CHRIS Kaba’s ’67’ gang has terrorised the streets of London for years and is linked to a string of murders and violent attacks.
The 24-year-old drill rapper was a feared “core member” and was involved in an underworld shooting days before he was shot dead by a cop, it was revealed today.
Tim StewartChris Kaba’s violent past has been revealed[/caption]
In 2019, Tulse Hill-based county lines drug runners were jailed for 61 years, with many proven to be members of the 67 crime gang
6ix7OfficialThe 67 emblem – with the name pronounced six-seven[/caption]
Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has described 67 as “notorious” and Kaba himself as a “career criminal, a career gangster”.
He told The Sun: “They are the kind of people that need taking off the streets of Britain because they impose their will on others through violence, be that knives, firearms, or through any other means. They are relentless.”
Kaba was killed by Met Police firearms officer Martyn Blake on September 5 – with the cop cleared of murder by a jury this week.
He had previously served prison sentences, including for firearms offences and possessing weapons, with his life of crime dating back to the age of 13.
Judge Mr Justice Goss this morning lifted a contempt of court order allowing reporting of Kaba’s background for the first time.
Until now, he has been painted as a loving dad-to-be employed as a construction worker.
Mr Bleksley said: “I’m so delighted that today the truth about Chris Kaba can finally be told.”
67 gang
Members of the collective 67 – pronounced six-seven – are front runners in London’s emerging drill rap scene, and Kaba himself – using the aliases Madix and Mad Itch – was also a rapper and key gang member.
In terms of music, they are best known for their 2016 track Lets Lurk, and were nominated for Best Newcomer at the MOBO Awards the same year.
Original rappers going under the title were LD, Monkey, Dimzy, Liquez, ASAP and SJ, though the group has expanded.
In a 2018 interview with NME, 67 drill rappers slammed measures to scapegoat their genre for London’s rise in knife crime – and lamented the banning of 1011, a fellow such group banned from making music.
Five members – Liques, Monkey, Dimzy, ASAP and LD, described as all in their early to mid 20s – spoke to the music magazine.
LD said: “People need to see that being an artist, and sometimes saying violent things, is just being an artist.
“It’s like when you’re in a movie, acting like you’re about to rob a bank; it’s not really that person.
“You still live a normal life. People think that it’s violence all day long, but they need to remember that everyone has a family.”
‘ACTIVE AND VIOLENT’
However, police have labelled 67 itself a “criminal gang”, with some members having been linked to multiple offences, including the fatal attacks on Dwayne Simpson in 2015, as well as 18-year-old Cheyon Evans and Josiph Beker, 17, both in 2019, reports the Evening Standard.
A police report from 2023 said 67 was engaging in an “active and violent dispute with a rival faction of street gangs in Lambeth”, with ties to shootings, stabbings, and murders.
“67 gang and those affiliated to the group are embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence, firearms and knife possession”, it stated.
“It is my firm belief 67 have been and remain the highest harm street gang in Lambeth and that they continue to present serious risk to harm to those individuals and groups they are in opposition with or have had issues with.”
In 2019, a total of 16 people were jailed following a major investigation into drugs supply in the Home Counties from Lambeth – all linked to 67, reports MyLondon.
Eight members of the South London gang even boasted about their use of “waps”, which means guns, and “skengs” which means guns or knives, in songs, the article continued.
The gangsters have spread their network through the rest of London, reaching out to Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire and Hampshire.
PAFootage showed him taking part in a nightclub shooting days before he was killed[/caption]
6ix7OfficialThe group were nominated for Best Newcomers at the 2016 MOBO Awards[/caption]
Kaba also opened fire outside the busy clubPA
Video footage shows the moment armed officers surrounded his car before the police shooting
Mr Bleksley went on to tell The Sun, 67 “commit crime on a daily basis”.
“At the time of Chris Kaba’s death they were engaged in a ruthless war with another gang from Wandsworth.
“Chris Kaba’s criminal offending dates back to when he was 13, when he was convicted of stabbing someone.
