Hooligans: 5. Going Underground

Gangster

BBC

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the police under pressure to get a grip on the hooligan epidemic, an ambitious young copper comes up with a plan. To infiltrate the firms and go undercover. Covert police operations in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds soon get underway. Michael Layton is a former detective with West Midlands Police. In the mid-80s, he set up an undercover unit which infiltrated the Zulu Warriors, a firm who followed Birmingham City FC. Michael describes how Operation Red Card gathered evidence against the top targets, the danger his undercover officers faced and the constant threat of exposure and reprisals.

For the coppers recruited, it was a terrifying, head-ache inducing, chain-smoking and dangerous life. Two of the officers who risked their lives and infiltrated the Zulu Warriors and another who worked among Arsenal's mobs, tell their stories for the first time.

Presenter: Tony Bellew Series Producer: Emma Forde Producer: Patrick Kiteley Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Development Producer: Holly Clemens Production Co-ordinator: Ellie Dover Assistant Commissioner: Lorraine Okuefuna & Sarah Green Commissioning Editor: Louise Kattenhorn Editor and Executive Producer: Carl Johnston

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:04.7	A quick warning.
0:06.0	This podcast contains strong language, descriptions of violence and some content you may find upsetting.
0:15.4	We went on a journey by coach with what we would describe as perhaps the 100 most hardcore Arsenal troublemakers.
0:26.6	And I'll never forget this, there's a hundred of them, and there's four of us sitting halfway down this grey-green coach.
0:34.6	We're late getting up to Sheffield for this fixture and one of the
0:39.5	guy says to the driver, stop someone and we'll ask them how to get to the ground because the driver
0:44.9	did not know how to get to Sheffield Wednesday. We stop at a bus stop and this guy stands up,
0:51.2	opens the door, there's a kid of about 14 standing at the bus, he grabs him by the collar,
0:56.0	drags him into the coach and holds a knife to his throat and says to him, take us to Sheffield Wednesday Ground or I'll cut your throat.
1:04.0	And this kid saying, I don't know where it is.
1:06.0	I don't follow football. I don't know it. It's just let me go, please.
1:10.0	And I'm sitting there thinking, so I'm in charge of this.
1:13.3	What happens if the very worst thing happens, you know?
1:17.1	Luckily, all the other people on the coach started badgering this Arsenal guy.
1:25.1	Saying, look, he's not one of us, Leave him alone. He's not in the game.
1:29.9	And they let him go.
1:32.9	It was probably one of the worst days I had.
1:35.5	That was the closest we came where I was sitting there thinking,
1:38.9	we're going to have to do something here.
1:40.2	And it's probably going to end up in us getting really badly hurt, if not worse.
1:45.2	A close shave, not just for the boy being dragged on board that Arsenal supporters bus,
	...

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