An alleged gang boss involved in a scrap with his rival in Dubai 'had to fly to Turkey to get his teeth repaired'.
Michael 'Cazza' Caroll travelled to the country for emergency dental work after getting into at least two violent encounters with Stephen Britton.
The Manchester-based kingpins have been named in court as heads of the 'A Team' and 'anti-A Team' gangs, with reports last month that police have logged intelligence on a scrap.
Cazza won one of the 'straightener' fights, police records revealed, until at least one of those watching the encounter is said to have stepped in and joined the fray.
But sources close to rival Britton have said there were at least two fights between the pair, one of which allegedly resulted in Cazza needing work to fix his broken 'Turkey teeth' after they were knocked in during a fight at a shopping centre.
Britton, named as leader of the A Team in successive trials is said to have been at war with Carroll - boss of the splinter gang Anti A Team - since before the 2015 murder of Britton's mentor, 'Mr Big' Paul Massey.
Massey was gunned down by a masked assassin outside his Salford home in July 2015 amidst a spate of extreme violence.
Jurors in the trial over Massey's murder were told his death had been the culmination of the feud between Britton and Caroll's gangs.
The court heard at the time that "the first gang was headed by a man named Michael Carroll," while "the second gang, which called itself 'the A Team', was headed by a man named Stephen Britton".
Prosecutors said: "Paul Massey was associated with [the A Team] and was apparently regarded by Stephen Britton as a mentor."
Gangland sources now claim Britton was involved in a 'straightener' with Carroll in Dubai, but that this was more likely over personal vendettas than gang business.
"They just don't like each other," the source told the Manchester Evening News.
Other sources have said it wasn't the first encounter the pair have had in Dubai, claiming Britton came out the victor the first time after an associate joined in.
In a later incident, Cazza and some of his associates are said to have "tried to jump" Britton who then allegedly disarmed one of the men and turned their weapon on them.
The result, according to the source, was that Carroll had to return to Turkey to have repair work done on his teeth.
Greater Manchester Police detectives probing the gangs are understood to be aware of the Dubai incidents.
The ongoing feud has involved extreme violence over the years, including one horrific incident when Carroll's ex-partner and mother of his child saw masked men remove the roof of her car outside their home in 2015.
Mark Fellows, the man convicted of shooting senior gang figure Paul Massey later that year, was handed a rare whole life tariff at Liverpool Crown court in 2016 for the killing.
Fellows, nicknamed 'The Iceman', was also found guilty of murdering another gang rival, John Kinsella, in what were paid hits.
Jailing him, Mr Justice William Davis said: "So far as is known you had no personal animus in relation to Paul Massey.
"The only sensible conclusion is that you were a gun for hire prepared to kill whoever you were asked to kill by those who hired you."
Meanwhile, although Britton has been named as the leader of the A Team gang in three trials, he has not been charged with any of the offences considered by any of the juries.
