When London journalist David Matthews dived into writing about boxing he decided that it wasn’t enough just to report on it, he had to get stuck in and box himself. The result in his book Looking For A Fight shows not only his level of grit as a journalist but his absolute determination to reach the truth about hard-hitting issues (literally).
When he researched gangs for a follow up book, Gang London, he didn’t literally join a gang but he spent a huge amount of time with them; using his knowledge he clears away the myths and hype to find out what is really going on amid the stabbings and coke deals on the the streets of the British capital.
What I love about David is that he gets deep into this issues without pushing any simple agenda. There is a real problem with organized crime in the UK but it’s often not how the tabloids describe it.
In this chat on the CrashOut Podcast, we get into some fascinating issues including: how Britain might have the biggest use of cocaine per capita in the world; the demise of old school cockney gangsters; how African war refugees are recruited into London gangs (a story reminiscent of the MS-13 fleeing El Salvador for Los Angeles); the rise of phone theft crews on electric bikes; and how serious Turkish traffickers hire black street gangs as foot soldiers. We also lament on England’s painful loss to Argentina in the World Cup.
You can also listen to the pure audio of the episode here:
Copyright Ioan Grillo and CrashOut Media 2026
