Too nasty even for drug king ‘Mr Nice’

OVER lunch in the Savoy Hotel in London, Howard Marks, left, one of Britain’s most notorious drug dealers, propositioned John Palmer with an audacious new deal.

It was just three months after Palmer’s release from prison in 2004 but Goldfinger was tempted.

One of Palmer’s associates later explained: ‘Halfway through the main course, Marks tells John that he’s got the “deal of the century” and wants John to help finance it.’

Marks – known as Mr Nice, which was one of his aliases – was offering Palmer 50 per cent of all the profit in exchange for a £200,000 investment in a cannabis shipment. But Palmer was used to even bigger profits from timeshare.

‘I’d want 75 per cent for me, 25 per cent for you,’ he said to Marks. ‘What d’you reckon?’

‘I reckon you’re a greedy b ***** d,’ muttered Marks, his trademark hippy grin draining from his face.

Years later Marks – who died in 2016 – told me about the meeting with Palmer, saying in his broad Welsh accent: ‘Hmm. John Palmer. Not a very pleasant individual.’