Curtis Warren

Curtis Francis Warren (born 31 May 1963), also known as Cocky, is an English gangster and drugs trafficker who was formerly Interpol's Target One and was once listed on The Sunday Times Rich List.

Biography Curtis Warren is the second son of South American born Curtis Aloysius Warren, a seaman with the Norwegian Merchant Navy, and Antonia Chantre, the daughter of a shipyard boiler attendant. He grew up with his elder brother Ramon and sister Maria in Toxteth, Liverpool.

Bouncer After Warren was released from jail, local police commented that he had turned his life around, working as a bouncer at a Liverpool nightclub. But it was here that he learnt about the drugs trade, as bouncers have the power to control who comes in and out of a venue. He was able to control dealers' access and then befriend them, giving him an inside education.

Charrington and acquittal In the late 1980s, he came to an agreement with Middlesbrough car dealer Brian Charrington. In September 1991, the two men sailed to France on Charrington's personal yacht on then-legal British visitor passports. They then travelled to Venezuela on British 10-year passports, and arranged a deal with the Cali cartel to smuggle cocaine in steel boxes, concealed in lead ingots.

The Netherlands Warren returned to Liverpool. But with the combination of various ritual killings of several organised crime figures, and the police pursuing him following the high-profile case failure, he had to move.

In November 2007, Warren's former right-hand man, Colin Smith, was shot dead while leaving Nel's gym in Speke.

Jersey conviction Under SOCA's "Operation Floss," just three weeks after being freed from prison in the Netherlands, on Saturday, 30 June 2007, SOCA called Jersey Police to inform them that Warren had arrived at Manchester Airport, and paid cash for a plane ticket. Observed in Jersey with known Liverpool associate and now Jersey resident Taffin Carter, the pair drove around in Carter's VW Golf to various locations, including the isolated St Catherine's Breakwater.

With drugs at three times the street price in Jersey compared with the UK or France, after Warren returned to the UK, Jersey Police created "Operation Koala," monitoring and bugging various locations, including phone boxes and the home of Taffin's girlfriend, Suzanne Scurr. From this, they discovered that a friend of Warren, John Welsh, intended to travel to Amsterdam to meet known Warren associate, Moroccan Mohammed Liazid. Jersey Police wanted to bug Welsh's hire car from Saint-Malo, but were refused permission by French and Belgian police, saying it was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. In what Judge Sir Richard Tucker later described as a "reprehensible" and "unlawful" act, Jersey Police, which is not signed into but bound by the ECHR, bugged the car anyway, and with Dutch Police, SOCA and Interpol monitored the transmissions.

In 2007, Warren was arrested in St Helens, over conspiracy to smuggle drugs; after a joint investigation involving Jersey police, Merseyside Police, SOCA, and law enforcement from Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Senator Ben Shenton raised concerns that Warren's legal representation was at the cost of the Jersey taxpayer, while Progress Jersey raised concerns that the entire resources of the Jersey drug squad had been targeted at Warren.

Warren was found guilty on 7 October for conspiracy to smuggle cannabis. He was sentenced on 3 December 2009 to 13 years imprisonment for his part in the plot. Jersey Police are also starting an investigation into his wealth, with the aim of confiscating his gains from drugs trafficking.

After initially serving his sentence in HMP Full Sutton near York, he was moved to HMP Belmarsh. On two occasions, he has unsuccessfully appealed to the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey General Sir John McColl for leave to appeal his conviction, once in March 2011, and secondly in September 2011.

In November 2013, Warren was ordered to pay a £198m confiscation order, or face another ten years in jail. On 27 March 2014 it was reported that Warren had lost his appeal over his failure to pay the order, and so would remain in prison.

In 2020, Stephanie Smithwhite, a prison officer, was jailed for two years after having intimate relations with him.

In November 2022, Warren was released from prison.

On 27 August 2024, Warren pleaded guilty to six breaches of his Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) at Liverpool Crown Court. He was sentenced to 14 months, suspended for 18 months.