Real Gangsters In Sheffield

[Texas]

Up to about 1950 or so it was the thing to have, a longish white silk scarf. I think it became quite old fashioned looking after that. A lot of guys used to have like a dark colored, tight, long coat, with heavily padded shoulders. If you remember the comedian Sid Field doing his 'Slasher Green' character, well that was the kind of coat.

But thinking about the gangsters, so called, the Mooneys and such, a really heavy place to go at one time was the Blue Boar on West Bar. You could guarantee getting a kicking if you looked a bit funny in there. And I remember a relative of mine, who was a musician, being asked to 'play a foxtrot,' at the Petre Street huts. The guy making the request having the ubiquitous silk scarf, and a razor poking from his top pocket.

When I went into the Blue Boar for the first time in the mid-50s, it was a bit of an anti climax, bit like an old folks home with drinks.

[NatHar07]

Has anyone heard of a Johnny D'wootz/D'wutz/D'woots? (I don't know how it was spelt) Hes my great grandad and all i know is that he was a gangster in sheffield in the late 1940s-1950s.

[okismoki]

she once told me her dad was american,we were in the albert pub at the time, late 70,s

her dad was a bloke called terence mooney,he had kids all over sheffield,she also had a brother called brendan,and a half sister called gillian,who made national news for pretending to have cancer when she was quite healthy,i believe she did time for it.

[okismoki]

Up to about 1950 or so it was the thing to have, a longish white silk scarf. I think it became quite old fashioned looking after that. A lot of guys used to have like a dark colored, tight, long coat, with heavily padded shoulders. If you remember the comedian Sid Field doing his 'Slasher Green' character, well that was the kind of coat.

But thinking about the gangsters, so called, the Mooneys and such, a really heavy place to go at one time was the Blue Boar on West Bar. You could guarantee getting a kicking if you looked a bit funny in there. And I remember a relative of mine, who was a musician, being asked to 'play a foxtrot,' at the Petre Street huts. The guy making the request having the ubiquitous silk scarf, and a razor poking from his top pocket.

When I went into the Blue Boar for the first time in the mid-50s, it was a bit of an anti climax, bit like an old folks home with drinks.

gus platts used to have the blue boar,another place on west bar frequented by gangsters was called billy lee,s.whether that was the pub name,or the landlords,i don,t know.

[fleetwood]

Hi Texas I remember some of these characters, they usually wore somewhat of a tight fitting at the waist blue or brown pinstripe suit, 'Woodbines' in the top pocket and one behind the ear, trousers that were almost too long and about 24in at the cuff with only the tip of the shoes peeking out, a shirt with no collar and the white silk scarf knotted at the neck. If you had to pass them on the street, you did'nt look them in the eye for fear of some retaliation. While there were a lot of these types of blokes around, there was this particular one who was well known called Jackie Robinson who lived somewhere near Attercliffe. I was sitting with some friends in the upstairs front bay of a tram when Robinson and pals who were also aboard caused some unpleasantness. We had befriended some Jamaican guys who we used to meet with at the Saturday dance, these new immigrants worked in the Steel industry on shift work, anyway on the journey home from the dance with one of our new found friends, Robinson wanted to know, 'wots 'Sambo' bin up t' toneet.' I don't have to mention anymore of the dialogue that took place, thankfully they alighted soon after that, we were ashamed and sorry for our friend and tried to console him, I'm afraid we were scared and no match against these hoodlums either. We went past our own stop so we could stay with him where he had friends waiting further along at his destination.

[Texas]

Ah yes, old Robbo'. The mention of that piece of work brought back memories. I first saw him being humiliated in a shop in Woodside Lane because he didn't say please. He was eventually thrown out by the shopkeeper. A most unsavory character was our Jackie, he lived in Birley Street then.

The next time I saw him was on the steps of the 'doss house' on West Bar. Didn't know he'd moved down the Attercliffe area. But really, you couldn't call him a gangster , just a bum who liked to chuck his weight around.

Happy New Year.

[soft ayperth]

Anyone remember a guy called Joe Hancock back in the '60s.? Not sure he's qualify as a "gangster'" more like a "hood." He had blonde hair in a beatlish style, always accompanied by two or three guys. You didn't mess with him. One Sat afternoon I was stood outside what was the old Walsh's store with my girlfriend. She knew him. Don't ask me how. He called her over, asked her to join him, and said he'd be happy to "get rid of me." Thankfully, she persuaded him to leave me alone and we went our way. He died when someone knifed him.

[Bloomdido]

What about Gerald John? He was one of the Scottish contingent, 60s and 70s.

[quakawoot]

Yes , in the 1920's, Sheffield was regarded as the " Chicago of Britain " and had a nation-wide reputation for its gangs and violence .

It was largely cleared up by " pro-active " groups of rather large coppers going round the town and frightening the gangs into , generally , behaving themselves . From that point on , Sheffield gained a reputation for being a safe city where it was usually safe to walk through the streets and go for a drink . The hard ruthless action by the police seemed to have worked . Once the bullies and gangsters saw that the police were utterly determined to stamp on them , they retired gracefully and left the general public in peace .

Of course , in our wonderful , modern , cool Britannia , we now know this was all wrong and there 's a better way . We should have counselled the gang-members and reminded them of their Human Rights . We should have made sure , by using statistical methods , that we were not picking on one group , at the expense of another . When convicted the gang members could have been put on probation or at least treated with dignity whilst in some sort of confinement .

Nowadays of course , we know better and we can all see what a wonderful place Sheffield and other cities have become as a result of our progressive methods .

Let Us All Turn The Other Cheek . We Are All Guilty !

 

well written

[quakawoot]

Did you know he played Trombone in the Army?

 

I wonder if he could play ...blowing in the wind?