Strand of Flowers

ventura | 01.09.2006 19:56 | Liverpool

The short life and death of a young an alleged gang member shot dead.

On the 23 August 19-year-old Liam Smith was shot at close range in the face with a sawn off shotgun outside Altcourse Prison in Liverpool.Smith was alledged to be one of the leaders of the so called Strand gang.Media reports have grown considerably in the past 18 month or so about the Crocky gang and the Strand gang.
Crocky is the L11 district of Liverpool known as Croxteth.It gained notoriety in the 1980's as smack city.And this is now were one faction hails from.The strand is a district also of L11 but Norris Green.And this is were the the second gang hold turf.The strand it's self is just a couple of rows of shops each side of a street called Scargreen Avenue.Norris Green is just an estate of terraced houses consisting of working and middle class people mostly owning their own homes.It has no nightclubs nor anything else of intrest to organised crime.So the question is why are there two gangs intent on killing each other?
The history of it goes back to school days.Both L11,Norris Green,and L11 Croxteth shared the same senior schools.A further instance of example is the two schools in Kirkby,a short distance from Croxteth.One St Kevins.And the other Roughwood.St Kevins, a catholic comprhensive with a school population of 1800 often fought pitched battles with its neighbor Roughwood.To the point were one school had to go,that school turned out to be St Kevins.This territorilism that children feel it essential to defend is the crux of the matter.And by the use of drugs its something they have not grown out of now they are young adults.Bearing in mind Liverpool has a culture of respect,that one time would have been sorted with a "square go"But a square go was often on unequal terms.The big well muscled lad could easily defeat the slim light weight.Guns leveled the field.Combined with the power feeling and drugs a dangerous cocktail has ensued.With the self confidence of cocain and crack.And the courage of ignorence and inexperience youngsters from 14 to 19 are killing each other.
Tonight The Strand has a bunch of flowers on every lampost on each side of the Avenue in consolation for Liam.I wonder if Mrs Smith is feeling consoled?I doubt it.

ventura

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Hide the following 24 comments

Mindless Gangs

04.09.2006 21:36

I also wonder how Mrs Smith is coping with the horrific graffiti sprayed around the estate, directly relating to her son's death.

One major problem is that none of the friends or family will go forward with information for fear of retalliation. Pity none of them did before this lad lost his life ... the first of many unless somebody , somehow, gets a grip of this lot.

Disgusted

Fear

08.09.2006 15:07

We the people of Croxteth and Norris Green are living in fear on a daily basis.A handful of young teenage yobs have turned our areas into a combat zone. It is only a matter of time before an innocent person is killed or badly injured.
I feel no sorrow for this yob who was killed, to my mind its one yob less on our streets.
Lets hope the Police can protect us and round up the rest of them.

Croxteth resident

True Soldior

19.09.2006 14:42

TRUE SOLDIOR LAD!!
R.I.P

Police Cant Stop Diss Laaaaaaa

Not a True Soldier At All

19.09.2006 20:19

True Soldier?

I take it you do not know the areas of Norris Green and Croxteth. Many good people living in these areas are terrified witless and trying to improve the area.

I do feel for Mrs Smith. However, if you did happen to know her son, then you'll understand that yes, he was a gang member - in fact a gang leader - and yes, he, along with his friends and some family members was heavily into class A drugs, not just using them. This is a well known fact in the area. Most of them are already in prison, where the rest of them should be to protect society.

So please don't insult those true soldiers who are fighting for this country for peace and to make areas safer and better. You couldn't be further from the truth on that one.

The way some people hold these gangs and scumbags in high esteem and put them on pedestals is just cringy. The grafitti is embarrassing. It's disgusting. The whole lot of them need bundling up and sending to prison until they learn some values. Or better still, send them to Afghanistan to learn what TRUE SOLDIERS actually do for a living.

I'd be very surprised if Mr Smith or any of his fellow gang members have ever contributed anything to society.

All people like this seem to to is TAKE. What have any of them ever contributed to society?

I am sorry Liam Smith lost his life. However, a lot of people - and these are people who are NOT involved in the Norris Green and Croxteth gangs - were very happy when they heard the news, because of all the trouble that had been caused in the past.

Until these druggy, gun-toting brats are rounded up, the rest of the people living in the area have to do so in misery.

Come on folks, you know who these tramps are. Stick together and do something about it to get rid of them and improve your lives. At the end of the day, you - the people who look after their families, stay away from crime, work for a living - are the true heroes of the community - not these bits of kids who don't know what values are. In fact, half of them are probably so illiterate they wouldn't understand what "to have values" means.

