From Toxteth to Cali Cartel - how Curtis Warren amassed a fortune (2024)

The ECHO has looked back at the life of Curtis Warren, from growing up in Toxteth to becoming the international trafficker who changed the drug world

When international drug dealer and convicted killer Curtis Warren appeared before the courts this week his defence said he just "wants peace" and "not to be in the public glare anymore". However, for close to four decades the Toxteth-born man, nicknamed 'co*cky,' has struggled to escape the limelight as he became the biggest name in the history of the city's underworld and Interpol's former 'Target One'.

When Warren, now 61, was released from prison in 2022 - after spending close to two decades behind bars - some suggested he had no interest in returning to the illicit business that put him there in the first place. There was even talk that the Granby Street lad turned international drugs trafficking kingpin was set to reap the rewards of a major TV or film deal about his astonishing life.

Upon his release, a strict serious crime prevention order (SCPO) was activated, restricting the gangster's ability to fall back into the world he was so accustomed to. However, just over eight months later, Warren, who during the 1990s forged international cocaine connections with the likes of the Cali Cartel in Colombia, was arrested for breaching the order.

This week he was handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting six breaches of the order, with 12 other charges ordered to lie on the file. But how did Warren, softly spoken and shy, emerge from Toxteth's streets into the kingpin he became? The ECHO has looked back on Warren's criminal history, from petty burglaries on his home streets to life on the international drugs stage.

His early years

Born in May 1963 to Curtis Aloysius Warren, a seaman with the Norwegian Merchant Navy, and Sylvia Chantre, who met during one of his stop-overs in Liverpool, Warren was the couple’s second son, his brother Ramon was born a year earlier. The family, with their much absent father, lived in what would later become known as the “Granby Triangle” – the streets enclosed in Upper Parliament Street, Princes Road and Lodge Lane.

The close knit community, made up of all nationalities, thrived during Liverpool’s boom years as the city rocked to the sound of The Beatles. But the streets were tough and young Warren was already showing signs of the razor-sharp mind that would become one of his trademarks later in life.

Instead of going to school, Warren knocked about with the older lads, scoping out potential houses to burgle. Aged 12, he had his first brush with the justice system when he was handed a two-year supervision order for stealing a car. Within a year he had his first taste of custody - 24 hours in an attendance centre for burglary - before he was sent to a detention centre for three months in July 1978.

The 1980s saw the rise of heroin - the sickly class A drug that saw Liverpool become known as "smack city". For the crooks in Toxteth during the 1970s, it was all about cannabis as it resisted the harder drug. But with huge profits to be made, heroin slowly infiltrated the L8 streets.

Fresh from serving a five-year stretch for armed robbery, Warren worked as a nightclub bouncer which opened his eyes to the illicit drug trade and the profits that could be made. Seeing a gap in the market, Warren turned to selling party drugs on the doors.

But, eager to climb the ladder, Warren soon expanded, and before long, was running the main drugs operation in the north west. The steps he took after saw Warren change the face of Britain's drug dealing for good. He would break with tradition, cut out the middlemen and forge connections overseas.

Changing the face of Britain's drug dealing

By the early 1990s, Warren was working with suppliers from Turkey, as well as the infamous Cali Cartel - the largest cocaine traffickers in the world, whose rivalry with Pablo Escobar in Colombia was documented in the Netflix show Narcos. The Colombians were making available almost unlimited amounts of cocaine, and, while others waited for the drugs to reach their shores, Warren and his associates were ready and willing to collect it from South America and ship it over to Europe.

Warren was known as a skilled "diplomat" and a master of forging contacts and spotting opportunities. In September 1991 Warren and associate Brian Charrington sailed across the Atlantic to Venezuela, where a deal with the Cali Cartel to smuggle cocaine in steel boxes, concealed in lead ingots, was hatched.

When the boat arrived back in the UK, it was searched by HM Customs. However, nothing was found. Later it was said Warren knew the exact depth of the longest drill bit used by customs officers. By the time Dutch authorities had informed the customs officers about where the drugs could be, Warren and the shipment were untraceable. However, a second shipment of over 900kg using the same method was already in transit.

After the shipment arrived in Felixstowe in early 1992, a multi-agency operation conducted a series of raids and Warren, Charrington and a number of associates were rounded up. The Cali Cartel contract Mario Halley was jailed for six years for his part in the plot, while Warren and his associates went on trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

However, it soon emerged during the preliminary stages of the trial that Charrington was a police informant and the case against the two men collapsed. It is alleged as Warren left the courtroom a free man that he told HM Customs officers: "I'm off to spend my £87m from the first shipment and you can't touch me."

Warren returned to Liverpool, but a major fall-out between two rival factions sparked a gang war, resulting in a number of shootings across the city. Warren was said to have become involved in the fall-out through his friendship with a man called Johnny Phillips. Mr Phillips, who survived an attempt on his life, later died of a heart attack.

A move to Europe

Warren was naturally concerned by the ferocity of the gang war and increased police activity in the south-end of the city. It is thought that the south Liverpool gang war, coupled with the fact the police were keeping a close eye on him, encouraged Warren to relocate to Holland.

