Ergun was a key suspect in the conspiracy to import into the UK as Kaya’s right-hand man and in the conspiracy to supply because of his strong and frequent links by mobile phone to Haase and Bennett. He was observed making 23 drug-related visits to Liverpool in the first six months of 1993 alone. He travelled to Turkey with Kaya on 15 May 1993, when their baggage for the trip was searched. Currency and false passports and driving licences were found hidden inside. He had also changed large amounts of currency at a travel agent’s in the West End.
Ergun was sharp. He had made the travel-agent contact after noticing a neighbour in his London tenement block wearing one of the company’s uniforms. He befriended him in a local pub and asked whether he would be able to change up large amounts of pounds into different currencies for transport without attracting too much attention. Ergun charmed the man and he agreed. Dollars were good because the large denominations made it easier to reduce the size of a bag of sterling and they were accepted anywhere in the world.
A legal document based on Customs intelligence states:
One thing is absolutely certain. Ergun was no ‘bagman’ or a ‘chauffeur’ simply driving, fetching and carrying for Kaya. He was twice seen changing large sums of sterling to US dollars . . .
Ergun also travelled abroad, though not as extensively as Kaya. He made two trips to Ostend from Dover (on one trip he was accompanied by two others), one trip to Calais from Dover and he accompanied Kaya to Turkey on 15/05/93. Their baggage for this trip was searched and found to contain currency, false passports and driving licences. It was not therefore a trip with an innocent purpose. Ergun also met Topaz [The Vulcan] on his visits to the UK and was in constant attendance along with Kaya. Ergun was not only aware of the conspiracy but played his own vital role within it.
4. JOHN HAASE
Haase, together with Bennett, was initially a distributor of the drug in the north-west. However, he quickly took on bigger deals. After December 1992, observations showed that both men were involved in arranging importations from the European mainland as well. On 17 May 1993 – two days after Kaya and Ergun had landed – Haase flew to Turkey under a false name with his girlfriend Debbie Dillon [though there is no suggestion that she knew of Haase’s involvement with drugs] to meet with members of the organisation there. Both men were regularly seen meeting Kaya and Ergun in Liverpool.
Haase and Bennett got so big that they were present at important meetings with Topaz [The Vulcan], proving that they were central players in the operation.
5. PAUL BENNETT
Haase’s flash deputy in Liverpool. Career drug dealer and hands-on expert from the Croxteth and Norris Green area of Liverpool. Known on the street as Ben or alternatively the Ben Fella, the B-fella and B-Man. Even before joining the Turkish Connection, Bennett was dealing big amounts of heroin with No-Neck – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by neighbours. A constant stream of limos and heavyweight villains advertised the murky world inside Bennett’s semi, where he had lived for five years with his partner, Cathy, and their children, Carl, then nine, and Cerys, then two. One neighbour said, ‘Big men dripping with gold in even bigger cars were always coming and going.’
His-and-hers matching BMWs – hers was a soft-top – were always parked outside. A luxurious camper van added to the line-up.
‘We knew they weren’t a normal couple by the hours he kept,’ said another neighbour. ‘They would spend so much money on the place but you never saw him going out to work. There were always lots of comings and goings after dark, not loud parties but often loud music and lots of people in big expensive cars.’
A bull mastiff dog kept guard from behind a high iron gate with spikes at the back of the house.
Haase delegated day-to-day control of cutting up, bagging up, security and transport of heroin to Bennett, who in turn employed a team of gophers to carry out the tasks on a massive scale. Before Haase introduced him to the Turks and their bulk supplies, Bennett was a medium-scale drug dealer who dealt in kilos and below. Bennett was often described as a big kid who liked to eat sweets and say very little. But behind the mask, he was very clever and careful.
6. CHRIS NO-NECK
Extremely tough, clever, cool-headed enforcer who rose through the ranks of Haase’s gang. No-Neck was an all-rounder. Haase relied on him because of his no-nonsense and fearless approach to violence. But he was also technically skilled as a drug dealer, familiar with purity tests and methods of chemical bulking out and distribution. No-Neck was also disciplined and well organised, able to carry out complex tasks smoothly and efficiently. He was also loyal and prided himself that he wasn’t an informant and could withstand torture from other criminals or ‘tax men’ intent on stealing drugs money.
