By Chris Summers BBC News Online

Mark Lambie and his fellow gangsters were described by one local councillor as a "malign and corrosive influence" on their community.

Lambie had been acquitted of the murder of Pc Keith Blakelock during rioting at the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London in 1985.

But he became deeply involved in crime and by the spring of 2001 his gang, known as Tottenham Man Dem (TMD), conducted a reign of terror over the estate and surrounding areas of north London.

Warren Leader was part of Lambie's gang

Detectives from Scotland Yard's Operation Trident decided to take on the TMD and put Lambie and his cohorts under surveillance, although they were not watching him every minute of the day.

On 9 April 2001 Lambie drove from his girlfriend's home in Streatham, south London and his vehicle was logged as it entered the Broadwater Farm estate.

But what police did not know at the time was that two Jamaican men who were living locally - Twaine "Tupac" Morris and Gregory "Beenie Man" Smith - had been summoned to the estate by Lambie.

They were bundled into a Mazda car and driven to an address in Turner Avenue, Tottenham.

Lambie and his gang joined up with another north London Jamaican gang, known as The Firm and led by Anthony "Blue" Bourne.

Torture

Lambie, Bourne and their followers burst into the house in Turner Avenue and ordered the two women and two children who lived there to go downstairs.

They then began torturing Mr Morris and Mr Smith while demanding money.

The two innocent men had their knees and feet hit with hammers, had boiling water poured on their genitals and an electric iron burned into their chests.

Eventually Mr Smith - desperate to escape the torture - suggested there might be money at a house in Wakefield Road, which was being used as a hairdressing salon.

The gang bundled him into the boot of a car and drove him to the house.

Two women in the house were robbed and when another man arrived to have his hair cut he too was robbed.

Intimidation

But while they were inside he managed to escape from the locked boot and ran, half-naked and bleeding, to Tottenham police station where he raised the alarm.

When the gang realised what had happened there was a flurry of phone calls.

Mr Morris was taken out of the house but he managed to break free of his captors and, spotting a passing police car, jumped onto its bonnet.

The police arrested Mr Morris's tormentors within days and the reign of the TMD and The Firm was about to come to an end.

Lambie was acquitted of killing PC Blakelock

But Lambie, who had lost 250g of heroin when the police arrived, was convinced Mr Morris and Mr Smith would not dare name him.

He rang them and demanded they pay him �5,000 and another �1,000 a week in order for them simply to stay alive.

As a warning Mr Morris was shot in Park Lane, Tottenham.

But he survived and named Bourne as the man who had pulled the trigger.

At this point, and only at this point, Mr Morris and Mr Smith agreed to enter the witness protection program.

Now safe, they agreed to give evidence against Lambie, North and their associates.

On Tuesday both men were finally convicted of found guilty of kidnap and blackmail. They will be sentenced on Monday.