A Day at the Races (16 page)

Their target Mc Alpine, was completely naked, hiding part way down the aluminium sided chute, clinging to the sides and bracing himself by pressing his feet against the wall to stop him sliding down. He had an Uzi sub machine gun slung around his neck.

“You cunning bastard,….. Drop the weapon and stay where you are, if you know what’s good for you.” said officer Boden, pointing his Heckler and Koch at him, at the same time barking into his radio.

“Commander, he is armed and in this chute, I guess it goes all the way down to the ground floor, we need men down there urgently in case he drops.”

Officers quickly located the chute in the laundry room on the ground floor, and looked up to see the naked body of Mc Alpine, jammed about three quarters the way up.

“They said you had balls Mc Alpine, but nobody’s ever seen them before, someone get a camera quick.” said one officer.

Commander Dunlop looked down the laundry chute.

“Well you have two choices Mc Alpine, you either work your way back up here, or you drop to the ground floor, which I would think is in the region of fifty feet, and would be a hard landing, but its up to you. Either way you are screwed, but in any event, the first thing you do is drop the firearm.”

Mc Alpine decided that the drop was too far, plus he had been in that position for quite a while and was by now feeling cramp in his limbs. He was also frozen with cold air coming up the shaft, and his manhood was shrinking by the minute and he couldn’t hold on much longer. His situation was hopeless; he had firearms pointed at him from below, and from above.

He removed the Uzi from around his neck, taking out the magazine and dropped them down the shaft. He asked for assistance in getting back up, and one of the police officers lowered a length of rope, which he managed to tie around his waist and they helped him up.

Armed officers surrounded him as he climbed out of the laundry chute, and he was allowed to put on some clothes, before they quickly cuffed him. He was cautioned, then lead away to a waiting Police van, and then driven under armed escort to Manchester Central Police Station.

They searched the en suite to his bedroom when they heard muffled sobbing coming from a linen cupboard, opening the doors, they found two terrified naked young girls, crouching on the floor.

They called for a woman police officer, who found them their clothes and comforted them.

Both girls were in their early teens, and crying hysterically, and in an extremely distressed condition.

They said they came from St Bernadette’s a local Catholic Girls Boarding School, and that they slept with Mc Alpine for drugs, and that most of the girls in their school had been to the house, at one time or another.

When the shooting started, Mc Alpine kicked them out of his bed, he told them to go and hide, otherwise they would be killed.

The female officer, handled them with care and consideration, but told them they would have to be interviewed at the station. But it was just a formality and not to worry too much. She was conscious of the terrible ordeal that they had been through; she didn’t consider them criminals, just unfortunately in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

She asked them if they wanted her to contact their parents. They both declined, and eventually they were taken away for further questioning.

Several hours were spent searching the property, but no other occupants were found, but a large quantity of drugs, weapons and money were seized and taken away as evidence.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Hilton, had been watching from the command vehicle in the grounds of the mansion, he was delighted with the way the tactical unit had performed. The only downside was they had an officer injured, although his injuries were not thought to be too serious.

But they had got their man, and some of the cash seized was later confirmed to have been stolen in the armed robbery at Wetherby racecourse, and this linked Mc Alpine directly to this particular vicious crime.

The victim shot dead by the police, was later identified as Dominick Dunne who was well known to the police. He had numerous arrests for assault, armed robbery as well as drugs trafficking and had numerous warrants outstanding in the Irish Republic.

Other raids followed in quick succession, to the homes of various members of the gang, one of whom in Bolton put up strong resistance with firearms.

Police marksmen engaged them in a battle that lasted just over an hour, during which time the armed suspect was shot dead, but not before wounding two officers. Two other gunmen surrendered and threw their weapons out, before coming out with their hands above their heads. They were quickly cuffed and read their rights, eventually police were able enter the building, and after a thorough search, took away firearms, drugs, and a large quantity of cash.

