British Firms (Organized Crime)
In analogy with the Penose in the Netherlands and the Milieu in France, the United Kingdom has traditionally been governed by homegrown organised criminal groups involved in a multitude of illegitimate businesses. The UK being a multi-ethnic society, criminal enterprises come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds finding their origin in the UK, the most dominant of them still being the White British groups.
London's crime families were traditionally centred in the East End of London (the infamous Kray twins being the most notable). Due to the restructuring of the East End, and the influx of migrants to the area, traditional Cockney families have moved to South London, parts of North London (mainly Islington), and the counties surrounding London (such as Essex and Kent). Working-class neighbourhoods are often still home to family-based crime groups involved in drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, armed robbery, contract killing, money laundering, counterfeiting and kidnapping. Some of the more notorious South London crime families include the 'Brindles' and the 'Walkers', while the Arifs are the most notorious crime family from London's south-eastern neighbourhoods. Another well-known London crime family is the Clerkenwell crime syndicate in Islington, also known as the 'Adams family'.
London's working-class crime families are not necessarily of Cockney (or even English) descent, as other ethnicities including Irish and Turkish Cypriots have historically settled in the same East London districts (in addition to parts of northeast and southeast London). Some of the more powerful crime families, such as the 'Brindles', are of English descent, while others such as the 'Adams' are of Irish heritage. The 'Arifs', meanwhile, are of Turkish Cypriot descent.
London's crime families are more territorial, but can be internationally active in money laundering as well as drug trafficking, cocaine and ecstasy in particular.