“He’s then later convicted of an affray and not long after that he gains another criminal conviction for possessing an imitation firearm when he receives four years in prison.
“And there’s another one. He got five months for yet another offence… failing to stop for the police and possession of a knife which had been discarded.
“He was a career criminal, a career gangster, and he took part in many drill rap videos where the gang glorify their violence by putting their hands into the position as if they were guns, and acting out the firing of those weapons.”
‘STRONG EVIDENCE’
During Sgt Blake’s trial, the cop’s barrister said Kaba was facing the prospect of a long prison sentence, having been linked to two shootings prior to his death.
The Old Bailey heard there was “strong evidence” Kaba was one of a gang who carried out a shotgun attack in Brixton the night before he died.
While CCTV released today shows Kaba shooting rival gang member Brandon Malutshi at the packed Oval Space nightclub in Hackney, East London, days earlier.
Jurors in that earlier trial were told the shooting was part of a County Lines feud between Kaba’s 67 gang and the rival 17 gang.
The court heard how Kaba’s fellow gang member Marcus Pottinger, 30, smuggled a handgun through metal detectors into the Open Space club, where he had previously worked.
Kaba and his gang were carrying metal nitrous oxide canisters and balloons when they entered the club on the night of August 30 2022.
Hundreds of party-goers were in the club at the time, continuing Notting Hill Carnival celebrations.
Another gang member, 31-year-old Shemiah Bell, was initially seen on CCTV inside the club holding a bag containing the gun.
The 67 gang members were seen loitering around the bar with drinks before Kaba spotted rival Malutshi.
Kaba was seen approaching Bell, who made a gun signal with his hand and handed the bag to him along with a single black glove.
Putting on a face covering and lifting up his hood, he then moved towards his enemy and drew his right hand.
Kaba opened fire and Malutshi then sprinted off with Kaba and Bell in pursuit.
Public and jurors deserved to know Kaba’s violent history – why was it hidden?
By Mike Sullivan, Crime Editor
AT long last the public are now aware of the full facts surrounding the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba by Met firearms officer Martyn Blake.
Mr Justice Henry delayed his decision to lift reporting restrictions about Kaba’s appalling background until this morning.
He was then caught by surprise when the jury returned their verdict after deliberating for just three hours.
By keeping the public in the dark about Kaba, in my opinion the judge risked provoking public disorder.
A peaceful protest of around 125 of Kaba’s supporters took place at the Old Bailey on Monday night.
Back in August 2011 another demo outside Tottenham police station over the police shooting of Mark Duggan, led to nationwide riots.
I felt sorry for the callers to radio talk shows expressing their anger over the shooting of Chris Kaba in the wake of Sgt Blake’s acquittal.
They were not armed with the full picture.
Kaba did not deserve to die and his death is a tragedy for his loved ones and for everyone involved in the case.
But neither was he just the loving father-to-be and construction worker which he was portrayed as.
The jury deserved to know he was a gangster with a history of crime and linked to two shootings in the week before his death.
It provided a potential explanation over why Kaba tried so desperately hard to ram his way free of the police trap.
Likewise, the public also had a right to know the full facts as soon as criminal proceedings ended.
The delay by the judge created a false impression of a case which has touched a raw nerve in our communities.
It also created an unnecessary risk of disorder on our streets.
CCTV showed Malutshi cowering behind a car as Kaba emerged from the club wearing a grey tracksuit with his hood up and mask still on.
Kaba chased Malutshi down the street and three further shots were fired at Malutshi.
One of the bullets pierced his right leg just under the buttock.
Kaba then made his way with Bell towards the Audi Q8 getaway car, which he was driving when shot dead by gun cop Blake.
Malutshi was given a blood transfusion and despite medical advice, discharged himself later that day with a bullet fragment still embedded in his right leg.
JUSTICE
Bell was jailed for 10 years in April this year and Pottinger got nine years.
Both were convicted of wounding with intent and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence following a three-month trial.
