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Published: 10 September, 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

A GANGSTER who boasted in a YouTube video that his gang “ran” the north side of Islington has been jailed for eight years for firearms offences.

Ryan Agostini, 23, was jailed at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday after police found a sawn-off shotgun, 46 rounds of expanding ammunition – designed to do the greatest damage on impact – and 29 rounds of standard ammunition at his Calshot Street home. Detectives launched a raid on his family home in October last year, just weeks after spotting a gun in a video posted on the social networking site by a gang calling themselves the Busy Block.

The video, filmed in and around the Elthorne estate in Archway, depicts Agostini warning other gangs not to come to the area as a friend brandishes a sawn-off shotgun. 

To the disgust of local politicians, the video has been viewed more than 10,000 times. It was still available online as the Tribune went to press this week. 

Two other men, both from the estate, have been charged with firearms offences in connection with the video and face trial next year. 

At the time the video was posted, police introduced a dispersal zone in the area after residents were left “desperate” and too frightened even to go shopping.

In one section of the footage, Agostini, who goes by the street name Shotime, says to the camera: “Bang bang, Busy Block, y’get me, y’dun know, Islington Borough, know where it is, Sho’s time.”

He then introduces a man holding a gun, referred to as Miller, who points the firearm at the camera and says: “I’ll blow your f***ing melon [head] off [if] you come round here. Ya understand me.”

Agostini’s defence barrister said his client had since married and converted to Islam following his arrest, and now had a stepson. He was now “embarrassed” by the video and wanted to “get on with his life”.

Judge Henry Blacksell QC said the video, screened at Agostini’s sentencing, was “very, very chilling”. 

Some of Agostini’s friends and family sat in the public gallery laughing as the video was played to the court, leading the judge to denounce their attitude. 

“This is a difficult day for you but it’s a difficult day generally for the community,” the judge said. “You’re aware of the gravity of gun crime. That can’t be exaggerated. Guns will kill, maim and terrorise. There are too many guns in this city and the gun that you had was capable of being loaded – a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition. A considerable arsenal.”

He described the video as a sickening example of the “glorification” of guns, gangs and violence that can lead to the death of “innocent” members of the public as well as those caught up in crime. He warned Agostini that, should he come before the courts again, “next time it will be life”.

Detective Sergeant Derek Wright said the gang was “renowned” in Islington for violence and guns while the  Elthorne estate – which has been trouble-torn for years – had been much quieter in recent months because most of the Busy Block were either in prison or awaiting sentencing.

On Wednesday, Agostini’s cousin Aron Thomas, 23, of George’s Road, Holloway, who goes by the name Vipex in the Busy Block gang, pleaded guilty to gun crimes after firing into a crowd in Wood Green in February. He is due to be sentenced next month. 

Labour councillor Claudia Webbe, chairman of Operation Trident’s Independent Advisory Group, said the “severity” of the sentence sent out a message “to all who glorify in gun crime and vicious acts of violence” that they “can’t hide”.

Cllr Webbe said the owners of YouTube should face fines and prosecution for their failure to protect young people from dangerous messages by not removing such footage.

“We will not tolerate the mindless and unnecessary glorification of guns and violence. Added to which, these internet providers are making money,” she said.

“These social networking sites are culpable as well. Somebody should be held to account.”