Manchester’s ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey was born in Salford.
He would of been 64 years old today.
He was born and brought up in Ordsall, Salford, by his mother Rose Massey and father John Massey and was one of six children. At the age of just 12, he was arrested for criminal damage and sent to approved school. He claimed his “bitterness against the system” stemmed from being “dragged away from his mother and father”. It was to be the start of an illustrious yet cursed crime career.
In the 1990s, Massey established several security companies. Through these businesses, he and his gang were able to control the doors of several Manchester nightclubs. Massey was anti-drugs and it is said his influence controlled the Heroin drug gang wars in Manchester and stopped them taking control of the streets.
A respected man throughout the Manchester underworld, Massey had a great deal of name recognition. Within his own community he was a mini celebrity. He was generally good at talking to people but if you crossed him or his friends there would be trouble.
Although he achieved Robin Hood status there was a dark, troubling side which some might say showed that he was a product of the area he came from. In 1999, Massey was sentenced to 14 years in prison for stabbing a man in the groin outside a nightclub..
In 2012, he fought a losing campaign to become the elected mayor of Salford – saying he would encourage stability in the home, improve rehabilitation programmes for the young and to rid the streets of drugs. He declared he wanted to keep heroin off the streets of Salford and stickers appeared on lamp-posts warning: “Don’t deal smack or you’ll get a crack.”
On July 26th 2015, Massey was shot dead outside his home on Manchester Road, Clifton by a lone gunman. The killer was reported to have been wearing military style fatigues and carried a weapon “similar to a sub machine gun”.
Authorities in the Manchester area feared an escalation in gang-violence related to Massey’s death. Manchester police believe that the shooting of a 29-year-old woman and her seven-year-old son was linked to retribution for the Massey killing and from January–December 2015, there were 19 shootings in Salford
On June 2nd 2018, Mark Fellows was charged with Massey’s murder and also that of Massey’s close friend John Kinsella. Fellows was found guilty of both Massey and Kinsella, and sentenced to a whole-life term which means that he will never be released.
RIP Paul Massey
Author: Hydroponify
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