7. EDWARD CROKER
First lieutenant to Haase and Bennett, responsible for storage, cutting and distribution of drugs, as well as collection of cash proceeds, which he passed on to them. Croker was also observed meeting Kaya and Ergun in the absence of Haase and Bennett and handing bags to them. He was a regular at a terrace house in Dane Street in the Anfield district of the city. The property was one of the gang’s safehouses where drugs were stored and cut up. On 21 July 1993, Croker was observed there in the process of cutting a large quantity of the drug and was in possession of a further 50 kilos five days later, together with £27,980 in cash.
8. BULENT ONAY
Bulent Onay was a founding member of the Turkish Connection and Kaya’s deputy before Suleyman Ergun took the job, but he was arrested shortly after Haase began dealing with the Turks. However, he did take part in some early drug deals with Haase during the honeymoon period immediately following Haase’s release from prison.
Before his arrest on 24 December 1992 in possession of 36.54 kilos of heroin, Onay had been involved in the transport of money and/or drugs within the UK. Three days before the raid, he had been to visit the north-west with Kaya and two other Turks to collect the drugs seized at his house. In the last half of 1992, Onay had frequently been seen in the company of other members of the organisation. On two occasions, he was seen leaving the UK carrying baggage containing large quantities of cash, together with a false passport and driving licence, for use by Yilmaz Kaya. His role was similar to that subsequently adopted by Ergun.
Onay travelled abroad fairly frequently and joined other members of the operation on a trip to Liverpool on 21 December 1992. On Christmas Eve 1992, Onay was stopped and given a speeding ticket on the M6 travelling south at 0035 and gave his name as Erdal Devrenk. Later that day, Onay was arrested at his home address and 36 kilos of heroin were found on the premises.
9. MEHMET ANSEN
The Vulcan’s bagman. Former Turkish army colonel with impeccably clean credentials. Well groomed, well spoken and highly efficient. He was chosen to transport money because no one suspected him. From a well-heeled Turkish middle-class family with a taste for the finer things in life, including a beautiful holiday home. Antiques dealer and bone china expert. Corrupted by offers of cash from The Vulcan.
Ansen’s function was the transport of cash in suitcases to Turkey. On 24 March 1993, he left the UK with £120,000 in his baggage. This was less than 24 hours after one of Kaya and Ergun’s trips to Liverpool, where they collected a large bag from Haase and Bennett. His luggage was covertly searched during one run and found to contain several assorted boxes which were sealed with Sellotape. One of the boxes had split open and a wad of a hundred five-pound notes was found.
If questioned, Ansen was supposed to say that he thought it was the proceeds of gambling. That was the cover story he and Kaya had agreed on one year before. The Vulcan and Kaya had similar heroin-dealing operations in cities all over Europe. Ansen soon became their EU bagman, going to meetings in various European cities including London, Vienna and Milan with Topaz and Kaya. He transported money for Kaya and Topaz from Italy to Turkey. On arrest, his diary was found to contain extensive details of his travels. His efficiency, together with a former army officer’s compul
sive desire to keep a record of all his expenses, was his downfall. The diary made numerous references to Topaz, known as The Vulcan.
10. MARK DREW
A minor player who was approached by Eddie Croker and asked to find premises for storing drugs. He duly arranged for a key to a premises which was used by Croker and others for the cutting of a large quantity of the drugs. Observations showed him being present on the day of one big delivery of heroin. It was alleged that Drew provided the premises, knowing full well that they were to be used for cutting drugs.
11. MANUK OCECKI
Armenian descent. At first, he had a role in the Turkish Connection similar to that of Onay and Ansen. He transferred drug money out of the UK to Turkey, where the heroin originated. For example, Ocecki was observed carrying approximately £100,000 to Istanbul on 8 July 1992. He was also responsible for staging meetings and organising safehouses. But, as time went on, the close partners in crime Joey the Turk and Manuk Ocecki became less involved and consequently less valued by some members of the gang. However, in the Turkish tradition, Kaya remained loyal to them, valuing their trust and comradeship above their financial performance as criminals.
