Bernard O'Mahoney

Steve Nipper Ellis

Two films and numerous books have attempted to tell the shocking story of two of Britain’s most ruthless gangs. For 20 years, the Essex Boys firm and their successors, the New Generation, controlled a lucrative drugs empire in Essex and throughout the south east of England by using intimidation, gratuitous violence, and murder. Rampaging through the streets and clubland, they destroyed anything and anybody that dared to get in their way. Eventually torn apart by greed and paranoia, the gang members became victims of their own vile trade and hate-filled actions. Pat Tate, Tony Tucker, and Craig Rolfe were all blasted repeatedly with a shotgun as they sat in their Range Rover down a remote farm track. Dean Boshell was lured to allotments, then beaten and shot execution-style three times through the head. Others, such as Darren Nicholls and Damon Alvin, turned Super Grass and disappeared into the witness protection scheme never to be seen again, while three other men are in prison serving life sentences. Steve "Nipper" Ellis is the last man standing, the only member to have survived the bloody reign of both gangs. Here he tells his shocking story for the first time, and reveals just how close he came to being both murderer and murder victim.

Last Man Standing

Essex Boy

Bernard O'Mahoney was a key member of the Essex Boys firm - one of the most violent criminal gangs in Britain. In December 1995, the three leaders of the gang were executed as they sat in their Range Rover down a deserted farm track. For many, this meant that the horror of the gang's brutal reign was over. For Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, the nightmare had just begun. Convicted of the murders on the word of a supergrass, these two men have spent more than a decade in prison for crimes they claim they did not commit. In Bonded by Blood, O'Mahoney goes back to exorcise his ghosts and lay the past to rest. He returns to the scene of the murders and relives the bloody encounters that marked his time as a gang member. Divided by greed, bonded by the blood of their victims, the Essex Boys' rise to the top of the criminal underworld was as dramatic as their final fall.

Murder and Intrigue in the Essex Ganglands

Bonded by Blood

Mick McGovern

'I hate Alison, the unwashed bitch. My dream solution would be for Alison to disappear as if she never existed and then maybe I could give everything to the man I loved. ' These words of hate scribbled in a diary helped convict sisters Michelle and Lisa Taylor of the savage murder of newly wed Alison Shaughnessy. Alison had been stabbed 54 times during a frenzied attack in her own home. At their sensational trial the prosecution alleged that 21-year-old Michelle Taylor - who had been having an affair with Alison's husband - had murdered Alison in a jealous rage and that she was aided in her brutal attack by her 18-year-old sister Lisa. The case was reported in the tabloid press under lurid headlines such as Love Crazy Mistress Butchered Rival Wife. The jury found the Taylor sistres guilty of murder. Incredibly, having served less than one year of their sentences, the Taylor sisters were freed thanks to an exhaustive campaign by Bernard O'Mahoney. Bernard, having witnessed their trial, was convinced that a major miscarriage of justice had occurred and with his help their appeal was successful.

The Murder of Alison Shaughnessy - and the Fight to Name Her Killer

The Dream Solution

Lew Yates

Everybody in the unlicensed fight game knows that only one man has the honour of being titled 'Guv'nor' - and that man is Lew 'Wild Thing' Yates. Yates began boxing at the age of six, and as an adult he was ruthless in pursuit of his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion. But when his licence was revoked following an assault on a referee, he turned to unlicensed boxing. By day, Yates pounded punchbags and the streets in an effort to reach the peak of physical fitness as he prepared for his epic battle with Roy 'Pretty Boy' Shaw. At night, he pounded gangsters and drug dealers foolish enough to take him on in the nightclubs where he worked. Wild Thing documents how Yates rose to the top of his bloody profession. When it comes to his fighting ability, he doesn't need to boast, brag or exaggerate. With Lew Yates, what you see is what you hope you're never going to get. This is his remarkable story.

