MEN crime reporter John Scheerhout met Jimmy 'the Weed' Donnelly to hear at first hand his account of the life and crimes of the Quality Street Gang.
One of Manchester’s most notorious gangsters has finally admitted: "I was a villain, and a successful one at that."
Jimmy ‘the Weed’ Donnelly has written a book confessing his role at the top of the infamous Quality Street Gang, which police believe was behind major crime in the city for 40 years from the 1960s.
In it, he says: "For 40 years, the stories have gone unchecked. So I want to set the record straight. I was, for much of my adult life, one of the so-called QSG. I was, in fact, one of the seven or eight close friends at the core of the group, although as I will explain, we were not the ‘gang’ of popular perception.
"Many of my circle were simply rough-and-ready lads. We grew up together. For my part, I was a villain; a successful one at that. I have handled stolen gems, illegal firearms and piles of cash.
"I have hurt people, though never someone who did not deserve it, and have survived attempts on my own life. I have had friends who were killers and others who have been killed."
The 70-year-old, who has three sons and five privately-educated grandchildren, began his life of crime stealing lighters from Boots when he was an eight-year-old growing up in Wythenshawe.
Later he moved to Ancoats and worked as a barrow boy at Smithfield Market where he met many of the people who would form the gang. His speciality, he has revealed, was handling stolen goods and spectacular violence.
Eventually, he moved into legitimate business, owning a string of pubs, clubs and car dealerships around the city. He even became a boxing promoter.
Donnelly says he was given the nickname ‘the Weed’ at school because ‘I would grow on people.’ He became so successful he was regularly seen around Manchester in his Rolls Royce with the private registration plate QSG. Donnelly – who still lives in Ancoats – has written his story despite being dyslexic.
He says the book, Jimmy The Weed – Inside the Quality Street Gang, is not to make money but to chronicle Manchester's underworld – and to correct the ‘misconception’ that all Britain’s major gangsters were from London.
‘Violence was something that happened inbetween’
"I ONCE put a four-inch nail through a man's hand," says Jimmy ‘the Weed’ Donnelly as he casually sips his coffee.
"He owed me some money. Actually I forget now - I think he owed money."
But he says he had nothing to do with a shooting for which he was named prime suspect in 1987. Donnelly tells me that his particular area of expertise was 'handling stolen gear'. Any violence, he says, was something that happened 'in between'. He recalls a time when he put a man into a scrap metal crusher because he was unhappy with a car he had bought from Donnelly's pitch in Ancoats. "By the time it got within an inch of him, he decided he didn't want the money at all."
Donnelly and the Quality Street Gang became national news in 1986. The then deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, John Stalker, was removed from the ‘Shoot to Kill’ inquiry he was conducting into the Royal Ulster Constabulary because he had allegedly been at social events at which gang members were present.
Mr Stalker was later cleared of any such links.
Donnelly confirms he was interviewed twice by detectives looking into the Stalker affair. He says: "For once, I had nothing to hide. I knew John Stalker about as well as Elvis Presley."
The Krays had travelled to Manchester in about 1963 to promote American heavyweight boxer Joe Louis, he said, and the Quality Street Gang had no trouble with them.
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I remember Jimmy back in the late 70s + 80s. More bark than bite,nice fella though,if you stayed on the right side of him.!!!!!
Why is this man being given free publicity?
Just a big, but now old, bully.
must now need the royalties from the book sale, just another "I wish I was a gangster"
why is the m.e.n. helping to glorify this thug, i didnt see them glorifying the teenage rioters and they never put nails through peoples hands, they also glorify that other pariah -dominique noonan. its about time idiots like this were stopped being treated like stars.
Inspired the name of a cracking Thin Lizzy album!
Why not interview Mr Aaron Coghlan about the jolly japes that he has allegedly committed & what a big old softy he is ?
How about the stories of Peter Sutcliffe ?
Memories of a moors Murderer ?
How I bombed Manchester by the IRA ?
I am sure that all these people meant no harm & were only trying to raise a family whilst the rest of us merely misunderstood them.
I look forward to reading your coming articles !
Werent the QSG just a mythical bunch of old farts who hung around a dodgy speakeasy near the Apollo? If you dont need the money for your "Im a gangster" book mate then bang it out as a freebie for kindles and see who wants to read it....
Don't know many millionaires who live in Ancoats! I thought the ones who made it big moved to Alderley Edge and Hale etc.. They don't seem to like publicity either.
He says the book, Jimmy The Weed – Inside the Quality Street Gang, is not to make money but to chronicle Manchester's underworld
Yet he is does an interview the MEN lap up to help promote it?
Hardly the Mafiosi is it?
Flat cap and fat weed
There will always be a market for these types of books. I've purchased a few in the past about the Manchester crime scene and not to line the writers pockets but out of curiosity about some of the so-called villains of past. Is it also a myth that gangsters of past 'policed' themselves in regards to leaving the locals alone and plying their violence against their own kind? It certainly seems today that these so-called gangsters need to go around in a pack and use weapons and mob mentality against anyone who even dares looks at them. Different story when they're on their own....
will the police now take his wealth due to to it being made from crime?
About Dinsdale. I used to go round his flat every Sunday lunchtime to apologise and we'd shake hands and then he'd nail my head to the floor
Interviewer: Every Sunday?
Yeah but he was very reasonable. Once, one Sunday I told him my parents were coming round to tea and would he mind very much not nailing my head that week and he agreed and just screwed my pelvis to a cake stand.
He was a cruel man, but fair.
(M Python & Co)
Police should use the book and prosecute him for his offences that he is clearly admitting to. Then crime asset recovery agency should move in to take the proceeds of his crimes. That would be a nice end to this tale.
I think people need to get a grip!! QSG were a massive part of Manchester History! Weather you like these people or not, they have valid insight into how the gang culture developed within the city. I am very much looking forward to reading it as my own dad was associated and I grew up hearing stories about their antics! This is not glorification of jimmy, its him teaching us a lesson in what 'real' life was and is about! Im sure most of us are guilty of watching the Krays, that was glorified, this book however, is reality!
Jimmy ‘the Weed’! sounds like a pot-head (lol)
If people must read this man's book... wait until it, and others like it, are priced at 99p in stock clearance bins.
FWIW: he will not get rich from this tawdry tome - it's too localalised, and too long in the past for him - and his tales - to be of any consequence or real interest to ordinary people.
Whenever I see the line "I have hurt people, though never someone who did not deserve it" (or words to that effect), all I can think of is: "yeah right, and who are you to judge? You're just a thug who was lucky enough to not get killed".
On a different note, if any of us are struggling with heating this winter, I suggest we all go and steal many copies of his book (after all, he's a much bigger thief) and burn them!
Oh and for those who are complaining with "he's contributing to the history of Manchester!" - guess what, he can do that without having to make a book about it.
No way is he a real gangster. He doesn't mention that he loved his mum for a kick-off!
Wythenshawe all the way to Ancoats, what an inspiring tale. Where can I sign up?
Bang 'im up; shop a looter - nick this twit.
A lot of anonymous people on here typing things that they wouldn't dare say.
Ever get the feeling society is sick.