Gang behind Jayden Moodie murder are London's most feared

The street gang behind the murder of 14-year-old Jayden Moodie are one of the most feared crime networks in London responsible for a string of killings and violent attacks, it can be revealed.

With around 50 members aged between 14 and 24, the Mali Boys control the lucrative drug trade in the Walthamstow area of east London, raking in as much as £50,000 a week selling crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis.

The gang earned its name because many of the founding members came to Britain as children from war-torn Somalia and even by the violent standards of London's fearsome gangland landscape, the Mali Boys are renowned for their uncompromising brutality.

They are thought to be responsible for hundreds of violent incidents in the streets of Walthamstow, in north east London, where Jayden was mown down and then savagely stabbed to death.

On January 8, five members of the Mali Boys were touring the streets of Walthamstow in a stolen Mercedes car looking for rivals to attack.

After coming across Jayden, who was riding his moped, they mowed him down and then 19-year-old Ayoub Majdouline got out of the car with at least one other gang member and began stabbing him as he lay on the ground.

Majdouline, who had been working as a drug dealer for the gang since the age of 14, was found guilty of the murder on Wednesday, but the other attackers remain at large.

Scotland Yard has vowed to work around the clock in order to bring those responsible to justice, but realise gang members are unlikely to break their code of silence.

In a report commissioned by Waltham Forest council, the Mali Boys were described as "the most business driven, violent and ruthless" street gang operating in the capital.

Unlilke many rival street gangs, the Mali boys shun social media and prefer not to flaunt their wealth with expensive cars and jewellery.

The report authors said: "The leadership is male and seeks anonymity with little ostentation. It remains unclear what happens to the profits of drug supply."

It went on: "The Mali Boys are very diverse and have a very multicultural recruitment policy and you started seeing younger boys, less so girls, mainly boys being affiliated and associated with the Mali boys who had a non-Somali background."

Some gang members are also understood to use social media accounts such as Facebook - which they refer to as FedBook - to gather information on police officers in order to intimidate them.

Linked to at least three murders in the Walthamstow area in recent months, the Mali boys have also formed alliances with other organised crime groups across London in order to maximise profit in their enterprises.

The report quoted one expert as saying: "It's almost like a franchise, like McDonalds or Benetton, where the Mali Boys have got a very effective pyramid structure, business plan, but instead of burgers and woolly jumpers its Class A drugs and cannabis."

They are also known to be extremely active in the county lines network sending teenagers across the country to deal drugs in market towns.