Organised Crime Group

The **Organised Crime Group** (**OCG**) is a large-scale, multi-faceted criminal operation conducted in the city where the show takes place. It is made up of regular criminals and civilians, in addition to a large network of corrupt police officers from Central Police.

Due to the propensity for its members to wear balaclavas to conceal their identities, the group has also been nicknamed the **Balaclava Men** and the **Balaclava Gang**.

## Leadership

It was formerly headed by Tommy Hunter, however after his arrest and subsequent immunity deal at the end of Series 1, he was killed for his silence. In Series 6, it was implied by DSU Joanne Davidson whilst under arrest that Tommy Hunter's death was desired and arranged solely by corrupt Police Officers, not the OCG as originally thought.

In Series 5, John Corbett (in reality a wayward undercover police officer) and Lisa McQueen appeared to hold senior positions in the group, along with an unknown corrupt police officer known only as H. In Series 6 it was revealed that DSU Ian Buckells was the "Fourth Man", after Matthew Cottan, Derek Hilton and Gill Biggeloe. Cottan and Hilton are deceased, with Biggeloe in witness protection and Buckells in prison - leaving leadership of the OCG currently unknown.

## Police Involvement

An aspect that distinguishes the group from other criminal enterprises is their connection and relationship with a large number of corrupt police officers. These officers mainly work for Central Police, but in Series 5 it is shown that some officers from the East Midlands Constabulary (such as PS Martina Tranter) are also affiliated with the group. Police officers working with the gang often fall into one of two categories:

### Genuine Corruption

Certain officers are affiliated with the group due to genuine corruption, and use their position to further their power, behave illicitly and make money via bribes. This includes officers such as DI Matthew Cottan, former DCI Marcus Thurwell, former CSU Patrick Fairbank, ACC Derek Hilton, DSU Ian Buckells, DS Manish Prasad, DC Jeremy Cole and PC Kieran Bloom, as well as police legal counsel Gill Biggeloe. Others such as DI Lindsay Denton and DS John Corbett fall into a more grey area, reluctantly aligning themselves with elements of the group in order to exact extrajudicial retribution on others.

### Blackmail

A more common occurrence is officers who are being blackmailed by the group, and are reluctantly forced to do their bidding. This includes officers such as DCI Tony Gates, PC Hari Bains, PS Jane Cafferty, DCS Lester Hargreaves, DCI Joanne Davidson and PC Maneet Bindra, as well as civilian administrator Vihaan Malhotra.

However, not all officers who are subject to the scrutiny of AC-12 are shown to be affiliated with the group. Officers such as DC Nigel Morton and DCI Roz Huntley are shown to engage in corrupt and illegal activities at their own volition, but are not associated with or linked to the gang.

## Competition

Although the group appears to be one of the more dominant criminal outfits operating within The City, there do exist other smaller criminal organisations they frequently either work with or fight against. In Series 1, a small group of Arab drug dealers working in Greek Lane on the Borogrove Estate are killed by the group for interfering in their monopoly on the drugs trade in the Moss Heath area.

In Series 5 the group is shown entering into a tense relationship with a rival biker gang led by Paul Slater, who appear to specialise in the production and sale of heroin. However, due to the OCG having multiple contacts in Central Police they are able to have Slater's group arrested, securing their further dominance in the area.

After Pulton House, the group's main brothel on the Borogrove Estate, is raided by the police, they enter into an arrangement with a smaller Asian gang led by Khan. Khan's gang appear to specialise in grooming and prostitution, and allow the OCG to use their buildings to process and work the various women they have trafficked into the country into sexual slavery.

## Properties and Holdings

The group owns and makes use of several properties throughout The City. Although it is unlikely they own it, the Edge Park Golf Club is shown to be used as a recruiting ground and meeting place of several high ranking members of the organisation such as Tommy Hunter and DI Matthew Cottan. Throughout Series 1 the group is also shown to have full or part ownership of several commercial buildings owned by Laverty Holdings, which they use to conduct illicit business and launder money.

In Series 5 the group is shown to own two legitimate businesses in the Kingsgate area of the city that they use as fronts for their activities. The first is Kingsgate Printing Services, which is used as a meeting place and to manufacture counterfeit identity documents, certificates and paperwork. The second is a nightclub named Flicker, which is also used as a frequent meeting point. The group is also shown to own a block of flats on the Borogrove Estate named Pulton House, which it uses as a brothel where trafficked women are forced into sexual slavery. Upon entering into a business relationship with a smaller Asian gang led by Khan, they also obtain access to and use of a large vacant office building.

In Series 6, the group is shown to operate a workshop from an industrial unit in White Rock Industrial Park, where they manufacture custom, untraceable ammunition and also convert replica firearms. This is also shut down by the combined efforts of AC-12 and the Murder Investigation Team.

