Chris Kaba was a father-to-be, friend, rapper and much-loved family member – but he was also a “core member” of the most dangerous street gang in his neighbourhood, a court heard.
The 67 gang is said to have taken its name from the telephone code for Brixton Hill in south London from which many of its members hail.
Its arch rival was the “17 gang” from the neighbouring Wandsworth Road area which took its name from the date 17-year-old Jordan Malutshi was fatally stabbed in a bar in the early hours of July 1 2013.
Coincidentally, it was Jordan’s brother Brandon, 25, who was shot in the legs in a nightclub by Mr Kaba on August 30 2022, an earlier trial of 67 gang associates was told.
In June 2013, Jerome Small, then 32, from Reading, was found guilty of Jordan’s murder and jailed for life following a trial at Reading Crown Court.
Mr Justice Goss had ruled that none of the details of Mr Kaba’s connection with gangs should be told to jurors during firearms officer Martyn Blake’s trial at the Old Bailey.
Mr Blake, 40, was cleared of Mr Kaba’s murder on Monday and reporting restrictions on earlier legal argument about the case have been lifted.
Defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC had said Mr Kaba was a core member of the 67 gang and if he had not been fatally shot by Mr Blake during a police stop days later, on September 5 2022, he would have been tried in court for attempted murder.
Tit-for-tat violence is the stock in trade for London’s gang scene and the 67 gang was the most violent one in the Lambeth area, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Gibbs had argued that Mr Blake was well aware of the escalating tension between Mr Kaba’s 67 gang and its rivals before the police stop prompted by the identification of an Audi linked to a shooting incident in Brixton the night before.
On Mr Blake’s concerns at the time, he said: “This defendant, like all the other officers in the team, is familiar with these gangs, knows what they are, knows how dangerous they are, knows how often they shoot each other.
“It’s the most dangerous gang in south London, that’s what the context is. As it happens, he was completely right.”
A police report stated: “67 is an identifiable street gang that are in an active and violent dispute with a rival faction of street gangs in Lambeth.
“This dispute has encompassed numerous firearms discharges, stabbings and murders, the narrative for this dispute has played out in gang-related musical content since 2014.
“67 gang and those affiliated to the group are embedded in a culture of drug supply, serious violence, firearms and knife possession.”
The author of the report concluded: “It is my firm belief 67 have been and remain the highest harm street gang in Lambeth and that they continue to present serious risk to harm to those individuals and groups they are in opposition with or have had issues with.”
The report dated June 16 2023 was presented at a hearing to decide whether Mr Blake should be tried anonymously under his cypher NX121 because of the threat of gang reprisals over Mr Kaba’s death.
The author drew on experiences since 2008 of monitoring, reviewing and researching historical and contemporary events involving street gangs and individuals, efforts to supress gang-related violence in Lambeth and work to divert young people away from gangs.
Mr Kaba was also listed as a former member of the separate 67 drill rap collective which first rose to fame around 2014.
It was among the first of its kind to enjoy mainstream popularity and chart success, with best known track Lets Lurk.
As early as 2017, the Brixton Hill group had appeared to distance itself from street gang violence.
In an interview published in the Evening Standard, group member Dimzy said: “If they’re gonna say music makes people do things, then they should say the same about movies.”
Another member of the musical group, LD, added: “We rap about violence because we’re from a violent background. Life’s changed now. We’re leaving that world and taking people with us.”
At the time of his death, Mr Kaba was about to become a father and there were signs that he too was receptive to change from his last conversation with a friend, Elisha Fizul.
Ms Fizul, who spoke to Mr Kaba on the phone minutes before he was shot, said he was “calm” and agreed with her when she gave him advice as an older person.
