The brothers were the kingpins of the area, with a crown court prosecutor later observing "the Gees are associated with very serious violence and drug dealing". A former police officer, who was a member of a task force set up to tackle the brothers, said at their height the Gees were earning around £20,000 a week "running a 24-hour class A drugs business" on the estate.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2019, the officer said: "As well as their penchant for violence, the Gees also flourished because of a very parochial situation that allowed them to thrive on the Grizedale. This was a place removed from the rest of the world.
"The Gees become employers, as well as enforcers. They surrounded themselves with people they had grown up with. They used their cash to buy loyalty, protection and security. They paid these young foot soldiers money that they could never earn in the legitimate economy
"The Gees paid kids to be on the street corner rather than go to school. They created a network. We would see mums and dads selling drugs around-the-clock - and they would have the kids with them as they sold crack and heroin."
Street dealers would operate around the clock with pay-as-you-go mobile phones, taking orders then dispatching outriders on bikes to deliver the illegal product. Youngsters not yet old enough to be tasked with handling the drugs and cash would instead be employed to act as look-outs to spot police and rivals.
The officer added: "It was unimaginably difficult for locals who were not involved in the Gees' criminal enterprises. They became outsiders on their own estate."
In 2003 there were simmering tensions between the Gee brothers and a rival faction of drug dealers from the area. But the fallout escalated the following year, sparking a wave of shootings across north Liverpool. On New Year's Day 2004, there was a double shooting in the Royal Oak pub in West Derby. One man died and another was left fighting for his life......................please watch thank you..................