The True Story of Britain's Rightful Guv'nor

Wild Thing

The Inside Story of the Life and Brutal Death of Gangster Paul Massey

Mr Big

Kray gang boss Tony Lambrianou, who served a life sentence for the brutal murder of Jack 'the Hat' McVitie, has threatened to kill Bernard O'Mahoney 'by smashing a hammer through his head'. 'Dodgy' Dave Courtney, who claims to have murdered two gangland rivals, tried 'to put him out of his misery' and 'the most dangerous man in the country', John 'Gaffer' Rollinson, has vowed to kill him 'when he finds him'. But O'Mahoney, one-time friend of the notorious Kray Brothers and former key member of the Essex Boys gang, isn't concerned about any of these threats, because he knows the truth about the wannabe gangsters who have built their 'reputations' on fantasy gleaned from Hollywood movies and 'true' crime books written by their heroes. Wannabe in my Gang? is a story that spans two decades and involves some of the most infamous names and crimes in British history. It gives a unique insight into the Kray brothers' firm, revealing that its public image is far from the truth. Also uncovered is what happened to the remaining members of the Essex Boys firm following the death of Esctasy victim Leah Betts and the murder of three of its leaders, who were found dead in their blood-spattered Range Rover one winter's evening. For the first time ever, O'Mahoney will expose the gangland myths that have made legends of those who claim to be responsible for mayhem and murder. He reveals the sordid secret of one of Britain's most infamous gangsters and tells the truth about the imposters who make a living selling stories and writing books about events that have never even happened. Wannabe in my Gang? is the book that many in the underworld never wanted the public to read. A crime exposé of the highest order, it is shocking, revelatory and gripping from beginning to end.

From the Krays to the Essex Boys

Wannabe in my Gang?

ESSEX BOYS is the brand new edition of the shocking bestseller known as SO THIS IS ECSTASY?. It is the true story of the rise of one of the most violent and successful criminal gangs of the 90's whose reign of terror was finally terminated when the three leaders were brutally murdered in their Range Rover one winter's evening. On their way they had built the drug-dealing organisation that which supplied the pill that killed Leah Betts. They were responsible for a wave of intimidation, beatings and murder. Until, it seems, they took one step too far. Now there is compelling evidence that the men convicted of shooting the dead men are innocent. Which means the real murderers are still at large. Bernard O'Mahoney was a key member of what has been one of the most feared gangs of the decade. His inside account of their cold-blooded violence reveals that facts can be more terryfing than fiction.

A Terrifying Expose Of The British Drugs Scene

Essex Boys

On December 6th, 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys gang were lured to a deserted farm track on the pretense of planning a robbery. As the trio sat in their Range Rover, two gunmen approached the open rear door of the vehicle. Moments later the first shots rang out, signaling the start of a swift yet bloody massacre. When the weapons fell silent, the three men lay dead. Before the gun smoke had cleared, rumors laced with innuendo and lies had begun circulating throughout the Essex underworld and beyond. Who really killed Tony Tucker, Pat Tate, and Craig Rolfe soon became the greatest mystery in British criminal history. Despite countless books, films, and documentaries pointing accusing fingers at an array of suspects, no clear cut version of events backed by hard evidence has emerged. That is, until now. Bernard O'Mahoney breaks his silence. He is the man who knows who killed who, why, how, and when. This is his confession. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the Essex Boys murders and so much more.

The Final Word

This story of the rise of the gangs supplying ecstasy and other drugs across the south of England exposes the murder, intimidation, and thuggery that accompanies their business. It reveals that supplying ecstasy became the focus for gangland Britain, but the death of Leah Betts changed everything.

So This Is Ecstasy?

For more than fifty years, two ruthless gangs have dominated the Tyneside underworld. Initially, the Conroy and the Sayers families lived side by side in relative harmony in the West End of Newcastle, but the birth of the drug-fuelled rave culture in the late 1980s changed everything. Drunk on power and with an intense desire to take complete control of the north-east, the families went to war with one another and with anyone else who stood in their way. What followed was an orgy of mindless violence. In Fog on the Tyne, bestselling true-crime author Bernard O'Mahoney explores the origins of this gangland war and reveals for the first time how and why it spiralled out of control, leaving many injured and others dead.

