How Peter Fury faced down Stockport's 'Mr Big' - then turned his life around in prison

He was Stockport's self-styled 'Mr Big'. Known as the 'Devil Dog Mobster', due to his liking for using a ferocious Rottweiler to terrorise rivals, Chris Little described himself as a self-employed builder.

In fact the former pro boxer's real trade was racketeering, drug-dealing and arson. But around the same time in the early 90s another fighting man was also making a name for himself in the town's lucrative drugs trade.

Peter Fury, who would go on to train his nephew Tyson as he became heavyweight champion of the world, had cut his teeth on the streets of south Manchester. "I was wild when I was younger," he would later tell blog Boxing Scene.com.

READ MORE: How the Devil Dog Mobster's reign of terror ended in a hail of bullets at the wheel of his £50k Mercedes

READ MORE: Taxis, saris and 'WhatsApp for criminals': How the 'Godfather of Oldham' flooded the North with drugs... then left his son to face the music

"I'd see someone with a nice pair of ­trainers on and want to have a fight with them. Then anyone who wanted protection would come to me because I was seen as a tough young fella.

“One thing led to another. I went from looking after people, to looking after areas to looking after cities."

It was inevitable that Fury and Little would cross swords as they vied for position. One story had it that Fury challenged Little to a bareknuckle fight.

Little, who once fought future world champion Johnny Nelson, is said to have declined the offer, saying he would prefer Queensberry rules.

Like a number of Greater Manchester's notorious gang bosses in the 1990s, Little's life would eventually be lost to the gun. He was shot dead in his Mercedes 500 SLE as stopped at traffic lights near the Jolly Sailor pub on Stockport