Avsnitt

  • Gerbil is recruited for a kidnapping plot which doesn't go to plan. Meanwhile, he continues his reign of terror as he seeks to build his drug empire - leading to a growing number of enemies out to get him.

    Gerbil's reputation is such that he is recruited to carry out a kidnapping by a Liverpool drug gang. Meanwhile, he doubles down on his efforts to take control of the drug trade in parts of Glasgow - taking dealers hostage and threatening them with violence. He gives one dealer an ultimatum and arranges a meet in a supermarket car park. But things take an unexpected and deadly turn.

    For a who's who, please visit this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Czgw23hf0tqsb855CcPKPJ/who-s-who-in-the-story-of-the-daniels-and-the-lyons

    Presenter Livvy HaydockSeries producer: Paul GrantProducer: Patrick KiteleyJournalism assistant: Tim FernleyEditor and executive producer: Carl Johnston

  • Gerbil is on the warpath after being seriously injured in a drive by shooting. What followed next takes the feud to another level of violence and the police searching for answers.

    Kevin Carroll is out for revenge, but seriously injured he has to enlist others to exact retribution. This time, however, innocents are caught in the crossfire and detectives have to employ all the tricks in the book to catch those responsible. The lid is lifted on the murky world of hitmen for hire.

    For a who's who, please visit this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Czgw23hf0tqsb855CcPKPJ/who-s-who-in-the-story-of-the-daniels-and-the-lyons

    Presenter Livvy HaydockSeries producer: Paul GrantProducer: Patrick KiteleyJournalism assistant: Tim FernleyEditor and executive producer: Carl Johnston

  • As Jamie Daniels drug empire continues to grow, a violent feud begins with a rival crime family - one that will lead to an all out bloody war on the streets of Glasgow.

    After serving time for heroin smuggling, Jamie Daniel is back in business. But a road rage incident involving a family member and a rival leads to a murder unlike any seen before in Glasgow. And there's more trouble on the horizon, this time with a family from the neighbouring Milton estate - the Lyons. What starts as a dispute over drugs leads to a series of increasingly violent tit for tat attacks and shootings. At its centre is a Daniel enforcer with his own vicious crew - someone who is known in the underworld as Gerbil.

    For a who's who, please visit this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Czgw23hf0tqsb855CcPKPJ/who-s-who-in-the-story-of-the-daniels-and-the-lyons

    Presenter Livvy HaydockSeries producer: Paul GrantProducer: Patrick KiteleyJournalism assistant: Tim FernleyEditor and executive producer: Carl Johnston

  • Jamie Daniel begins his rise from the tough streets of Possil in north Glasgow - first as a scrap metal dealer and then as a major player in the city's flourishing drug trade.

    One of ten children, Jamie followed his brothers into the family scrap metal business. But as heroin took hold in the city, he spotted a business opportunity that would catapult him into the big league - importing large quanitities of the drug into the country.

    The city's underworld was changing too. From the razor wielding street gangs of the 1930s to the postcode turf wars, drugs would mark a step change in the criminal landscape. But as business boomed for Jamie, danger was on the horizon.

    Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Paul GrantProducer: Patrick KiteleyTechnical Producer: Craig BoardmanJournalism Assistant: Tim FernleyEditor and Executive Producer: Carl Johnston

  • A bloody and bitter feud between two of Glasgow's most notorious crime families which has raged for more than two decades, leading to violence and murder.

    Why the Daniel crime group and the Lyons crime group fell out isn’t clear. The story goes it was linked to the theft of a stash of drugs – or because the Lyons were encroaching on Daniel territory. Whatever the cause, the dispute exploded into a series of astonishingly violent tit for tat attacks which have cast a dark shadow over the city of Glasgow. The most high profile – the very public assassination of Daniel’s enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll. He was shot dead in a hail of bullets in front of terrified shoppers in an Asda carpark in 2010.

    Delving into Glasgow’s gangland past and it’s history of violent crime, the series hears from former gangsters, ordinary members of the public caught up in this vicious turf war and the police officers fighting to take down the mobsters.

    Many of those at the heart of the violence are now locked up in prison – or dead. But the fear is that this is a feud which is so ingrained it could go on for generations to come.

    For a who's who, please visit this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Czgw23hf0tqsb855CcPKPJ/who-s-who-in-the-story-of-the-daniels-and-the-lyons

    Presenter Livvy HaydockSeries producer: Paul GrantProducer: Patrick KiteleyJournalism assistant: Tim FernleyEditor and executive producer: Carl Johnston

  • It’s New Year’s Day 1994 and Tyneside is waking up to the news of Viv Graham’s brutal murder. There is tension in the air and nobody knows what is going to happen next. What follows is a spiral of repercussions and tragedies which have spanned the decades and are still being felt to this day.

