This new six-part series from the team behind the acclaimed podcast Gangster: The Story Of Paul Massey takes listeners on an extraordinary and dangerous journey from the streets of Toxteth to Amsterdam’s sex clubs and the opulent villas of Colombia’s ruthless Cali Cartel.
Curtis Warren, a scally who cut his criminal teeth in Liverpool’s Toxteth neighbourhood, became the first gangster to appear on the Sunday Times Rich List, reportedly earning up to £15 million per week. He was one of the world’s most wanted criminals, codenamed Target One by Interpol, and he changed the face of drug smuggling in the UK by forging direct links with Colombian cocaine cartels.
Throughout the six episodes, journalist and presenter Livvy Haydock (Inside Britain’s Kidnap Gangs, BBC Three; Livvy haydock: My Hometown, BBC One; The Gangs Who Steel Your Puppies, VICE) meets some of Warren’s closest associates and biggest enemies, from those who spent time with him inside the UK’s toughest jails to the customs officers whose case against him was thwarted, and the police officers who finally
“I have always wanted to cover Curtis Warren’s story, a man whose dealings spanned the globe all the way from Toxteth to a global empire – ultimately demonstrating the tragedy of a business mind wasted on criminality,” says Livvy Haydock.
It’s a story about high-level police corruption, evasion of justice, gang wars that killed five people and injured many more, a TV Gladiator, and illicit sexual encounters in a prison laundry room.
However, one question remains: where is Warren’s fortune, estimated to be worth nearly £200 million?
Gangster: The Story of Curtis Warren will be released as a box set on BBC Sounds on July 6.