A drug dealing gang were shot at repeatedly by balaclava-clad thugs who fired at them in an attempted gangland hit.
The "High Parkers" flooded Sefton with cocaine and cannabis for 28 months before their conspiracy finally collapsed and 15 criminals were jailed for 115 years this week
Nathan Ball, 33, was the ringleader of the group responsible for sending out on average more than 500 "flare" messages a day to addicted customers.
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Thomas Rigby, from Formby, and Jesse Fashoni, from Southport, were his seconds in command until police seized £28,000 in cash and 74 mobile phones, with £25,000 worth of cocaine and £60,000 worth of cannabis also uncovered.
Three kilos of MDMA and two kilos of amphetamines were recovered at addresses in Bootle and North Wales.
Ball ran the illegal trade, described as a "24/7 operation" which involved at the very least 5.25kg of cocaine.
But Judge Garrett Byrne reminded the court this would have been far more.
With their attempts to corner off the drugs market in that part of Merseyside, disputes were a common occurrence and the threat of firearms from competing criminals was always a danger.
The ECHO can reveal how Rigby and Fashioni were travelling in a Ford Transit in the Banks area of Southport on July 7, 2018, when they were shot at by four men in balaclavas.
They were unharmed, and later gave limited cooperation to detectives in Lancashire.
Phones seized from them showed Rigby "giving forceful instructions to subordinates" and discussing the price and quality of drugs to be supplied.
The summer period of 2018 appeared to be a time of increased hostility for the "High Parkers" with another shooting just a month later in August.
Peter Ball turned up at Southport General Hospital with a shotgun wound to his left inner thigh on August 7.
He refused to engage with police officers, but did say: "It could have been a shotty[shotgun] - I've been shot defo."
Ball added he did not feel under further threat and a lead pellet was recovered from his wound.
Detectives believe the gang had access to weapons, including a shotgun, and a stun gun was recovered from accomplice Will Gardiner when officers attended his flat, on Hoghton Street in Southport on December 3, 2019.
He declined to answer the doorbell and was soon stopped trying to leave, pushing out at the officers to escape and run off.
Gardiner was carrying a plastic bag which he dropped during a short chase, which contained a Taser.
He was forced to mind the weapon, and a video later seized from a man not included in this prosecution revealed a tell-tale video of dealer Jordan Gelling arguing with girlfriend.
In the clip, she suggests he has previously told her “where the gun is stored."
This week, 33-year-old Nathan Ball of Canning Road, Southport was sentenced to 12 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Tom Rigby, 28, of Bull Cop, Formby, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Jesse Fashoni, 26, of Bridge Grove, Southport, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Brandon Culshaw, 23, of no fixed address was sentenced to five years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
James Gelling 33, of no fixed address - currently serving a manslaughter sentence for killing a Bulgarian dad-of-two in Southport, was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
James Nixon, 47, of Old School Close, Banks, was sentenced to six years and eight months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Jordan Gelling, 29, James' brother, of Lytham Road, Southport, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Kane Doherty, 25, of Kensington Road, Southport, was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Kieran Bradshaw, 25, of Ovington Drive, Southport, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Lewis Appleby, 27, of Forest Road, Southport, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Peter Ball, 25, of Canning Road, Southport, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs.
Philip Taylor, 36, of Station Road, Banks, was sentenced to four years and eight months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Ryan Edwards, 25, of Alexandra Road, Southport, was sentenced to three years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.
Stuart Stirling, 27, of no fixed address, was sentenced to two years and six months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.
Will Gardiner, 25, of Cheyne Close, Blundellsands, was sentenced to six years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A and B drugs and also possession of a stun gun.
Judge Byrne added: "The operation inflicted very substantial harm on the public.
"The harm caused by this is obvious, and the terrible toll of those addicted, and the wider adverse affect on the community."
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