The Notorious Gang of Gregory

The Notorious Gang of Gregory
The Notorious Gang of Gregory are a powerful organised crime group that operates across the Greater London region - basing itself in Southwest London. They operate in a number of criminal and black market activies including but not limited to; extortion, bribery, blackmail, illegal fighting rings, illegal betting operations, identity theft, scam marketing, slave labour, arms smuggling, sedis smuggling, drug smuggling, people trafficking, prostitution, protection rackets, illegal dumping and political rigging.

They are known to protect their operations through a network of armed thugs and mercenaries and are connected to several deaths at all echelons of society. They are largely protected from prosecution by a combination of well placed bribes, threats and blackmail and have been even able to earn the tacit support of some government ministers. Even the general public has a sense of respect and civic pride in the gang at times, evidenced by the gangs mention and appearance in popular media. This strange public affection has been encouraged by the gang's leadership occasionally investing in large civic projects, often nominally for the good of the community, although there is often an ulterior financial motive behind such moves.

Gang members undergo extensive 'vetting' before being allowed into full membership of the gang - often referred to as 'At the gallows' until initiation. Once initiated, full members of the gang are given a tattoo emblem of the gang - a hangmans noose. Though the basic design is simplistic, there are several variants among gang members, with some becoming extremely elaborate - often as an attempt to conceal affiliations to the criminal group.

Origins
The Gang of Gregory's origins are based on the legend of the 18th century outlaw Dick Turpin, who began his infamous career as a highwayman as a member of the Gang of Gregory - also referred to as the Essex Gang, who were a violent group of deer poachers. The modern equivalent originated in Essex (Southeast England) during the latter part of the Petroleum wars, coming to prominence as a significant criminal element by providing black market goods smuggled from mainland Europe as well as conducting successful computer scams and people trafficking operations.

The gang grew in influence and power until coming into conflict with several established gangs in the London Metropolis regions, notably the Arifs, who had thrived through the Petroleum crisis to outdo the Clerkenwell Crime syndicate as London's most powerful organised crime group.

With the sudden discovery of sedis 9, the acquisition of the compound and controlling its distribution became a top priority, and several bitter gang wars were fought across the UK between the gangs to dominate this new enterprise. However, the Petroleum wars had hardened political attitudes across the UK and the global political front, with a new wave of anti corruption laws and a revitalized will to confront criminal elements infiltrating government and business.

The Gang of Gregory was able to manipulate this new found attitude with astonishing success, actively using the new found zeal of the UK police forces as a weapon against their enemies. The Arifs were quick to fight back, with several brutal incidents staged to kill prominent political leaders, businessmen and Gregory members.

The Gregories leadership proved highly adept at using this retaliation as a means of weeding out weak or unwanted elements from their own ranks, whilst infiltrating into other rival gangs. More so than any other gang prior, the Gregories proved to thrive in information control and espionage, using it to identify where to hit their enemies hardest and to expose key threats to the authorities.

By 2049, the Gregories had grown to rival the Arif's strength sufficiently that they were overshadowing the former syndicates operations. The final turning point came in August of that year, when the Gregories infiltrators convinced the Arif leadership that a BINN anchorman had critical information on the Arif's operations and was about to publicly expose it on national headline news.

Though initially made to look like an accident, information was quickly released proving the involvement of the Arif's. The resulting assassination of the popular TV personality by the Arif gang became itself headline news and the exposure of the gang's direct hand in the killing as well as further critical information leaks worked to cripple the gang's leadership as the government stepped in directly to force the gang's arrest.

In the resulting power vacuum, the Gregories were swift to take dominance, overrunning several of the Arif's operations and becoming the most powerful crime syndicate in the UK by the end of 2052.

Influence and power
The Gang of Gregory operates over a wide area both within the UK and worldwide via the newly restored British Empire. It operates via a number of 'cells' each specialising in a given set of criminal activities. However, a common factor to all of these cells, is a specialisation in information control and computer hacking. The Gregories maintain their position through use of blackmail and extortion - using information they have acquired to coerce or manipulate government and police figures to either covertly support or turn a blind eye to their activities. Where individuals cannot be coerced, they are instead isolated with information about the groups activities carefully controlled and in some cases electronically removed.

Added to this is a significant degree of experience in vote rigging, allowing the gang to significantly affect who enters into positions of power. Though a useful tool for the gang, it is not a certain one as there are several safeguards against such corruption in place - something the gang itself encouraged in the early stages of its rise to power. As a result their influence in such matters, while significant, is never conclusive.

As such, the gang has significant political and media connections spread across the Empire, and uses them as a political shield against its enemies.

Members of Note
The gang operates several cells that can number anything up to 500 persons of varying ranks. Given its size and scope there are few individuals that truly stand out. However despite this, a small number have made themselves particularly notable to STOCKADE files;
 * Jona de Palma - a hacker under the Gregory's employ. Made a name for himself by hacking into the Ministry of the Exchequer's budgeting systems and siphoning significant sums of money into a department that didn't exist. His skills in breaching the security systems of government facilities have made him particularly notorious.
 * Casper Adders - A former soldier and an enforcer of some notoriety, based in the Liverpool branch of the gang of Gregory. Though the gang boasts several notorious enforcers, Adders is particularly noted for his involvement in the killing of a mercenary group called New Moon that had been hired to eradicate the Gregory Liverpool cell. His methods were described as 'thorough'.

The Beetles
The Gang of Gregory is not run by a single figurehead but by a coalition of 4 individuals whose identities remain unknown. Though the reason for the reference can only be speculated at, the group is collectively referred to as 'The Beetles', possibly as an indication of the musical tastes of the original gang leadership.

Whatever the reason, The Beetles reside at the heart of the Gang's operations, overseeing all aspects of the day to day running of the syndicate and its strategic direction.

Though the true identities of the people within the group are unknown, the codenames used to refer to each of them are;
 * Cockroach (aka Roach) - Determined to be a female of indeterminate age or origin, Roach is one of the most active of the group's leaders. She is seemingly responsible primarily for the London and Southern regions of the UK, as well as some overseas operations. Most importantly, she seems to be largely responsible for the information dealing and manipulation that the gang is particularly known for. She is known to be ambitious and replaced a previous Cockroach in 2050 after that individuals apparent suicide.
 * Stag - Determined as one of the longest standing members of the group. He appears to be the overall leader of the group, responsible for the overall strategic direction of the groups activities and controlling much of its political weight and machinations (especially outside the UK). Aside from a propensity for attending bloodsports such as boxing and pit fighting, little else is known about him.
 * Cardinal - One of the least well known members of the group's leadership. Cardinal appears to be mostly responsible for managing the groups finances offshore, as well as running several of the money laundering operations and international scams. Though determined to be male, there is almost nothing else known about this individual, and it appears that this may even be the case within the organisation itself.
 * Bloody Nose - Perhaps the most well known member of the Beetles, Bloody Nose appears to be responsible primarily for managing the gangs extensive membership. As the most exposed of the Beetles the position of Bloody Nose appears to have been replaced several times. Though this is nominally to protect the identity of the incumbent, it has also been due to assassination and arrest on more than a few occasions. The current incumbent has held the position since 2054 and has shown himself to be particularly brutal when dealing with members who have caused lapses in the gang's security or failed to live up to expectations. Bloody Nose has been linked to several 'accidents', gang killings and at least one 'suicide'.