Peaky Blinders: The Aftermath

Britain’s first major gangland war erupted bloodily on the racecourses of southern England in 1921. Pitting the Birmingham Gang of mostly former Peaky Blinders against London’s Sabini Gang, its leading protagonists were Billy Kimber, Darby Sabini, and Alfie Solomon. Fictionalised in the captivating BBC drama, in reality, as the guvnors of Britain’s original organised criminal gangs they were the legacy of the Peaky Blinders. Pushed away from racing by strong police action, the Birmingham Gang slowly disappeared but the Sabini Gang regrouped in London, grasping new opportunities for extortion in Soho’s clubland especially. The prototype for later major London gangs, it was eventually succeeded in 1947 by Jack Spot, a tough gangster from the Jewish East End who was violently overthrown as the ‘King of Soho’ in 1956 by men connected to the old Sabini Gang. This then was the aftermath of the peaky blinders.

Keywords: Carl Chinn; Birmingham; Peaky Blinders