In the summer of 1994, Manchester's three main gangs held peace talks which temporarily brought an end to more than a decade of bloodshed
The large group of men gathered around the pub table appeared to be regular punters. But if their fellow drinkers had cared to pay closer attention they might have picked up on the tension in the air - and the fact some were wearing bulletproof vests.
"Now members of the two Moss Side factions, the Gooch and the Doddington, have met with the Cheetham Hill mob, to try to call a halt to the tit-for-tat shootings which have left a trail of misery over the past decade." However, by 1994 even the gangsters had had enough of all the bloodshed. The catalyst for the truce is said to have been a shooting at the Moss Side Carnival in May.
"But you have got to have had enough. For 10 years a lot of people had died unnecessarily and a lot of people were being dragged into a situation which didn't really concern them. "Against all the odds the truce held," writes Walsh. "The number of firearms incidents reported in the Moss Side area fell from 169 in 1994 to 41 in 1995."
In July a national newspaper quoted a senior gang figure who said the truce was breaking down. He said 'elders' had managed to keep the peace by paying-off gang members to drop their quarrels, but the arrangement was no longer working.
Cheetham Hill Moss Side Paul Massey
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