Meet the Surrey Sopranos! Ross Kemp’s claim that a leafy commuter town is a mafia hotspot leaves locals with questions

Ross Kemp has stunned locals in a leafy commuter town after claiming on a new TV show that it has become a hotspot for the mafia.

Woking is the new home of Britain’s ‘Surrey Sopranos’ after Italian and American gang leaders swapped their hometown for a town 23 miles outside London, Kemp claims.

He made the comments in his brand new Sky show about criminals, Ross Kemp: Mafia And Britain, which airs from September 10.

According to the former Eastenders actor and presenter, mafia bosses are shunning their traditional roots and moving to sleepy European cities where they believe they can operate without police suspicion.

Kemp, 60, tells viewers: “The reason they choose places like this is because it’s the last place the authorities would look. The mafia has always filled a gap in the illegal market.”

Ross Kemp claims Woking is a new base for the mafia after Italian and American gangs seek out smaller towns in Europe to operate in secret

Woking residents called the idea ‘ridiculous’ and questioned whether the mafia was operating from their leafy town.

One of them, who runs a food truck in the city centre, said yesterday: ‘I heard this on the radio this morning. It made me laugh. I thought: next time you’ll tell me pigs can fly.

‘It’s a bit ridiculous. There are a lot of Italians around – and there are a lot of million-pound houses around the centre.

“But that doesn’t make them the mafia.”

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, added: ‘Ha – that’s a good laugh. I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never heard that before.

“I have no connection to the mafia. I promise. I really doubt that’s true.”

Chris Bird, 73, was not convinced of the mafia’s presence but said there was some “crime” in Woking.

He said: ‘There are a lot of Italians in Woking. But I wouldn’t say they are in the mafia.

“But there is a drug problem here. That’s the real problem. That’s the crime here.”

Meanwhile, Jo Chambers, 73, said she had not heard anything about the Mafia but admitted it was not impossible.

Kemp’s new series starts next Tuesday on Sky and is just the latest in a string of crime documentaries he has presented, including one set in Afghanistan (pictured)

Al Capone, a gangster in Chicago in the 1930s, is probably the most famous mafia member of all time

Police officers targeting the American Mafia in 1930s Chicago test bulletproof shields

She said, “I haven’t heard anything like that. But I mind my own business, so I might not have noticed.”

As well as Woking, the series will also visit other alleged mafia hotspots in the UK, including Aberdeen, Preston and Hendon in North London.

The Mafia, or the Mob, originated in Italy in the early 18th century.

Following the waves of European immigration to America in the second half of the century and early 1900s, similar criminal gangs quickly emerged and began conducting illegal activities in the US as well.

The American Mafia was particularly successful during the Prohibition period, which began in 1919 and lasted until 1933.

For many Americans, criminalizing alcohol was unthinkable, and the Mafia did a major business in the import and sale of illegal liquor.

In the 1920s, after Mussolini came to power in Italy, thousands of gangsters emigrated to the US again.

In all forms of the mafia, there are often deadly wars between rival families, fighting over territory, drug and arms trafficking, and protection racketeering.

In Chicago, Al Capone, perhaps the most famous gangster ever, was no exception. He murdered the North Side Gang.