Postcard from... Berlin

The Hells Angels are going from strength to strength in Berlin and the police are worried. The German capital’s law enforcers used to secretly delight in the fact that the notoriously violent motorcycle gang was always battling against its arch enemy – the equally criminal Bandidos.

Interminable gang warfare meant that each side kept the other in check. But not any more. The Hells Angels are reported to have recruited the last remaining Berlin chapter of the Bandidos into their organisation in a move which has won them racketeering supremacy in the city in one go.

The man behind the merger is a shadowy figure nicknamed “Kadir Capone” – a Turkish ex-boxer officially known only as Kadir P. He is a former Bandidos member himself. A few years ago, he led the way by defecting to the Hells Angels with 70 fellow Bandidos. His latest 15 ex-Bandidos recruits are said to be on probation while they “prove their worth”. But the police have been forced to recognise that the Hells Angels are enjoying something close to a monopoly when it comes to the control of weapons, drug dealing, prostitution and night clubs.

Kadir Capone now wants to expand his empire even further: he is said to have plans for a merger with the Hells Angels Denmark.