A crime family armed themselves with guns stolen from the army and lived the high life after flooding the streets with heroin and crack cocaine.
The Whitney gang peddled drugs next to primary school playgrounds and lived a life of luxury off the back of it. Relatives and associates had spent years at the top of a massive Anfield-based criminal network, which had a stranglehold across much of Liverpool.
They made selling heroin and crack cocaine a 24-hour business, running a cash and carry-style operation - with 13 members of the gang ultimately handed 82 years in total in 2011. Ringleader Paul Whitney is now facing another lengthy spell behind bars after trafficking huge quantities of illicit substances via EncroChat, using the handle Bullet Hawk.
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Eleven years ago, the then 32-year-old - who lived in Fazakerley - headed up the gang with the assistance of key family members and a number of trusted associates. His mum Carol was dubbed "the banker", hoarding the gang’s money.
Her daughter Lisa acted as a street dealer while Leslie Whitney, Carol’s estranged husband, lived in one of the gang's known safehouses on Watford Road in Anfield. Other members included Lisa's boyfriend Wayne Hincks, Leslie's new girlfriend Emma MacKenzie and her mum Mary McCabe.
Beyond members of the extended family and their partners were Matthew Mayor, Michael O’Toole, Michael Waters, Gary Edwards, Neil Brady and Thomas Dowd. The firm often dealt in close proximity to Pinehurst Primary School in Anfield.
Paul Whitney conducted his business using no less than 17 different mobile phones. He had no official job, and according to reports from the time "seemed to spend much of his time fishing".
With a number of safehouses on Watford Road, Hildebrand Road, Cherry Lane and City Road, his operation ran a "cash and carry system" - trading with customers on street corners. Body armour was later recovered at the home of Carol Whitney, while the family also kept an SA80 military assault rifle - stolen from Salisbury army barracks in 2005 and stashed in the Cherry Lane home of widow and gran McCabe.
Officers also discovered 1,200 rounds of ammunition in a suitcase hidden in her car. Some were expanding bullets, designed to cause maximum damage upon impact.
It was suspected that the Whitneys employed younger, scooter-riding teenagers to orchestrate attacks - and possibly even shootings - to warn off other dealing factions. Those at the top of the hierarchy enjoyed the trappings of luxury, funded by their ill-gotten gains.
O’Toole lived in a plush home on Baddow Croft in Woolton, an exclusive property that boasted a private driveway and high security gates in an area popular with football stars. He owned seven mobile phones, a Cartier watch and travel documents for Las Vegas, Dubai and Spain.
The rent on his house reportedly totalled £1,000 a month, paid in cash. O’Toole visited the United Arab Emirate for a holiday before the empire came crashing down, with photos showing him riding on a camel and quad bikes and staying at a five-star hotel.
Dressing in designer labels and taking luxury holidays, he was not the only one spending his illicit cash. Mayor lived in Haydock in a house with manicured lawns, with a Harley Davidson parked in his garage.
His house was furnished extensively with plasma screens - including one installed in a wet room - costing £270,000. Paul Whitney meanwhile lived in a sought-after road in the Aintree area.
The Whitneys had been in Merseyside Police's sights for years, with Operation Malton launched in 2008 in a bid to take them down. The force began by taking out the levels below, stripping each rung before eventually reaching the top.
The Whitney gang was kept under surveillance by detectives from the force’s Matrix gun and gang crime unit, who recorded hours of damning evidence. In total, 12kg of heroin - worth around £600,000 - was recovered during the sting.
Detectives recovered cocaine which would have resulted in a £100,000 profit and 47kg of "bash", a substance used in the adulteration process to dilute class A drugs to lower purity and boost profits. On November 22 2011, Judge John Roberts jailed the 13 members of the Whitney gang to a total of 82 years and three months.
Paul Whitney was handed nine years and four months while Mayor received eight years and four months. Carol Whitney was locked up for eight years, and O'Toole got eight years.
Leslie Whitney was jailed for seven-and-a-half years, while Mackenzie was sentenced to 834 days in prison. McCabe was sentenced to eight years for her part in the conspiracy and for possession of a prohibited firearm.
Whitney and Edwards were each given four years, while Waters was sentenced to five years and four months. Brady was jailed for six years and nine months, Hincks got six years and eight months and Dowd received four years and four months.
Speaking at the conclusion of the Whitney gang sentencing, Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Doherty said: “This family is so dangerous that guns and drugs are part of their daily business. The Whitneys are an unpleasant family, significant in the Anfield area.
"Their reputation was well-known. They were an organised crime group that needed taking apart.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that Paul Whitney used the handle BulletHawk on encrypted communications platform EncroChat and had a "network of couriers and drivers" at his disposal to collect drugs and cash on his behalf. After the authorities gained access to the underground messaging service, officers executed a search warrant at his house on Clocktower Drive in Walton on March 30 last year - his 43rd birthday.
On this occasion, Whitney answered the door and replied: "It's my birthday. This is a joke."
Merseyside Police seized £600 in cash, a quantity of cannabis and several expensive motorbikes during the raid. A previous visit in August 2020 had unearthed monies totalling £15,000 in a locked cupboard, as well as a number of high value goods.
The court heard that Whitney had been involved in the supply of at least 4kg of heroin, 1kg of cocaine, 30kg of cannabis and 2kg of ketamine. It had previously been suspected that the now 44-year-old may have been concerned in the supply of up to 83kg of class A drugs alone.
The handles of 38 other service users had been stored in his Encro phone, and he was found to have been in contact with around half of these. Whitney - who appeared via video link to HMP Liverpool - was due to be sentenced on Wednesday after admitting conspiracy to supply heroin, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis and money laundering in relation to his latest crimes.
But Ian Whitehurst, defending, queried the quantities of drugs his client was alleged to have been involved in supplying - as well as the level of his role within the operation. Judge Robert Trevor-Jones adjourned the hearing until December 9.
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