The Hoxton Gang (or Hoxton Mob) was an independent street gang based in London's

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

district during the

interwar years In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

. They were one of several gangs which fought against Charles "Darby" Sabini and the "Italian Mob", specifically over control of gambling clubs or "spielers". During the 1930s, the gang was among many who struggled for control of racetracks and

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

s and, in June 1936, around 30 gang members attacked a bookmaker and his clerk with hammers and knuckle-dusters at the

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of t ...

racetrack before police arrived, with at least 16 gang members being convicted at Lewes

Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ...

and sentenced to serve over 43 years. The leader of the Hoxton Mob was called Jimmy Spinks, he was then great uncle of Lenny McLean who was the Guv'nor and known as the hardest man in Britain. The play ''

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

'' by

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously ...

features a character Curly, a leader of the Hoxton Gang.Cross, Robert. ''Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004.

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