    In the final episode, presenter Livvy Haydock meets pathologist Dr John McCarthy, who walked the scene of Viv Graham’s murder hours after his death, before carrying out his autopsy. It was the start of one of the most high profile murder investigations in Northumbria Police’s history. The killing happened just off a bustling street on one of the busiest nights of the year. Hopes were high that someone must have seen what had happened. More than 1,000 people were interviewed, hundreds of homes were searched and there were countless arrests but they couldn’t make a breakthrough. Meanwhile, Tyneside’s criminal underworld was manoeuvring to capitalise on the opportunities which had opened up to them. Racketeers began trying to move in on some of Viv Graham’s former pubs while his lucrative clubs were unguarded and up for grabs too. For Viv Graham’s family, his murder had catastrophic consequences and sparked a spiral of tragedy, which is still being felt to this day.

    Presenter – Livvy HaydockSeries Producer – Ben RobinsonTechnical Producer – Richard HannafordProducer – Patrick KiteleyArchive Researcher – Jackie MccoyJournalism Assistant – Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive – Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham

  • Viv Graham is released from prison following a vicious assault on rival bouncer Stu Watson. He needs to make up for lost time and remind everyone who is boss. But while he’s been away in jail, Tyneside’s nightlife has been transformed in an explosion of ecstasy. This is one fight Viv Graham won’t be able to win.

    In this episode, we follow Viv Graham as he tried to reassert his dominance on Tyneside’s nightlife, following his spell in prison. His services were in just as much demand as ever among pub and club owners but the arrival of ecstasy had raised the stakes. Now controlling nightclub doors was more lucrative than ever because it meant criminal gangs could also control the supply of the drugs into the venues. The problem for the gangs was Viv Graham protected many of the most lucrative bars and clubs and he played by his own rules. With every week that passed the threats to Viv Graham’s life were getting more serious. Graham himself knew he didn’t have long left and told his partner Anna he wouldn’t live to see 40. And he was right. On New Year’s Eve 1993, Viv Graham stepped out of the Queen’s Head pub in Wallsend and walked a few yards to a corner shop. Moments after leaving and walking towards his car, a gunman fired three shots at him from close range. He staggered back to the pub but his life was slipping away. Those three shots rang out across the city and through the decades.

    Presenter - Livvy HaydockSeries Producer - Ben RobinsonTechnical Producer - Richard HannafordProducer - Patrick KiteleyArchive Researcher - Jackie MccoyJournalism Assistant - Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive - Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioner - Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer - Clare Fordham

  • It’s the summer of 1989 and the atmosphere on Tyneside is febrile. The economy is shrinking and tumbling towards recession but at the same time the nightlife is bouncing. And among the criminal underworld battles are raging to control the supply of drugs into pubs and clubs. Viv Graham is right in the firing line and danger lurks on every corner.

    This episode tracks Viv Graham as he linked up with a member of the notorious Sayers crime firm. Graham was recruited to lead a vicious gang attack on another nightclub bouncer called Stu Watson. Graham pounded Watson with a relentless barrage of punches which left his victim bloodied and dazed. Stu Watson told presenter Livvy Haydock he was powerless to defend himself because he feared he would have been killed if he did.What nobody knew was the club was under police surveillance as part of a drugs operation. The whole savage incident was recorded on CCTV and witnessed by undercover officers. Moments after the attack, Graham was arrested and later sentenced to three years in jail. Graham’s spell inside was every bit as colourful as his life on the streets of Tyneside. On one occasion he earned widespread acclaim for single-handedly quelling a riot but on another he swallowed a lump of cannabis which had been smuggled in to the prison. Viv Graham was said to have slept for days. It would be the only respite he’d be getting because dark clouds were forming.

    Presenter – Livvy HaydockSeries Producer – Ben RobinsonTechnical Producer – Richard HannafordProducer – Patrick KiteleyArchive Researcher – Jackie MccoyJournalism Assistant – Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive – Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham

    Archive credits:Nick Manners v Joe Calzaghe boxing commentary - Eurosport.

  • Viv Graham is right at the peak of his powers.

    After starting as a nightclub doorman in Gateshead, he has grown to become the most powerful figure in Tyneside’s booming nightlife, with a vast pub and club protection empire. But trouble is brewing because a new party drug is landing and it’s going to turn his world upside down.

