There are 2 books about organized crime in Liverpool that sound particularly interesting:
The Cartel: The Inside Story of Britain's Biggest Drugs Gang
Young Blood: The Inside Story of How Street Gangs Hijacked Britain's Biggest Drugs Cartel
However, the problem is the criminals are almost all named by nicknames invented by the author, so you can't understand or guess who they really are. I was told that the gangster "Kallas" from the "Young blood" book is James "Pancake" Taylor and the "Baron" from "The Cartel" is Philip Glennon, still no clue about others. For example, who is "Fred the Rat" who is supposed to have created the cartel? I read on some forum his real nickname is "Bob the Dog".
But who is the guy in charge now in Liverpool? In mean, REALLY in charge, not as front boss? Glennon, Taylor or somebody else? And how does Curtis Warren fit in all this? Was he a big player or just somebody who got the headlines?
It's hard to determine who's in charge. Liverpool posters may give you an answer to that.
But what makes it difficult is that British cities never have an unified crime syndicate. There are various different firms operating in one city.
And journalists in Britain rarely use real names of alleged gangsters, in fear of legal persecution. For instance, there's "The Taxman" in Nottingham, "Bird of Prey" in Liverpool,... Let's not forget Davey Hunt from Canning Town, who really had a libel claim running against the Sunday Times for openly calling him a "crime boss".
Regarding "Pancake" Taylor, I don't really know if he really was the kingpin the papers made him out to be. He had been connected to numerous criminal activities, but then again, he has also been signalled in ridiculous bar fights. Some of it is even on YouTube.
