Kinahan Cartel money man Johnny Morrissey had fled Spain and only returned a fortnight ago before he was arrested this week.
The notorious “ enforcer” and money launder had flown to Turkey visiting other known criminals on what turned out to be an extended holiday.
But the police had him tracked and kept round the clock surveillance of his movements and who he met up with. He had also recently been in Ibiza.
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Cop finally decided to move against him once he returned to Spain in case he tried to leave the country a second time.
Morrissey, 62, had moved from one of his big mansions in Marbella to a small discreet apartment in Mijas after he was publicly named by the US authorities as one of the top seven members of the Kinahan cartel.
But expats in Spain who knew him say, like Gerry the Monk Hutch, he thought he was “untouchable” and the last thing he expected was an army of international police on his door at 6am on Monday.
Morrissey had gone from a nightclub bouncer to the much respected Costa owner of Nero Vodka.
From the moment the Nero brand was created a few years ago, he was invited to every party among the Marbella set from the five star Puente Romano hotel to sponsoring never ending charity events and fundraisers within the British expat community.
Yet it was just a front for washing €200million in drugs money for the Kinahan family lording it up in Dubai.
A former doorman who knew Morrissey said he was “ a nasty piece of work”. One minute he could charm people, the next day he would grunt and rave at you like a lunatic.
He made his name as a heavy in the timeshare business when he got involved with British fraudster Toni Andrews who stole almost €7million from ordinary working class punters and got seven years jail for it.
He would literally hunt and chase down people who tried to pull out of deals and hadn’t paid their pledged cash and would threaten them with violence or beat people up when necessary.
He was obsessed with the Roman Empire and saw himself as a modern day gladiator taking on all who got in his way. He named Nero Vodka after one of his idols and his various houses were full of Roman artifacts.
One neighbour who lives near one of his houses that was raided this week said there were always people coming and going, cars pulling up and leaving.
Some days there could be a group of four to five men standing outside chatting away.
The neighbour said: “He really loved being the top man with the flash cars and loads of money.
“In his own little head he probably saw himself as a bit of an emperor. The only thing now is it looks as if the empire, a bit like the Romans, is going to come tumbling down.”
One of Morrissey’s last big public projects was to build and open a dry out clinic for alcoholics on the Costa del Sol.
He built the facility which cost millions, but following the recent bad publicity the name was changed to a hotel.
Another resident who knew him said: “It was quite funny that this businessman who owned and ran Nero Vodka was now pumping cash into a facility for recovering alcoholics.
“I have no idea whose name this business is in, but he was the one most associated with it.
“I am sure the police will be all over it to see where all the finances came from”.
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