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2024-03-28T18:25:05Z
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British secret agents have a license to commit crime
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/british-secret-agents-have-a-license-to-commit-crime
2018-03-03T14:56:07.000Z
2018-03-03T14:56:07.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-secret-agents-have-a-license-to-commit-crime" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237097870,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237097870?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>After all these decades, James Bond’s license to kill still sounds pretty cool. Though 007 is far removed from the real-life spies working at MI5, they do have a similar license that gives them a pass to commit crime in the United Kingdom, Theresa May, the country’s prime minister revealed in a text on Thursday.</p>
<p>The document was <a href="https://www.ipco.org.uk/docs/20180301%20PM%20direction%202.pdf" target="_blank">published</a> after a months-long legal battle by human rights groups Reprieve and Privacy International. It details a direction to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office, the secret service watchdog, on governing “security service participation in criminality.”</p>
<p>As newspaper <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/02/mi5-agents-are-allowed-to-commit-in-uk-government-reveals" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> observed: “It instructs the IPCO to oversee the participation of MI5 agents in criminal activity, which was previously conducted by the now-defunct office of the Intelligence Services Commissioner, under a secret order referred to as the ‘third direction’.”</p>
<p>What type of crime MI5 agents can get away with and when remains confidential and falls under the direction of the British government.</p>
<p>The world is an ever-changing place, but one thing remains the same: It revolves around money. And where there’s money, there is crime. White collar or blue collar, greed does not care. If MI5 seeks to keep the country safe its secret agents might need to win the trust of certain individuals in order to infiltrate criminal organizations and activities.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia" target="_blank">Russia</a>, for instance, politics and organized crime have long been intertwined. With many <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian oligarchs</a> operating on Britain’s soil, it makes sense to be able to get one’s hands dirty to get close enough to keep an eye on certain individuals.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Terrorism" target="_blank">Terrorists</a> also remain a very difficult threat as they are seeking cooperation with criminal organizations in order to launder or make money and buy weapons and influence.</p>
<p>Thus, a license to commit crime can be useful to these secret agents. Of course, as always with these types of undercover operations taking place in the shadowy alley between our world and the underworld, we can only hope that the agents involved remember what side they are on.</p>
<p>Otherwise, we might be in for one hell of a mess.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Japan’s banks can reject loans to Yakuza gangsters
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/japan-s-banks-can-reject-loans-to-yakuza-gangsters
2018-01-05T10:32:47.000Z
2018-01-05T10:32:47.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/japan-s-banks-can-reject-loans-to-yakuza-gangsters" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237011873,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237011873?profile=original" width="510" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Yakuza mobsters looking for money need to find a loan shark with good rates, because Japanese banks will reject many of them when they apply for loans. As of yesterday, the Japanese Bankers Association stated that its branches will be able to screen individual loan seekers using the National Police Agency’s database of members of organized crime.</p>
<p>Organized crime in Japan is dominated by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/yakuza-overview" target="_blank">Yakuza</a>, the country’s homegrown <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>, which is involved in all the mob-staples such as extortion, gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, and, of course, loansharking.</p>
<p>In recent years, authorities have cracked down on Yakuza activities by introducing tougher laws and placing gangsters under increased police scrutiny. This has caused a major blow to the group’s influence and resulted in a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/japan-s-yakuza-membership-continues-to-rapidly-decline" target="_blank">declining membership</a> and a split within its largest and most powerful clan, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/yakuza-boss-yoshinori-watanabe" target="_blank">Yamaguchi-gumi</a>, which is now divided and involved in an internecine gang war.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/yakuza-mob-boss-bludgeoned-to-death-outside-his-home" target="_blank">Yakuza mob boss bludgeoned to death outside his home</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The added screening measures follow a huge 2013 banking scandal involving the Mizuho Bank, one of Japan’s biggest financial institutions, which was found to have made 230 transactions with individuals with connections to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Yakuza" target="_blank">Yakuza</a>. The total amount of loans came down to 200 million yen.</p>
