Cocky, the rise & fall of Curtis Warren

[Harry Squatter]

i have all the kray twins books and my dad thinks the same. ronnie and reggies books arent about bragging what they've done but the lads who they knocked about with, the lambrianu brothers and so on, are simply bragging that they where the krays mates.

 

we had this div come round our school once. he was supposedly some big hard london gangster and spoke about how he used to carry a knuckle duster in one pocket and had a special pocket made in his jacket for his machete. half the kids in the essembly hall had knives and shit on them and didn't take kindly to the 'i was the bollocks' attitude from the prick. this thug travelled all around britain telling people how he killed people, done time, killed a few more people and raped a few women, 'oh and while in jail i found god'. thats pretty much what he said at the end.

 

 

He wasn't that bald headed gangster Dave Courtney was he?

[robbief]

john pridmore or pritmore. right ass hole. the schools and churches got him in to tell of how he found got and he just went on about how he killed the first, the second, third, raped the fourths sister and so on then said 'in jail on the whatever of march i found god. god saved me from myself, and others from me.' he was one of them who enjoyed telling all the kids how he was a big man and loved to break necks because he could, you could tell he was getting pleasure from having an audience to tell his twisted stories to.

[Harry Squatter]

Sounds like a bit of a nob

[Flying Pig]

He wasn't that bald headed gangster Dave Courtney was he?

 

He is a nob. Shit 'gangster' tried to make it on TV= Failed career, Vinny Jones uses him as a role model for his shit acting. He's a cock too.

[Harry Squatter]

He is a nob. Shit 'gangster' tried to make it on TV= Failed career, Vinny Jones uses him as a role model for his shit acting. He's a cock too.

 

Yeah, he used be on the Jerry Sadowitz show, he battered some student on stage who was bout 8 stone who called him a slaphead. Really hard, always brags about battering some scouse hard nut who specifically drove down to London to kick his head in.

[robbief]

http://www.johnpridmore.com/

 

one of them 'i shave my head, i'm hard' fella's i think.

[CharleyKnight]

Yep, the Showers brothers - one was called Delroy, can't remember his brothers name. It had lots of random characters in it, like the guy who went on Caribbean cruises and claimed benefits, the guy who used to travel down to London every other day with £250,000 in his sports bag to change at the Turkish guy's bureau de change to launder cash and the two brothers who went to Sydney to sell Warren's gear in Oz. The film would end up being longer than Casino or the Godfather. It also implies in the book that a lot of the bars/clubs/restaurants in Liverpool that suddenly sprung up were funded by drug money.

 

Delroy and Micheal Showers. Micheal Showers appeared on Question time a few times back in the day!! I have to say the book is absolutely amazing. Whatever your stance on drugs is you have to say, the man is a genius. To be under survailance for so many years and for them to have nothing on him (the first time they nicked him I mean) is un heard of. I've read the book several times. I'm a big reader and no matter how good a book is, I only ever tend to read it once. This is an exception.

[CharleyKnight]

Another thing that I found amazing in Cocky was when the plod where staying in a Liverpool City Centre Hotel under the guise of something like "Birmingham City Council". When he was nicked he went something like "Oh, youse are the fellers from Birmingham City Council who are staying at the Thistle". The fact that he knew EVERYTHING that was going on in the City really shitted up the police.

[Big Lee]

Just started reading The Devil, book on Stephen French's career as a underworld tax man. He tells how he helps Curtis on to the path of crime.

[Section_31]

Britain's biggest drug baron Curtis “Cocky” Warren is facing 14 years in jail today after being convicted of a £1million cannabis plot.

 

Now police are searching for the gangster’s estimated £300million fortune.

 

Warren, 46, who once featured in the Sunday Times Rich List, salted away the cash during his heyday as Europe’s most notorious drug smuggler.

 

The former street dealer from Liverpool was convicted in Jersey yesterday of attempting to flood the island with cannabis. He hatched his plot just days after being released from a 10-year stretch.

