“The gangsters think they have won against the state”

In just a few years, Sweden’s gang map has been redrawn. “The average age has dropped dramatically and one qualifies committing extreme violence. It is the identity of the gangster above all else, ”says criminal author and reporter Lasse Wierup.Image: Henrik Montgomery / TT

Experienced crime reporter Lasse Wierup is back with a new book on Swedish gang crime. In “Gangsterparadiset – This is how Sweden became a scene for gang crime, shootings and bombings,” he examines some of the most violent groups, from the so-called Shottaz and Death Patrol in Järva in Stockholm to the leagues in Biskopsgården in Gothenburg and the new generation of motorcycle gangs.

The current situation, he says, is much more serious than when he wrote “Swedish Mafia” 13 years ago.

– At that time, the clusters emerged quite methodically and according to a predetermined template with trial membership and inauguration procedures under hierarchical leadership. The formation of a group could take between five and ten years. The action was more rational, which meant that the violence that took place still had a clear purpose in some way, says Lasse Wierup.

– Now, instead, it is incredibly spontaneous, directly inflammatory and completely inconsistent. The average age has dropped dramatically and one deserves to commit extreme violence. It is the identity of the gangster above all else.

The criminal gang environment in Sweden has grown explosively and today consists of more than 350 different groups, according to the book. The lethal violence and shelling of young men have reached a level that makes Sweden almost unique, at least in Europe.

How could we end up here?

Lasse Wierup seeks the answer by traversing tens of thousands of interrogation pages, participating in secret documents, listening to trials, accompanying police officers on the ground and meeting crime victims. In detail, it describes the crime of 183 gang members and how society has failed to stop the violence.

The bitter conclusion: Swedish rulers have not understood the problem of gangs.

– They have always focused on juvenile delinquency in general and have tried to tackle it with comprehensive solutions. From both the left and the right, it has been said that as long as we screw up welfare systems enough, this will resolve itself. As long as we reduce unemployment, raise the level of education and bring people into society, this will go away, says Lasse Wierup.

However, it hasn’t worked, he says.

– Even in vulnerable areas, employment levels have increased and exclusion has decreased. But at the same time, the number of criminal gangs has exploded. So that hope has turned out to be completely wrong. This has led to a political crisis and that is where we are now.

There are many indications that Sweden has a generation of young offenders that society cannot handle, according to Wierup.

The survey shows with painful clarity how social services have repeatedly failed to reverse the trend.

– Attempts have been made with broad general efforts with different types of voluntary care offers in focus. Many of them do not want to receive it. But they have tried again and again. If then it takes up to three, four, five years with completely meaningless attempts to influence society, then you have a person who makes a lot of money, has high status, high violent capital and is still in a phase where he loves the criminal. life, because he sees that he has won against society, says Lasse Wierup.

He calls it irresponsible that social services did not sound the alarm.

– He has not stood up and explains aloud that what he is doing is not working. On the other hand, this has been done in statements to the courts, when after maybe four or five attempts to influence, a statement is written saying that we have tried everything, nothing works. That information should have been given to those in power.

Valuable time has been lost here, says Wierup.

– The time people have to train their criminal skills, develop their network and accumulate their violent capital is crucial in many ways. When they have been able to carry on their business for a long time, torment their area and wage war, they have also sent a message to other young people, 12-13-14 years old, that they see that they can have this lifestyle and that they cannot . It seems particularly dangerous to follow the example of the elderly.

The reluctance to speak to the police is also widespread in areas where criminal networks have attempted to seize power. Decisive testimonies are lacking because people are afraid. At the same time, Lasse Wierup claims, politicians have made it difficult for the judiciary to access perpetrators with other tools, such as advanced surveillance cameras, forensic doctors and anonymous witnesses.

– The most striking thing is that the police have not been allowed to spy on encrypted data traffic. Now the Swedish police have it since April, but it’s been almost 20 years after Denmark introduced it, he says.

This summer, members of the so-called Death Patrol were able to test the harsh rules that apply in Danish courts. Five people were sentenced to between 20 years and life in prison for a double murder.

– If we follow the example of Denmark, with, among other things, double penalties for gang offenses and the abolition of youth discounts, I believe that in the long term we will see a decrease in the number of gang members, as has been done in Denmark . The gap is staggering when in Sweden you can be sentenced to three years in prison for minors for premeditated murder, compared to twenty years in prison in the neighboring country, says Lasse Wierup.

The key to accessing gangs is raising the price of a criminal lifestyle, he believes. For example, by issuing a ban on active gang members from dating other people in the group, which would be handled with electronic monitoring.

TT: How do you see yourself in the future? Is it a black image?

– Now it looks very black, I would say. But what still gives people some confidence is that many things that have been rejected in the last two decades are now on the table. The only thing we can do is change the balance in favor of the state and decide that the state will win, not the gangsters. So maybe in 15-20 years we will no longer have the gangster paradise that we have today.