Inside the vicious drill rap gangs tearing up London’s streets in a murderous turf war
We look at the gangs warring on the streets of London over battles rooted in historic tit-for-tat postcode rivalries and played out on internet drill rap music videos
GANG battles sweeping across the capital are rooted in years of tit-for-tat murders and a drill rap war which is being played out in twisted online music videos.
The drill gangs dotted around London war over long-held postcode rivalries while harbouring dreams of making it big in the music business.
They use music videos and tracks on YouTube, Apple and Spotify or taunts on Snapchat and Instagram to goad rivals with lyrics glorifying violence.
The feuds then often spill out on to the streets with a litany of murders across the capital traced back to the drill gangs.
There have been five murders in just a week in London with one of the killings already appearing to have been carried out by a postcode drill group.
John Ogunjobi, 16, was brutally stabbed to death by a gang in Tulse Hill on Monday who shouted "we got him, we got him" as they fled the scene.
John, who rapped under the name JaySav as part of the Lower Tulse Hill drill group, is feared to have been murdered by rivals from Clapham or Brixton - both of which have claimed responsibility for the killing.
Campaigners and MPs have accused the internet music and video giants of turning a blind eye to their role in fuelling the carnage.
There have been 119 murders in the capital this year with a significant proportion of the deaths thought to be a result of gang-related attacks.
The drill groups, often based on large estates and made up mostly of black and Asian youths, can be involved in lower-level drug running but typically carry out attacks on rivals because of historic postcode-based rivalries.
Gang sources have explained the groups are often made up of students who simply goad each other online with no links to drugs or other crime.
They have followed in the footsteps of older gangs, who were usually involved in more serious crime and based in poorer housing estates or postcode areas.
Members of the new wave of groups produce rap videos with the hope of forging a music career in the same way as several other former gang members.
The Met Police has linked drill rap music to a surge in gang-related attacks and by October had requested 98 videos to be removed from YouTube with 61 taken down and responses on 17 still outstanding.
Their database of 1,400 drill rap videos linked to violence sweeping across the capital included 32 tracks from former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood's YouTube channel, which generate hundreds of thousands of views each time.
In South London a string of gangs are inter-locked in battles and rivalries which are thought to have led to a number of deaths.
One of the most notorious gangs are the Harlem Spartans based in Kennington, South London, who are thought to deal drugs and produce a raft of drill music online.
Falolu chased down his 24-year-old victim, smashing into a car he was travelling and repeatedly stabbing him while two other gang members were separately caught with a loaded gun and a samurai sword.
Griffiths, known as SA or Splash (stab) Addict, had featured in Spartans music videos online and was understood to have been targeted as he prepared to carry out an attack himself.
One of the group's rappers Loski has gone on to launch a music career and still features an image of Griffiths on his Instagram page which has more than 173,000 followers.
It is thought Griffiths was stabbed by members of the CT (Clap Town) gang who are allied to Brixton's 410, based in the Myatt's Field social housing estates, and the older OJB (Old Junction Boys).
The OJB, based in Clapham Junction's Winstanley estate which was the birthplace of garage act So Solid Crew, have music videos available on YouTube and tracks on Apple and Spotify in which they can be heard goading rivals the Harlem Spartans.
One "diss" (insult) track titled "Madder than Mad" by members of the CT and OJB (Old Junction Boys), including rapper Burner, is aimed at the Harlem Spartans gang and features on YouTube, with more than 2.3million views, and Apple and Spotify.
In the track Burner alludes to an incident in which a Spartans member was beaten in jail, rapping: "Don’t be getting it twisted cos man just mashed up a Spartan."
The CT gang, based in Clapham Town, are also rivals of the Lower Tulse Hill group, and - along with Brixton gangs - have claimed responsibility for the brutal stabbing on Monday of 16-year-old LTH member John Ogunjobi, whose rapper name is JaySav.
The LTH gang, based in the Tulse Hill Estate and formerly TN1 (Trust No One), are allied with the Harlem Spartans who are also close to Moscow 17, based in South London's Brandon estate in Walworth - another group which has had two members killed this year.
They include a rapper killed close to the Brandon estate, for which one man has been charged with murder, and 17-year-old rapper Rhyhiem Barton who was gunned down in May while he played football with pals in Kennington.
Rhyhiem, known as GB, had featured in rap videos uploaded to YouTube before his death which challenged rivals from the Peckham-based Zone 2 gang, saying "how you gonna make it even".
The Zone 2 gang, who are warring with Moscow 17 most recently over the 2017 murder of Abdirahman Mohamed, 17, whose brother was a member of Zone 2, have taunted their rivals by filming a track "Zone 2 Step" on their territory.
They are distinct from older, notorious gangs in Peckham such as the Peckham Boys (PYG), GMG and SN1 who have been involved in a string of shootings and higher-level drug running over the years.
A gangs source told Sun Online: "These kids are often in college or university - they're just normal guys beefing each other for something to do and because they always have.
"It's mindless stuff and is all linked to where they're from - some of them are very low level drug dealers but that's not why they do this. The music videos are so they can look big and impress their mates."
Over in West London another group of gangs are battling for supremacy with sources claiming they are involved in more serious crime and drug dealing than their South London counterparts.
Two of the most active gangs warring with each other are the 12 World group on the White City estate in Shepherd's Bush and Ladbroke Grove's 1011 gang.
In a landmark ruling, the judge in the case banned the group from making references to death and violence in future music tracks or social media posts for five years including the murder of rival 19-year-old Abdullahi Tarabi, known as Teewiz.
Members of the gang have previously appeared on Westwood's YouTube channel and the group racked up more than 15 million YouTube views on their videos before they were deleted with one record label even offering to work with them.
And in North London gangs Northumberland Park, known as NPK, from the estate in Tottenham, the OFB (Original Farm Boys) from the Broadwater Farm estate, and Wood Green groups are understood to be fighting among themselves.
They also produce drill rap music videos which are circulated online in an attempt to goad their rivals.
The feuds led to the tragic death of Tanesha Melbourne, 17, in June when a drive-by shooting was carried out by one of the gangs in Tottenham.
Detective Superintendent Mike West said: "The Met have been monitoring the increase in the number of videos that incite violence since September 2015.
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“The gangs try to outrival each other with the filming and content - what looks like a music video can actually contain explicit language with gangs threatening each other. There are gestures of violence, with hand signals suggesting they are firing weapons and graphic descriptions of what they would do to each other.
"We are not seeking to suppress freedom of expression through any kind of music, and we only ask for videos to be removed which we believe raise the risk of violence. We have been working with Google to take down some of the videos which they have done after approaches from us.
"Partnership working with organisations such as YouTube and Google is a key part of how we address this going forward and we will continue to work with them to explore how we can tackle the issue.”