 

Millionaire druglord Curtis Warren earned his nickname Cocky because of his arrogant belief his wealth and criminal genius made him untouchable.

 

Just weeks after his release from prison he showed his disdain for police by continuing with a £1million drug scheme despite knowing undercover detectives were bugging his phone calls.

 

But last night Warren, believed to be Britain’s richest criminal with a fortune of £300million, was facing a possible 14-year jail term after he was found guilty of plotting to flood the isle of Jersey with cannabis.

 

Warren, a 46-year-old ex-bouncer, used his street-smart business brain to build a vast drug empire which put £1million a week into money-laundering schemes at its peak.

 

At one stage Warren even featured in the Sunday Times Rich List, claiming he made his fortune as a property developer.

 

In fact Warren, whose dad was a sailor and mum a shipyard boiler attendant, started his real career as a criminal when he was nine.

 

Because he was so skinny he was recruited by a local gang to climb through small windows and burgle homes.

 

By the time Warren was 11 he had dropped out of school. He was soon carrying out muggings and armed robberies on the tough streets of Toxteth, Liverpool.

 

It was while working as a bouncer in the city he got his start in the drug trade, initially as a lowly street dealer.

 

But despite his limited education he had a talent for figures and a photographic memory that was a godsend in an industry where nothing was written down.

 

Detectives who later tried to unravel Warren’s crime empire were repeatedly frustrated by the lack of a paper trail because he kept bank account details and contact numbers in his head.

 

This, coupled with a ruthless business sense, saw him rapidly climbing the ranks of Merseyside’s underworld.

 

EXPLODED

 

His skills were supplemented by a sober lifestyle that saw him shunning cigarettes, alcohol or drugs – leaving him with a clear head to run his empire.

 

As the drug trade exploded in the 1980s Warren developed international links in Europe and South America

 

He became a trusted customer of the Colombian cocaine cartels and dealt directly with Turkish heroin producers and cannabis suppliers in Spain. His reputation enabled him to get vast quantities of drugs from his suppliers on credit – allowing him to set up complex deals worth many millions.

 

In 1997 the Sunday Times Rich List estimated he was worth £40million. But his real fortune dwarfed that.

 

The outward signs of the wealth from his property business included a luxury flat in Liverpool’s Albert Dock and a country home on the Wirral. By then he had turned Liverpool into the hub of the British drugs trade.

 

At one stage couriers were taking £1million a week to London where it was changed into large denomination Dutch and German notes. They were then banked in Europe.

 

Warren’s investments included two petrol stations in Turkey and he had 250 properties in the North West of England.

 

He also owned casinos and clubs in Spain and Turkey. In the 90s the rivalry between Liverpool’s drug gangs became increasingly violent. Warren relocated to Holland, buying a 16-room home at Sassenheim.

 

He used it as a base for his drug operation, which was shifting 500kg of drugs a month. But his notoriety had become so great that Interpol had made him its Target One – Europe’s most wanted criminal. And the police were closing in.

 

Warren had already evaded justice in 1993 when he was accused of smuggling 1,000kg of cocaine worth £250million into the UK.

 

The Newcastle crown court trial collapsed after it emerged one of his co-plotters was a paid informant for Customs officers.

 

But in 1997 Warren was finally convicted by Dutch police of smuggling 400kg of cocaine, 100kg of heroin, 1050kg of cannabis and 50kg of ecstasy.

 

The value of the cocaine alone was £75 million. He was jailed for 13 years. Two years later he was convicted of the manslaughter of a fellow inmate and a further four years were added.

 

On his release in June 2007, Warren was escorted by armed Dutch police to a ferry. They stayed with him until he walked ashore at Harwich in Essex.

 

He headed straight back to Liverpool.

 

But police were convinced he had continued to run his drug business from the Dutch jail and so undercover officer were on his tail.

