To his credit The Debt Collector is one of the most successful true crime documentaries ever made, watched over 50 million times. The Fitzgibbons stayed at the top of their game because they use extreme violence to protect their interests. Graham Johnson, crime writer

Johnson has written for publications including the News of the World, the Sunday Mirror, The Observer, Vice, The Guardian and the Liverpool Echo, and often publishes crime stories under different bylines. Shaun Smith, who grew up in Kirkdale, served out a prison sentence after he was linked by police to a handgun. They flooded Merseyside with heroin from Turkey, cocaine from South America, ecstasy from Holland – and all controlled from a double semi-detatched house in a suburb of Liverpool.They used false passports to travel, booked flights they never caught, and paid for with cloned cards. Trips to Turkey were via circuitous routes. Between 1995 and 1997, Johnson worked at the News of the World. [2] He had a notorious scoop about the Beast of Bodmin Moor at the paper. [3] Johnson later explained that there was of culture of fear at the paper and he fabricated stories under pressure from his bosses. [4] Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here Read More Related Articles year-old Christine Fitzgibbon (above, centre) is the matriarchal head of a Merseyside family whose drug connections extended round the globe.

a b Siddle, John (2013-07-05). "The Devil struggled against demons, says author". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 2023-01-21.Graham Johnson: The police I spoke to said it’s like a global corporation with hundreds—possibly thousands—of employees in a rigid hierarchy. It’s got hundreds of millions, possibly billions of pounds if you count the asset values of the businesses they own and the drugs they trade. It was founded in 1973, and it’s still going strong now after 40 years.

A former criminal from Liverpool says he is involved in negotiations with Hollywood-based production companies interested in making a film about his life. Mr Smith, 55, started a new life in Warrington after he was released from the prison system on licence several years ago. Mr Smith says he is now involved in advanced stage negotiations with production companies and agents who are interested in dramatising his life story. When I started writing books about organised crime in Liverpool in 2003 it was very much a cult audience – now it’s mainstream."

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Johnson Described in parliament as an "investigative reporter supreme". [9] [ clarification needed] He said: "Shaun has a great personal story, although unlike many of the people I wrote about he never sold drugs. My understanding is that Shaun needed a gun for his own protection because he was being threatened by dangerous people. " They can be very intimidating and are very good at getting at witnesses, which is why the police find it very difficult to build cases, and they’re extremely good drug dealers, so it’s a recipe for success as an underworld crime family”. It started in Liverpool, and it’s still mainly controlled in Liverpool—but it has hooks in Amsterdam, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, South America… all the usual suspect countries. I interviewed the Amsterdam police, and the first thing they told me is that they investigate everyone—Triads, Eastern European gangs, and the Italian and Russian Mafias—but they roll their eyes when you mention the "scousers" because they're the ones they have to deal with constantly.

Johnson worked at the Sunday Mirror from 1997 to 2005 and for six years was the newspaper's Investigations Editor. [1] [3] Crime writer Graham Johnson, who studied the family, told Channel 4 News: “The Fitzgibbon crime family have been major players in organised crime for 30 or 40 years, and one of the reasons they’ve stayed at the top of their game is because they use extreme violence when necessary to protect their interests. Mr Johnson was behind two investigative books on how Liverpool criminal John Haase managed to dupe the authorities into releasing him from prison several months into a 20-year-prison sentence for drug offences. For three years they were a top Soca target. They used false passports to travel, booked flights they never caught, and paid for with cloned cards. Trips to Turkey were via circuitous routes. Graham Johnson (born 4 May 1968) is an author and investigative journalist from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. [1] He has written for several news organisation and the since the 2000s has written both non-fiction and fiction books. His works focuses largely crime, especially organised crime. Johnson has made documentary films and appeared on television as a crime pundit.

Johnson has covered stories including drug dealing in Britain, [5] people smuggling in Europe, child slavery in India and Pakistan, and war in the Balkans. Johnson's novels have been published by Mainstream Publishing and Simon & Schuster. [ citation needed] They can be very intimidating and are very good at getting at witnesses, which is why the police find it very difficult to build cases, and they’re extremely good drug dealers, so it’s a recipe for success as an underworld crime family”. Ripping off the state She was the so-called company secretary. She laundered the money and advised on how to avoid detection.