Faces of the Underworld 2

Because the money Pritchard was making was illegal it
couldn’t be kept in a bank. Some weekends he would have
several hundred thousand pounds stuffed into bin liners.
He knew that this made him a legitimate target for robbers
and he knew he couldn’t seek the assistance of the police
or a legitimate security company and so he sought help
from West Ham United’s infamous football hooligans, the
Inter City Firm. (ICF) widely regarded as the first organised
hooligan firm, the ICF took their name from the use of Inter
City trains used to travel to away games. At Pritchard’s
rave parties ICF members acted as bouncers and they too
soon realised that vast amounts of money could be made.
With long term football hooligan Carlton Leach at its heart,
the ICF soon evolved from football hooligans to security
entrepreneurs, bouncers and doormen. Pritchard found
himself in too deep when the ICF began demanding more
and more of his profits. As well as taking a large portion of
the door takings, the ICF began controlling the sale of drugs
at the raves. The police, who had been silently witnessing
the transformation of raves being run by entrepreneurs to
raves being run by violent criminals, knew that they had
to act. In three violent months the Pay Party Unit made
265 arrests and recovered rifles, shotguns and handguns,
chilling proof that gangsters had infected the rave scene. To
avoid the increasing heat, Andrew Pritchard wisely packed
his bag and slipped quietly out of the country.



In the 1990`s the underground rave scene exploded onto the mainstream stage. While the Government introduced new laws to
tackle warehouse parties, new licensing laws meant that nightclubs could stay open late. Keen to cash in on the music’s popularity
nightclubs began to stage legal rave nights of their own. In Basildon the manager of Raquel’s nightclub had been approached by
a team of promoters from Southend. They had heard about O’Mahoney and Tucker clearing out the troublemakers and were
keen to put on raves. An agreement was reached and a date was set for them to begin. The day after the first rave was publicised
O’Mahoney and Tucker were approached by a team of drug dealers who offered to pay for the right to sell drugs at Raquel’s. All
parties shook hands on a deal, O’Mahoney’s future was now mapped out. With raves came drugs and with drugs came a bloody
gang war that would change his life forever and end the lives of several others. In July 1994, an enormous muscle bound bully
nicknamed the Hulk was released from prison after serving four years for robbery. Pat Tate was naturally pleased to be free but
one suspects that those working within the Prison Service were more so. Throughout his sentence Tate had barked orders at
fellow prisoners and prison officers alike. Only those with a death wish or a love of hospital food dared to challenge him. He did
befriend a few men such as notorious villain Kenny Noye, Essex drug smuggler Micky Steele and brothers John and Jack Whomes
who were serving a short sentence for car theft.

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Into their midst came a man named Darren Nicholls who
craved Tate’s attention. Nicholls knew that a man like Tate
would always be useful to have as an ally. Shortly after
Tate’s release he met Tony Tucker and his friend Craig Rolfe
quite by chance in a Southend cafe. Tate listened intently as
Tucker boasted about his newly established drug empire.
“You’re a mug, you could be earning ten times the amount
of money you are getting from that club,” Tate sneered. He
told Tucker that whilst in prison he had met some interesting
people who had the ways and means of importing drugs
from Europe. “You get to cut out all of the middlemen,”
Tate enthused. Within days Tate and his former cell mate
Steve `Nipper` Ellis had become regular visitors at Raquel’s
nightclub where Tate boasted of his plan to begin large
scale importations of drugs from Holland. When the drugs
and the money eventually came rolling in Tucker, Tate and
Rolfe began to abuse both. The top floor of the Hilton
Hotel in London was hired to stage a lavish party where
drugs, prostitutes and drink were laid on free of charge to
guests. An unlikely member of the Essex Boys firm as the
gang became known was Adele O’Connor. Key members of
the gang were regularly subjected to close scrutiny by the
police and so Adele was employed to manage prostitutes
and move drugs and guns around Essex in holdalls.