## Areas of Specialisation

### Blackmail

Seen in Series 1, 2, 3 and 4. The *modus operandi* of the group is to murder an individual, and then plant their DNA on an innocent party, potentially implicating them in the killing. They then freeze the body and threaten that, unless the individual does as they say, they will release the corpse and the person will go down for murder. This method is used on DCI Anthony Gates and Jimmy Lakewell. They also instruct the women in their brothels to keep used condoms from clients and freeze them in cold storage, enabling the DNA to be used for blackmail also. This method is used on DCS Lester Hargreaves and other officers.

### Drug Manufacturing

Seen in Series 1. Members of the group located in Greek Lane on the Borogrove Estate (dubbed the "Greek Lane Mob") manufacture and sell drugs. The group does not take kindly to competitors, murdering two rival Arab drug dealers and one of their own, Wesley Duke, who was working for both sides.

### Money Laundering

Seen in Series 1. Using several properties owned by Laverty Holdings, the group was able to successfully launder proceeds of their drug sales.

### Child Prostitution/Sex Trafficking

Seen in Series 2 and 3. Members of the group such as DS Manish Prasad were tasked with the grooming of underage girls such as Carly Kirk, who would then be pimped out by Tommy Hunter. The group would then take compromising photos of the men who used the underage prostitutes, such as DCC Mike Dryden, to use as blackmail.

The group also operated a brothel out of Pulton House on the Borogrove Estate, where multiple young women (such as Mariana Niemec) were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery, after being brought over from Eastern Europe under the false auspice of working for an employment agency. The women are also told to keep DNA from condoms in cold storage to potentially be used for blackmail.

Other members of the group such as Ronan Murphy and Linus Murphy used their positions of employment in the Sands View Boys Home to subject the underage boys to sexual abuse from well paying patrons and VIPs, such as Dale Roach. Corrupt police officers involved with the group such as Chief Superintendent Patrick Fairbank were complicit in both the sexual abuse and its subsequent coverup, murdering a social worker from the City Council who tried to blow the whistle.

### Kidnapping/Murder

Seen Series 1, 2, 3 and 4. After discovering her affiliation with them had become known to the police, the group murders Jackie Laverty by slitting her throat. In order to convince his crime boss superiors that he had killed Carly Kirk, DS Manish Prasad admitted to kidnapping, murdering and disfiguring another young woman of the same appearance. When Oliver Stephens-Lloyd tried to alert the authorities of the sexual abuse taking place at Sands View Boys Home, he was kidnapped and murdered by corrupt police officers working for the group, and his death was made to look like a suicide. Both Baswinder Kaur and Leonie Collersdale are kidnapped and later killed by members of the group. They also attempt to kidnap Hana Reznikova, but she is rescued by Central Police before she can be killed. As the women who are kidnapped and killed all have previous experience as prostitutes, it is possible the group planted the DNA of innocent parties on their bodies, and used them as part of their *modus operandi* to blackmail people into doing their bidding.

### Counterfeiting

From the back of Kingsgate Printing Services, the group runs a large scale counterfeiting operation. Using migrant workers, they produce fake passports, legal documents, drivers licenses, invoices, receipts and certificates.

### Hijacking/Robbery

In Series 5, the group carries out two separate hijacking operations on police convoys, stealing the contents they are transporting. The first is a convoy transporting £10 million worth of seized heroin from the Eastfield Police Storage Facility to an incinerator. The second is a convoy carrying a cache of automatic weapons scheduled for destruction, which is attacked after leaving the Midlands Forensic Ballistics Laboratory. After bribing multiple security officers, the group is later able to rob Eastfield Police Storage Facility itself, and manages to steal confiscated valuables worth up to £50 million.

## Members

### Civilians

* Tommy Hunter (deceased)
* Jackie Laverty (deceased)
* Wesley Duke (deceased)
* Miroslav Minkowicz (deceased)
* Terry Boyle (through manipulation)
* Ronan Murphy (deceased)
* Linus Murphy (deceased)
* Dale Roach (unconscious)
* Jimmy Lakewell (through blackmail)
* Robert Denmoor (deceased)
* Lisa McQueen (witness protection)
* Lee Banks (incarcerated)
* Carl Banks (deceased)
* Lewis Polkard (deceased)
* Darren Morgan (deceased)

### Prison Staff

* OMO Alison Merchant (incarcerated)
* OMO Jenny Leland (incarcerated)

### Police Staff

* Vihaan Malhotra (through blackmail)
* Gill Biggeloe (witness protection)

