A deadly wave of gang warfare is currently gripping the streets of London with the police struggling to contain the rising tide of bloodshed.
The shocking level of violence has erupted as gang members seek revenge in tit for tat attacks across the capital.
Many are triggered on social media, as rival factions post rap videos online taunting one another, or mocking enemies over recent deaths or brutal assaults.
Since the start of this year, the Metropolitan Police have investigated more than 50 murders, many linked to warring gangs.
The head of Scotland Yard, Cressida Dick, has pledged to use ‘Al Capone’ tactics to tackle the increase in knife and gun related murders, announcing a new taskforce of 120 officers to remove gang members from the streets.
Here we look at some of the feuds turning the streets of London into a battleground.
A map showing the location of just some of the bitter gang wars taking place across London
Woodgrange E7 and the Beckton E6 crew: Bitter feud that led to cold-blooded execution of a 14-year-old boy as he sat with friends near a playground
The Woodgrange E7 gang and their bitter feud with rivals The Beckton E6 crew is one linked to the cold blooded execution of a 14-year-old boy.
Corey Junior Davis was shot from behind as he sat with friends near a playground in Forest Gate, East London, in September last year.
Woodgrange E7 operate around Woodgrange Road in Forest Gate, just five miles away from Beckton – in the same London borough.
The two warring factions had spent months taunting each other online, with each posting chilling rap videos where they spoke of murder and killing one another.
Corey Junior Davis was shot from behind as he sat with friends near a playground in Forest Gate, East London
The brutal killing took place on Moore Walk in Forest Gate, east London
One video by ‘WoodGrange E7’ – which has been viewed more than 100,000 times – boasts about ‘holding n****** to ransom’.
Another video shows a gunshot hole appearing in the screen while members rap ‘I’m shooting to kill’.
The senseless killing, which also saw a 17-year-old boy caught in the cross-fire and whop survived, was believed to be a revenge attack ordered by Beckton E6 following a hunting knife stabbing at Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford.
Corey’s mum Keisha McLeod, 38, later told of the horror at losing her ‘funny, caring and handsome’ son.
‘This is the worst feeling a parent could ever feel.
‘My son did not deserve this death, he hadn’t had a life yet, he was still being a child.
‘The perpetrator must feel guilty. That’s the way I see it. You must. You cannot live with this.’
Her father Neville McLeod, 75, who lived with Corey, said: ‘There is nothing bad you could say about CJ. He was a lovely boy.
‘He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He never kept bad company, so we just have no idea why this has happened.’
Corey’s grandfather Neville McLeod (left) paid tribute to his grandson saying: ‘There is nothing bad you could say about CJ’ His mother Keisha McLeod (right) later told of the horror at losing her ‘funny, caring and handsome’ son
Northumberland Park NPK v Wood Green WG: Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne caught in the crossfire of the a rivalry that has terrorised North London streets
Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne, who was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity
Youth worker Tanesha Melbourne, who was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity, is believed to have been caught in the crossfire of a bitter rivalry between The WG (Wood Green) gang and its enemies NPK (Northumberland Park)
The 17-year-old was leaving her boyfriend’s home in Tottenham, north London earlier this month, with a friend who was thought to be the intended target, when she was gunned down in a drive by shooting.
The decade long feud between WG and NPK has seen a never ending string of tit for tat battles on the streets of the north London area.
It came after three men launched an attack on a victim in the Tinseltown diner in Farringdon.
Online footage claimed the attack victim was ‘Bobby Slater WG – thought to be rap artist Bobby Slater, also known as ‘Bob da Builder.’
It was claimed on social media the attack on Bobby came after he ‘dissed’ Kwabena ‘Kobi’ Nelson, who was ambushed and stabbed to death in Tottenham on February 3.
Locals now claim the drive-by shooting which killed Tanesha may have come in retaliation for the milkshake bar attack.
A police forensic officer retrieves the bullet from the window frame of the house outside which Tanesha was shot
People on social media claimed Bobby Slater (pictured) ‘got jumped’ by the NPK (Northumberland Park) gang for ‘dissing’ Kwabena ‘Kobi’ Nelson
It was claimed on social media the attack on Bobby came after he ‘dissed’ Kwabena ‘Kobi’ Nelson, as seen her from a tweet
An Instagram story post shared by a member of NPK boasted of them ambushing Bobby Slater inside a Tinsletown diner
Kwabena ‘Kobi’ Nelson, who was ambushed and stabbed to death in Tottenham on February 3
It was later claimed on social media that NPK claimed responsibility for her death.
The post said: ‘If your chilling with my ops [opposition] I ain’t gonna adjust my aim for you.’
A second message, posted over a black screen, read: ‘We got him down in Tinseltown and his girl down by Chalgrove [two laughing emojis] #NPK #RNS’.