<p>With this new screening banks can connect to the police database through the government-affiliated Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan. If the person comes up in the database, the local police department will be asked to conduct further identification. If they confirm the person is an associate or member of the Yakuza, the bank can reject the loan.</p>
<p>That will leave these gangsters with no other option than to take to the streets and find a friend to offer them a loan. Such a loan, however, will be difficult to use to pay for a house. Of course, in money laundering 101 there are plenty of ways around such financial blockades. Just ask any CEO of a Fortune 500 company. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/yakuza-overview">Yakuza section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Mafia boss Messina Denaro intimidating prosecutor
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor
2014-02-09T13:06:57.000Z
2014-02-09T13:06:57.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237025094,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237025094?profile=original" width="333" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Sicilian Cosa Nostra is feeling the heat. And Italian authorities continue to turn up the pressure. So much so that the Mafia has threatened to wage a new war against the state and in particular those prosecuting them. And this time, young boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro could join in.</p>
<p>Last month, imprisoned mob boss Toto Riina’s threats were featured in media reports around the world. The Mafioso who was responsible for the vicious murders of scores of prosecutors, judges, politicians, policemen, and journalists was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-mafia-boss-toto-riina-prosecutors-have-to-die">caught on a wire</a> telling a fellow inmate that prosecutors were “driving [him] crazy” and that “they [had] to die.”</p>
<p>Luckily, the prosecutors in question, Antonio Ingroia and Nino Di Matteo, are still alive and continue their fight against the Mafia. But the tone had been set.</p>
<p>After boss of bosses <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-bernardo">Bernardo Provenzano</a> ushered in a new strategy for the Sicilian Mafia, attacks on anti-mafia personnel ceased. The new strategy meant Cosa Nostra would lay low in order to rebuild in the shadows. But after his arrest in 2006, Cosa Nostra bosses could have pondered a change in strategy.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236975875,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236975875?profile=original" width="150" /></a>The man who is alleged to be currently leading Sicilian Cosa Nostra is 51-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo">Matteo Messina Denaro</a>. His father led the Mafia of Castelvetrano in Trapani, Sicily, essentially causing Messina Denaro to be born into the Mafia. Despite being dubbed by reporters as a playboy, he was not to be taken lightly at all. His father had taught him all about ‘the life’ and especially how to take the lives of others. Messina Denaro was once quoted as saying, “I filled a cemetery all by myself.”</p>
<p>While it is not entirely clear whether Messina Denaro (right) is in effect the new boss of bosses of Sicily, it is clear that he runs the Mafia in Trapani. Authorities in Italy and North America also consider him to be one of Cosa Nostra’s major drug traffickers. Using his influence and narco-euros, he has managed to infiltrate the legitimate economy in Trapani province, building large parks filled with wind mills that generate green energy. He also owns various supermarket chains. His investments have made him a billionaire.</p>
<p>It has also earned him the support of the citizens of Trapani (photo below). Author Carl Russo visited the region while researching his book <a href="http://amzn.to/16Y83lr" target="_blank">The Sicilian Mafia: A True Crime Travel Guide</a> and was surprised at the powerbase Messina Denaro had created: “I was in Trapani, which is I believe the third largest city, around there the people are still close to the Mafia. Messina Denaro has quite a pull on the people of Trapani. He has gotten them jobs and is seen as a beneficent power, he’s been able to pass out jobs to a region that has very high unemployment. If you view media reports from the area you’ll find people from the streets of his hometown Castelvetrano praising him,” <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-mafia-travel-guide-reveals-island-s-underworld">Russo tells Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237024897,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237024897?profile=original" width="550" /></a>And just like in politics, public support is everything. After the Mafia’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/albums/cosa-nostra-murder-gallery">campaign of terror</a> in the 1980s and 1990s, in which they murdered anyone who stood in their way, the Sicilian public took a firm stand against the violence and against Cosa Nostra. Without the support of the citizens, the Mafiosi had a more difficult time demanding their pizzo -protection money- and were shunned by businessmen who, before the war against the state, would have gladly participated in a deal.</p>
