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Sentencing Joyce to two life sentences, Mr Justice Langstaff told all 11 defendants in the dock: “You were all involved in gang-related activity which is all too reminiscent of Al Capone and Chicago in the era of prohibition. Manchester is not the Wild West but many of you treated its streets as if it were”.
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They would shoot at people over minor disagreements while drunk in nightclubs and torture street dealers who crossed them, the court heard. They had an arsenal of weapons including machineguns and magnum-style handguns which they used, “at the drop of a hat,” and to exact revenge and enforce drug debts.
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Aeeron Campbell, 25, a mindless thug with an intelligence putting him in the bottom 1 per cent of the population, was given life with a minimum of 32 years.
Gang members Ricardo Williams and his brother, Narada Williams
Gooch gang members clockwise from top left, Aeeron Campbell, Hassan Shah, Kayael Wint, Aaron Alexander, Ricci Moss and Gonoo Hussain
Anson Road murder scene
Sub-machine gun found abandoned in bushes, Moston
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Brought to justice at last - News - Manchester Evening News
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DC Rod Carter said: "Joyce makes things happen. Joyce brings people together. I have heard gang members refer to him as the general and he likes the kudos of it.
"Nobody has had a bigger impact on the Manchester gang scene in the last few years than Colin Joyce. Joyce does not have to pull the trigger - his presence is enough to incite others to do so.
"He has no need to still be doing what he's doing. He does it because he enjoys it, that's what makes him so dangerous."
Joyce, a recent Muslim convert, grew up in territory belonging to the Longsight Crew which is affiliated to old Manchester gang, Doddington. He even attended the funeral of Orville Bell - the 17-year-old whose memory the Longsight Crew was formed in.
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