OFF THE WIRE
HELSINGIN SANOMAT
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
Police identify new underworld alliance
NBK, M.O.R.E. and Rogues Gallery join forces - no indication of new gang war.
United Brotherhood, a new underworld alliance, has seen its membership grow sharply in recent times.
Police say that the grouping was formed in the spring, when three notorious criminal gangs, Natural Born Killers, M.O.R.E. and Rogues Gallery, started to work closer together under a new name.
“They are still independent groups, but they are in league with each other”, says an officer at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) who monitors organised crime elements.
Because of closer cooperation, the officer believes that it is easier for the gangs to operate their criminal activities. At the same time the group’s influence in the criminal underworld is growing.
The NBI says that the group is involved in drugs, violent crime, and economic crime. All three are considered to be part of the hard core of Finland’s criminal underworld.
The new group has an estimated 60 - 70 members, about 20 of whom are serving prison sentences, or are being held on remand. Some are serving life sentences for homicides.
“The membership has grown after the spring. If the number continues to grow at the same pace, there could be more than 100 members in a few years. I see no reason why they would not continue to expand”, says the officer monitoring the groups.
In terms of membership, the new group has overtaken the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang as Finland’s third-largest criminal group. Larger enterprises include Cannonball, and the country’s biggest, the Bandidos.
The NBI believes that the new United Brotherhood has neutral relations with other gangs, and that nothing would suggest that a gang war of the kind that took place in the 1990s would be brewing.
The United Brotherhood has acquired club facilities in Vantaa. Its members live in different parts of Southern Finland, and use the facilities mainly for their meetings.
The alliance is headed by a six-member council, which has two members from each of the original groups. The United Brotherhood is not part of any international organisation, comparable with the Bandidos or the Hell’s Angels.
“We have no knowledge that there would be any main boss of the group. Perhaps the members have felt that this is best, as there are many strong personalities among them”, the NBI investigator reports.
The three original groups have so far maintained their separate identities and insignia.
However, the vests of the three gangs now bear the insignia of the United Brotherhood - an octagonal nut with the names of the three gangs written inside.
“There have been reports that the gangs might give up their present vests”, the NBI reports.
