North detectives aim for disruption of ‘Mr Bigs’

Dec 28 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

DETECTIVES tasked with smashing dozens of multi-million pound crime empires have revealed the methods of constant disruption needed to take on the North East’s organised crime leaders.

Nearly 50 profit-motivated criminal gangs are thought to be operating across the Northumberland and the Tyne and Wear areas.

Many come together under “Mr Bigs” to organise major crimes before disbanding and reappearing when they next need cash.

And it is exactly this business-like need for funds which has allowed a specialist police unit to target some of the region’s richest criminals.

For the last six months, Detective Superintendent Peter Farrell has led a task force which has already grabbed back millions of pounds worth of ill-gotten goods and cash from Tyneside’s underworld.

Homes from Darras Hall to some of Newcastle’s most deprived estates have been targeted as officers recover everything from bags full of expensive Rolex watches to counterfeit clothes. His team, which includes crime experts at the Home Office, say daily court sessions in Tyneside are likely to include several seemingly unconnected cases that, taken together, will have curtailed the activities of major crime lords.

Those in the know can piece together a jigsaw of arrests, raids, cautions, tax offences, property seizures and even motoring offences, which show that bit by bit organised crime is being hit harder than ever before.

And this constant interference employed by the Tyneside task force could soon be copied across the country as other forces realise it is not enough to target only the top men.

Det Supt Farrell said: “ From the outset, we decided to introduce the word ‘disruption’ to their lives.

“We will use any means necessary to show we are not just going to arrest the people behind organised crime, but also make it impossible to do businesses here.

“Because, whereas in say Merseyside, the police have identified criminals whose work involves firearms and robberies, here we have a different class of criminal who come together to make money.”

He added: “What we can do is use every method at our disposal to stop that. We use the intelligence we gather and target those for every offence we can. So that can mean arresting someone for using red diesel or for not paying tax or stopping targets on the way to the airport.

“For many people this is a way of life and they will hardly ever do it the legitimate way if they can avoid it, even as far as not paying for a TV licence.

“They just don’t seem to be able to stop themselves.”

Det Supt Farrell said that by hitting groups in every way possible the organised gangs were left unable to do business.

He described to The Journal how he knew of at least one “Mr Big” who had seen all his “lieutenants” arrested or put out of operation.

“And while he may be able to recruit more if he wants, for now we know he can’t do anything over the next few weeks and that will make a real difference.

“The simplest moves by us can make a differences, because you are disrupting a businesses.

“When we seize vehicles for tax reasons or because they are found with red diesel in them that has a big impact. They are just like any other business and if the fleet is lost it can take weeks to get it replaced, and we know to watch that fleet.”

He added: “You have to remember that behind all these tax cheats and people selling cigarettes without tax or drugs, there are people who deal in intimidation and violence.

“There is always, always at the bottom some form of human misery, whether it is financial or physical.

“Even that black market has an impact because it is taking trade away from people who are doing the right thing and earning money legitimately.”