Lee Amos: The rise and fall of Gooch gangster whose face was plastered around Manchester when he faced justice

A notorious gangster who once led the feared Gooch Gang in Manchester has died in prison. It was back in 2009 that Lee 'Cabbo' Amos was jailed for the drive-by killing of Tyrone Gilbert, 24.

An investigation into his death is now underway. Amos was serving a minimum of 35 years over Gilbert's killing and was part of the notorious Gooch Gang, which terrorised Manchester.

After he and Gooch Gang head honcho Colin 'Piggy' Joyce finally faced justice in 2009, the faces of the deadly gang members were plastered all over Manchester. A giant billboard at the side of Princess Parkway appeared along with the words 'Ageing behind bars'.

READ MORE Notorious Manchester gangster Lee Amos who ran 'Gooch Gang' dies in prison

Their faces had been digitally altered to depict them as frail, grey-haired pensioners, showing how they might look when finally eligible for parole.

But for years before, the ruthless pair had dominated one of the city's deadliest gangs; two of the men who turned Manchester into 'Gunchester'.

Known as 'Piggy', Joyce grew up on turf run by the Doddington-affiliated Longsight Crew. But after a senior gangster ordered him to pick a side, he joined their rivals in the Young Gooch Close gang alongside his childhood pal Lee 'Cabbo' Amos. The pair's names kept cropping up in murder investigations involving gun crime, as they stole drugs and money from other villains.

Things unravelled in 2001, when armed police, acting on an anonymous tip that a hostage was being held, raided a house on Ruskin Close, Moss Side.

They didn't find any hostages, but they did found six members of the Gooch gang, including Joyce and Amos, and a stash of weapons including a Skorpion machine gun. Joyce was jailed for nine years and Amos was