Within a very short period of time Tucker, Tate and Rolfe were hooked on cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. Along with O’Mahoney,
they created a regime of intimidation and terrifying violence that would eventually bring about their downfall. Tucker had a
sixteen-year-old mistress named Donna. One evening she had asked Steve Nipper Ellis if he knew where Tucker might be found. In
jest, Ellis replied that Tucker was probably at home giving his old woman one up the arse. The remark was immediately reported
to Tucker by his teenage girlfriend. Enraged, Tucker, Tate and Rolfe raced to Nipper’s house. Although Nipper wasn’t there, his
sister was. The three men threatened to cut her fingers off and rape her. When Nipper was informed about the attack on his
family he armed himself and went to have it out with the trio. He found only Tucker and Rolfe. Nipper brandished a gun but they
fled before he could open fire. Still incensed with rage, Nipper was then said to have gone to Tate’s house and thrown a brick
through the bathroom window. As Tate leaned out to see who was responsible, Nipper allegedly unleashed a volley of gunfire,
shooting Tate in the upper arm as he raised his hands in front of his face. With Tate hospitalised, Tucker and Rolfe went on the
rampage. They wrecked Nipper’s house and took his car and other possessions. Nipper, rather wisely, went on the run. Although
he wanted to negotiate a settlement, Tucker insisted that he had to pay the price for shooting Tate. The latter was in Basildon
Hospital, where Tucker and Rolfe smuggled drugs into him. Fearing that Nipper might come to the hospital to finish him off, they
also smuggled in a gun which police discovered after a tip-off. Tate was sent to Whitemoor Prison for possessing the firearm.
Nipper was arrested for the attempted murder of Tate, but was only found guilty of illegally possessing firearms. He served seven
and a half months in prison. When he was released, Nipper fled to the West Country.

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Tucker and Rolfe were too busy propping up their disorganised organisation to worry about tracking down Nipper. In November
1994, with Tate still in hospital, they murdered a local drug dealer named Kevin Whitaker. Temporarily employed as a courier to
pay off a drug debt, Whittaker had been given £60,000 worth of cannabis to take to another gang in Romford, but he failed to
bring back the money. Tucker and Rolfe tracked Whitaker down and lured him into their car. As he pleaded for mercy, they forced
him to snort cocaine and injected him with a lethal cocktail of drugs. Whittaker died and his body was unceremoniously dumped
in a ditch.

On 31 October 1995, Pat Tate was released from prison and immediately began planning further importations of drugs. Whilst he
had been recovering in hospital following the shooting incident, Tate had been visited by Darren Nicholls. Tate saw his former cell
mate as a disposable tool in the construction of his drug empire and Nicholls saw Tate as muscle that he could use as and when
the need arose.

Tucker, Tate and Rolfe begged, stole and borrowed £125,000 and sent Nicholls off to Amsterdam to purchase the drugs. The Dutch
men that Nicholls met recognised that he was a novice and so they sold him a batch of poor quality cannabis. When Nicholls
returned to the UK he gave Tate the drugs. He passed them on to Rolfe and Tucker to sell. A few days later the trio were in Raquel’s
nightclub celebrating in style but the party was short lived.

Dealers throughout Essex began ringing them and complaining bitterly about the drugs that they had purchased, all demanded
a refund. To make matters worse a policeman’s daughter who had been celebrating her 18th birthday collapsed after taking an
Ecstasy pill that had been supplied by one of Tucker’s dealers. Leah Betts had slipped into a coma and the police had launched an
investigation into the source of the drug that she had taken as they feared it may have been contaminated. The first O’Mahoney
knew of the incident was when he read it in a local newspaper the following day.

