Liverpool Narcos

In the 1980s, Liverpool became the hub of a drug boom that reshaped Britain. Criminal networks pioneered lucrative markets for heroin, ecstasy and cocaine, exploiting dockside smuggling, family links abroad and local influence. Powerful kingpins flaunt wealth, forge ties with the Cali Cartel and even reach the Sunday Times Rich List. The drug trade mimics Liverpool’s changing fortunes: the heroin epidemic of the 1980s, the ecstasy-fueled nightclub boom of the early 1990s, and violent drug wars later that decade. The story is told through traffickers, users, and the police and customs officers caught off guard by a surge in drugs.