Miller was arrested at his home at 5.30 a.m. after Police gained entry and found Miller naked in bed with Freely. They both panicked and tried to escape through a rear door, but Police were everywhere, and they were quickly detained.

“Going for the rear again Miller you bloody pervert? All I can say is you will get lots of opportunity to practice your craft as a rear gunner in Strangeways Prison, they love Nancy boys like you in there. Although I should take a large tub of Vaseline with you to ease the pain, especially if you get incarcerated in E Wing, they say 90% of them are turd pushers.” Said the burly officer who restrained Miller with his arm up his back.

“Keep your bloody comments to yourself, if you know what’s good for you, you smart arse, I have friends in high places and you could find yourself posted to the Outer Hebrides. Plus if you think I will be in jail on your trumped up charges, think again.”

Miller winced with pain as his arm was pushed further up his back.

“Well we will see who’s a smart arse and who’s right at the end of today when you are up before Judge Lafferty. He hates people like you and he has a thing about drug pushers and I will also convey to him in my report your threats about my imminent transfer.”

“There are no drugs here, I don’t know where you got that information from, we have not done anything wrong and I didn’t know it was a crime to share your bed with a good friend.”

Freely meanwhile, was in a state of absolute shock and couldn’t understand what was going on. He lay on the floor in the foetal position crying hysterically until the toe of a size twelve boot gently nudged him in the ribs and he was told to get up off the floor.

They were both allowed to dress, and then they were quickly cuffed and cautioned, before being led away to different Police Stations.

A Police sniffer dog was brought in and they went through every room searching for drugs and eventually the dog marked an area in the wall of the utility room. Police found and opened a hinged panel in the wall to reveal a large locked metal box. They forced open the box and found inside twenty packs of cocaine each weighing one-kilo. A large quantity of cash, as well as pornographic material was also found in the box.

Rathbone was arrested at his home just before 6.00 a.m. and he was found in bed with a juvenile who it transpired was from the local children’s home. The youth was taken to one side for questioning and eventually the home was contacted to collect the youth.

Rathbone was cuffed, cautioned and was unceremoniously thrown into the back of the Police van. He protested his innocence all the way to the Main Police Station at Tenterdon Street in Bury, boasting the Chief Constable was a personal friend of his, and he would make sure that all those responsible for his arrest would be fired. Unfortunately for him, it fell on deaf ears.

The arresting officer found it hard to control himself, Rathbone represented all that was wrong with society and here was a person who had been elected to Parliament as a person of trust, and he thought he had the right to abuse vulnerable young boys.

A search of the house revealed cocaine hidden in a toilet cistern. They also found in a dressing table drawer, thousands of photographs of naked young boys and some of them showed Miller, Freely and Rathbone engaged in various sex acts with these youngsters. All this evidence was bagged up and taken away.

Chapter 19

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Just after the operation had started, and people had been taken in for questioning, the press and TV somehow got hold of it. By the end of the day the media was full of the story, about the shootout with the Drug Dealer, the Car Dealer, the Politician, and the Banker who have been caught in a web of drug dealing, robbery and child prostitution.

This was sensational news, and got extensive cover in all the media. The principals were all held in custody, in various police stations in the north of England and on the Continent, while investigations were ongoing.

Apparently it all came about as a result of information received by Police, by way of a tipoff. The Police obtained search warrants and had raided the head offices of Central Cars, and had found a large consignment of cocaine and £225,000 in large notes. Sniffer dogs had been brought in, and they had found evidence of cocaine, in every Mercedes and Porsche car in the showroom.

Also they discovered, that some of the money found at the home of John Miller over £300,000 had been taken in the robbery at Wetherby racecourse on Boxing Day, a further £50,000 in large notes, had been sent away for forensic analysis.

This delighted the police and they felt they had got some of the people involved in this particular vicious crime, that it was only a matter of time before they could put the pieces together, and be able to arrest and convict the remainder of the gang.