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After reading the story O’Mahoney rang Tucker, Tate and Rolfe but all had switched their phones off and gone into hiding. When
the police descended upon O’Mahoney they asked him if he could obtain an Ecstasy pill from the same batch that Leah had taken
as it may have helped doctors to learn what ingredients it contained and how these may be affecting the stricken girl. O’Mahoney
agreed and when Tucker heard about this he considered it to be a betrayal and threatened to shoot O’Mahoney. Before an Ecstasy
pill could be sourced by O’Mahoney, Leah Betts lost her brave fight for life. On the morning of 6 December 1995, O’Mahoney
was asked to attend South Woodham Police Station in Essex where he was informed that Tucker and Tate were planning to
murder him. Later that evening Tucker, Tate and Rolfe drove down a deserted farm track in the nearby village of Rettendon to
meet a man who was going to show them a field where a light aircraft carrying drugs was due to land. The following morning
two farmers drove through the snow to feed pheasants kept on farmland at the end of the track. They saw the Range Rover and
peered through the windows. Inside, they could make out the figures of three men sitting slumped in their seats. “They looked so
peaceful we thought they were asleep, but they were dead,” one of the farmers later told police. In one of the most astonishing
multiple murders to have been committed in this country, Tony Tucker (38), Pat Tate (37) and Craig Rolfe (26) had been shot dead
at point-blank range with such precision that there was virtually no blood and no sign of a struggle.

On the gate facing the Range Rover was a notice with the message:
COUNTRYSIDE PREMIUM SCHEME. Farming operations must still take place, so please take special care to avoid injury... the use
of guns or any other activity which disturbs people or wildlife are not allowed on this land. Enjoy your visit.

The hit man had clearly not paid any attention to the sign.

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Many believe that O’Mahoney played some part in the executions and this led to him being the subject of much press scrutiny,
speculation, innuendo and unfounded allegations. In order to set the record straight he wrote a book titled `So this is Ecstasy.’
He wasn’t the first criminal to pen his story. The elders of the underworld have been swapping their guns for pens since the days
of Billy Hill and Jack `Spot` Cromer who were active in the 1940`s and 1950`s. When drugs became underworld currency in the
late 80`s and early 90`s the UK was hit with a glut of true crime autobiographies which were the result of many `old school – anti
drug` villains taking early retirement. Joan Hannington an infamous jewel thief during the 60`s published her autobiography. In
the book Hannington claims that whilst serving a sentence at Cookham Wood Prison in Kent, she head butted Moors Murderer
Myra Hindley in the face and broke her nose. Other villains turned author include Vic Dark, Norman Parker, Paul Massey, Paul
Ferris, Wayne Barker, Dennis Stafford and Charlie Seiga. Many more have been the subject of films or television programmes that
have often glamorised their exploits and crimes.

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The media lapped up their tales of trouble and strife and almost overnight some villains were given a kind of morbid celebrity
status. Every wayward teenager longed to be like their on screen hero`s. Tattoos of Reg and Ron Kray were displayed with pride and
diamond encrusted knuckle dusters worn on a gold chain became must have fashion accessories. The rapid rise and catastrophic
fall of the Essex Boys firm has spawned six feature films and numerous books. This excessive media attention undoubtedly helped
to inspire the new generation of Essex Boys that emerged after the Rettendon murders. The demise of Tucker, Tate and Rolfe
certainly did not mean that the county’s craving for raving was at an end. Younger, more ruthless villains entered the fray in the
hope of taking over where the Essex Boys had left off. One of the most notorious was a nineteen-year-old named Ricky Percival.
He and another man named Damon Alvin supplied drugs via their minions to the numerous pubs and clubs in the Southend area.
Malcolm Walsh, a close friend of Alvin and Percival, was stabbed to death and this led to a feud with a family named Tretton.
In June 1999 two masked men burst into the Tretton home and blasted three family members with shotguns. In a later incident
Alvin’s closest friend, twenty-four year-old Dean Boshell was lured to an allotment, squirted in the eyes with ammonia and shot
through the head. Damon Alvin was charged with murder but midway through his trial he blamed Percival for the killing. In a
move that made legal history the murder charge against Alvin was dropped. He then went on to become the Crown’s star witness
against Percival who was then convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve
at least twenty-eight years. In 2011 Percival appeared at the High Court in London to appeal against his conviction. Despite his
legal team presenting very strong evidence that indicated he was innocent the appeal was refused and he was returned to prison
to continue his sentence.

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