Another of Kaba’s associates, 28-year-old Connel Bamgboye, was jailed for five years and six months after he was convicted of the firearms offence.
Bamgboye’s passport was in Kaba’s car when he was shot dead by Blake.
Sentencing over the Hackney shooting, Judge Simon Mayo told Pottinger, Bell and Bamgboye: “I am sure that you and Kaba had brought that gun to the scene.”
The judge said Kaba was a “core member” of the Brixton-based 67 gang.
Tim StewartKaba was a member of the ’67 Gang’ in Brixton[/caption]
There was anger at the verdict among Chris Kaba’s supporters
Protestors gathered outside the Old Bailey after the officer was cleared
Bell had appeared in two 67 gang music videos, one of which showed him making the sign of a gun with his hand.
Bamgboye was also affiliated with the gang and linked to the control of county lines drug dealing, jurors heard.
Bamgboye, known as C-Rose and Conz, was also involved in music production and associated with the alleged gunman, jurors heard.
He had previous convictions for affray and threatening words and behaviour and was himself the victim of a shooting in the past.
On July 23 2017, Bamgboye had been at an unlicensed music event in Romford with the alleged gunman and other 67 gang associates when a row erupted, reports the Evening Standard.
Bamgboye and another person were injured in a firearms incident and the alleged gunman was stabbed in the stomach.
COURT ORDER
Jurors were barred from knowing about Kaba’s life of crime when trying Sgt Blake, 40.
His defence counsel argued the shootings explained why Kaba tried to ram his way out of a police trap in Streatham before he died.
The cop had been briefed about the Brixton shooting before going out on patrol but had no knowledge of Kaba when he killed him.
Mr Bleksley continued: “Had Chris Kaba lived he would have been charged with that attempted murder.
He added: “The levels of violence that these people use is right up there with the most serious criminality.”
The crime expert went on to say that as a nation we are “very fortunate” to have “courageous police officers, detectives, armed officers, and more who are willing to go out onto the streets and tackle these people, gather evidence, put them in front of a court, and get them convicted”.
Referring to Kaba, Mr Bleksley continued: “Like the core of an apple. A core gang member sits in the very middle of that gang. Its membership, its operations, its criminality, its violence, its drug dealing, and more. That is what a core gang member is.”
He continued: “To bring these kind of people to justice requires ingenuity, creativity, dedication to the cause, and professionalism because any evidence gathered must stand up to the scrutiny of a court, and that, of course, is only right.”
TIMELINE OF THE PROBE
THIS is how events unfolded two years ago.
August 30, 2022: CCTV footage allegedly captured the moment Kaba opened fire on a rival in a nightclub in Hackney.
September 4, 2022: Kaba’s Audi Q8 was linked to a shotgun attack on a car containing two people outside a Brixton school.
September 5, 2022: A Tactical Firearms Commander is made aware of the sighting of the Audi Q8, driven by Chris Kaba, after ANPR camera flags up its alleged involvement in the previous shooting.
The commander declares a firearms incident and passes tactics to an armed response team. Armed officers pursue the car, which is forced to a stop at 10.07pm in Streatham Hill, South London.
As Mr Kaba revs the engine, an officer standing in front of the car fires a single shot through the windscreen.
September 6: Mr Kaba dies in hospital at 0.19am. The Metropolitan Police refers itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
September 7: Statement by Mr Kaba’s family’s calls for a murder investigation.
September 12: Met confirm Officer NX121 has been suspended from frontline duties
September 20, 2023: Officer charged with murder by the Crown Prosecution Service. Hundreds of colleagues reportedly turn in their weapons permits.
March 8, 2024: Judge lifts anonymity order, naming Martyn Blake as the officer.
October 21, 2024: Blake is cleared of murder, with jurors at the Old Bailey taking just three hours to reach a unanimous verdict.
The scene of the shooting after Chris Kaba was stoppedSupplied
Crown Prosecution ServiceA recreation of the police stop in the residential road[/caption]
PAPolice trailed the Audi before the hard stop[/caption]