The Border Mafia : Jailbreaks, Crime, Corruption and the Anglo-Scottish Reivers

Money has no flag. The largely rural borderland between England and Scotland was ravaged by marching armies in more�than three centuries of conflict between the great nations.�During this period from the Wars of Scottish Independence to the Union of the Crowns, many myths�and folk heroes were born, with later romantic writers glossing over the criminal brutality of the local�population, who suffered as the conflicts raged. While crops, homes and livelihoods were destroyed, it also led to the development of a system of�family-based organised crime gangs among the hills and valleys. Livestock theft became a way of life�with burglaries, protection rackets, kidnapping for ransom, highway robbery, intimidation,�mutilation and murder an everyday occurrence. With corruption and nepotism rife among officials, people being bought off, and witness intimidation�prevalent, the Borderers were also used as mob enforcers for powerful local landowners and nobles�and could find themselves in demand as mercenary soldiers and horsemen. On the occasions that the law did catch up with them and the reivers found themselves�incarcerated, they sprang many daring escapes, enhancing their lawless status and criminal standing�among the community as feared members of the Border Mafia.