Good Citizen

Sickened

19.09.2006 20:30

LIAM SMITH IS NOT A HERO. NEVER WAS.

None of these kids are. They can continue to kill each other.

Give us our lives and our communities back. Not to mention our safety.

Liverpool

cont

25.09.2006 16:58

Allthough I Published this last week on another part of Indymedia I have decided to move it here for continuity.
Ventura

The Liverpool Echo finally published the story today about the memorial of flowers adorning every post along the Strand of Norris Greens Scargreen avenue.I suspect only because a local historian felt it was so historical he paid for it to be photographed.But what they did'nt publish was the feeling of the local people about the tension in the air.Liam Smith,who its said was the leader of the Strand crew.is sadly missed.There can be no doubt of that.The young men and boys who make up this gang are grief stricken and very angry.The local ordinary folk of Croxteth and Norris Green are aware that something is going to blow.And so are the police.
But what have the police done?To all intents and purpose as far as the people of the two areas can see not much.The police say unless the community come forward with information there is little they can do.But if these two gangs were cells of terrorists what would they do then?You can bet your bottom dollar every mobile phone in the area would have it's traffic monitored.Homes and cars would be bugged.Surveilence would be 24/7.
In short all the resourses of MI5 and MI6 and the national crime unit and anti terrorist squad would have the the guns and gunmen in custody and on charges that could put them in guantanamo befor a month went by.So by what definition is gun terror classed as crime and not as terrorism?Only in a legal definition.To the worried and frightend people of Croxteth and Norris Green it looks,feels and is terrorism.They say its only a matter of time till someone innocent gets shot and killed.And they are right and like in Manchesters Mossside it will probably be a child.Perhaps it's time the police classed this kind of gun crime as terrorism and went after it with those resources.

Ventura

Funeral

25.09.2006 20:22

I watched the funeral today. Not from the line of people in the street, but from a window. It was nothing short of an episode from the Soprano's. The yobs must be feeling pretty special. Police helicopter in the air, hearse with flowers spelling out 'Legend', coffin in a glass casket pulled by horses and nothing short of 13 limousines. Not one of these scallies have probably ever worked a day in their lives. Drug money certainly pays.

Now this farce is over, the police really need to get their act together in a big way. Yes, they've raided a few houses over the last week but something is going to blow very shortly. So come on, you're paid council tax to provide a service to this area. How about providing it now? You had all these scumbags together today. You know who they are. You know where they live. Let the decent people in Norris Green and Croxteth lead 'normal' lives.

It was good to see that the police stuck to their word and cleaned up the graffiti, even though these kids won in getting shops and pubs to close for the day. But now the police need to act. These scumbags cannot be allowed to rule these areas.

Fed Up with the Yobs

What Can Police Do?

25.09.2006 22:25

The police are aware of who these males are I would imagine, however without the community coming forward with intelligence or evidence, there is very little they can do. Working as a practicing lawyer, the police would struggle to get warrants to burst open people's frontdoors without evidence / intelligence.

A few of these scumbags who are ruining the city need to realise that, if they don't speak up (and work with the police, albeit one thing they'd date to do), they may be the next to be executed at point blank range.

Anonymous

Legend?

26.09.2006 19:36

Sportsmen and heroes are legends because they contribute to life and the betterment of mankind. Drug runners take and destroy lives and families.

Norris Green is my home and it's like something out of the Bronx, dirty and defiled, with honest working folk living in terror of fire bombs if they open their shops.

It seems very plain to me that if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword and you can't really expect anything else.

I want normality and peace and I want the gangs and their guns dealt with properly. I'm fed up with the pussyfooting around. I have to ask "are the police so scared that they're treading on eggshells?

As an ordinary working person, I have truly had enough of this.

In a previous post, someone commented:

But if these two gangs were cells of terrorists what would they do then?You can bet your bottom dollar every mobile phone in the area would have it's traffic monitored.Homes and cars would be bugged.Surveilence would be 24/7.

They are the equivalent of terrorists and they require the same kind of policing.

Give us back our streets and our safety.