12. JOEY THE TURK
Carried out similar role to Manuk Ocecki.
13. NEIL GARRETT
Real name cannot be given, for legal reasons. Childhood friend of Paul Bennett from the Croxteth area of Liverpool. Former heroin addict. Members of family also heroin addicts. Brought in to cut up, bag and distribute drugs.
14. PAUL LALLY
Real name cannot be given, for legal reasons. Drug- and money-runner for Haase and Bennett.
15. THE ESTATE AGENT
Haase’s main money-washer through property. Reputedly disappeared with £1 million of Haase’s cash to the USA.
The Turkish Connection was now up and running and operating in total secret. Few people knew of the gang’s existence. One of the few members ever to talk about the organisation and what type of people were in it is Suleyman Ergun, the number three. Ergun was essentially a normal boy from a decent family who turned into a ruthless gun-toting international heroin baron in his early 20s.
Ergun was born on 30 March 1969 in Tarsus, a city on the south coast of Turkey on a plain in the shadows of a mountain range. It was a world away from the clubs of north London, where he would make his mark by shooting gangsters for showing disrespect. Customs officers would later ask themselves what had changed him so dramatically.
SULEYMAN ERGUN: Tarsus is about the size of Cambridge and cotton is the major industry there.
I was a stubborn kid, very stubborn, and I was the first child and only boy in my family. My dad was a barber who started off as a child apprentice in Tarsus, then worked his way up, opened up a shop and even built a house.
We left Tarsus when I was three years of age. My dad was the first to go. He wanted a fresh start so he ended up coming to London to earn some money so he could get us over. One of his mates, Marmut, was over here, and he got him a job as a chef working in the Aberdeen Angus steakhouse in Piccadilly. He saved up a bit of money, came back and collected me and my mum and brought us over. We first lived in Newington Green.
I didn’t want for anything growing up. We were always out of London. My dad used to take us everywhere: Torquay, Hastings, Brighton, every weekend. My dad rented a small place from a fella, which we shared with my aunt. She had her own room, so we could just about live separately.
I started going a bit wild when I was about seven. I burnt the house down playing with matches under a sofa. When it caught light, I just walked out the room and shut the door. Everything was destroyed. We had to start again.
My mum and dad by this time had progressed to the rag trade. The factory was in Hackney. After I was seven, my mum and dad got a council flat in Somerstown, in Camden. I’ve been in Somerstown to this day.
I excelled in school until the third year in secondary school. That was when I started fucking up. Before that, I was good at sprinting and science. One year, I remember the heatwave when we went to school with flip-flops. I remember getting a Chopper bike, a brand new one, from my dad. My sister was born around 1970. The area I lived in then, you could leave your door open day and night. They were the good times.
But I was cheeky and feisty and got into a lot of fights. I used to take a lot of risks – jumping off sheds, hanging off balconies, throwing big blocks of ice up in the air and head-butting it. Pushing yourself to the edge, adrenalin, I don’t know. Even now, I still like the pump of adrenalin going through my body. It was something that made me feel happy; not to impress anyone.
After a couple of years, they put me in the project, for misbehaved kids. I was causing trouble and the truant officers kept turning up at my house. I hated the rules. I smashed a chair over a maths teacher’s head when I was about 12. I was suspended and then put in the project class. Outside school, I was drinking and stealing. I used to go round burning the bubble-gum machines with a blowtorch, getting money and bubble-gum out.
My first brush with the police was robbing a pair of trainers out of a shop in Oxford Street. I was 14 years of age. They were Adidas Forest Hills. My dad came up the police station. As soon as my dad seen me, WHACK! Right across the office. Policeman said, ‘You can’t hit him in here.’
He said, ‘He’s my son. I can hit him where I want.’
My dad was embarrassed. But I didn’t give a fuck. If it’s in you, it’s in you: crime.
We then robbed cars at about 15, 16. With a slide-pull, a hammer. On one joyride, I nearly got killed in an Astra GTE, but I learnt to drive robbing cars, just going to Epping Forest and doing it trial and error. High Beach, Woodford Way, tumble the cars on country lanes.
