This Day In History: The Spaghetti House siege began on this day in 1975, at the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London. Franklin Davies, a Nigerian student, led two other gunmen in an attempted armed robbery of the Spaghetti House, where managers of the chain had assembled to pay in the week's takings of approximately £13,000. When the armed robbery did not go as planned, nine Italian staff members were taken hostage, and moved into the basement. Another staff member escaped and raised the alarm, leading to a siege of six days.
The Metropolitan Police Service surrounded the restaurant and cordoned off the area. The gunmen, claiming to represent the Black Liberation Army, a Black Panther splinter group, demanded safe passage and an aircraft out of the country to Jamaica. Due to this being a sensitive issue Sir Robert Mark, the then Commissioner, consulted with the Home Office and refused.
The siege lasted for six days. The demoralized robbers and their captives emerged unharmed. The perpetrators, 28-year-old Nigerian student and ringleader Franklin Davies, 24-year-old West Indian man Wesley Dick and 22-year-old West Indian man Anthony Gordon Munroe were sentenced to 22, 18 and 17 years in prison respectively.
According to W. A. Tupman in Violent Business?: Networking, Terrorism And Organized Crime: "Subsequently, at the trial it was claimed that the BLA did not exist and the accused were simply criminals who wished to rob the restaurant for personal gain. It was frequently said at the time among cannabis users that 'If you want to buy dope North of the river [Thames], you have to deal with the IRA. South of the river it's the Black Liberation Army.' The author heard this said before the Spaghetti House Siege ever happened."
Subsequently a number of works were produced based on the siege, including books, documentaries, and at least one film, Spaghetti House, a 1982 Italian comedy-drama.
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