Warren, now in his 30s, moved to the sleepy village of Sassenheim deep in the Dutch countryside. The Toxteth crook and his colleagues moved into a farmhouse called Bakara - and assumed they had evaded the scrutiny of the police. He owned casinos in Spain, discos in Turkey, a vineyard in Bulgaria and had millions stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

However, officials in the UK and Holland joined forces to monitor Warren. It was now apparent Warren, who had a photographic memory, never wrote down any details of transactions and spoke in code words whenever dealing with associates. However, an elite unit gathered enough information to eventually storm his villa in October 1996.

They seized MDMA, 1,000kg of cannabis, guns, three hand grenades and 940 canisters of CS gas. Warren was convicted of trying to mastermind a £125m drugs shipment from the Netherlands into the UK. It was around this time that Warren made an appearance in the Sunday Times Rich List, which stated he had amassed his wealth as a property developer. However, after Warren was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his multi-million scheme, he was removed from the list and sent to the formidable Nieuw Vosseveld maximum security prison.

On the afternoon of September 15 1999 Warren had a fight in the prison yard with Turkish national Cemal Guclu, who was serving a 20-year sentence for murder and attempted murder. Guclu was reported to have shouted at Warren before attempting to punch the Liverpool man in the face. After a short fight, Warren knocked Guclu to the ground before repeatedly kicking him in the head.

The Turkish native never recovered and died in hospital. Warren claimed to have acted in self-defence, but the Dutch judge said he had "used excessive violence" and sentenced him to an additional four years in prison. In February 2005, Warren was further charged by Dutch authorities with running an international drugs smuggling cartel from his prison cell.

Warren was found guilty and moved around a number of different prisons for his own safety. But after a successful appeal, he was released five years early from custody in the summer of 2007 before returning to the UK. However, just weeks after being freed from prison, Warren was implicated in a new plot in Jersey.

The Jersey plot that brought him down again

With drug prices on the island in the English Channel three times the street price in the UK or France, Warren and his associates looked to exploit the lucrative market. However, a multi-force probe including law enforcement agencies from Belgium, France and the Netherlands, as well as Merseyside Police and Jersey Police, monitored Warren and his associates.

Over 1,500 calls from Warren were monitored and he was arrested in St Helens. Warren was offered a plea deal by Jersey Police, but declined. Instead, the case went to trial, and, although no drugs were imported after local contacts failed to come up with the money, Warren was found guilty of conspiracy to smuggle cannabis. He was sentenced on December 3 2009 to 13 years imprisonment for his part in the plot.

In November 2013, Warren appeared back before the court when prosecutors claimed he was in control of a £198m drug empire. In a 38-page opening to the three-week trial, prosecutors claimed Warren was “truly prolific” and could source cocaine from South America, heroin from Turkey and Iran, and cannabis from Morocco. He was said to have markets as diverse as Swaziland and Moscow.

Warren, who was believed to have a £300m fortune, was told he had to pay back the money or face further time in prison. In March 2014 it was reported Warren had lost his appeal over his failure to pay the order and would remain in prison. Warren appeared in newspaper headlines later the same year when a former prison counsellor, Teresa Rodrigues, claimed to have fallen in love with him while at La Moye prison. However, Warren's barrister, Anthony Barraclough, said the claims were without foundation and had upset both Warren and his partner.

However, in 2020 it emerged Warren had been in a sordid affair with prison officer Stephanie Smithwhite during his time in HMP Frankland. Smithwhite's court appearance revealed details that she had cut an "intercourse hole" in her trousers and that she was so infatuated with Warren she got his name tattooed on her next to a picture of a rose. She was jailed for two years at Durham Crown Court after admitting two counts of misconduct in a public officer.

Warren back on the streets

Warren was released from prison in November 2022. Upon his release, a SCPO was activated restricting Warren's ability to engage again in crime. The extensive restrictions, the strongest imposed on any criminal by the National Crime Agency, placed limits on his use of phones, email accounts and vehicles for five years.

Restrictions were also imposed on his financial arrangements and travel. However, in July 2023 NCA officers arrested Warren on suspicion of order breaches at a property in South Tyneside owned by Smithwhite. He was charged with a number of breaches of his order and appeared before Liverpool Crown Court earlier this week.

Warren admitted six counts of breaching the SCPO and asked for a further like offence to be taken into account during his sentencing. The remaining 12 charges were ordered to lie on the file. The courts heard that an undeclared trip to Alicante, cash in a brown envelope and a secret flat in Birkenhead were among the breaches.

Alison Abbott, head of the NCA's prisons and lifetime management unit, said: "Curtis Warren treated his order with contempt, breaching it within days of his release from prison, and going on to breach it multiple times. Serious Crime Prevention Orders are a powerful tool to help prevent those convicted of serious offences to continue their criminality when they come out of prison. This case should serve as a warning to others."

Warren will have to abide by the rules of his SCPO until November 2027. Any further breaches will likely see him returned to prison. It's to be seen if Warren will stick to the quiet, peaceful life he claims he wants.