### Police Officers

* DCI Anthony Gates (through blackmail) (deceased)
* DS/DI Matthew Cottan (deceased)
* DS Manish Prasad (incarcerated)
* DC Jeremy Cole (deceased)
* Former CSU Patrick Fairbank (incarcerated)
* PC Hari Bains (through blackmail)
* PC Lambert (deceased)
* DC Jamie Desford (through manipulation) (incarcerated)
* PC Maneet Bindra (through blackmail) (deceased)
* CS/ACC Derek Hilton (deceased)
* DS John Corbett (undercover) (deceased)
* PS Jane Cafferty (through blackmail) (incarcerated)
* Unnamed Authorised Firearms Officer
* PC Kieran Bloom (deceased)
* DCS Lester Hargreaves (through blackmail) (deceased)
* PS Martina Tranter (incarcerated)
* PC Ryan Pilkington (deceased)
* DCI/DSU Joanne Davidson (through manipulation) (witness protection)
* Former DCI Marcus Thurwell (deceased)
* DSU Ian Buckells (incarcerated)

## Victims

### Civilians

* Gurjit Patel - run over after he discovers the group laundering drug money.
* Jackie Laverty - throat slit after her affiliation with the group is discovered by the police.
* Wesley Duke - shot in the head after it is discovered he was doing business with rival drug dealers.
* Tommy Hunter - the former leader of the group, who is shot, set on fire and later suffocated after it appears he may divulge information in exchange for immunity.
* Carroll - injured after the prison transport van she is driving is run off the road.
* Regan - injured after the prison transport van she is a passenger in is run off the road.
* Carly Kirk - sexually abused, groomed and pimped.
* Joe Nash - sexually abused as part of a paedophile ring run by the group at Sands View Boys Home.
* Michael Farmer - framed for the kidnapping of three women and the murder of two.
* Eileen Farmer - house is burned down.
* Leonie Collersdale - kidnapped, killed and dismembered.
* Baswinder Kaur - kidnapped, killed and dismembered.
* Hana Reznikova - kidnapped and almost killed after being left in a burning house.
* Jimmy Lakewell - blackmailed into perverting the course of justice, later strangled to death in prison.
* Mariana Niemec - kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery.
* Roisin Hastings - tortured with an electric drill for information on her husband.
* Gill Biggeloe - stabbed in the hand by PS Martina Tranter during an attempt on her life.
* Gail Vella - executed to avoid revealing the truth about the murder of Lawrence Christopher and exposing past OCG activities.
* Terry Boyle - framed for the murder of Gail Vella.

### Police Officers

* DCI Anthony Gates - blackmailed and threatened into working for the group against his will, which later causes him to commit suicide.
* DS Steve Arnott - kidnapped and tortured in Series 1. Beaten up and thrown down a flight of stairs, which results in semi-permanent damage to his ability to walk in Series 4.
* DI Lindsay Denton - framed for the orchestration of a police convoy ambush which resulted in a lengthy prison sentence. Once released, she is shot in the head after discovering the true mastermind behind the attack.
* DS Jayne Akers - shot and set on fire, eventually dying from the burns, during a police convoy ambush.
* Sgt Alex Wallis - shot dead during a police convoy ambush.
* PC Vincent Butler - shot dead during a police convoy ambush.
* DC Georgia Trotman - thrown from a building to her death trying to prevent the group from killing Hunter.
* DC Jeremy Cole - a corrupt police officer working for the group, he is beaten to death by Manish Prasad after becoming "a liability" when an E-Fit of him is released to the public.
* Sgt Danny Waldron - shot in the neck when it appears he is going to shed light on the groups child sex abuse ring they operated out of Sands View Boys Home.
* PC Rod Kennedy - killed for threatening to reveal the truth behind Waldron's death.
* Unnamed Authorised Firearms Officer - shot dead by corrupt AFO Lambert so he cannot prevent he and DI Matthew Cottan escaping from the AC-12 Building.
* DI Matthew Cottan - a high up corrupt officer working for the group, he is shot by an injured gunman whilst trying to protect a colleague from being shot after a failed escape attempt.
* ACC Derek Hilton - commits suicide (allegedly) after his affiliation with the group is uncovered.
* Sgt Jane Cafferty - shot in the stomach during a police convoy ambush and hijacking.
* PC Ray Randhawa - shot and killed during a police convoy ambush and hijacking.
* PC Kevin Greysham - shot and killed during a police convoy ambush and hijacking.
* PC Carl Waldhouse - shot and killed during a police convoy ambush and hijacking.
* PC Maneet Bindra - throat slit after she attempts to gain the group's trust but then tries to spy on them.
* DCS Lester Hargreaves - fatally shot by John Corbett after partaking in a large-scale robbery.
* DS John Corbett - throat slit when it is discovered he is an undercover officer.
* PS Farida Jatri - framed by Joanne Davidson to make AC-12 believe she was involved with OCG by planting a stash of burner phones.
* PC Lisa Patel - drowned by Ryan Pilkington in failed attempt to kill Terry Boyle.
* PS Ruby Jones - shot dead during an ambush on a police convoy.