 

He was followed everywhere he went and his calls were bugged.

 

Three weeks after his release Warren arrived at Manchester Airport and paid cash for a plane ticket to Jersey. He had claimed he was visiting girlfriend Kimberly Lockely who lived on the isle.

 

Warren had joked to friends that he was “desperate” for sex after his years locked away. But when his plane landed he was met by old mate and fellow Scouser John Welsh, a known drug dealer.

 

Over the following days the pair were followed as they travelled round the island laying the foundation of a plan to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey.

 

Warren described the scheme as “just a little starter” as he began re-establishing himself as Europe’s No1 drug baron.

 

He planned to buy 180kg of cannabis in Amsterdam, transport it by car to Normandy then sail it into Jersey.

 

Warren carried on with his plans even though police think he knew his phones were bugged.

 

But the scheme collapsed when three co-plotters failed to come up with their share of the cash to pay Dutch dealers.

 

Officers were listening in when the deal was postponed and arrested Warren.

 

Yesterday a jury in St Helier found him guilty of plotting to smuggle drugs.

 

Welsh, 43, James O’Brien, 45, Jason Woodward, 22, Paul Hunt, 27, and Oliver Lucas, 23, were also found guilty of similar charges. They will be sentenced later. Warren faces a maximum of 14 years. Supergrass Paul Grimes, who infiltrated Warren’s empire for Customs and Excise, said the drug baron was a true menace to society.

 

He added: “Warren has spread death and misery on an industrial scale and that shouldn’t be forgotten. He’s scum.”

 

Warren’s ex-partner Stephen French said he was obsessed with running his empire – not the money.

 

Stephen, who now campaigns against gun crime, said: “I once asked him why he just didn’t give it all up.

 

“He said ‘What am I going to do – sit on the couch and watch daytime telly?’

 

 

 

You know, I chased down some crews; guys just lookin' to fuck up, get busted back

[Anubis]

If you had £300m whay the fuck would you continue? I mean seriously, why?

[WaltonRed]

I cant comprehend why he did it.

 

I mean £1m of weed is hardly the big time, its small time, proper small time.

[Section_31]

If you had £300m whay the fuck would you continue? I mean seriously, why?

 

I don't think he's ever been motivated by money to be honest, at least that's how he comes across in the book, maybe he was at first, but he often seems to buzz off the thought he's getting one over on the police and on 'the system'. I imagine a lot of extremely intelligent Toxteth lads of his generation can relate to that desire. A lot of the phone tap stuff in the book revolves around him buzzing off the fact the police can't catch him.

 

First thing I thought when I heard he'd been arrested though is that he must have wanted to fuck up, for what reason I've no idea. But as the most famous drug importer in Europe, you'd assume the police would follow you for a couple of years after you got out, and you certainly wouldn't expect someone who reportedly has hundreds of bank account numbers commited to memory, who organised his criminal organisation along the lines of the IRA, and who didn't drink, smoke, or take drugs, to let himself get spotted making phone calls from a bright yellow phone box.

[Fugitive]

That is a superb book.

 

One theory I've heard, he was finding it far easier to do his business from Jail as he was safe from people who wanted him dead and he is basically addicted to the dealer lifestyle. He loves the respect he commands and the power he has.

 

They will never find 10% of his assets. He is far too clever and will have hidden them all over the place and in various businesses and properties.

[Fugitive]

I don't think he's ever been motivated by money to be honest, at least that's how he comes across in the book, maybe he was at first, but he often seems to buzz off the thought he's getting one over on the police and on 'the system'. I imagine a lot of extremely intelligent Toxteth lads of his generation can relate to that desire. A lot of the phone tap stuff in the book revolves around him buzzing off the fact the police can't catch him.

