Gangs of Glasgow

[Dugald]

Dave, when I wrote, "Maybe there were no gangs in Govan", I was looking for information about gangs in Govan. I have been reading this thread about gangs in Glasgow, and I became aware of my own lack of knowledge of such gangs in Govan. It is true, I never heard the name of any gang that measured up to the kind I've read about here. Oh we had gangs of boys, but I could just as correctly said we had bunch of boys; there was no cohesive organized gang as appears to be the case with what I've read. My life was not sheltered in any way, yet I knew of no boy or young man who was ever in borstal or jail... lest you think I lived in a socially favoured part of Govan, I lived in a working-class tenement in Govan, Crossloan Rd to be precise.

I should mention I can only speak of Govan through the 40's and 50's. It was a very different place from what Govan is today. There were, off the top of my head, about 130,000 people living there. All the yards and factories were working; the docks were all busy; shops were all open and busy; the vast majority of people lived in tenements.

Parks? we had a great park, the Elder Park, and I doubt very much there were ever any meaningful gang fights there ... it had attendants during the day and was locked up behind a substantial fence at night. Unlike your parents, I didn't spend most evenings at home, on the contrary, I never spent evenings at home.

I danced lots of times in lots of dance halls all over Glasgow. Never did I ever see a gang fight in any one of them. Oh yes, I saw some individual fights take place and I saw bouncers at work, but no knife or bottle fights. The Locarno Dance Hall of which Dexter spoke, I visited many times; never saw a fight, never even saw a bouncer at work ( the other one he spoke of, The Flamingo, was a picture house in my day, although I stepped inside it once to see what it was like, and went to the Plaza instead). I dare say the fact that one could not buy alcohol in Glasgow dance halls then, had a lot to do with the apparent better behavior.

I'm not suggesting for one moment that we were all law-abiding boys or teen-agers. Govan had its measure of boys stealing and causing civil disturbances of one kind or the other. I did lots of this myself. Running past fruit shops for example, and picking up a handful of fruit was a common pastime ... I'd have stolen the sugar out of your tea if you'd given me half a chance. This I feel, is more allied to youthful high- spirits than something paving a path to Barlinnie.

Drinking certainly was a problem in Govan, but not among boys and teenagers that I'm aware of. Perhaps here I'll agree that it could have been going on without my being aware of it. As I approached the age where drinking might have taken place I became interested in cycling and this took over most of my time... away many weekends all through the winter and frequently in summer. On Friday and Saturday nights one would see some young people at the dancing who had been drinking, but I still don't recall gangs of them or lots of fighting.

Saw the Black Maria in action once. This was at the corner of Crossloan Rd and Golspie St., right beside the Thermotank. Problem? Huh, they were picking up a bunch of young Thermotank employees who where having a game of fitba' during their break at noon...yep , they drove them away in the big blue van for playing fitba' on the empty street! Criminals!

This "Govan Team" spoken about by HH and Dexter, is not a gang I ever heard of. The only gangs in my Govan, if they can be called "gangs", were the "Proddies" and "Papes", and I saw them make like they were fighting many times... as they chased each other at recess, back and forth across the vacant lot separating St. Consentine's and Greenfield Schools on Nimmo Drive. Big deal, eh?

[Mori]

Daily Record

Razor gangs ruled the streets but even in the violence of pre-war years, one man stood out

Oct 19 2007 By Reg McKay

THE gangs ruled Glasgow's streets with razors and coshes but one man terrorised them for a simple reason - The Fiend of the Gorbals, Patrick Carraher, was in love with violence for its own sake.
For decades, the Protestant Billy Boys and Roman Catholic Norman Conks had battled it out on the city's streets.
So huge was the issue, that Glasgow cops had head-hunted the man they called The Gangbuster.
Sir Percy Sillitoe, as he came to be titled, will forever be recognised for his role as Chief Constable of Glasgow.
Yet, when he was recruited to the job in 1931, he already had a great track record of dealing with gangs in the steel-hard city of Sheffield.
In Glasgow, Sir Percy set about hiring the toughest men he could find as beat bobbies.

[papa lazarou]

http://glasgowgangs.freewebspace.com/custom2.html

The above link supposedly names all glasgow gangs. I'm sure I've heard of the Redskins as being more a late 19th/early 20th century gang with a roll of hundreds. So I guess this list is a past and present.

I love the variation in Calton - Real Calton Tongs, Calton Tongs, Baby Tongs, Big Do'ehill, Black Hand Gang, Black Star, Calton Entry Boys, Calton Entry Mob (neighbours?)....reminds me of Life of Brian - "surely we should be united against the common enemy ...The Judean People's Front?...Naw, the Brigton Derry, ya fanny!

[Dexter St. Clair]

It reminds me of Life of Brian too. It ws also a work of fiction based on exaggerated oral histories.

[Mori]

Glasgow has ‘more gangs than London’


Shettleston is highlighted as an area where residents are suffering because of deprivation

GLASGOW has 170 teenage gangs - more than London despite a population one-sixth the size, says a report.

It also warned the city's economic regeneration was being blighted by "appalling" levels of social deprivation.

Life expectancy in the poorest parts of Glasgow is 25 years shorter than the wealthiest; education achievement is the second worst in Scotland; and drug and alcohol abuse are at epidemic levels, it says.

The report is by the Centre of Social Justice, an ideas group led by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.

[Bogg]

hello,
I will soon (less than a month) move to Glasgow and will live in Cessnock area. Are there any gancgs there? is it a high criminality?
thanx,
Bogdan

[Dexter St. Clair]

absolutely. Every fortnight a 1000 strong horde of hooligans descend on the area. every other week it's 40000

[Josef]

hello,
I will soon (less than a month) move to Glasgow and will live in Cessnock area. Are there any gancgs there? is it a high criminality?
thanx,
Bogdan

P.M. me when you get here, and maybe we can form one.

[Peekay]

^ Aye, right! I'm sure the K.P.Star are gonna be seriously worried about Bogg and Josef "settin' right aboot them"

PK

[Josef]

You're welcome to join. We could do with some infantry.

[HollowHorn]

Fell aff ma cherr, err.

[Bogg]

ok, Josef, maybe we'll form one

[Mori]

Cant see this making much of a difference in the long run, government justifying that they are trying to do their bit.

Major crackdown on gang violence



Violence, football hooliganism and public order will be tackled in a major crackdown on gangs.
The campaign, headed by the Violence Reduction Unit, will see police working with gang members and others to combat the problems of violence.

It is part of the Safer Scotland anti-violence campaign and follows on from work carried out to reduce incidents involving knives.

The Scottish Government has pledged £200,000 for this latest phase.

Det Ch Insp Andy McKay, Safer Scotland co-ordinator, said: "This form of violence is prevalent across Scotland and can be fuelled by everything from geographical location and place of residence to football.

[Bawheid99]

Det Ch Insp Andy McKay, Safer Scotland co-ordinator, said: "This form of violence is prevalent across Scotland and can be fuelled by everything from geographical location and place of residence to football.

It's no rocket science Insp McKay all you have to do is make it socially unacceptable to shite in folks shoes and pish in their bovril.
Where do I claim my share of the 200 grand ?

[Excalibur]

It doesn't matter what you do, gang members know that they can stab someone 2, 3 times before actually doing time for it, commit numerous vandalisms, breaches of the peace, assaults and get community service.

Prison doesn't work, but at least when they're in, they're not stabbing or beating up people.

By people I mean decent members of the public.