    This episode charts the arrival of ecstasy in the North East and the dramatic changes it had on the region’s nightlife. A prominent DJ in Newcastle, Tom Caulker, remembers it all like it was yesterday - especially when the criminal gangs launched vicious battles to try to control the lucrative supplies of ecstasy in to clubs. The problem? Viv Graham had swathes of Tyneside’s most lucrative clubs and pubs sewn up - and he played by his own rules. These were dangerous times for Viv Graham and anyone associated with him. Guns were freely available among the criminal underworld and they were pointing at Viv Graham.

    Presenter – Livvy HaydockSeries Producer – Ben RobinsonTechnical Producer – Richard HannafordProducer – Patrick KiteleyArchive Researcher – Jackie MccoyJournalism Assistant – Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive – Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham

    ArchiveCredits: Zulu - Diamond Films

  • Viv Graham, a young man from the country, is about to land in the city and make a very big impression. In fact he’s going to take over the town. This episode charts Viv Graham’s meteoric rise. It follows in his footsteps as he went from being a complete unknown, to single-handedly controlling a pub and club door protection empire, which spanned Newcastle and beyond. Viv’s first move was to approach one of the city’s most colourful characters – Paul Tucker Grant – a doorman and boxer, who’d later go on to have a glittering acting career. With Paul’s help Viv got his first door – a nightclub in Gateshead. Viv quickly grew a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Troublemakers would be removed and dispatched and no matter who they were they wouldn’t cross Viv Graham. He became known, feared and revered in equal measure. This was a man who would never pick up a weapon but nor would he shy away from dealing with anyone who crossed his path. More and more pub and club owners sought out Viv’s services and an empire formed – right at the moment Newcastle was exploding as a party capital. The city’s historic Bigg Market was transformed with dozens of trendy new bars and restaurants, while the Tuxedo Princess, a ferry turned nightclub moored on the Tyne, drew in revellers from far and wide.Viv was well on his way to dominating the city’s bouncing nightlife and anyone who crossed him would face the consequences.

    Presenter – Livvy Haydock Series Producer – Ben Robinson Technical Producer – Richard Hannaford Producer – Patrick Kiteley Archive Researcher – Jackie Mccoy Journalism Assistant - Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn Assistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna Editor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham

    Archive credits Emmerdale - Yorkshire Television. Byker Grove - Zenith Entertainment. The Tube - Tyne Tees Television.

  • On New Year's Eve 1993, Viv Graham, a 17-stone man mountain, stepped out of a Tyneside pub and walked a few yards towards his Ford Sierra Cosworth. But he never made it. Lurking in the shadows was a gunman who fired three shots at him from close range. Viv, who ran a pub and club protection empire which spanned Newcastle and beyond, dragged himself back to the pub but his life was slipping away. The murder of Viv Graham, right in the middle of his heartland territory, sent shockwaves through Tyneside which echo to this day. In this podcast series Livvy Haydock delves into one of the country’s most notorious unsolved murders. It’s a story of brutal violence, drugs, guns, love, loyalty and betrayal.She investigates how a charming boy from a village in the country, grew to become one of the most fearsome enforcers in the country, ruling over Newcastle’s nightlife with an iron fist. What made Viv Graham stand out? How did he rise to the top? And who was he really? In episode one, Livvy travels back to Viv Graham’s roots and discovers a young man trying to find his way in an era when the heavy industries, which had dominated the North East for generations, were fast dying out. Employment opportunities and future prospects looked bleak and many people were leaving the North East in search of work. But Viv Graham took a very different approach. Through a relentless regime of boxing and weightlifting, he set about transforming himself into a one-man wrecking machine. The sort of person who could come in very handy on the doors in Newcastle at the very moment the city was emerging as one of Europe’s party capitals.

    Presenter - Livvy Haydock Series Producer - Ben Robinson Technical Producer - Richard Hannaford Producer - Patrick Kiteley Archive Researcher - Jackie Mccoy Journalism Assistant - Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive - Louise Kattenhorn Assistant Commissioner - Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer - Clare Fordham

    Archive credits: Get Carter - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios. Auf Wiedersehen Pet - Central Independent Television and Witzend Productions.Discovery Museum, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

  • A new series of Gangster tells the story of Viv Graham, a man who ran a protection empire which spanned Newcastle and beyond.

    Viv Graham, a 17-stone man mountain, a man feared and revered in equal measure, came to dominate Tyneside’s nightlife through brutal and uncompromising violence.

    His murder, in an organised hit on New Year’s Eve 1993, sparked recriminations and repercussions which echo to this day. It remains one of the country’s most notorious unsolved murders.