<p>Provenzano’s low-key strategy has enabled the Mafia to bring relative order and peace among its ranks. But authorities continue to hunt mob leaders, fugitives, and are very successful at making arrests and bringing down lucrative rackets. Some within the Mafia are becoming quite restless and rethinking their strategy.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-salvatore">Toto Riina</a> has made his position clear. Though, as Gangsters Inc. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-mafia-boss-toto-riina-prosecutors-have-to-die">reported last month</a>, it isn’t clear where exactly Messina Denaro stands on this issue, it seems he prefers to refrain from violence against prosecutors. A major player in the war against the state during the 1990s, he has had a falling out with Riina, who said the following about the Trapani Mafioso, “this Mr. Messina Denaro, this fugitive who acts like he's the boss, doesn't give a shit about us. He dabbles in streetlights, but he'd look a whole lot better if he shone a light up his ass!”</p>
<p>Did Messina Denaro refuse to murder one of Riina’s reviled prosecutors? It would explain Riina’s comments.</p>
<p>Yet, it seems that Messina Denaro is leaning towards agreeing with Riina more and more. Though there has been no violence against Trapani prosecutors, there have been multiple threats and acts of intimidation.</p>
<p>Messina Denaro has been facing the prospect of spending life in prison since 1993 when he became a wanted man after being indicted for his involvement in helping plan bombings in Rome, Florence, and Milan that were part of the Mafia’s war against the state. In absentia his life sentence has been handed down and will await him upon his arrest.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237025860,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237025860?profile=original" width="238" /></a>Despite, making billions and enjoying a large amount of support, Messina Denaro is feeling the heat. His main nemesis is Trapani prosecutor Marcello Viola (right) who, together with his team, has been closing in on the brutal playboy boss.</p>
<p>Police made several major arrests in the past few years. In 2009 they <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-are-closing-in">arrested Salvatore Miceli</a> in Venezuela, who functioned as Messina Denaro’s middle-man between Cosa Nostra and South American drug cartels. That same year, police in Trapani picked up thirteen men who were accused of carrying out Messina Denaro’s orders and providing him with false passports and other documents.</p>
<p>Also in 2009, prosecutors broke up an international ring led by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Sicilian Mafia</a> that tried to use fake Venezuelan bonds to obtain credit lines totaling $2.2 billion from HSBC Holdings Plc, Bank of America Corp. and unidentified British banks.</p>
<p>“This was a colossal operation,” Marcello Viola, one of the lead prosecutors on that case, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDVQrZyCvwtk" target="_blank">told Bloomberg News</a> at the time. Some of the Mafia-linked people involved “were experts in finance who traveled the world.”</p>
<p>In 2012, Viola expanded his search for Cosa Nostra’s ill-gotten riches as he requested the secretive Vatican Bank to disclose details of an account held by a priest in connection with a money laundering and fraud investigation. The priest, Father Treppiedi, 36, served in Alcamo, near Trapani. Viola believes Messina Denaro used him to launder large amounts of money.</p>
<p>The hardest blow thus far came in December of 2013, when police <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/italy-nabs-kin-sicilian-cosa-nostra-mafia-boss-matteo-messina-denaro/" target="_blank">arrested</a> Messina Denaro’s sister, his nephew, and two cousins. Authorities believe Messina Denaro’s 43-year-old sister Patrizia and other arrested family members maintained contact with their fugitive relative and helped him run his Mafia family.</p>
<p>That same month, Marcello Viola received a long letter at his office in Trapani. The sender seemed to be well informed and warned the prosecutor to quit his investigations. If he didn’t, things would not end well the letter hinted.</p>
<p>The threat was the latest in a long string of threatening or intimidating incidents that confronted Viola and his fellow anti-mafia prosecutors. In the summer they received a letter containing death threats and a 9mm bullet.</p>
<p>In September of last year, a security officer found a bug in the Palace of Justice where Viola works. However, the bug did not work, it could not transmit an audio signal. Police believed the bug was meant to demonstrate how easy it was for the Mafia to access Viola’s inner sanctum.</p>
