Pal of ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey settles gangland war with ‘straightener’ brawl in front of mobsters in Dubai showdown
A GANGLAND pal of one of Britain’s most feared mobsters has reportedly settled a feud with a bare-knuckle brawl.
Associates are said to have watched rival gang leaders Michael ‘Cazza’ Carroll and Stephen ‘Ste’ Britton batter each other in a “straightener” out in Dubai.
Carroll – the reported boss of Salford’s Anti A Team – is thought to have won the scrap against Britton, the alleged head of The A Team gang.
A source told the MEN – who first reported the story – how the fight was more to do with personal animosity than a feud between their gangs.
They explained: “They just don’t like each other.”
Detectives at Greater Manchester Police are reportedly aware of the brawl as well as previous bust-ups between the gangsters.
It is unclear when the fight took place.
The pair are said to have been at war since before the murder of Britton’s mentor, Salford’s ‘Mr Big’ Paul Massey.
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Massey was a leading figure in the Salford Firm who used criminal clout to become a mediator in a gang war that raged in the city throughout the 90s.
But on July 26, 2015, Massey was getting out his car on his Salford driveway when hitman Mark Fellows – armed with an Uzi submachine gun – pounced.
The gang rival – on contract from The Anti A Team – fired 18 shots at Massey and left the 55-year-old dad-of-five bleeding to death from nine wounds.
Fellows, 42 – aka ‘Iceman’ – was shanked in HMP Wakefield earlier this month while serving life for the murders of Paul Massey and Paul’s pal, Liverpool gangster John Kinsella.
After the killing, Carroll fled to Spain and graffiti appeared in Salford branding him a “grass rat snitch police informer” – a hit-squad was sent after him.
The 42-year-old had previously fallen out with members of the A Team, so he formed splinter gang the Anti A Team, before moving abroad.
He later ended up in Thailand and then Dubai where he remains.
After Massey’s execution The A Team shot seven-year-old Christian Hickey Jr and his mum in their own home, an act that shocked the nation.
Both were left seriously injured lying in a pool of blood in their hallway, with one bullet passing through Mrs Hickey’s leg into her son’s as he stood behind her.
A succession of trials that concluded in 2019 named Carroll and Britton as leaders of their respective gangs.
Those gangland trials saw The A Team’s leaders jailed or over 100 years for their involvement in Salford’s gang violence.
Britton had previously been jailed for five years and four months for killing a teenager in a hit-and-run in 2009.
