It's true. Almost a majority of originally East End white families moved to Essex and Kent. I've also read reports on Essex and Kent nowadays being filled to the brim with drug traffickers and crime bosses. The East End in general doesn't have the gritty, homegrown working class atmosphere anymore. Some areas have undergone major redevelopment and most are populated by descendents of the Jamaicans and more recent Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrants. Even Canning Town -a traditionally very white area- nowadays has around 30% blacks living there, which still makes it the most 'indigenous' area in all of the East End
South London will probably have it's fair share of homegrown crime indeed. Most of it minor idiots with also a couple of more major British criminals operating there.
As for the Southeast Asian gangs: I've heard about Pakistani ( ''Mirpuri'' actually ) groups being involved in major drug and weapon trafficking operations as well as prostitution and smaller incidences of extortion. Bangladeshi gangs on the other hand always struck the impression on me for being little more than retail drug salers or just plain annoying pricks.
Btw, I'm not from England but the dad of a friend of me grew up in Bermondsey ( which is more South London ) and still has some contacts in those places. That's why I know some stuff on England's southeast ( and probably also why I'm very interested in British organized crime lol).
Ha, my mum traced my dad's family. Went back 350 years and, until my grandad, they all had the same job (carman) and lived within the same mile or so in Bermondsey!! 350 years! Unambitious bunch.
You're completely right. Essex and Kent have a lot of crime guys, but the structure in the UK means they mostly act on their own. And the older they get the less active they are. In the pubs in south east London / north west kent (where i grew up) there are countless guys described as 'gangsters' and lots of people walking on eggshells around them. But a five min chat or a bit of research usually proves they're nobodies.
I know very little about Bangladeshi/Pakistani gangs other than I know the local protection rackets in Bethnal Green actually work. Some drunk guy started causing trouble in the newsagent my girlfriend lived above a few years back. According to her, the newsagents kicked this guy out the shop but he came back 5 mins later. Shortly after three Transit vans pulled up outside the shop and out the back jumped dozens of young kids all carrying planks of wood and baseball bats and things. They dragged the guy out the shop and chased him off down the street. The newsagents were definitely not properly connected to anything, it was run by a sweet old Bangladeshi couple who'd been there for years and their three shy, geeky sons. Rumour has it they just put in a call to whoever they pay protection to when the guy showed up again and, well, they were protected...
