[DanaC]

Rest in Piece, Mr Nice!

Howard Marks, who has died aged 70 of cancer, was Britain’s best-known and most charming drugs smuggler, and also a successful author and raconteur. He translated a lifetime of international cannabis dealing and a long stretch in an American jail into a bestselling book, Mr Nice (1996), and a career as a stand-up performer.

Born in Kenfig Hill, a mining village near Bridgend, in south Wales, to Dennis, a merchant sailor, and Edna, a schoolteacher, Howard spoke only Welsh for the first five years of his life. In 1964, he became the first boy from Garw grammar school to win a place at Oxford University and it was while studying physics at Balliol College that he first entered enthusiastically into the world of dope that was to define his life.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...marks-obituary


My favourite part of his story is that, having been asked at one point by a friend of his who was in MI6 to help him gain contacts in the underworld, he then, when tried for drugs trafficking, claimed he'd been using that as a cover for spying ... and it worked.

he played his MI6 card and convinced the jury, through the help of a mysterious Latin American witness, that he was assisting Mexico in anti-terrorism work and the drug smuggling was just a necessary cover.

Amazingly, he was acquitted, not least because of his charm in the witness box; one of the jury members was seen doodling a heart. He pleaded guilty to an earlier charge, was given a three-year sentence and released soon afterwards because of time already served.