Inside the world of London’s ‘Turkish mafia’ who are ruling the streets with guns and violence

Turkish mobsters are running protection rackets and ruling streets in north and east London by using violence and intimidation, Metro can reveal. 

The Bombacilar (bombers) and Tottenham Boys (also known as the Hackney Turks) are the most feared of the gangs who have created enclaves in north London where they have control. 

Their prime income is the smuggling of heroin while their turf is protected by ‘soldiers’ armed with illegally imported firearms from Turkey. 

Tottenham, Wood Green and Dalston are among the strongholds of the groups who are so feared that even the notoriously violent Albanian gangsters also stalking the streets of north London do not oppose them. 

However the rival Turkish gangs have been embroiled in bloody feuds for decades over territory and drug supply lines. 

The tentacles of the gangs spread internationally with connections to Turkish communities across Europe including Berlin. 

Metro has spoken to sources in north London who have shed light on the murky world of protection rackets and financial leverage the gangs have over the community. 

A teacher, who was brought up in Wood Green, described how the gangs ‘hide in plain sight’.

The teacher, who did not want to be named, said the gang wars are primarily between the Tottenham Boys, who have strong Kurdish links, and the Bombacilar.

They said: ‘It’s very much like the Mafia in Italy and the US where they are part of the fabric of society. 

‘In Wood Green, and around areas like Lordship Lane, families come from Turkey and the gangs will lend them money to buy a business like a cafe or barbers shop.  Sometimes the interest on the loans is quite reasonable.

‘Obviously if the repayments are not met, that can mean trouble. By keeping these businesses in the community the gangs build a kind of fortress where everyone owes them and they can keep control.

‘It’s just like the Godfather film where if you need a favour you go to the gang. But they are part of the fabric of society and are hiding in plain sight. They can seem friendly and just like normal guys but beneath the exterior smile there’s heroin trafficking and gun smuggling going on. 

‘There is a lot of competition between the Hackney and Tottenham Turks. Other gangs leave them alone as they are very well established. 

‘Even the Albanians, who are very scary, stay away from them. They tend to operate more to the north of London in Southgate and Cockfosters where they run protection rackets and are taking over businesses.’ 

However, the feuds between the Turkish gangs have escalated over the decades with deadly tit for tat attacks played out on the capital’s street with innocent bystanders, including children, regularly caught in the crossfire. 

In May 2024, a gunman on a motorbike sprayed bullets at a restaurant in Dalston. Three men were hit but a stray bullet also hit a nine-year-old girl who was eating ice cream outside. She suffered serious injuries and the bullet lodged in her brain. 

Javon Riley, 33, was jailed for three counts of attempted murder. The attempted hit on men at the restaurant was believed to have been triggered by an  ongoing ‘beef’ between the Tottenham Turks and the Hackney Turks. The argument stemmed from a snooker club fight in 2009. 

Police said Riley was Caribbean and it was common for the Turkish gangs to recruit would-be assassins or muscle from outside their own community. 

That was the case when Jermaine Baker was shot dead in 2015 while waiting in a car near Wood Green crown court in an organised crime operation to target Turkish criminal Izzet Eren from custody. He was not from the Turkish community but had been recruited for the job. 

Eren, a reputed senior member of the Tottenham Turks, was shot dead in a Moldovan cafe in 2024 after his prison release. It was believed to be in retaliation for the Dalston drive-by shooting. 

In other high-profile Turkish gang operations, shopkeeper Ahmet Paytak, 50, was shot dead and his son was injured after four rounds were fired into their Euro food and wines store on Holloway Road by a gunman on a motorbike in 2013. 

Two years later, baker Erdogan Guzel was gunned down outside his cafe and a woman was seriously injured. Both were innocent bystanders in the attack on Lordship Lane. 

The woman, a Bulgarian national who was visiting the UK, was with her daughter as the drive-by attack took place on Tottenham Turk territory.

She said at the time: ‘How could this happen in London? The bullets flew at us. We tried to take cover. My mother was seriously injured, we were doing nothing,  minding our own business.’

Metro returned to the crime scene last week to find a community still reeling from the shooting 11 years later.

A resident, who lives near to where the shooting happened, said: ‘We live in fear. I remember the day it happened. I heard the shots. I had been planning to go to the shop. I could have been hit – it was terrifying. 

‘We know better than to say much about it in case someone connected with the gangs hears. We don’t hang out outside the cafes anymore just in case there is a drive-by shooting or something. It’s no way to live.’

The Met has put the Turkish gangs at the top of its list as ‘public enemy number one’ in terms of smuggling illegal weapons. 

Last year more than 130 guns and 2,500 rounds of ammunition were recovered. 

The most popular weapon among the Turkish gangs is the Springfield pistol which is being smuggled from Turkey into the capital. 

Chief Superintendent Rick Sewart told Metro feuds between Turkish groups had made them a priority for the force and prompted a crackdown which contributed to a drop in the  number of murders to a ten-year low. 

He said: ‘A total of 138 firearms and 2,500 rounds of ammunition were recovered from a Turkish organised crime group.

‘The Turkish gangs are the number one threat to the UK and London in terms of firearms. 

‘We have been working with Europol and the National Crime Agency on the supply of firearms into the UK and Europe.’ 

However, the history of the gangs and their reputation for violence goes back decades making them a well-drilled criminal foe for police.

In 2012 the head of a Turkish crime family Ali Armagan, 32, was shot dead in his custom Audi Limousine by rivals, in an echo of an assassination attempt on a man seen as the original ‘Turkish Godfather.’

Abdullah Baybasin, who was left in a wheelchair after being shot by rivals, arrived in London in 1997 where he is believed to have set up the Bombacilar gang which would strong arm shop keepers to hand over money in protection rackets. 

His headquarters was his large family home in Edgware. He was jailed for 23 years in 2006 for conspiracy to supply heroin and blackmail. 

Baybasin exemplified the ‘godfather’ figure with deep roots in the community. 

A source who knew some of the Bombacilar told Metro: ‘Everyone knows everyone in the Turkish community in north London but they were considered untouchable. They hung out in snooker halls and bars where most people feared to go. There was often violence.’ 

Perhaps the most gruesome of crimes associated with the Turkish mafia in London was the torture and murder of Turkish DJ Mehmet Koray Alpergin. 

He and his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak were kidnapped in central London in 2023. Mr Alpergin, 43, was beaten, throttled, burned and stabbed before his body was dumped in an Essex woodland. Tejean Kennedy, 33, of Cricklewood Broadway, was jailed for 20 years and Ali Kavak, 26, of Tottenham, 13 years.

The court heard the murder was connected with international organised crime.  The level of violence used was likened to a gangster movies by police.  The death underlined the extreme violence meted out by the gangs within their own community. 

A torture chamber was found in the basement of a Turkish owned property on Greek Lanes, Tottenham in 2003 during a police raid. 

The discovery was in a chilling reminder of the infrastructure the gangs have installed to fuel their reign of terror. 

One shopkeeper in Green Lanes told Metro: ‘In this community, talking to the police is a danger to us and our families. We are living in fear.’ 

However the Met claims it has disrupted the Turkish gangs with gun and drug seizures. It attributes the lowest murder level in a decade in 2025 partly down to a high-level busts of organised crime groups like the Turkish Mafia. 

Detective Chief superintendent Sewart said: ‘We are making in roads’ referring to the progress against the gangs.’

However, there is a harsh reality on the street.

A cafe worker, on Lordship Lane, told Metro: ‘The gangs have the money and power. We are just pawns in the game. It’s like the Italian mafia rule of silence, many people will not say a word.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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