Book Description

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-fueled 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. Many were savagely beaten, tortured, stabbed, and shot, while others were murdered. The most infamous crime committed during the long-running conflict was the execution of Viv Graham, who was gunned down on New Year's Eve in 1993. Graham, who provided security at many of the city's pubs and nightclubs, made the mistake of excluding drug dealers from the premises he oversaw. His murder, like so many of the other crimes committed during this period of turmoil, remains unsolved. Allegations made by the Conroy and Sayers family members have hampered and confused police investigations. They have shrouded the facts that could prove their guilt in a fog of half-truths and lies in order to evade justice, and, as a result, the names of the guilty remain known only to themselves. In Fog on the Tyne, bestselling true-crime author Bernard O'Mahoney will clear the fog that has engulfed the origins of this gangland war and reveal for the first time how and why it spiraled out of control, leaving many injured and others dead.