paddy conroy was arrested for the attack on cockerel but never charged
38:25viv graham was another hard man on the doors in newcastle
38:31like paddy conroy and brian cockerel he too was trying to stop hard drugs coming into the city's clubs
38:38but it would prove to be his undoing well he didn't like drugs didn't like drugs
38:46he wouldn't have uh drugs selling the pubs that he used to work at other clubs
38:52but didn't you ever pull him and speak yeah i used to speak to him i used to say you're getting
38:57too much involved and you want to calm doing a bit you know what i mean what what did he think
39:03he went everything as he used to do just used to smile you know what i mean i'm okay man you know
39:10what i mean he didn't he weren't worried about no no he wasn't worried worried about it you know but
39:17i used to tell him i used to say you want to watch what you're doing you know
39:29on new year's eve 1993 viv graham was shot dead outside the anchor pub in the city center
39:35he was 34 years old two men waited for him to come out of a pub and um they shouted out happy new year
39:45viv and as he turned around they shot him three times in the magnum one of the wounds was described
39:52by a doctor as um you know it could have been done by a cannon shell it made a hole the size of a
39:59watermelon um in his groin and unsurprisingly viv uh bled to death he died that night in the hospital
40:09and his murder remains unsolved it's one of the big mysteries on tying side he was naive you know
40:14you know with viv viv was the most naive geezer i have ever met me in life i don't know how he lasted
40:21so long i really don't know somebody didn't shoot them before that because he was a bully
40:32there are various theories in newcastle as to why he was murdered
40:37although some people believe that he was involved in selling drugs the majority firmly believe he was
40:42trying to stop them are you saying viv graham is involved in drugs all right oh no danger no danger
40:52well you never saw let me just do a voice i mean not amongst good people or people who would stick
40:59up with us but that's all you ever done you know you should know take a lot as well
41:04but he had a kind of few quid but he gambled he said like 500 quid grand on horses like regular
41:09and uh he didn't drink that much but he certainly was in the drugs he just just took his work didn't he
41:15off the right people so he was taxing drug deals all right well yeah of course he was
41:22and do you think do you think they'll ever solve that murder no no no chance no chance
41:39in a terrible irony viv graham's eldest son dean died of a drugs overdose
41:48his youngest son viv junior agreed to meet me and take me to their graves
41:52so uh how do you feel coming back here to where your father's buried and your brother yeah it's it's uh
42:05it just brings back memories really um
42:11it's not somewhere where i come often you know um maybe once a year
42:15right why why don't you feel like coming back is it just too too many memories and
42:25uh if i had them both yeah me darling brother you know it would time would have been different
42:31and have you heard over the years what what why you may have been murdered i have heard different
42:43stories you know because he was stopping drugs because he was supposedly selling drugs
42:52uh what why do you think it was stopping drugs i would like to believe that it was stopping them
43:04you know because uh they've ruined they've ruined our family drugs losing my brother
43:12um i would definitely i want to believe that that it is that
43:22newcastle still bears the scars from over 50 years of gang warfare
43:35but the geordie old school criminal elite are now in their twilight years they've been replaced by
43:41younger more ruthless villains whose only governor is the gun
43:46armed robberies committed in the 80s funded the avalanche of drugs
43:50that later hit britain and changed society forever
44:11where you should have found someone to put the blame on
44:20in the 80s
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