Wensley Clarkson - Secret Narco : The Great Train Robber whose partnership with Pablo Escobar turned Britain on to cocaine

WENSLEY CLARKSON has investigated numerous crimes across the world for the past thirty years. His research has included prison visits, surveillance operations, police raids and even post-mortems. He and his family have received death threats from criminals and he has also worked alongside homicide detectives. There is no one more qualified to tell this story. Clarksons books published in more than thirty countries have sold more than two million copies. He has made numerous documentaries in the UK, US, Australia and Spain and written TV and movie screenplays. Clarksons Sexy Beasts about the Hatton Garden raid was nominated for a prestigious Crime Writers Association Dagger award.

www.wensleyclarkson.com

To the many old faces who helped me with this book down the years, but are no longer with us.
RIP

Praise for other books by Wensley Clarkson

Reveals a fascinating life, albeit savage and ultimately wasted. Killer on the Road, Loaded

One of the best crime books I have ever read in thirty years of reading crime books. Killing Goldfinger, Mark Lester, Amazon

Sexy Beasts
Makes you wonder if the writer was in on it. Amazon

Brilliant. Another great read from Wensley Clarkson. Joe Steed, Goodreads

Bindon
This is a lurid tale yet Clarkson tells it in a way that makes it nothing short of fascinating. Independent on Sunday

Bindon emerges from Clarksons portrait as a true gent, if a ferociously violent one, with an unsettling sense of humour. Daily Telegraph

Hit em Hard
Utterly compelling. Evening Standard

There is no doubt that Spot was a nasty piece of work but in this well-judged biography Clarkson brings him to life BRILLIANT. Time Out

A thrilling glimpse into a hidden world of money, power, glamour and violence. Killing Charlie, the Sun

Jack Spots legend is still frighteningly alive in Wensley Clarksons hands. Sunday Express

Two thousand escudos of silver
They will give for his head alone
Many would win the prize
But nobody can succeed
Only a comrade could.

OLD SOUTH AMERICAN PROVERB

It was inevitable that I would upset certain people by writing a book about Charlie Wilson.

One of the chaps I came across on the Costa del Crime warned, A lot of people have been chopped up round here. You should be careful doing a book on Charlie. Last bloke who tried it gave up after a few days. That was fifteen years ago, when the original version of this book was first published.

More recently I found myself working on an in-depth TV documentary about some of Charlies oldest associates and came across information that takes this story to another level. It includes new revelations about Charlies involvement with the most infamous narco of all time and how Charlie came to be the ultimate dead man walking. Ive had to trust the judgement and recollections of individuals, many of whom would rather not have their names reproduced in this book. Memories are fallible and contradictory, touched by pride and capable of gross omission. It was a risky business. But there are no hidden agendas in this story because Charlie is no longer with us. I relied on a long series of interviews and conversations, as well as recollections supplied at times unwittingly by dozens of individuals all over the globe. Naturally, some important names are missing and that will frustrate those who were involved in Charlies world.

The story you are about to read may not be the one that most criminals would have preferred to be told. But it is the nearest to the truth about an underworld that has left a mark on everyone it has touched, from the hard-pressed police forces of three nations to the families of the victims of crime and even the criminals themselves.

During the course of research Ive been taken into the confidence of many people who, for obvious reasons, would prefer to remain anonymous. I have respected the wishes of those individuals and I need only say that my decision to do so was as much to protect both the guilty and the innocent as it was to ensure the safety of close-knit communities.

As a result, some scenes represent a combination of facts reconstructed to reflect events as they were told to me. Certain characterisations, incidents, locations and dialogue were composited for dramatic purposes and to help protect the identity of my sources.

Ultimately, however, I have tried to recreate a life story that twisted and turned from the mean streets of south London to harsh prison corridors and the heated, manic, cocaine-fuelled Costa del Sol via the killing fields of Colombia to end in what some might think was an inevitable outcome. It was a bizarre, risky journey that I hope you enjoy and relish as much as I did.

Wensley Clarkson, 2020

BUSTER train robber whose life took a tragic turn

KING OF CATFORD Brinks-Mat suspect who got too flashy

THE COLONEL loyal childhood pal turned train robber

EL DOCTOR the twentieth centurys richest and most murderous drug baron

FREDDIE FOREMAN ex-robber and Kray twins associate

FRENCHY former war hero who saved Charlies skin

THE GREY FOX workaholic detective who never gave up

THE LUMP west London hardman out for revenge

MAD MICKEY short-fused south Londoner on a mission to destroy

THE MILKMAN Kilburn Irishman with a finger in every pie

PADDY THE SMUGGLER Charlies old pal who needed a big favour

PAT wife who feared the ultimate knock on the door

LA PATRONA Medellns London boss

THE PIMPERNEL the most artful dodger of all

POPEYE Medellns number one killer

THE PREACHER cold-blooded Amsterdam kingpin

THE PROFESSOR graduate Scotsman who worked both sides of the Atlantic

SCARFACE thought he was invincible

SKINS escaped convict on a mission

THE TIGRESS ETAs deadliest brunette

THE WEASEL pint-sized train robber whose thoughts turned to gold

Urbanizacin Montana, Marbella, Costa del Sol, southern Spain

No one took much notice of the pale-faced man with badly dyed, spiky blond hair.

He sunned himself on the mini-roundabout close to an estate of detached haciendas. A yellow mountain bike lay beside him as he sat nonchalantly on the grass, a big, overhanging eucalyptus tree providing some shade. He stayed for hours, occasionally swigging from a bottle and rolling himself a few joints. Enjoying the sunshine. Watching and waiting.

Two hundred yards away, the spring sunshine was beating down on the immaculate lawn of the back garden of a detached whitewashed house. A gentle breeze blew in from the pine woods behind the property, causing a slight ripple on the surface of its swimming pool. In the far corner of the garden, a man in his late fifties, wearing shorts and a polo shirt, had just finished lighting a barbeque. Looking immensely pleased with himself, he crouched down to pick some thyme from a neatly trimmed bed of herbs. He was preparing a very special dinner to celebrate his thirty-fifth wedding anniversary.