From rampant drug abuse to murder, Vallentin Road in London’s Walthamstow has become the UK’s most dangerous street
From murder, to arson and sex attacks, we look at the crimes that have led to this stretch of road in East London being dubbed Britain's most dangerous street
IT has become the bloody centre of territory controlled by a gang running a ruthless campaign of drug dealing, violence and intimidation.
Vallentin Road in Walthamstow, East London, has been the scene of around 200 serious crimes — including murder, arson and sex attacks — in the past two years.
Today, a Sun investigation uncovers the full horror of how the Mali Boys gang runs “Britain’s most dangerous street” with such brutality and cunning that its leaders, police say, earn £50,000 a WEEK from drugs.
Even a rival gang member admitted: “The Malis are a whole new entity.”
More than 250 men and women belong to 12 gangs in Walthamstow, with those at the top of the Mali Boys originally coming to Britain as children from war-torn Somalia.
On their territory last weekend a 19-year-old man was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside the MOT garage at the east end of the street. A 17-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man were also badly hurt.
The attack came just a few months after Jermaine Johnson, 41, was found stabbed to death on the same road, although his killing is not believed to be gang-related.
Mum-of-two Susan Amer, 59, who was watching TV in her flat overlooking the garage when the gunman struck late on Saturday, said: “Gangs are out of control and nothing is being done.”
Another local, Michaela Ciocoi, 25, added: “I mainly stay home. I don’t feel comfortable walking in the evening by myself. It’s dodgy.”
It is not just residents who are rattled. The rival gang member we spoke to added of the Malis: “Those people come from countries where there are pirates, where people are gang-raped and beat up, and it’s all in front of them.
“Some are ex-soldiers who have seen people’s heads blown off. So they feel they can come and do it here.”
Researchers at London South Bank University this summer un- covered how the Mali Boys use Facebook — which they call Fedbook — to monitor police officers.
Kids as young as ten are used to loiter around the local police station, a ten-minute walk from Vallentin Road, noting the number plates of officers’ private cars so they can be used to threaten them later.
The Mali’s 50 members, aged from 14 to 24, no longer wear bandanas or gang colours, or drive flash cars as it attracts too much attention. They also keep a low profile on social media.
Nor do they fight classic gang turf wars — they are more interested in turning their drug dealing operation into a multi-million pound business. Using threats of extreme violence, the Mali Boys have forged a drug-selling alliance with the other gangs in the area, including the Boundary Boys, DM Crew, Stoneydown and Coppermill, to control the trade.
One expert in the university report described it as being similar to “a franchise, like McDonalds” with a “very effective pyramid structure”.
Violence is used to maintain order among their own members and keep them selling a high volume of drugs for £5 a bag. The low price is aimed at students and the unemployed. Leaders use grooming techniques to recruit teenage boys and young women to sell crack, heroin and cannabis in East Anglia, the Thames Valley and as far away as Scotland — known as “county lines” dealing.
Smartphones are used to monitor their teenage dealers at all times, using location tags, GPS tracking, pictures and video calling.
Other youngsters in Walthamstow join the Mali Boys because, as one put it: “If that’s the scary gang then we need to join it — the police can’t protect us.”
Once the kids express an interest in joining up, they soon find the choice is taken from their hands.
A 14-year-old who became involved in “county lines” dealing for the gang was driven by taxi at 3am on a school night to a seaside town, carrying £3,000 worth of crack cocaine. Within half an hour of arriving, three men kicked in the door, stabbed him in the buttocks and stole the drugs.
They had been sent by the Mali Boys — meaning the “robbed” boy was left in the gang’s debt.
Girls are recruited to carry weapons and drugs for the gangs because there are fewer female police officers. Girls can only be searched by a woman. They are blackmailed into joining the gang with threats to put revenge porn videos on social media.
Police recently raided a property in Suffolk where they found firearms, drugs paraphernalia and four 14-year-old girls from Waltham Forest, Walthamstow’s borough. The girls were carrying £3,000 worth of crack cocaine.
Former child protection officer Dr Andrew Whittaker said: “Gangs appear to be using social media specifically to target women and girls.”
One desperate mother who lives on Vallentin Road, and did not want to be named, said: “Children and teenagers are getting hold of guns. It’s escalated and I don’t understand why more isn’t being done.”
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Met Police Commander Richard Tucker said: “Additional resources are being dedicated to the area . . . but we cannot do this alone. It is only with the support of our communities that we can track down those who choose to be violent.”
Local Labour MP Stella Creasy conceded that “we absolutely have a challenge with gun crime” in Walthamstow and added: “Not all the incidents on Vallentin Road are connected to gang crime or gun crime.
“The rise in crime across London is something we are taking seriously and I know the Mayor recognises it as a priority for action.”
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