Was Adams the last of the British Godfathers?

By Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON (Reuters) - The fall of Terry Adams has unleashed a wave of speculation -- nostalgia even -- that the era of the home-grown, family-based gang is finally over.

Where once the likes of the Krays and the Richardsons ruled their manors unopposed, the argument runs, violent young street gangs and ethnic-minority gangsters have taken over.

But experts contacted by Reuters doubt whether the jailing of Adams on Friday is really much of a watershed.

"The local criminal firm, the old underworld figures, are still important, they haven't gone away," said Dick Hobbs, professor of sociology at London School of Economics.

"It's a myth to say they have gone. They've just changed with the market place," he added. "In the criminal world there's always been change, it's always been in a state of flux."

And by the market place, Hobbs means drugs.

Criminologists say organised crime has evolved away from the 1960s murky world of petty extortion, gambling dens, vice and armed robberies traditionally associated with the mob.

Globalisation and the multi-billion dollar drugs trade have changed things forever.