The Aggi Crew were a criminal drug gang based in the St Paul's district of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

. The name of the gang is an abbreviation of aggravated burglary ("doing an aggi") according to its former leader.

History

The gang dominated the city's drug market throughout most of the 1990s, until in 1998 six gang members were jailed after being caught with more than a £1 million worth of

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' call ...

. The power vacuum that this created was quickly filled by

Yardie Yardie (or Yaadi) is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora, to refer to people of Jamaican origin, though its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jamaican pa ...

gangs such as the Hype Crew and Mountain View Posse. Upon their release from prison the Aggi crew quickly set on reclaiming their old territory. Carrying guns and wearing balaclavas, the gangsters went around local bars such as the Black Swan and the Malcolm X Centre and announced the yardies would now have to pay a daily tax of £50 per yardie and £100 per business being run. The yardies did not agree with this however and stormed a cafe run by the Aggis, which doubled as a front for an illegal

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

operation. Thus was started a small-scale turf war which included a number of shootings, during the course of which the two Aggi crew members robbed the notorious

Black and White Café The Black and White Café was a café in St Pauls, Bristol, in the United Kingdom, that opened in 1971, owned by the Wilks family. The Caribbean food café had a reputation as a drug den and was raided more times by the police than any other prem ...

, a known local drugs haunt, and later shot

fireworks Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices ...

at the building in an attempt to provoke the yardies into a full-on gunfight. The escalating violence prompted armed police patrols in the St Paul's area. However the patrols were soon withdrawn, as the Aggi crew members were arrested again for violating their parole and the turf war ended.

References

Organised crime groups in England History of Bristol St Pauls, Bristol {{crime-stub