Anon

Annie Elizabeth
mail e-mail: athena252003@yahoo.com

Liam Siths Funeral

27.09.2006 16:03

Today.The Don Of the Strand Gang was interned.Unfortunetly for this Don he did not live to a ripe old age like most mafioso gangsters.He never even made it to 20 years. I wonder in the last seconds when his past life flashed befor him in his dying moments did he ask himself what had he achieved? And was it worth it?Or did he like the people on the estates he terrified feel the same kind of comprhension, in that moment of realisation when he realised it's not a game in the playground it's a journey to eternity when the killer pulls the trigger.What did he have to show for it? His Soldiers(sic)consider him a hero. Perhaps sacrifice is nearer the mark. Get rich or die tryng? That the philosophy of the gang.Most of their profits must have went on the funeral today?But all Liam has is a cold hole and a lingering respect.Unlike the IRA he will never be put into folksong or like americans be immortalised into rap.The culture itself demands this to happen.The carelessness of the nature of the lifestyle will see to it in the not too far distant future Liam Smith will not be even a wisp of mist of a memory,a shadow in the dark, to those who today honoured him in his futile and meaningless life.And that is the saddest thing.Because Liam was a boy with a future once.Something changed that,someone did?Maybe the community should look inwards?

ventura

norris green is a war field

27.09.2006 22:19

smigger was a character that the whole estate knew of him and hs gangs of scallies ruled the estate they terriosed normal people , people that are different and in my view even the police are scared of these people

i lived there for 3 years upto august 2006 and i choose to leave i was scared to leave my home after dark i never walked the strand shops i wouldnt walk the streets with my dog and my kids were never aloud to play in the street due to gang members using abdale road as a cut though with guns in jackets and popping in the local dealers house in our road which was burnt out in june we heard shooting at the end of the road we saw police chasing high speed cars up and down our road , is this the way that people are meant to live on norris green

i dont feel any sorrow for this lads death he choose who he mixed with he choose to live his life this way and if he got to be the leader of the pack at such a young age then good help us if he had matured its a shame that this is the image of a liverpool teenager that is cast around the world .

hoody gangs with guns , knives high as a kite of crack driing stolen cars like idiots and KILLING AND RUINING GOOD PEOPLES LIVES.

my message to the world is never go to liverpool its not a one off problem its getting worst and its going to explod.

abdale resident

reply to warzone

28.09.2006 21:06

I am sorry to hear about your experiences in Norris Greens Abdale Road.I have been told of a few families who had to move,some of them black,and only after a week or so on the estate.i understand with children to consider you had to move than take on these gangs.But you could have made an anomynous call if you knew something?If everyone leaves the area that would be a major defeat for normal life and would have an everlasting change to communty life ,not just in Morris Green but every were.I also think these boys have got hold of a few delapidated fire arms and they are feeling big about it.Bravado and drugged courage.I studdied the video of the shotgun and it is copper piping painted black fitted over the stock of an air rifle.

continuity move

02.10.2006 23:53

In my story about the funeral of Liam Smoth. "The Don Is Buried."Something happend a few days later i never considered. Graffitti appeared around the Norris Green estate. "Rip The Don". It seems the publicity from this site and other sites that picked up the story has had an undesired effect. Some days befor the Liverpool Echo ran a story about the gangs filming their guns amongst other things and publishing them on YouTube.com. So i went to see if that story had had the same effect.Sure enough after typing in the keywords Norris Green and Crocky up came the results. Only this time, unlike the Liverpool Echo story the guns were much more serious.Machine guns and automatic pistols. Some videos showing them being fired. Some of them did'nt even bother to hide their identitys.
It soon comes across that their attitude is that the police are scum and bring it on. Most of the videos play Tupac songs or are rerapped with their own words.One shows a deliberetly provoked chase through narrow winding residential streets with the police hotly in pursuit and young children on the verges. If you log the videos as inappropriate YouTube simply move them to a Log in if you are 18 to see them.
But this acting gangsta only stays acting for a while it soon becomes acting out. And i think that time is nearly upon us. I saw enough guns and ammunition for a small war. When the day comes when these gangs go to war the lead will fly and the innocent will die. Even if we publish or not because they have the tools to publish themselves. They are the stars in their own shows. And like with some stars it gone to their heads.

True Soldier - What a Joke

03.10.2006 14:46

I was disgusted to see a Liverpool FC shirt bearing the words "SMIGGER 06" and Y.N.W.A (You'll never walk alone" on the back as some kind of homage paid to this lad. The fact of the matter is that this lad will walk alone and yobo friends will eventutally get their cummupance and willl follow him one by one. Whoever had this shirt made needs to think back to Hillsborough, innocent people who lost their lives supporting the team they loved, these peole were "true soldiers" not some drug dealing, gun toting yob. The term "You'll never walk alone" is a term that was made for decent people, togetherness of people who have a meaning to their lives, real family and friendship, community spirit, caring and decent - This term does not apply to this lad or his any of his gang members - You are an embarassment to our City - and may the rest of you follow the same ending.