<p>The bug had been placed next to the front door of the building. Not the main entry, but the one in the rear which is only used by attorneys and prosecutors. It’s located in a secure area of the building and to get there you have to cross an area closed to the public. It is even monitored by cameras. When investigators tried to check the recorded video for images of the person who planted the bug, however, they found that the tape had been tampered with. It ran in a loop, covering the time of the supposed planting with old recordings.</p>
<p>But the courageous prosecutors won’t budge. In turn, Cosa Nostra is becoming even bolder. Last week, Viola’s office was broken into and files may have been stolen, police said.</p>
<p>Prosecutor Viola’s main target is Messina Denaro. Viola’s office is located in Trapani, Messina Denaro’s territory and powerbase. Though there is no hard evidence of the Mafia boss’ involvement in any of these incidents it is unlikely he did not know of or approve these actions. His name will be mentioned in any article dealing with these threats so if they were committed without his approval it is certain he would make sure they ceased by stopping the person responsible for bringing unwanted attention to his operations.</p>
<p>It is much more likely that Messina Denaro is pushing the boundaries of Provenzano’s strategy of laying low and resolving conflicts without violence. Each threat becoming more intimidating until the threat of violence is no longer enough. Only the act of real violence will get Cosa Nostra bosses the results they crave. It won’t, of course, but they will think otherwise, ignoring all the lessons of the past.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Sicilian Mafia section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Profile of Gangster-turned-Cage Fighter Lee Murray
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gangster-turned-cage-fighter-lee-murray
2013-11-20T13:00:00.000Z
2013-11-20T13:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-turned-cage-fighter-lee-murray"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237015289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237015289?profile=original" width="455" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>They gave him the nickname “Lightning Lee” for his knockout power during cage fights. Lee Murray was a strong contender feared by elite fighters the world over. But he was a gangster first and that lifestyle knocked out any hopes he had of becoming a UFC champion.</p>
<p>London, Great Britain, has produced a long line of strong leaders, infamous villains, and vicious fighters. Perhaps it stems from the middle ages when all that stood between the peasants and the evil invaders such as the Vikings was a strong King. A man who could guarantee the safety of his underlings. In the civilized world of today the use for such a strongman at the helm of the country has run out in some ways. If you’re a Britain looking for good ol’ strongmen and brutality you should look at the cities and its mean streets.</p>
<p>The British public has an enormous fascination with their <a href="http://amzn.to/1at4Bkd" target="_blank">villains</a>. From the <a href="http://amzn.to/1aR3g2s" target="_blank">Kray brothers</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-boss-curtis-warren">Curtis “Cocky” Warren</a> their stories sell millions of books and newspapers and are turned into movies and television series. But the story that truly became legendary was that of the <a href="http://amzn.to/1h2tqHP" target="_blank">Great Train Robbery</a> in 1963 in which a gang of robbers got away with over £2.6 million (the equivalent of £46 million today). There was something about a well-executed heist that turned these criminals into public heroes. Especially among the youths growing up in poor and rough areas, among wannabe tough guys like Lee Murray.</p>
<p>Born in London in 1977, Murray grew up on the streets of Plumstead in South East London. Early on, fighting was the norm for the young Murray and his friends. A way of settling disputes, deciding who was the leader, and protecting the neighborhood from outsiders. Murray was fearless and quickly became the undisputed leader of the Buttmarsh Boys, named after the estate they resided on. Former fellow gang member Mark Epstein remembers Murray well, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI8BnfOwCFU" target="_blank">describing</a> him as someone you do not “take lightly at all. I mean there was plenty of gun play you know, drugs and stuff. (…) He’s his own guy. When you start getting to a certain level it’s a dangerous game you play.”</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237015855,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237015855,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237015855?profile=original" width="300" /></a>For Murray it meant playing a dangerous game on two levels. As he started getting into drug dealing and other nefarious activities he also discovered he could fight at a professional level.</p>
<p>For fighters nothing tops the pay day that professional boxing offers. But it’s a slow and long way to the top and fighting is a game of politics. The answers to “who fights who?” and “which fighter gets a shot at the title?” are found not in the ring, but in an office somewhere, with men in suits deciding on the most profitable route. Some men don’t like that. Perhaps they also feel boxing lacks the true spirit of combat. Maybe some of these men would like to use more than just their hands during a fight. Lee Murray was one of them. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) offered him the outlet he was looking for.</p>
