Real Gangsters In Sheffield

[reddeb 10]

jossman

 

I see you mention the silk scarf gang, my father has just told me that my granddad was in the silk muffler gang, he mentioned throwing grates and bare knuckle fights. is this the same gang or another one?

 

Granddad and dad were born on Solly street where there was a pub that the other gangs drank in I believe.

 

Anyone shed any light???

 

thanks

Debs x

[andy ford 10]

my name is andy ford the fords were supposedly moonies, does anyone know, of a FORD, IN THERE

[Nigel Womersle 10]

I knew a bloke called Mick Cowan who's dad was in the Moony gang.

He lived on Butterthwaite lane, Ecclesfield.

Nice bloke, sadly died of a heart attack a few years back.

 

I was his postman. Didn't know that though. He was always OK, in fact an ordinary everyday person.

[poppins 10]

I remember a big fat man in the 50/60s, Johnny (something) well known in Sheffield, I think he was a pimp, Hazel remembered him back then, we use to call him Johnny Sheffield, but that wasn;t his real name, always wore a camel haired coat and had a couple of men walking along side of him.

[depoix 11]

my gran lived on the kelvin flats and i made friends in the 70s with a girl called maria moony,my mom was always saying i dont want you playing with her cos her family are gangsters,dont know if this was true or not,it never bothered me and i had no trouble from them so carried on being her friend,i think her mom and dad were irish,just wondered if anyone knew if the moonies were irish.

she once told me her dad was american,we were in the albert pub at the time, late 70,s

[Jossman 10]

jossman

 

I see you mention the silk scarf gang, my father has just told me that my granddad was in the silk muffler gang, he mentioned throwing grates and bare knuckle fights. is this the same gang or another one?

 

Granddad and dad were born on Solly street where there was a pub that the other gangs drank in I believe.

 

Anyone shed any light???

 

thanks

Debs x

 

The Silk Scarf gangs preceded all the Sheffield Gangs by about 200 years. They are mentioned briefly in JP Bean's Book "Sheffield Gangwars". I was just pointing out that gangs had been prevelent in Sheffield for a very long time.

 

I don't know about the Silk Mufflers, only that they were worn by most steelworking men going to work, I remember my family wearing them in the late 40's and 50's.

[lazyherbert 10]

don't know about the Silk Mufflers, only that they were worn by most steelworking men going to work, I remember my family wearing them in the late 40's and 50's.

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Those were not silk mufflers worn by the steelmen they were sweat towels. I had two uncles from the park & they were in the white or red scarf gang,I forget which.Apparently a lot of the troubles arose from the tossing ring that used to be on Skye Edge.

[rubydazzler 11]

Those were not silk mufflers worn by the steelmen they were sweat towels. I had two uncles from the park & they were in the white or red scarf gang,I forget which.Apparently a lot of the troubles arose from the tossing ring that used to be on Skye Edge.

 

They did use to wear white silk opera scarves wrapped round their necks as mufflers, with the silk fringe hanging down in front, probably for 'best' on a Sunday. I remember that from the 50s when I was little. We'd be coming back from church and you'd see all these men hunkered down against the pub walls waiting for opening time

 

When one of my uncles was young he used to frequent the tossing ring on Skye Edge, the whole family were terrible gamblers apparently. But he was the only one that used to bet on the toss.

[Texas 10]

Up to about 1950 or so it was the thing to have, a longish white silk scarf. I think it became quite old fashioned looking after that. A lot of guys used to have like a dark colored, tight, long coat, with heavily padded shoulders. If you remember the comedian Sid Field doing his 'Slasher Green' character, well that was the kind of coat.

But thinking about the gangsters, so called, the Mooneys and such, a really heavy place to go at one time was the Blue Boar on West Bar. You could guarantee getting a kicking if you looked a bit funny in there. And I remember a relative of mine, who was a musician, being asked to 'play a foxtrot,' at the Petre Street huts. The guy making the request having the ubiquitous silk scarf, and a razor poking from his top pocket.

When I went into the Blue Boar for the first time in the mid-50s, it was a bit of an anti climax, bit like an old folks home with drinks.

[NatHar07 10]

Has anyone heard of a Johnny D'wootz/D'wutz/D'woots? (I don't know how it was spelt) Hes my great grandad and all i know is that he was a gangster in sheffield in the late 1940s-1950s.

[okismoki 10]

she once told me her dad was american,we were in the albert pub at the time, late 70,s

her dad was a bloke called terence mooney,he had kids all over sheffield,she also had a brother called brendan,and a half sister called gillian,who made national news for pretending to have cancer when she was quite healthy,i believe she did time for it.

[okismoki 10]

Up to about 1950 or so it was the thing to have, a longish white silk scarf. I think it became quite old fashioned looking after that. A lot of guys used to have like a dark colored, tight, long coat, with heavily padded shoulders. If you remember the comedian Sid Field doing his 'Slasher Green' character, well that was the kind of coat.

But thinking about the gangsters, so called, the Mooneys and such, a really heavy place to go at one time was the Blue Boar on West Bar. You could guarantee getting a kicking if you looked a bit funny in there. And I remember a relative of mine, who was a musician, being asked to 'play a foxtrot,' at the Petre Street huts. The guy making the request having the ubiquitous silk scarf, and a razor poking from his top pocket.

When I went into the Blue Boar for the first time in the mid-50s, it was a bit of an anti climax, bit like an old folks home with drinks.

gus platts used to have the blue boar,another place on west bar frequented by gangsters was called billy lee,s.whether that was the pub name,or the landlords,i don,t know.