The quiet UK town taken over by 'Italian mafia' that's now popular with commuters
This quiet Surrey town was once the playground of dangerous criminals.
Woking, a quiet UK town in northwest Surrey, was once reportedly a hotspot for the Italian mafia - but is now reinventing itself once again as peaceful commuter belt hosstpot.
In the 1970s, and through to the eighties and nineties, Woking was allegedly “taken over” and became the “Surrey Sopranos” before the organised crime association was defeated by a police raid.
"There was without a doubt a mafia contingent in Woking in the 80s and 90s,” one resident told The Sun.
The man, who remained anonymous, recalled the days when crime was rampant in the streets of Woking.
He said: "There was a bust there in the eighties. It was above the NatWest bank and was apparently where they (the gangsters) kept their money.
"Margaret Thatcher was in power at the time and she had apparently wanted to get them all cleared out.
"I don't know about the modern day mafia. Woking has changed loads and is a commuter belt town. It's not what it was. But yes, there are loads of Italians here and, yes, I saw the criminal side first hand."
Another resident told the paper that at the tine, the Sicilian mafia were focused mainly around Horsall Road and Cedar Road areas.
Lee Burnham, a 71-year-old Woking resident his whole life, even revealed he was friends with a gangster who played in the Italian football team as him.
Don't miss...
The town that lies abandoned for six months a year with homes boarded up
Pretty little UK village’s superb turnaround from no-go zone to utter delight
Locals claim UK’s ‘best seaside town’ now so troubled tourists are left in fear
"He upset someone in Woking, someone quite big", he shared. "I don't know what it was about.
"Anyway, he got nicked, we're going back to the eighties here, and he took the wrap. He was jailed and I never saw him again and have no clue to this day what happened to him."
The amount of Sicilians in Woking is mainly due to a large prisoner of war camp once located in nearby Send. After the war ended, many settled in the Surrey town.
Luca, the owner of Italian Good restaurant in Woking, is also Sicilian.
The Sicilian population in Woking is owed in part to a massive prisoner of war camp that was located in nearby Send.
Luca, owner of Italian Good restaurant in Woking, is from Sicily himself.
"I've heard of stories", He said. "They're even my customers!
"I'm from Sicily. Cosa Nostra is from Sicily. There are a lot of Sicilians in Woking."
