A reformed gangland killer has lifted the lid on a car bomb attack on a rival firm that sparked open warfare on Liverpool's streets.

Darren Gee, who now campaigns against knife crime on Merseyside, told Terry Stone, from the Criminal Connection podcast, how an underworld rivalry escalated.

He describes how his criminal crew had a feud with the Lynch family, who owned a number of nightclubs across the region. “I’ve asked someone in my group ‘Can you deal with this for us?’ And someone in my group – without my understanding – has gone and got himself a car,” Gee explained.

The reckless henchman had filled the car with explosives and various bits of metal that would turn into deadly shrapnel when the bomb went off. He parked it outside the Lynch family’s flagship nightclub, which was called 051.

“It was described as a the biggest blast on mainland Britain since the IRA ceasefire,” Darren recalled. “That day was the beginning of a period in Liverpool that no one likes to speak about even now.”

Darren alleged the period became a taboo subject among police and government officials, who tried to keep a lid on the ongoing crime.

At the time there was a feud too with local police over what the criminals felt were heavy-handed tactics. He continued: “When we became extra violent, the police wanted us off the streets, and anyone that associated with us was being harassed to f***.

“We've got our group and then we've got a little group that associates with us, and they have started taking a massive dislike to the tactics that the police are using on us.”

The result was a three-way battle for supremacy, with senior officers describing Merseyside police as "the biggest gang of all”, and ordering a massive wave of arrests.

A wave of shootings, bombings and violent machete attacks followed. At one point a nail-bomb was thrown into a packed bar – and only sheer luck prevented it from going off and killing dozens of revellers. Superintendent Alan Cooper, north Liverpool's deputy area commander at the time, described the nail-bomb attack as "really nasty and sinister".

"It was really lucky that the bomb didn't go off," he told The Guardian. "It would have caused catastrophic injuries and it could have led to fatalities.

“It was a ridiculous and evil attack in a pub full of 60 people who were blissfully unaware that they were going to be targeted by such extreme violence. With the nailbomb, it was the total disregard for life. We don't even call them gangs - they are factions."

Another officer described Darren and his brother as: "the public front of a violent and sadistic regime.”

Andy Cooke, the Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, said that the gang rivalry saw 10 fatal shootings, and over 100 weapon discharges in 2004 alone.

After Darren was arrested, he was singled out for particularly harsh treatment because of his involvement in the gang war. He continued: “That’s why my jail was so hard that's why the police so when when I was in custody for conspiracy to murder."

“They managed to ship me 76 times in 12 years – it’s like four prisons a year. They wouldn't let me settle. I was wondering why the f*** the Merseyside police have got the power to ring the OMU department in the prison and say ‘Move Darren.’

“They were just moving me without government officials knowing – police outside were ringing Walton and saying ‘Move Darren,’ and I’m getting moved and then they’d ring Strangeways and say ‘Move Darren’ and I'm getting moved every four months.”

But now, Darren regrets his criminal career, saying that his years behind bars were a miserable existence. He said: “There's nothing good about it, so don't try this at home – that’s what I'm saying.”