Bestwood Boss

Live by the Gunn

By: Dave Gunn, Victoria O'Toole

Narrated by: Brandon Mullins

In the early 2000s, Dave Gunn and his brother Colin built the Bestwood Cartel, a multi-million-pound empire based on drugs, extortion and violent crime during a time when Nottingham was labelled Britain's gun crime capital.

The second season of Sherwood, the BBC crime drama series, was inspired by the activities of the Gunn Brothers and the deadly crime wave in Nottingham, which earned the city the nickname 'Shottingham.'

According to the media, the Gunn Brothers ruled some of the city’s suburbs with an iron fist, drove around in flash cars and were dripping in expensive jewellery. They saw themselves as protectors of their manor – a modern-day mix of Robin Hood and the Kray twins.

As the violence escalated, including brutal punishment shootings between rival gun gangs, the police launched Project Starburst to dismantle the Bestwood Cartel and its rivals.

Much has been written about the Gunn Brothers in the media and books such as Hoods, but no gang leader has ever detailed the real-life warfare in Nottingham in the early 2000s. In Bestwood Boss, Dave Gunn sets the record straight with the first ever insider’s account of what led to the blood-soaked ganglands.

©2024 Dave Gunn (P)2025 Gadfly Press

Critic reviews

“The jaw-dropping inside story from the boss of the only organised crime group in the UK to be classified as a cartel!” – Shaun Attwood, true crime author/YouTuber