The first time I ever took drugs, I was 14. It was pot. I wouldn’t rob houses as it didn’t appeal to me. I tried to burn our school down with a can of petrol. At 15, my dad’s mate got me a job in this factory in the rag trade. One day he was at our house and he said, ‘If he is not going to go to school and get an education, bring him to the factory on Monday.’
I loved it. I was an errand boy on seventy pound a week. I was still doing petty crime as well, like robbing fruit machines. Then I started selling pot on the side – an ounce, two ounces. Chop them up into eighths, sixteenths, and deal them. I used to sell it in the factory. I became a top cutter, marking patterns, cutting the cloth. I used to lay fuize, material to make the cloth harder, stiffer. It was good money. Two hundred pound a week. We used to make clothes for Debenhams, Miss Selfridge, Pineapple, Wallis.
Then I started selling a bit of coke and Ecstasy when I was 17. Getting about a quarter-ounce, breaking it down to half and full grams. I was smoking the pot but not taking the coke. Hash and oil I used to sell also.
I had girls everywhere. Two girls in Hackney, two in Islington, two in Camden. I used to have a room above the Salmon and Ball pub on Bethnal Green road just for partying with girls. Done it up: hi-fi, leather couch. I wouldn’t tell them it was mine, so they wouldn’t come back looking for me. Just shag ’em and leave ’em.
I was respected on the streets. I was making good money from dealing. I started carrying a gun. I had a BMW when I was 21 – a 323i. B-redged. Six and a half grand. Go in the Camden Palace on a Friday night. Work that a couple of hours; walk out with a grand. Once someone tried to rob me in the toilets. He was a black lad. I just shot him in the leg straight away, stepped over him and walked back into the club. The bouncers smuggled me into the back alleyway and got me a cab. They knew me.
One incident I remember was when a van of coppers pulled up in Somerstown. One copper ran up to me, tried to put a paper knife in my hands he’d found on a wall. Nothing to do with me. So I’ve held me hands behind my back. Tried to get my prints on it. Takes me down the station and all that. While they were interviewing, tried to put the knife in my pockets. Crown court, fought the case. Copper never showed. Case was thrown out.
I gave up the rag trade at 21. The street appealed to me m
ore. I was still living with my mum and dad but earning over a grand a week. I started taking coke about 22. That was because I was drinking too much. I started to buy an ounce for twelve hundred pound. That was the most I would use. But I wanted more. A more daring adrenalin buzz. From the quantity.
I would sleep during the day; at night I came out like an owl. Buy a bottle of champagne, pour an eighth of coke into it. Drink champagne with an eighth of coke in it. I liked it because it comes on slower. Doesn’t fuck your nose up. From lips to your belly, it goes all numb. Nice.
My mum found a gun, a bag of pot, in the drawer once. They pulled me up about it. But they couldn’t say nothing, though, could they?
I’m my own worse enemy. I do what I want to do. My best quality was the respect I showed to people, especially my elders. My drug dealing was different. I kept it under wraps. That’s why I kept that job for a while. There was no trouble then.
I started getting good coke from Colombia. We would get a mule to go over to Colombia and bring a ki or two back. But the buzz wasn’t enough, though. It’s nothing like the feeling you get with a hundred kis of heroin in the boot of your car. Just to be near it. That’s it, isn’t it? Driving along thinking, ‘I know what I’ve got in the car.’ Police stopping beside you. A gun under my seat. Taking the risk. At the end of the day, that’s why I got into the big-time dealing. Not the money. Or the power. Just the buzz.
Don’t get me wrong, all the other perks came along too. Stringfellows, Ra-Ra’s, the Hippodrome: they were the places to be seen. Charlie Chan’s, Browns in Bethnal Green.
I took over my estate. My mates owned the local pub. Of a summer’s night, we’d be in there all night.
I got married in my early 20s. I think 21. She was a Turkish girl. I think her name was Hikmet Malizgit. She was a horrible girl. I kept going back to Turkey all the time. Stay with my cousins, on my mother’s side. It was fucking lovely in Tarsus. I’d come back, skin shiny, healthy. I’d spend six weeks out there in the summer. Go back here in the winter. Then spend New Year out there.
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