GANG LIFE
Inside The Burger Bar Boys gang from executing girls with machine guns to drugs empire & truth behind infamous name
The shooting victim of a notorious Birmingham crime group has told of her family's decades-long ordeal
SECRETS have been revealed about the Burger Bar Boys gang from executing girls with machine guns and running a drugs empire - as well as the truth behind their infamous name.
The Birmingham-based organised crime group is coming under new scrutiny two decades after teenage friends were murdered when caught in the crossfire of a gang battle.
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Charlene Ellis, 18, and 17-year-old Letisha Shakespeare died in a bungled drive-by shooting as they left a New Year's Eve party in January 2003.
They were innocent victims of a long-running dispute between the group known as the Burger Bar Boys and their rivals the Johnson Crew, in the West Midlands city's Handsworth district.
The two gangs battled for three decades - and a wall of silence continues to protect some of those suspected of involvement in the two teenage girls' deaths.
But a new podcast is shedding fresh light on the Burger Bars Boys' operations as well as the ordeals inflicted on their victims' families.
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Charlene's twin sister Sophie Ellis has spoken out about the ongoing trauma, in BBC Radio 5 Live's new series Gangster: The Burger Bar Boys.
Sophie, daughter of Johnson Crew founding member Arthur "Super D" Ellis, also talked of abuse her family still receives.
She told the series, which goes live tomorrow, how she too was shot the night her sister and Letisha were killed but survived her injuries.
She said: "I saw the gun outside the window - before you knew it, I found myself to the ground.
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"I am grateful that I'm still here, but nothing can replace the fact that my twin sister is not here - so it's life-changing, very detrimental."
The rival gangs formed in the 1980s and clashed over dominance of the local trades in drugs - above all, crack cocaine.
One's name came from Burger Bar, a restaurant on Birmingham's Soho Road used as a meeting place - while the Johnson Crew are thought to be named after a cafe on nearby Heathfield Road.
Charlene and Letisha were killed in what was believed to be a botched drive-by assassination attempt as part of the two gangs' feud.
Another friend, 17-year-old Cheryl Shaw, was also injured.
Despite widespread horror at the 2003 murders, witnesses attending the New Year's Eve party were too frightened to speak out - with only a few agreeing to testify in court.
But ultimately Nathan Martin, Michael Gregory, Rodrigo Simms and Charlene's half-brother Marcus Ellis - all alleged to be Burger Bar Boys members - were convicted of the murders and jailed for life.
I still suffer with those injuries every day
Survivor Sophie Ellis
Their trial was England's first allowing witnesses to remain anonymous.
Sophie has now told how her shooting injuries left her in bed for so long, she "had to learn to walk again" having "lost a lot of blood".
She added: "It really was a journey. It's life-changing - I still suffer with those injuries every day."
And she remembered the aftermath of the guilty verdicts - and the follow-up torment her family endured.
She said: "When they got convicted, I remember my car being smashed - windows being smashed.
"We had to press the panic alarm for the police to come, because obviously they knew where we lived at the time.
"And then there's been times when I've been in church and people are making comments like, 'Oh, that's the girl that got my people'.
"Like I'm the one that pulled the trigger - I think they should just continue to do their time and stop wasting our time.
"We're trying to live and do the best that we can do to try and move forward, but they keep trying to appeal and it's never going to happen."
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The New Year's Eve killers were believed to have been targeting Johnson Crew member Jermaine Carty.
The first two episodes of the podcast hosted by BBC journalist Livvy Haydock are being made available on BBC Sounds from tomorrow.
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