Police have stepped up patrols on the streets of Manchester following a spate of shootings between rival drugs gangs.
Detectives believe three separate battles are being fought for “vacant turf” in north and south Manchester after four key drugs suspects were arrested earlier this year.
The turf wars are believed to be being played out in the Newton Heath area in north Manchester, in Wythenshawe in the south of the city and in Salford, Greater Manchester.
The most high-profile recent shooting came when Salford’s “Mr Big”, Paul Massey, was murdered outside his home 12 days ago.
Massey is believed to have been mediating between two warring gangs fighting for drugs rights in the city when he was shot four times.
DCI Howard Millington, the senior investigating officer, issued an appeal for a man seen carrying a gun in nearby Clifton Country Park two days before Massey was killed.
He said: “It has been just over a week since the murder of Paul Massey and our investigation continues to catch whoever did this.
“We are keen to speak to a man who was seen at 7pm on Friday 24 July 2015, in Clifton Country Park. He was near to the entrance to Giants Seat Farm about 150 yards before the Giants Seat Garden Centre. He was in what was described as a white Renault Kangoo van.
“The man is described as white, in his late 30s to early 40s, about 5ft 10in tall, of average build, with a round face, and was wearing a black hat, black jacket, grey and black camouflage trousers, and was carrying a torch and a gun.”
Investigators believe a separate flare-up in the north of the city is linked to the arrests in March. Three houses in Ancoats and Newton Heath were the target of shootings on 27 March, followed a month later by gunshots in nearby Blackley and Chadderton.
A well-informed source said the turf war in north Manchester had been going on since jailed police killer Dale Cregan shot dead father and son David and Mark Short in 2012.
Two recent shootings in Wythenshaw are not considered to be connected to the north Manchester rivalries.
