The UK drill scene has exposed the world to all kinds of crimes going on in the streets of London.
One of the deadliest beefs is an ongoing war between two gangs in the borough of Camden –
Active Gang and 51st.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.
Camden is an area in North London, outside of The Regent’s Park.
It’s considered one of London’s modern neighborhoods
and many famous celebrities live there.
But over the past few years, its become a battleground in a war between two gangs.
Unlike the US, London don’t have as many large, national gangs like the crips and bloods.
Instead, they have small local gangs that are based in certain neighborhoods
and often identify themselves by the local postcode.
These gangs are also often tied to the local drill scene and many include popular rappers as members.
The main beef in Camden is between two neighborhood gangs:
Active Gang and 51st.
Active Gang is a group made up of primarily Somali immigrants,
based in the Ager Grove Estate in Camden.
Several popular drill rappers are part of Active Gang
including artists like Suspect, 2smokeyy, and T.Scam.
They’re also allied with other local gangs like FSG, CT1, and NRB.
Together they call themselves 71st.
51st is an alliance of several different groups that are all known to beef with Active Gang.
They include the Peckwater Gang from the Peckwater Estate,
the QC Gang from Queen’s Crescent,
and Cumbo, a gang from the Regent Park Estate in Cumberland Market.
Together, they are known as 51st, because the local postcodes in the area end in 5 and 1.
They larger than Active Gang, but both sides have proven to be just as savage.
It’s not clear exactly where the beef started.
Some of them grew up together and were cool before the drama.
But at some point, they started having problems and it eventually escalated to violence.
According to rumors, it all started over someone getting their watch stolen,
but this can’t be confirmed.
The violence between the two groups started to pop off in the late 2010s.
In May 2017, three members of 51st were shot by members of Active Gang.
Camden police officers were called to the scene of a shooting near Camden Road
but found no victims in the area.
About 15 minutes later, they got a call from the staff at the University College London Hospital
saying two men had shown up with gunshot wounds and were being aggressive.
Following the shooting, they managed to run to a nearby hospital to get treatment.
But when they arrived, the staff got suspicious and called the cops.
Police came to the hospital to investigate.
But when the two victims realized what was going on,
they refused treatment and tried to flee.
They were eventually arrested after a brief chase on foot.
Another teen was also later arrested in connection with the shooting
and also refused treatment.
All three were later charged with suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent
for their involvement in the shooting.
Not long after, 51st got payback
and shot a member of Active Gang in the head with a shotgun.
Around 7 pm on August 22nd, 2017,
police responded to a call about a shooting in the Agar Grove area.
But again, when they arrived, they ain’t find a victim at the scene.
A witness said she heard two loud bangs, screaming, and tires screeching.
She looked outside and saw a man who had been shot in the head.
At the time he was alive, but bleeding everywhere.
He then got in a car with two other men and they took off.
According to authorities,
the man later took himself to the hospital and was supposedly in stable condition.
No arrests were made, but police believe it was linked to the triple shooting
that happened back in May.
The violence only continued after a fight at an AirBnB party
that left one member of 51st dead after being stabbed 14 times.
On February 17th, 2018,
a 16-year-old girl was having a birthday party at an Airbnb in Kensington.
She promoted the party on Snapchat and invited around 50 people that she knew.
But word got around town and members of rival gangs showed up.
A group of dudes from 51st, including a 19-year-old known as Dotty decided to crash the party.
When they got there, they tried to force their way in and caused damage to the apartment.
Some guests ended up hopping over a back wall to escape.
They came to the party armed and Dotty had a knife, while one of his friends had a gun.
But somehow, they got Dotty by himself and chased him out of the party.
He was chased down the road but was stopped by a huge group.
Once they caught up with him, they stabbed him a total of 14 times.
Four seventeen-year-olds and two minors were later arrested in connection with the murder.
After Dotty's death, members from 51st got in a stolen BMW
and drove around different hoods in London looking for whoever was responsible.
But they couldn’t find their target.
So, when they returned to Camden, they went on a killing spree
and took out two Active gang affiliates.
The first was a 17-year-old who went by the name AK,
who was stabbed to death after being spotted by members of 51st
outside an apartment building on Aldenham Street.
About 90 minutes later, blocks away from where the first stabbing took place,
a 20-year-old named Sadiq was also fatally attacked
with a Samurai sword on Bartholomew Road.
The victim tried to escape in a nearby cab.
But the driver refused to take him to safety.
So, he ended up getting stabbed by the gang multiple times.
Police said the two stabbings were connected
and were committed by the same group of men in a blue van.
An 18-year-old was later charged with both murders.