The Story of Britain's Bloodiest Gang War

Fog on the Tyne

Following Michelle and Lisa Taylor's conviction of the savage murder of Alison Shaugnessy, Bernard O'Mahoney embarked on a successful crusade to prove their innocence. Michelle - who had been having an affair with Alison's husband - had been found guilty of murdering Alison in a jealous rage, and her sister, Lisa, was convicted of aiding her in the brutal attack. During the appeal to clear their names, Bernard O'Mahoney and Michelle began a passionate affair. Then, his suspicions aroused by her obsessive behaviour, O'Mahoney stumbled across a letter which could only mean one thing - Michelle was guilty. Following a heated confrontation, she finally broke down and admitted her guilt. The Dream Solution tells of two dramatic legal battles - one to free the sisters, and the other to prove their guilt.

To date almost all accounts of army life in Northern Ireland have been written by members of elite or specialist units. A Soldier of the Queen tells a fresh, if disturbing, story from the point of view fo the average British squaddie of what it was like to serve on the ground in Northern Ireland at the height of the Dirty War. It is a book which will shock readers who are used to the sanitised accounts of heroics performed by disciplined and decent soldiers caught reluctantly in the middle of a baffling tribal conflict.

Soldier of the Queen

One Mans Crusade to Catch Britains Most Evil Child Killers.

Flowers in Gods Garden

In December 1995, three key members of the infamous Essex Boys firm were executed in their Range Rover after being lured to a deserted farm track by the promise of a lucrative drug deal. The police predicted that the void left as a result of the murders would cause a gangland war that would extend across London and much of the south-east. Essex Boys, The New Generation tells the chilling true story of the gang that destroyed everything that stood in their way to take control of their fallen predecessors' drug empire. With a reputation for ruthless violence, the gang expanded and protected their drug-dealing operation with a terrifying combination of bloodshed and intimidation. In February 2001, tensions within their circle boiled over and resulted in one member being shot dead. The police investigation was met with a wall of silence and for three years it seemed as if the case would remain unsolved. A leading member of the gang was eventually charged, but in an unexpected twist he became the prosecution's star witness. While a murder conviction was finally secured, the real truth surrounding the murder and the gang's psychotic crimes has never been revealed. Now, for the first time, former Essex Boys member Bernard O'Mahoney tells the full, extraordinary story of the rise and fall of the gang that took over the Essex underworld from him and his associates.

Essex Boys, The New Generation

Steven Ellis

Two films and numerous books have attempted to tell the shocking story of two of Britain's most ruthless gangs. For 20 years, the Essex Boys firm and their successors, the New Generation, controlled a lucrative drugs empire in Essex and throughout the south east of England by using intimidation, gratuitous violence and murder. Rampaging through the streets and clubland, they destroyed anything and anybody that dared to get in their way. Eventually torn apart by greed and paranoia, the gang members became victims of their own vile trade and hate-filled actions. Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe were all blasted repeatedly with a shotgun as they sat in their Range Rover down a remote farm track. Dean Boshell was lured to allotments, then beaten and shot execution-style three times through the head. Others, such as Darren Nicholls and Damon Alvin, turned Super Grass and disappeared into the witness protection scheme never to be seen again, while three other men are in prison serving life sentences. Steve `Nipper` Ellis is the last man standing, the only member to have survived the bloody reign of both gangs. In Essex Boy, he tells his shocking story for the first time, and reveals just how close he came to being both murderer and murder victim.

SALFORD LADS The Rise and Fall of Paul Massey; When legendary old school villain Paul Massey immersed himself in the murky world of his modern-day counterparts, he was executed with a machine gun on the drive of his home. Contained within these pages, is his story. It is a story that will horrify the non criminal mind and lay bare, how Massey unwittingly became the architect of his own demise. Massey was not the only casualty of a toxic feud that had ignited between two Salford gangs following the most trivial of disputes. John Kinsella, a close friend of Massey's, was gunned down in front of his pregnant partner. A seven-year-old boy and his mother were shot, a hand grenade was hurled through the front window of a family home, an attempt was made to behead a man with a machete and an orgy of beatings, stabbings, kidnappings and shootings were carried out in the name of respect. In today's underworld, the old school criminal code has been confined to the bin. Being known as a hard man, once demanded respect, but no more. Guns, and having the mindset to use one, often for little or no reason, has become the norm. Drugs are the currency and death often the penalty for a discrepancy or misdemeanour. It is an unforgiving world that Paul Massey helped to create and a world, that ultimately resulted in his death.

Bernard O'Mahoney

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