<p>On November 12, 1993, as Murray lay in his bed after celebrating his 16th birthday, across the ocean in the United States, the Ultimate Fighting championship organized its first tournament. It was unlike anything the world had ever witnessed. The tournament pitted fighters from all disciplines against each other to find out which technique worked best in a fight. Was it boxing? Kung Fu? Judo? Karate? Sumo? That night the answer was the exotic Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu of Royce Gracie. A skinny, unintimidating guy, Gracie defeated everyone put in front of him. His unknown techniques made bigger, more muscular guys tap out with their faces in agony as Gracie held their limbs in painful positions and choked the air from their lungs.</p>
<p>That day, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu proved to be the most effective fighting discipline on the planet. But it was even more effective when mixed with boxing. And karate. And Judo. And Muay Thai. Pretty soon cage fighters were training in all disciplines. <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mma/news/20131112/mma-ufc-20th-anniversary-bobby-razak/index.html" target="_blank">Mixed Martial Arts was born</a>.</p>
<p>Murray would train at two different gyms to hone his skills as a Mixed Martial Artist. One for his boxing and one for his wrestling. His first fight came on December 5th, 1999, at an event called “Millennium Brawl”. He knocked out his opponent in the first round living up to his nickname “Lightning Lee.”</p>
<p>His dreams of becoming a professional fighter were starting to become a reality.</p>
<p>Murray traveled to the United States to train at the gym of former UFC champ Pat Miletich. He was pouring his heart and soul in a career as an MMA fighter. After several fights, including three rounds against <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NPrfV-t1PM" target="_blank">Anderson Silva</a>, the best MMA fighter to ever walk the face of the earth, he earned a contract with the premier MMA organization in the world, the <a href="http://www.ufc.com" target="_blank">UFC</a>.</p>
<p>January 31, 2004, it was now or never. At <a href="http://amzn.to/1at4o0m" target="_blank">UFC 46</a> Murray made his debut. His opponent was Jorge Rivera, a tough street guy just like Lee. In the first round, the Londoner got Rivera in a triangle choke, leaving him helpless and earning Murray the win. He had hit the big time. A path of fame and untold riches lay before him if he continued to win.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the code of the streets kept calling.</p>
<p>In June of 2004, he nearly beat to death a motorist who side swept his car. A regular citizen would just brush it off. Maybe let out a few curse words or flip the bird at the motorist. But on the streets that sort of “kind” behavior is seen as a weakness. And it can get you killed. If someone disrespects you in any way, you take back your respect any way you can. Having lived by the code of the streets all his life, unable to control his temper, this trained demolisher went to work. He was indicted and as a result was denied a work visa to the United States, seriously hindering his career in the UFC.</p>
<p>The charges were eventually dismissed, but by then it was already too late.</p>
<p>Though you can make a lot of money as an MMA fighter, you need to fight a lot and preferably win a belt to become truly wealthy. With his work visa denied, and a stabbing at a party nearly ending his life, Murray was unable to tap into that wealth. His fighting dreams hanging in the balance, realizing that perhaps they were never anything more than dreams, Murray fell back on his street dreams and started planning the biggest score of his criminal life.</p>
<p>Crime pays royally. £53,116,760 million in this particular case. It was the biggest cash robbery ever committed in the United Kingdom. For mastermind Lee Murray it must’ve felt like winning a UFC title belt.</p>
<p>The heist was meticulously planned and executed.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016079,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016079,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237016079?profile=original" width="450" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016484,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237016484?profile=original" width="292" /></a>Robbery is all about control. If you are able to control as many factors and participants, and control them without question, you are more likely to be successful. The gang that executed the Securitas depot robbery on February 21, 2006, had taken into account all angles and areas when it came to controlling every aspect of this brazen heist.</p>
<p>The gang’s first moves had to be low-key, these were the most integral parts of the plan. Dressed up as policemen they pulled over the car of Colin Dixon, the manager of the Securitas depot, and asked him to take a seat in the back of what looked like an unmarked cop car. Dixon had no reason not to trust the police and got in. Inside he was handcuffed by other gang members and driven to a farm where he was reunited with his wife and 8-year-old son who had been taken hostage as well.</p>