The Harrow Road Boyz, Mozart Estate and the South Kilburn Estate: Two gangs locked in a long running feud linked to murder of 20-year-old Mohanna Abdhou
Victim Mohanna Abdhou was shot dead in Kilburn in May last year
Described as Westminster’s secret ghetto, Mozart Estate, which lies at the heart of the Queen’s Park area, has been blighted by trouble since its creation in the 1960s.
Youths from the estate, who call themselves the Harrow Road Boyz, have been locked in long running feuds with those from the neighbouring South Kilburn Estate, known as SK, from as far back as 2011.
Kylann Grannum, 21, and Mohammed Tawfik, 19, are currently on trial for shooting dead Mohanna Abdhou, 20, in Kilburn, north west London in May last year.
The Old Bailey heard how she was talking to friends close to a busy children’s playground on the South Kilburn Estate when they were approached by a group on bicycles and fired at least three shots.
Mohanna, who was known to friends and family as Montana, was hit in the back by a ricocheting bullet outside Dickens House, a tower block in Kilburn, North West London.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC told the Old Bailey that the defendants, who deny murder, are associated with the HRB, and they have been ‘in a dispute’ with the rival SK mob.
He said: ‘There is a history of serious tit-for-tat violence between the two gangs.’
But the gang violence stretches back even further as three female teenagers, aged 16, 17, and 18 were shot leaving the Mozart Estate in a driving by shooting in 2011.
Mohanna was talking to friends close to a busy children’s playground on the South Kilburn Estate (pictured)
Among countless other distressing incidents, residents have reported gun, knife and drug problems across both areas, rife with poverty and unemployment.
Despite undergoing major refurbishment in the mid-nineties in a bid to lose the Crack City reputation Mozart Estate had earned – gun and knife crime has remained prevalent on the West London estate, land locked between Ladbroke Grove and Kilburn.
It is not known how long the feuding has gone on for, though rap videos dating back to 2011 show diss tracks between gang members on the rival estates aimed at each other.
CR0 v CR7: The postcode war that spiralled out of control as they taunted each other on social media saw the brutal knife killing of 15-year-old Jermain Goupall
Aspiring architect Jermain Goupall was another innocent victim gang warfare that has terrorised part of South London.
The defenceless 15-year-old was ambushed by knife wielding thugs who wrongly believed he was a rival gang member.
His killers, including teenage couple Junior Simpson, 17, and Saskia Haye-Elliot, 18, who hunted down and stabbed Jermaine, were jailed last week. Simpson, along with Samuel Oliver-Rowland, 18, and 21-year-old Adam Benzahi were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey, while Haye-Elliot was found guilty of manslaughter.
Oliver-Rowland was sentenced to a minimum term of 20 years, Benzahi to 22 years and Simpson a minimum of 18 years. Haye-Elliot was sentenced to 12 and a half years.
Jermain Goupall, 15, an aspiring architect, was another innocent victim of gang warfare
The scene in Thornton Heath in South London where Jermain was stabbed to death in August last year
They were all allegedly connected to the CR0 gang, based in Croydon town centre, south London, rivals of the nearby CR7 gang, in Thornton Heath, both named after their postcodes.
Tensions between the two factions had reached fever pitch after Simpson appeared in a video taunting the CR7 gang, while wearing a machete tucked into his waistband.
The video, which attracted 80,000 hits, made reference to ‘shanking’ a slang term for stabbing.
At the trial, prosecutors said the attackers donned balaclavas adding: ‘They were nothing more than a marauding gang of thugs who had gone… to hunt down anyone they thought was from the CR7 gang unfortunate enough to get in their way.’
MDP ‘Money Drugs Power’: The notorious 100 strong gang that has been linked to a series of murders, knife attacks and shootings
MDP, which stands for Money, Drugs, Power’ or ‘Murder Dem P*****s’ is a notorious 100-strong gang that terrorises the streets of west London.
Based in Shepherds Bush the gang which wear the colour blue, have been linked to a series of murders, knife crimes and shootings in recent years.
Some 200 officers smashed in doors across west London arresting nine people, including some believed to be senior figures in the lucrative crack cocaine and heroin-dealing gang
During the raid, police found this Skorpion machine gun, along with ammunition (left) and they seized 2kg of crack cocaine and £50,000 in cash
Earlier this week a series of police raids in the capital on MDP uncovered a Skorpion machine gun, ammunition, cash and suspected class A drugs.
Some 200 officers smashed in doors across west London overnight, arresting nine people, including some believed to be senior figures in the lucrative crack cocaine and heroin-dealing outfit, Scotland Yard said.
An alleged drug-running boy, aged 14, arrested at his family home, was among those detained in eight raids in the Northolt, Greenford, Fulham and Brentford areas.
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