 

First thing I thought when I heard he'd been arrested though is that he must have wanted to fuck up, for what reason I've no idea. But as the most famous drug importer in Europe, you'd assume the police would follow you for a couple of years after you got out, and you certainly wouldn't expect someone who reportedly has hundreds of bank account numbers commited to memory, who organised his criminal organisation along the lines of the IRA, and who didn't drink, smoke, or take drugs, to let himself get spotted making phone calls from a bright yellow phone box.

 

You get the sense, from reading the book, that even the Police had a certain amount of respect for him and the way he could sense things and was always one step ahead.

 

They reckon he had a sixth sense for knowing when he was being watched and would just walk away from huge deals with no explanation when they were following him and finally convinced they would catch him red handed.

[23_Carra_Gold]

That bit about him continuing on even though he knew he was being bugged by the bizzies makes me think that he feels he'd be safer on the inside.

 

If anybody recalls seeing The Devil on Ross Kemp's Sky One Doc he done a while ago you'll know just how dangerous it can be for scum like them. No matter how long ago they gave the game up.

[Anubis]

I hate it when people talk about respect for scum like Warren. There is nothing to admire. There is nothing to respect. He is scum.

[Liverpool lad]

we had this div come round our school once. he was supposedly some big hard london gangster and spoke about how he used to carry a knuckle duster in one pocket and had a special pocket made in his jacket for his machete. half the kids in the essembly hall had knives and shit on them and didn't take kindly to the 'i was the bollocks' attitude from the prick. this thug travelled all around britain telling people how he killed people, done time, killed a few more people and raped a few women, 'oh and while in jail i found god'. thats pretty much what he said at the end.

 

He came to our school and everyone was intrigued by this almost stereotypical gangster telling us these stories. Remember that we were 14/15 and thought this fella was boss.

 

Then he starting banging on about the Bible and the entire hall collectively groaned, think about the scene from Father Ted where Fargo gets exposed as a liar.

 

With regards to Cocky, the book, there was a thread of Rawk about this and many came to the conclusion that what these men 'achieved' was quite remarkable. An exciting read, and quite an eyeopener.

[Anubis]

No, it's not remarkable. When you deal with these people you realise what they are. Souless sharks with dead eyes that prey on human misery. They have no humanity. They don't feel the way you or I do. They have no moral code - forget this honour amongst thieves bollocks because it doesn't apply to the modern criminal. I hate the mythology that builds up around them.

[23_Carra_Gold]

Anybody who fights with a blade and lives by a gun is not a real man. Real men protect themselves without the use of steel.

[WaltonRed]

The Devil is small time compared to Warren.

[Liverpool lad]

No, it's not remarkable. When you deal with these people you realise what they are. Souless sharks with dead eyes that prey on human misery. They have no humanity. They don't feel the way you or I do. They have no moral code - forget this honour amongst thieves bollocks because it doesn't apply to the modern criminal. I hate the mythology that builds up around them.

 

I am not condoning what they did and I understand the problems we have on our streets, but the fortunes these men made and the level of sophistication involved is worthy of notice or attention.

[WaltonRed]

Legalise drugs.

 

Job done.

[Section_31]

That bit about him continuing on even though he knew he was being bugged by the bizzies makes me think that he feels he'd be safer on the inside.

 

If anybody recalls seeing The Devil on Ross Kemp's Sky One Doc he done a while ago you'll know just how dangerous it can be for scum like them. No matter how long ago they gave the game up.

 

That's what I thought, to be honest. For someone who's stayed ahead of the game for so long to be banged up so easily and so stupidly smacks of something else going on, he's probably laughing his tits off.

 

Imagine how dangerous Liverpool would be for someone like Warren? With every pound-a-pint pisshead looking to give you a smack?

[Guest The Chimp]

I was heading out this morning and saw his mug shot on the news - had to do a double-take. Didn't hear what was said, but I was wondering, "What the fuck has Cocky done to make the Australian morning news?" Hearing what's gone on today, I'm still puzzled at why this made the news over here. Nath, Harvey or any of the Ozzie lads, you see this? Think it was Sunrise - not sure.