    Presenter – Livvy HaydockSeries Producer – Ben RobinsonTechnical Producer – Richard HannafordProducer – Patrick KiteleyArchive Researcher – Jackie MccoyJournalism Assistant – Tim FernleyWith assistance from Jamie BoyleCommissioning Executive – Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioner – Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah GreenEditor and Executive Producer – Clare Fordham

  • 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 BBC Sounds. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Sound designer: Peregrine Andrews Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn Production Executive: Laura Jordan-Rowell Creative Director for BBC Studios: Georgia Moseley Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Production manager: Elaina Boateng Production coordinator: Juliette Harvey Development Executive: Anya Saunders Editorial Policy Advice: Su Pennington Legal advice: Hashim Mude and Andrew Downey Consulting editor: Steve Boulton Studio recording: Aaron Cazzola

    Thanks also to Beena Khetani, Adele Humbert, Hugh Levinson, Ali Rezakhani, Rhiannon Cobb, and Jack Griffith.

  • 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 Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • It's April 2020, and the Metropolitan Police are overwhelmed with messages hacked from the EncroChat network.

    Buried among the millions of texts and photographs, are the outlines of a murder plot. An anonymous EncroChat user is trying to source a gun and some ammunition for a drive by shooting.

    Will the police discover the messages before it’s too late? And will they be willing to risk the secrecy of the entire EncroChat operation by arresting someone on EncroChat evidence alone?

    Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen

    Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.

  • 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.

    Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds.

  • 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 talking freely, and they don't see you there,” says DCI Driss Hayoukane, the Senior Investigating Officer who led the Met’s EncroChat operation. Police went public about the EncroChat hack in July 2020. This is the first time that the inside story of some of the Met’s biggest EncroChat cases has been told to a broadcaster. Talking exclusively to BBC Sounds, police officers reveal how they used the gangsters’ messages to uncover arms dealing and expose murder plots as well as major drug trafficking and money laundering operations. Stories featured in the series include:

    - A murder plot unearthed by the Met in a joint operation with South Wales police. - Two apparently legitimate businessmen, living in a Buckinghamshire village, whose wealth really came from cocaine trafficking and major league money laundering, - A corrupt police officer who was working for a notorious London crime group.

    At a time when the Metropolitan Police Service has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, it’s a story of an extraordinary success: nearly 1000 arrests; over 400 convictions; the seizure of £19 million in cash, three tonnes of Class A and B drugs and 49 guns. Presenter Mobeen Azhar does not shy away from what have been difficult issues for the Met police: an officer from the Met’s anti-corruption unit speaks for the first time about how hacked EncroChat messages helped to expose the worst case of police corruption he had ever seen; and Mobeen asks the officer leading the Met’s EncroChat investigation about the experience of being an ethnic minority officer in a force found to be institutionally racist. Catching the Kingpins is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Sounds. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Series Producer: Andrew Hosken Editor and Executive Producer: Innes Bowen Sound designer: Peregrine Andrews Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn Production Executive: Laura Jordan-Rowell Creative Director for BBC Studios: Georgia Moseley Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister Production manager: Elaina Boateng Development Executive: Anya Saunders Editorial Policy Advice: Su Pennington Legal advice: Hashim Mude and Andrew Downey Consulting editor: Steve BoultonProduction Co-ordinator: Juliette Harvey

    Thanks also to Beena Khetani, Adele Humbert, Hugh Levinson, Ali Rezakhani, Rhiannon Cobb, and Jack Griffith.

  • 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 to neighbouring cities –even as far as Aberdeen. The absence of crack cocaine and lack of rivals in other cities made spreading their net wider an easy task, but law enforcement continued to fight back.

    We’ll hear from an undercover police officer who was sent into Northampton to join the city’s Burger Bar Boys offshoot there, and how developments in ballistics allowed police to trace the movement of guns like the MAC-10 as they were passed around the country from one gang member to another.

    We conclude the series by looking at where things stand now in the city. What became of the convicted gang members, and how the Burger Bar Boys name still echoes around the streets of Handsworth to this day. We will hear how the families who lost loved ones feel as they reflect on the events of the last few decades, and how back in the Burgers’ home territory of Handsworth, there is at last some optimism.

    New episodes are released on Fridays. If you’re in the UK, listen to Gangster: The Burger Bar Boys first on BBC Sounds. bbc.in/40W5Chz

    Presenter – Livvy HaydockSeries Producer – Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer – Nicky EdwardsProducer – Patrick KiteleyResearcher – Megan JonesArchive Researcher – Nicola HanFixer in Jamaica – Nick DaviesJournalism Assistant – Tim FernleyCommissioning Executive – Louise KattenhornAssistant Commissioners – Lorraine Okuefuna and Natasha JohanssonEditor and Executive Producer – Carl Johnston