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Turkish organized crime gangs have established control over neighborhoods in north and east London through violence, heroin smuggling and protection rackets, making them the top firearms threat in the U.K., a Metro investigation by John Dunne has found.
The Bombacilar (bombers) and Tottenham Boys, also known as the Hackney Turks, operate as the most feared criminal organizations in the capital, with strongholds in Tottenham, Wood Green and Dalston, the investigation found.
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Rick Sewart confirmed the gangs' threat level in an interview with Metro.
"The Turkish gangs are the number one threat to the U.K. and London in terms of firearms," Sewart said, adding, "We have been working with Europol and the National Crime Agency on the supply of firearms into the U.K. and Europe."
Last year, authorities recovered 138 firearms and 2,500 rounds of ammunition from a Turkish organized crime group.
The Springfield pistol, smuggled from Türkiye into the capital, remains the most popular weapon among the gangs.
The criminal networks generate primary income through heroin smuggling while maintaining territorial control through armed "soldiers" carrying illegally imported firearms from Türkiye, according to Metro's sources.
A teacher raised in Wood Green, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described how the gangs embed themselves in the community through financial leverage.
"It's very much like the Mafia in Italy and the U.S., where they are part of the fabric of society," the teacher said.
"In Wood Green, and around areas like Lordship Lane, families come from Turkey and the gangs will lend them money to buy a business like a cafe or barbers shop. Sometimes the interest on the loans is quite reasonable," the teacher added.
"Obviously, if the repayments are not met, that can mean trouble. By keeping these businesses in the community, the gangs build a kind of fortress where everyone owes them and they can keep control," the teacher added.
The gangs' reputation has deterred even rival criminal organizations. Albanian gangsters operating in north London avoid confrontation with the Turkish groups, instead operating further north in Southgate and Cockfosters, according to the investigation.
"Even the Albanians, who are very scary, stay away from them," the teacher said.
Rivalries between the Tottenham Boys, who have strong Kurdish links, and the Bombacilar have resulted in decades of violent conflict, with innocent bystanders regularly caught in crossfire.
In May 2024, a gunman on a motorbike opened fire at a restaurant in Dalston, hitting three men. A stray bullet struck a 9-year-old girl eating ice cream outside, lodging in her brain and causing serious injuries. Javon Riley, 33, was jailed for three counts of attempted murder.
The attack stemmed from an ongoing dispute between the Tottenham Turks and Hackney Turks that originated from a snooker club fight in 2009, according to police. Riley was Caribbean, reflecting the gangs' practice of recruiting assassins from outside their community.
Izzet Eren, described as a reputed senior member of the Tottenham Turks, was shot dead in a Moldovan cafe in 2024 after his prison release. The killing was believed to be retaliation for the Dalston drive-by shooting.
A resident near a previous shooting site in Wood Green told Metro: "We live in fear. I remember the day it happened. I heard the shots. I had been planning to go to the shop. I could have been hit–it was terrifying."
"We know better than to say much about it in case someone connected with the gangs hears. We don't hang out outside the cafes anymore just in case there is a drive-by shooting or something. It's no way to live," the resident said.
The 2023 kidnapping and murder of Turkish DJ Mehmet Koray Alpergin, 43, highlighted the extreme violence within the criminal networks. Alpergin and his girlfriend Gozde Dalbudak were kidnapped in central London. He was beaten, throttled, burned and stabbed before his body was dumped in Essex woodland.
Tejean Kennedy, 33, of Cricklewood Broadway, received a 20-year sentence, while Ali Kavak, 26, of Tottenham, was jailed for 13 years. The court heard the murder was connected with international organized crime, with police comparing the violence to gangster movies.
In 2003, police discovered a torture chamber in the basement of a Turkish-owned property on Green Lanes, Tottenham.
A shopkeeper on Green Lanes told Metro: "In this community, talking to the police is a danger to us and our families. We are living in fear."
Abdullah Baybasin, who arrived in London in 1997 after being left wheelchair-bound by rival gunmen, is believed to have established the Bombacilar gang.
Operating from his large family home in Edgware, he ran protection rackets against shopkeepers before receiving a 23-year prison sentence in 2006 for conspiracy to supply heroin and blackmail.
"Everyone knows everyone in the Turkish community in north London but they were considered untouchable. They hung out in snooker halls and bars where most people feared to go. There was often violence," a source who knew some Bombacilar members told Metro.
The gangs maintain international connections with Turkish communities across Europe, including Berlin.
The Metropolitan Police attributes London's lowest murder rate in a decade, recorded in 2025, partly to high-level busts of organized crime groups, including the Turkish gangs.
"We are making inroads," Detective Chief Superintendent Sewart said, referring to progress against the gangs.
However, a cafe worker on Lordship Lane offered a different perspective: "The gangs have the money and power. We are just pawns in the game. It's like the Italian mafia rule of silence, many people will not say a word."
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