Paul

rip liam-ynwa

26.10.2006 22:40

see you soon cus!

ben

simgger

24.12.2006 15:15

R.I.P SMIGGER U WOZ A TRUE SOLIDER

true solider

dont judge him when u didnt no him

24.12.2006 22:28

i was a close friend to liam "SMIGGER" smith and the people who have left comments b4 me have no right to say things about this lad when they did not no him or what he was like all of these comments mention how these youths are high on class a drugs and i can honestly say that not one of da boys have eva smoked crack or heroin or coke only thingt they smoked weed now now the shirt with youll neva walk alone has got fuk all to do wid hillsboro and is a statment sent out to this lad by his friends and famiy now i no he was no angel and none of us r but at the end of the day this kid did not deserve wat he got and in response to sum of the comments in the echoe about this war being over drugs it has nothing at all to do with the drugs trade but im not going to say what it all over so please think about this lad mother and father and family b4 u write minfdless comments about some 1 who cannot defend the selves

R.I.P SMIGGER LAD AND YESSSS U WAS A TRUE SOLDIER

NOGADOGG 4 LIFE

N.G.Y.G (NORRIS GREEN YUNG GUNZ)

Bull

13.04.2007 23:05

I also knew him. Also what he did to innocent people. If you condone that type of scumbag behaviour, you really have hit rock bottom. I pity you.

keep smiling smigger lad

22.05.2007 10:37

smigger woz a true hero n iv u think he isnt then tell it to the boys n c wot happens then!!!!!!
r.i.p smigger
y.n.w.a smigger lad
true nogzy soldier
jodie tomo ov nogzy
xxx

jodie tomo
mail e-mail: 3symesj@cockermouth.sch.uk

Time to kill the scum

27.08.2007 11:43

I think the residents of these estates where these wankers are running riot should buy guns themselves and shoot these gobshites when they're causing trouble.

If the police won't do something about these wannabe gangstaz, who will?

Fuck Liam Smith aswell, nobhead

Travis Bickle

Noggzy Soldier???

02.10.2007 19:54

My view is, Live by the sword, die by the sword.
This lad, his idiotic mates and their so called "turf rivals" have heaped misery upon misery to good, up-standing citizens around Norris Green and Croxteth, so, as the numbers of these petty gangs deminish by whatever means, then the public will feel safer.

As for the families of these knobs saying to us that we did not know them so we have no right to comment, i think it's called freedom of speech. Besides, we all get the jist of what kind of things him/they were into, just read into things like the graffiti (True Noggzy Soldier, etc).

Spare a thought for the innocent victims caught up in all of this, Rhys Jones the latest example, you and your families don't give a toss. So we don't give two shits about your "Smigger" and his dickead mates.

ste

from beyond the grave

23.02.2008 01:22

I have read this thread with interest and feel sorry for the residents of this area that these young thugs terrorised. As an amateur spiritualist and medium I meet with like minded friends every week. The other week we made contact with the spirit of a young Liverpool lad who had passed over as a result of gunshot trauma to the head. Now this poor wretched soul was in agony as his demons from his earth life haunted him all the time and the hate and despair he caused in his previous life rained on him two hundred fold.
He was begging for help and whimpering like a wretched beaten puppy all the time.
It was an uncomfortable experience for us all that we never want to experience it again and we had to cut the seance short that evening.

mambo jones

Sympathy

16.04.2008 12:55

I have true sympathy for the honest residents of these areas in Liverpool, having to live side by side with the filth that call themselves "gangsters". (Ha-Ha)Why do they not take action against these arseholes, they are just kids and I get the impression that they are being allowed to run riot. Where I live there are people (older,stronger & wiser) who would easily "discourage" them from their mindless behaviour. I think more people in the area must be involved/friendly with these families than they let on to the press - otherwise why would the majority allow the minority to fuck things up?

Sort It Out Liverpool

he was a person

29.05.2008 14:26

this liam smith guy was a person and i think that its important to remeber that, he had a family who are suffering now he's gone and so i think we atleast owe his family and friends respect even if you dont agree with his morals. he was a person and he has tragically died, imaigne if that was your child.

my brother was tragically killed in ireland in gang related violence and i can state that the gangs there, it was a kind of you are part of us, or we will hurt you and your family.
i think its important for everyone to understand each other oherwise this will never be sorted.
it is in not until the power of love can over come the love for power that the world will know peace.

evey

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