Amid the labyrinthine streets of a run-down Nottingham housing estate, a white Porsche with the personalised number plate ‘POWER’ was, for many years, a common sight that instilled as much fear as it did cowering respect.
The muscular, shaven-headed driver in his trademark tracksuit and trainers who would emerge swaggering from the purring sports car was the underworld boss of a gang of 40 gun-toting henchmen.
The 6ft 4in bodybuilder’s menacing stature was matched only by his reputation for sheer brutality meted out to enforce his authority.
And there are plenty of people on the streets of Bestwood, a sprawling Fifties estate, who bear the scars to prove they have encountered the power of Colin Gunn.
One man had his hand nailed to a table before having petrol poured over him as a grinning Gunn sat opposite flicking a lighter on and off.
Another man was beaten to within inches of his life after daring to broker a large drugs deal without his boss’s consent.
In total, Gunn is linked to six murders, more than 50 non-fatal shootings, as well as to a drugs racket believed to have amassed him a £15 million fortune.
His reign of terror at the head of the Bestwood Cartel helped earn Nottingham its one-time reputation as Britain’s gun capital, or Shottingham, as it was then nicknamed. Daily Mail online article 12th December 2011
GUNNESS, BELLE: True Crime Recaps 2021 -
Belle Gunness: America’s first [born & bred] serial killer who may or may not have faked her own death. True Crime Recaps: 3 Shocking Female Serial Killers, Youtube 36.26, 2021
Fire, insurance fraud, husbands and poison. ibid.
More than 40 people lost their lives on Belle Gunness’s farm. ibid.
When the gig was up and she was about to be arrested she suddenly died along with her children in a house fire. Or did she? ibid.
GUY-THOMAS, CYNTHIA: Murder for Hire 1A: An Ex-Wife’s Revenge TV -
We have information she [Cynthia Guy-Thomas] wants to kill somebody [Terry-Thomas]. Murder for Hire 1A: An Ex-Wife’s Revenge s1e1, rozzer, CI 2019
Wife: I just want it done.
Killer: But messy or clean? Doesn’t matter to you?
Wife: What ever’s gonna less alert the cops. ibid.
A murder for hire of Cynthia’s ex-husband. ibid. counsellor
I’m probably gonna hit him while he is in bed. ibid. hitman to Cynthia
Well, my first choice is suicide. ibid. Cynthia to hitman