According to his mother, Sadiq tried to call her after he was attacked
and left a message on her phone, saying “I’m wounded”.
She also said he was a good kid who was studying business at Middlesex University
and worked part-time at Tesco.
Sadiq wasn’t the only son she had lost to the knife.
Her son Mohamed aka Mitch was killed the previous year
and her nephew had also been stabbed to death in 2013.
They were all 20 years old at the time they died.
Mitch was also killed in the beef between Active Gang and 51st.
On the morning of September 4th, 2017,
he ran into a dude from 51st named Erick Ekam aka Flips on Hampstead Road.
They got into a fight and Flips ended up pulling out a large kitchen knife,
stabbing Mitch multiple times.
An undercover cop saw it all was happen and went and arrested Flipz for the murder.
He was later convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison for the crime.
All these high-profile killings attracted the attention of the police,
who started cracking down on both sides.
But that aint stop the beef completely.
The next attack came in 2019
when an 18-year-old from 51st was stabbed in the head after being ran over.
The victim was walking alone by himself along Hampstead Road in Camden
before being ambushed around 1 am.
First, he was knocked over by a car.
Then the dudes inside the car got out
and started stabbing him repeatedly before getting back in and fleeing the scene.
The victim was brought to the hospital with multiple serious injuries,
including a stab wound to the head.
He survived, but the doctors said that he sustained life-changing injuries.
Active Gang continued looking for payback and allegedly committed another murder
of a 51st affiliate later that year.
On April 1st, 2018 a 22-year-old named Calvin Bungisa, aka C Mizz
was murdered by four hooded attackers in white masks.
C Mizz was chased from Vicar’s Road to Grafton Road where he was eventually killed.
Surveillance footage from the area showed the suspects fleeing in a dark-colored VW
and speeding through a traffic light.
The footage also shows them drive to Court Gardens
where police found the car had been set on fire and abandoned.
C Mizz’s family was from the Congo
and fled to the UK to escape the war in their native country.
Active Gang dropped a song called Congo featuring Armz and 2smokeyy
which is allegedly a diss of C Mizz.
The beef then reached a peak after the murder of a 16-year-old rapper
affiliated with 51st named Culprit.
On August 12th, 2019
a group of six Active Gang members
was cruising around Fitzrovia and Euston Road in two stolen cars.
Around 10:30pm, Culprit and a group of friends left a restaurant on Bolsover Street.
They must have seen the group coming
cause they ran away and hid in a building near Euston Road.
About 30 minutes later, the two cars pulled up to an estate on Lumford Street
and ran into the buildings looking for Culprit and the rest of the group.
Culprit ended up getting cornered by three AG members and chased to Munster Square,
where they caught up to him and stabbed him to death.
Apparently, two people held him down
while the third member stabbed him in the chest with a huge Zombie knife.
Both cars were later found set on fire in different locations.
Police quickly launched an investigation and used CCTV footage
and cell data to track the killers.
They eventually arrested a 19-year old AG member named Arif Biomy
in connection with the murder.
He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison, even though he was only the driver.
Another AG member named Yusuf was also arrested
for assisting an offender and sentenced to three years in prison
after admitting to helping Arif set the two cars on fire.
Culprit was an aspiring rapper and football player who had a bright future ahead of him.
But he ended up getting caught up in the gang life.
Before his death, he was also thought to be involved in the murder of a 17-year-old
named Nedim Bilgin who was stabbed to death earlier that year.
Culprit’s death was a huge loss to 51st, so they was thirsty for revenge.
The incident set off a wave of violence that took the lives of multiple people
over five days, including innocent bystanders.
On September 8th, 2019,
a 24-year-old man named Wilson Valera was killed in a drive-by near Queens Crescent.
Valera was from an entirely different neighborhood and had no affiliation to any gangs in the area.
But members from Active Gang thought he was from 51st,
so he was killed in a case of mistaken identity.
Just four days later a 25-year-old AG member named Asad Yarrow aka Nutz was killed
outside the Camden Tube Station.
He and his friend were spotted by members of 51st and attacked with machetes.
Nutz died after getting stabbed in the neck.
Two men were later arrested in connection with the murder but released on bail.
According to his family, before his death, Nutz had dreams of leaving the UK for Canada
or to start a business in Somalia.
But before that could happen, he became a victim to gang violence.
The beef between 51st and Active Gang continues to this day with no end in sight.
Many fans are just getting exposed to the war because of the rise of the UK drill.
The popularity of the music has also brought attention from the police,
which has slowed down the beef a little.
But who knows when another act of violence will lead to retaliation
and set the war off again.