Documents led them to Froyds Bank on Bridge Street, so they obtained a court order to raid Froyds, and found £735,000 in large denomination bills in the safety deposit box of John Miller, along with substantial quantity of cocaine.

They also found sexually explicit photos of Miller, Freely, and Tory MP Charles Rathbone, engaging in sex with young boys.

The money had been sent away to Preston for forensic laboratory examination, and it would be some days before the results would be known. The following week it was disclosed, that the tests carried out at the Police Forensic Laboratory’s in Preston, revealed that the notes found at the various locations were very high quality counterfeit. It transpired that they had been importing luxury cars from Germany, with cocaine hidden inside the bodywork, and paying for this with counterfeit money, that had been laundered through Froyds Bank and Millers bookies chain, Happy Larry’s.

Further investigations, led them to a German Industrialist Klaus Beyer, who it transpired was at Cambridge with Charles Rathbone and they had been firm friends ever since.

Interpol had arrested him and found that Beyer’s Corporation, owned one of the biggest printing companies in Germany, that the quality of the forgeries was so good, they reckoned only a company such as his was capable of producing a counterfeit note of this quality. They also searched one of his companies, and found plates that had been used in printing Sterling fifty-pound notes, but it was too early to say if they were connected.

He was also the main International distributor for Mercedes and Porsche cars, and he was the Continental connection that secured the cocaine then shipped it hidden inside the cars, that they had been doing this undetected for several years. They found cocaine and counterfeit money at his home, so he also is currently under arrest.

When the news about the raids on Miller and Mc Alpine broke, Mike was very concerned and immediately contacted everyone involved, he told them to keep their heads down until things calmed down.

These were tense days for Mike, he was sure they would be caught and thought it best to stay away from the rest of the group, in case they were under surveillance.

He went into the New Hurricane Press and checked again to ensure that all the materials used in producing the money had been disposed of, and checked the printing press to be absolutely sure. Feeling they had covered everything, he went back home and Brenda asked him on a couple of occasions why he was so quite, but he said he was just concerned for Rachel, which he was.

After almost a week had gone by and there had been no visits from the law, Mike called a meeting at the canteen in Skippers Dairies and told everyone to be on their guard and to watch out for being followed. When everyone was assembled Mike spoke.

“I suppose you have all seen the press these last few days about Miller, and all his cohorts, well I am really concerned about the fact that he has been found with huge amounts of what I think are our forgeries, unless some other group was doing the very same thing on that same day which I doubt. Anybody any idea how this could have happened? I hope no one has been buying cars at Millers with our money.”

Moxie was the first to speak.

“Look Mike, I don’t think anyone would be that stupid, I put money on at Millers bookies Happy Larry’s at every opportunity.”

“So did I.” Said Maurice.

“And me to.” Said Frank.

In fact nearly all of them had hammered Happy Larry’s at one time or another.

Next Linton spoke.

“I placed at least three bets on with him of £500 and on the last race for £1000 and the smug bastard was ridiculing some of my selections but he must have been hurting when my last punt Daisy May came at fourteen to one.”

“Even so he seems to have finished up with a lot of our money, it just doesn’t make sense and I am afraid it might lead them to us.”

Moxie spoke up.

“Well I saw a lot of the other bookies laying bets off with him at Wetherby when the larger bets came in, particularly on the last race when the favourite was odds on. I put £1000.00 on the favourite with two of the bookies as well as Happy Larry’s and I saw these two bookies laying them off with Millers boys.”

“I thought the whole idea was that we would place bets on of between £5 - £500 so that we would get back genuine change and not to go bloody mad and make people suspicious.” Said Kenny Fitten.

“Yes it was, but it was the last race and I was trying to vary things to make it less obvious that a pattern was developing, plus I was trying to get rid of as much dud money as possible. I think that Millers bookies have been trained to accept layoffs for that greedy bastard, and I think that’s what probably happened.”