A REAL STORY.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 259, 31 July 1925, Page 3

A REAL STORY.

VENDETTA OF RACE GANGS

I.KSSnXS BMonWIT FHOAI Mi'SSIA. ! The trouble between the -race-gangs • bus been postponed, not averted. J writes William Pboyre in the Weekly , Dispatch. There has been a good! deal of nonsense talked about the pro- j posed battle of Epsom, at which ii was suggested Ihe opposing armies were to march on tlm held armed with revolvers. hammers, razors, and knuckle-dusters, and to attack each other in mass formation. j Things are not done like that in the underworld. They do not. arrange their battle, like a chess tournament, at a fixed place on a given date. When the battle actually breaks out and rages all along the line it will be like a squabble between a pack of hungry dogs fighting for one bone. The only reason why the row was expected at Epsorn is because ttial was whore the plunder was. and where all Ibe plunderers wanted to be. Rivals for the Plums. Wind really lias happened is Ibis:— There is no honour among those who live by their wits, and rivals have sprung up who waul, to share ttm plums. Among Urn race-gangs, as among Matlhew Arnold's gipsies, the rule of life is plain. Ii is Mia! "they shall take who have the power and they shall keep who can.” The rule of Iho race-gangs reached its highest point a couple of-years ago when the Birmingham gang and ‘he London gang, commonly known as the Sabini gang, agreed In differ and to divide up til*' country, the Birmingham gang ruling the northern race meetings and reaping its harvest there, the Sabini gang ruling the .southern meetings and enjoying, as the politicians might say. the emoluments of office. Peace having broken out, the- Organisation was perfected. flic southern gang, in particular, sol itself to get a.wav from violence, and to set up a system by which it could levy toll on bookmakers in return for such services as printing, protection, and debt-col-lecting. If that could be done the triumph would be complete, the profits permanent, and something like a halo of respectability might be shed ever the whole institution. But a race-gang, like a Government, can only remain in power if its to!lowers are placated. In tins case, in this new race-gang feudal system, the ‘barons andT the knights and the squires took the lion’s share of the plunder, and left only the crumbs from their table Icr the. thugs and the bullies who bad to do the dirty work and the dangerous work, and run the risk of gaol for assaults, or, it might be, murder. Some pretty sharp fellows organ to realise that if they could organise the disgruntled and disappointed hangerson thev could use pressure on the race gang heads in the same way that the race-gang heads had used pressure on the bookmakers. The theory %\a> sedulouslv put about that no one could get on in the southern gang unless he was either an Italian, a foreigner, or a .lew: "no English need apply. There were a lot of disgruntled Englishmen among the disappointed. Hu’N were not brainy fellows, but they were tough. Many of them were boxers, some of them ex-convicts. They were banded together, and became die nucleus of the Aldgate gang. I hat is tiie gang that is going to agio Mi. Sabini gang for the mastery. The Rebels. When the Sabini gang saw the red light it was decided that examples must be made of the rebels. Eavage allacks were made on certain malcontents Their friends replied. 1 l! ' u • s me explanation of half-a-dozen cases of murderous assaults wmrn cciibl lie quoted from the newspaper .* oT liit’ last six months. _ I The ruling gang beheven n could punish and terrorise, and that the hu could not touch it because n < mild intimidate witnesses. The ruling gang has some riewi men at its head: they have stmhod movements of force in places Hk< 1 ■ sia and Ireland. From Ireland Uu > learned thal if you can intimidate witnesses vou can kill your enemies with comparative safely. They h'aimd Ids,, to better Dean Swift’s lainoi s phrase. Ihal ten armed men can aiwavs beat one man in bis shirt. Now llwjr pul llivir no,-, moli.r-ears and sent them out to cln.se up some victim whose rebellious cuvitics they fear. They don care verv much whether they catch him. Th/w celv on the effect of terror—the leerin’ to the man’s wife and clnldi en.

When Thieves Fall Out. Somelinies the threatened men ;ul opl Ihe same tactics. They can get revolvers, too. and commandeer motorcar* and terrorise the terrorisers. Thai is how the position stands at 11,,. moment. The rebels believe tha nice can Imre Ihe leaders to meet hem. lo make a truce, and to »dnn ll,cm lo a division of the spoil, just ils ipc norlhern and southern gangs ....-reed lo differ and lo nourish. “The norlhern gang. too. has its I roubles of precisely the same kind. Thai is Ihe explanation of the uutlirrlu of violence in Sheffield. rpi,c holler l lie war the sooner . \* |be wave of vioconies l"’.l( i ■ . . b-nre increases llie power ot the hi„ ..•aim’s decreases. Already the iubn 0 is spit! ting ill I wo. under the Tj|| ~r opposition from Ihe Aldgate j,, |‘a el one cannol keej* count The new gangs formed by subdividing Ihe original ones. The race-going public need not be unduly alarmed. When thieves fall mil holiest men gel their due.

CHIEF AGENTS FOR PUKEXOHE & SURROUNDING DISTRICT®.