Stephen Gee’s mugshot looked similar to hundreds of others released by Merseyside Police when on the hunt for wanted men and women.

A grimace, a prison-issue baggy grey sweatshirt, bags under the eyes and look of defiance into the camera.

The middle-aged suspect was wanted on recall to prison last week after serving time for a brutal robbery on an OAP.

A horrible crime, but small fry when it comes to the Liverpool underworld.

For those living in a particularly infamous estate in the city, the appearance of this pitiful middle-aged serial criminal may have sent chills down their spines.

Gee, 43, is from one of the city’s most violent crime families.

Along with his brother Danny, Darren and Ian, he turned the Grizedale estate into an open air drug market – and ruled with an iron first.

The family – known as the Grizedale Crew – groomed schoolboys to run their drugs and left a trail of broken lives behind them.

Residents then found themselves caught up in a widespread drug war across Liverpool, a conflict so intense that their adversaries reportedly hired a hitman with SAS training to eliminate them.

But before they became a force in the city’s drugs market they built up a network on the streets.

Local lads were paid cash to bunk off school and act as spotters, patrolling the warren of streets on mountain bikes.

Families previously reliant on benefits began making hundreds of pounds a day by selling crack and heroin to addicts, while the Gee brothers reportedly earned around £20,000 a week.

Gang members, dressed in the newest Berghaus jackets and Rockport trainers, roamed the edges of the estate, using stolen cars with fake license plates.

At a point in 2004, approximately 250 residents of the Grizedale estate were facing drug-related charges in court, as police conducted raids to confiscate weapons. During one search, they discovered a sniper rifle equipped with a telescopic sight.

The Grizedale estate was constructed in the 1970s, during a period when the city was still demolishing terrace houses deemed unfit for living.

Unfortunately by the time the Gee brothers grew up the estate was a rat run of dank alleyways and poorly lit underpasses – perfect for dealers and thugs.

In response to growing concerns from community leaders across north Liverpool, police set up a special taskforce to take down the Gees.

A former officer who played a lead role in the unit told the Liverpool Echo how they were ordered to go out and do ‘The Lord’s work’ which was a euphemism for breaking the rules.

The former officer, told how: ‘It was a kind of code for what we were doing. So yes we were unorthodox, but for all the right reasons.

‘In short it was old fashioned, old school policing. We took the fight to the criminals and I stand by this approach because it worked.’

The officer explained how the Gees took over the estate by controlling the drug market and the distribution of cash.

The Merseyside man stressed how the majority of locals became ‘outsiders’ because they were not involved in the Gee dark economy.

He told how the Gees would often provoke officers into ugly confrontations in front of witnesses, who would provide statements claiming the police used unreasonable force.

However, a second dynamic entered the equation when the Gees became embroiled in an anarchic gang war which spread across north Liverpool in 2004.

A key event in this saga was a fall out between the Gees and William Moore, who hired a former soldier to execute one of the brothers.

Luton man Darren Waterhouse opened fire on a car Darren Gee was travelling in, riddling it with bullets. Innocent teenager Craig Barker, just 18, died from his injuries. 

Local gangster Mark Richardson who was in the car at the time was also seriously injured.

Waterhouse, who trained with the SAS, had been decorated with the Military Cross for the bravery he showed serving with the Coldstream Guards in 90s Bosnia.

He became involved in drug culture after being discharged from the forces and met William Moore in prison, who paid him to murder Darren Gee. Waterhouse and Moore were both later jailed for life.

In revenge Darren organised the murder of local businessman David Regan, who was thought to have been Waterhouse’s getaway driver.

Regan was shot dead on the forecourt of the carwash he managed in the Old Swan area of the city.

During this period a wiretap in a prison cell gleaned intelligence suggesting the Gees and their associates were plotting to shoot an off duty police officer.

As a result, officers who were targeting the Gees and their associates were advised to wear body armour when out shopping with their families at the weekend.

At this time associates of the Gee family were involved in a major dispute with the owners of a famous Liverpool nightclub, which resulted in a wave of car bombs across the city.

Nightclubs, homes and then police stations were all targeted. Police intelligence suggested Darren Gee helped orchestrate some of the carbombs.

While Darren Gee was jailed for his role in the murder of David Regan, his brother Danny continued to head up the Grizedale Crew.

Danny moved into an apartment on the city’s plush waterfront, but continued to run drug rackets across the north of the city.

He was shot and nearly killed by rival gang member Jamie Starkey in 2008, which led to further acts of violence in north Liverpool.

Liverpool Crown Court later heard how the Grizedale Crew ordered the murder of teenager Tony Bromley, who was cut down with machetes in the street.

Denis Gilboy and Scott Walker, who carried out the murder, were acting on the orders of the gang’s leaders.

Andrew Edis QC told the jury that the Grizedale were a gang ‘so powerful and fearful’ they believed no-one would come to court to give evidence against them.

In 2010 Daniel Gee was handed an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence after being found guilty of threatening to kill a rival and blackmail.

The court heard he had previously been the focus of police surveillance that recorded him making threats and trying to obtain firearms.

Daniel fled Category D open prison HMP Kirklevington Grange in North Yorkshire on May 27 last year and disappeared, prompting a huge scale manhunt. 

He was arrested in a pub in the Aspull area of Wigan a month later with officer bodycam footage showing him grinning as police took him into custody.

His brother Darren later bragged on TikTok: ‘He’s had a f****** scream, look at the smile on his face. Good on him’.

Daniel has a reputation as a hardman within the prison system, sources on Merseyside have told the Mail that Gee’s reputation is based on his dealings with heroin addicts.

A Liverpool man said:’The Gees have always controlled addicts, on the outside and inside. 

‘Danny’s reputation as a hardman is all based on the way he deals with addicts on the inside. 

‘They work for him and or he batters them. I have seen him with addicts over his knee while he pulls out bags of heroin from their bum with a spoon. 

‘The addicts work for him – they provide him with an income and a layer of protection.

‘But Danny always stayed away from the proper fellas on the wings like me, because I would have smashed him to bits.

‘Darren was similar, but had a bit more upstairs. Darren was a clever, cunning and had loads of arse (guts). He will use a blade or a gun if he has too. Dangerous kid.’

Darren Gee, who was convicted of conspiracy to murder, is now a successful YouTuber with over 30,000 subscribers to his channel.

Darren has focused heavily on the role played by the Kinahan Cartel in spreading drugs and crime across Liverpool over recent years. 

He has also hit out podcasters who interview guests with alleged links to the Kinahans.

Stephen Gee has now been recalled to prison and will serve out the rest of his sentence.