GMBH (organization)

Boxer bar "Zur Ritze"

Silbersackstraße - district of the GMBH

Entrance to Herbertstrasse

The GMBH was a pimp organization in the Hamburg red light district of St. Pauli, which controlled a large part of prostitution until the mid-1980s and was in direct competition with the emerging Nutella gang .

Origin of name and founding members

The name GMBH did not come from the corporate form of a limited liability company (GmbH), but was an acronym made up of the initials of the four founding and board members:

G - Gerd Glissmann (* 1945 ), ex- postman , karate fighter and responsible for finances at the GMBH.
M - Michael Luchting, (* 1948 Stuttgart ; † 1982 , suicide , Wald near Hamburg ) "The beautiful Mischa", son from a good family, banker , came to Hamburg via the Bundeswehr . At the GmbH " Poussierer ", recruiter and supervisor.
B - Walter "Beatle" Vogeler (* 1942 ; † 2011 ), boss of the GMBH. Vogeler was considered the most colorful figure in the group. With his blown hair he was a hairstyle fanatic and drove a two-seater convertible Mercedes-Benz SSK-Excalibur as a direct import from the USA. In his area of responsibility fell "discipline and order" of the group. At the end of his life, however, he was heavily in debt.
H - Harry Voerthmann (* 1938 in Dortmund ; † 2016 ). Voerthmann was a car lover and had a turbulent life story of pimping, imprisonment and the Foreign Legion behind him. “The centenarian” died impoverished in a nursing home near Itzehoe in 2016 .

The four managers of the GMBH employed 120 other pimps and earned more than 200,000 DM per month. They had a clear company concept and structured their divisions into recruitment ("Poussieren"), finance, real estate and internal security. The management floor GMBH was followed by the second group of authorized signatories , brothel keepers, managers with staff functions such as simple clerks. According to a certain code of honor, contracts were often sealed verbally and with a handshake.

history

The GMBH was the first large pimp cartel in the St. Pauli neighborhood. They were followed by the Nutella gang, which they fought hard, the "Hamburger Jungs" / Marek gang and the Hells Angels , Charter Hamburg. The territory of the organization was the Silbersackstrasse (headquarters in the Silbersackstrasse no. 3) and the two large brothels Eros-Center and Palais d'Amour. The pimping business generated sales in the millions and net proceeds of several hundred thousand DM. The Berlin pimp Andreas Marquardt , alias "Karate-Andy", notorious for his brutality , also worked for a while as a debt collector for the GMBH. The organization, which met in its own clubhouse, was run tightly and was known for the fact that it frequently exploited its prostitutes, whom they disparagingly called “chickens”, and mistreated them for violations of internal rules. The GMBH was a network of holdings. To a large extent at the Eros-Center, Reeperbahn No. 146, and several smaller holdings such as the Bel Ami brothel, which however did not belong 100 percent to the GMBH. Similar to the Nutella gang, the GMBH also attached great importance to male business conduct and status symbols such as sports cars , expensive watches, etc. The GMBH began with three prostitutes, but expanded very quickly and justified from their point of view "Golden Age" of prostitution in St. Pauli, which began in the 1970s and ended in the 1980s, as an AIDS-wave , an increase of shootings and acts of violence in the context of territorial and distribution battles was registered and criminal prosecution by the Hamburg police was tightened. The GMBH dissolved its hierarchical structures towards the end of the 1980s by its own resolution in order to avoid further police measures. During this time, Gerd Glissmann made his first contacts with the Hells Angels, who bought their products in the Eros Center.

Web links

literature

Ariane Barth: The Reeperbahn. The fight for Hamburg's sinful mile. Spiegel-Buchverlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-455-15028-4 .
Ariane Barth: In the red light. The explosive life of Stefan Hentschel (= Ullstein. 36769). Ullstein, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-548-36769-0 .
Cem Gülay , Helmut Kuhn : Turkish Sam. A German gangster career (= dtv. 34769). Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-423-34769-3 .

Notes and individual references

[1] Reeperbahn - Luden cartels

[2] His first name was possibly Gerhard not Gerd, see in Hells Angels. Not just polished chrome. Time online. November 11, 1983

[3] He was a member of the notorious Luden troop "GMBH". Pimp legend "BEATLE" dead. St. Pauli - He came from a time when the kings of the Kiez still gave themselves sonorous artist names: "Lackschuh-Dieter", "Dog Helmut", "Chinese Fritz", "Der beautiful Mischa "... And just" Beatle ". BILD newspaper. May 19, 2011

[4] Power struggles in the milieu: The Commissar and the Kiez. Hamburger Abendblatt from October 20, 2012

[5] Kalle Schwensen on Kiez cars "I'm more of the limousine type". Mirror online. January 28, 2016

[welt080616-6] Ex-red light size dies impoverished in a nursing home. The world. June 8, 2016

[7] No more Kiez-König in St. Pauli. GMBH, Nutella, Hamburger Jungs: These names stand for the most famous pimp cartels on Hamburg's Reeperbahn. Glitzy Kiez greats such as the beautiful Mischa or Lamborghini-Klaus shaped the image of the famous entertainment district. Others rule now. Daily mirror. July 19, 2007