Now Opa, who ended up on the path of crime, is speaking – This is what attracts people to street gangs –

When Opa got into the castle for the last time, he decided to change the direction of his life.

– I wanted to live a crime-free life and I was thinking about what I would do to stay on the right path. At the same time, I was writing one book and I was constantly thinking about others, what I would do. I pitched [esittelin] different ideas for TV channels, and one of them dealt with street gangs or Finnish gangs. That’s when it started to take shape, he recalls Omos ”Opa” Okoh33.

After his release, he proposed a book about Finnish street gangs to a publisher. The phenomenon was not personally familiar to Opa. He received his last prison sentence before the issue became a national topic.

With the help of his background and contacts in the underworld, Opa was able to create a trusting relationship with men called gang members.

– I act as a gate between two worlds, he says.

Lived the same life

Opa’s contacts opened the gates to the world of street gangs for journalists. Henri Kärkkäinen

Guide together Jecaterina Mantsisen and Anne Kantolan book written with Like brothers – The truth about Finnish street gangs (Johnny Kniga) comes out today. The guide says that he used to know many people connected to street gangs. Many of them were also linked to other organized crime organizations, such as Mantaqa.

– There were guys in street gangs that I couldn’t even recognize. However, I knew those they looked up to. That was my key. I had contact with those people who had the influence to tell these others that I can be trusted.

According to Opa, gangs are not particularly close-knit groups. The definition of street gangs given to the public by the police is loose, and they do not have a clear hierarchy. In the book, they are described as networks.

According to Opa’s personal perception, the gang identity has sought attention above all. He understands why men with an immigrant background end up doing this.

– I have lived exactly the same life. The term street gang was simply not used then.

Fear and difference

Similar experiences are repeated in the interviews in the book: childhood has often been happy, there has been a hobby of football and other things. At some point, however, the wall has come up, sometimes due to one’s own choices but also due to social mistakes. Security has been sought in similar groups.

Opa, who spent his childhood in Oulu, does not defend crimes, but can identify with the experiences shared in the book. He was already aware as a child that he was different and says that he also had to face hatred because of it.

– I’ve been spat on and pushed onto the highway. Cigarettes have been sprinkled on me. Such incidents must have left traumas. Through fear, I started to surround myself with young people of foreign background and jumpers, with whom we liked. We learned to do violence because we were afraid of becoming its victims, he says.

– If we were talking about people belonging to the regular population, we would be talking about young people with symptoms.

The music stopped

Social media, which was unknown in Oulu at the turn of the millennium, is a new addition to the mix. The publications of gangs and gang members often show various status symbols, branded clothes, expensive cars and wads of banknotes.

– I bet that the perception of young people with an immigrant background is so derogatory that some have a compulsive need to present themselves as wildly successful. It becomes the sale of drugs, quick money and the need to smell the shit for those people who are inside their own heads, says Opa.

In the early days of the phenomenon, music videos by young men associated with the Kurdish Mafia and L-City threatened or alluded to acts of violence in the real world. This made the phenomenon exceptional in Finland. However, according to the guide, it has calmed down.

– It aroused so much fear that the young people themselves probably realized that it would be good to calm down a bit, he laughs.

According to the guide, street gangs have certainly had an impact on why, in his opinion, traditional vest gangs are disappearing. Former Cannonball boss Mika “Immu” Ilmén has also said the same before. Young people no longer think vest gangs are cool, says Opa.

– This is the thing now, he says, referring to street gangs.

The gang falls silent

Street gang members are known to deny the existence of gangs. So do many of the men interviewed in the book. According to the guide, you shouldn’t believe this directly, but rather get to know the actions and how things have really gone.

One interviewee points out that gangs are talked about when it is useful. When it is harmful, its existence is denied. The guide considers this humane.

– People want to belong to a community. People want to succeed. A person wants to be noticed, and you really get noticed when you belong to such a group, he says.

The Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled in May that the Kurdish Mafia does not meet the definition of an organized criminal group. The guide agrees.

– If we’re talking about a gang, there must be a hierarchy, a commanding authority. It can’t be that we have a gang and then one day I decide to quit and start running pizzas. The point is that no joint decision has been made, that now we are together and we do things together.

Initial letter man

The guide says that he is especially proud that the book sheds light for the first time on Nimikirjainmieen ie Barham Taimourin role in the background of the events. According to the book, Nimikirjainmies came up with the idea of ​​arming young Kurdish men against the people of Espoo.

– There was a lot of talk about this man. The more he dug and dug, the more clearly it became clear that he is the real string-puller, says Opa.

According to the book, called the leader of the gang, convicted of numerous crimes Milan Jaff was just a frontal image. The initials man, on the other hand, was the character that young men of Kurdish background wanted to be: a successful Kurdish man who speaks Finnish well.

– I feel that this man of Kurdish background has deliberately taken advantage of other Kurds, Opa says.

In September, Taimouri was sentenced to 12 years in prison for aggravated drug crimes, aggravated assault and a firearms offense.

Jecaterina Mantsinen, Anne Kantola and Omos “Opa” Okoh’s book Like brothers – The truth about Finnish street gangs (Johnny Kniga) will be published on October 15.