<p>The heavily armed robbers had completed their first move and taken total control of the man who would lead them into the cash-filled depot. If he didn’t he would risk the lives of two of the most important people in his life.</p>
<p>Masked, wearing balaclavas, and carrying handguns, AK-47s, and shotguns the gang entered the depot around 1 a.m. Once inside they tied up fourteen members of the staff and started moving out the money into a waiting van.</p>
<p>At a quarter to three in the morning, they exited the depot and vanished with over £53 million pounds sterling. Lee Murray had just successfully executed the biggest robbery in British history.</p>
<p>The best part about it was that they had to leave £153 million inside because they couldn’t fit it into their lorry.</p>
<p>It had been quite the operation. It was planned to perfection and the robbery went smooth as silk. These were professionals. But as professional as the robbers had been leading up to and during the heist they showed none of that in the days following it.</p>
<p>Within two days, police had made its first arrests and was quickly closing in on Murray and his gang.</p>
<p>Feeling the heat, Murray and his right-hand man, Paul “The Enforcer” Allen, fled to Morocco. Since his father was Moroccan, Murray was granted immediate citizenship upon birth and would be safe from extradition to Britain since the countries had no extradition treaty.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016870,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016870,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237016870?profile=original" width="300" /></a>In Morocco, the two men went on in a spending spree buying villas, drugs and jewelry, and spending thousands of pounds on plastic surgery for their partners. The sky was the limit as they felt untouchable and had millions to spend in their newfound paradise in the desert sun.</p>
<p>Inside his 1.5 million dollar mansion in the city of Rabat, Murray has a life-size mural of his one UFC fight hand painted on the living room wall (right). Despite having pulled off the biggest cash robbery ever, it’s that one fight that remains Murray’s greatest achievement in life. And, judging by the mural, he knows it.</p>
<p>His name is still frequently dropped by members of that organization. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan discussed Murray’s two careers with English UFC fighters Dan Hardy and James McSweeney on his podcast. UFC president Dana White once said, “He (Murray) is a scary son-of-a-bitch. And I don't mean fighter-wise.”</p>
<p>Former UFC champ Matt Hughes recently <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq76MgD0RsI" target="_blank">retold</a> a story from his <a href="http://amzn.to/1h2snYx" target="_blank">book</a> about the time Murray knocked out then UFC Light Heavyweight champion <a href="http://amzn.to/HZ0L7A" target="_blank">Tito Ortiz</a> in a street brawl to an audience at a UFC convention.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237017293,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237017293,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237017293?profile=original" width="367" /></a>If Murray had no skills as a fighter these men would not bring him up. He’s a criminal after all. The black sheep of their sport. Still, there is a certain respect for what he had accomplished. Former UFC champion and Murray’s old trainer Pat Miletich <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI8BnfOwCFU" target="_blank">told ESPN</a>, “If all of this stuff is true, he’s the baddest of the bad. That’s a bad boy. Anybody who has got the guts to go into a money depository that has so much money in it that you can only leave with a certain amount of it cause you got no more room in the truck. You got some guts. You got big brass ones.”</p>
<p>British authorities asked Moroccan police to monitor Murray for illegal behavior. After months of surveillance they bust him for cocaine possession and resisting arrest. From prison, Murray fights his extradition to Britain. He is successful, but Moroccan authorities will now try him on the robbery charges instead. In the summer of 2010, he is found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison.</p>
<p>Murray appealed to have his sentence reduced, but in what must’ve felt like a knock out kick to the head his appeal was dismissed while prosecutors had their appeal against his sentence being too lenient upheld. As a result, the Moroccan judge added fifteen years to his sentence, which now totals twenty-five years.</p>
<p>Now, the 36-year-old gangster-turned-fighter only has the memories of a glorious past and the nagging thoughts of “What could have been?” combined with questions of “What if?”</p>
<p>If only he had managed to stay on the right path. He might’ve been able to turn his life around. Used his talents for good. Inspiring young street toughs to leave a life of crime for a disciplined regime in the gym and better their lives. He might have become a UFC champion even. Instead, he chose the dark side and wasted his talents for nothing.</p>
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