Watch Liverpool Narcos

A 1990s cocaine boom transformed Liverpool and marked the deadliest chapter of its drug history. Liverpool's traffickers formed direct links with Colombian cartels, moving cocaine through the city's port and supplying the entire UK market with this lucrative drug, generating vast wealth in the process. The authorities made stunning seizures, but the kingpins remained at large. Curtis Warren emerged as Liverpool's most notorious trafficker, earning enough to appear on the Sunday Times Rich List through his ties to Colombia's Cali Cartel. Growing pressure from the police and customs culminated in a massive operation to take Warren down.

Ecstasy arrived in Liverpool in the late 1980s, triggering a cultural revolution and a profitable drug trade. Growing up in the shadow of mass unemployment, John Burton recognized a lucrative opportunity, quickly moving from a small-time dealer at underground raves to building national supply routes and manufacturing his own pills. Liverpool's existing smuggling networks and the arrival of acid house music from the U.S. helped the city become a hub for the ecstasy experience. By the early 1990s, clubbing was mainstream, superclubs drew national and international crowds, and the nighttime economy boomed. Behind the scenes, rival criminal groups fought turf wars involving stabbings, shootings and fire-bombings. As violence escalates, Merseyside Police attempted to fight back with drug squads and firearms units.

Heroin arrives in 1980s Liverpool, triggering a devastating new drug epidemic during a time of economic collapse. Using first-person accounts of those who lived through that era, Liverpool Narcos paints a picture of the city's heroin years. Michael Showers, a popular community leader who was also known as The Godfather, emerges as a central player in the drug game, using his cannabis smuggling connections at the Liverpool docks and criminal alliances at home and abroad to build his empire. In 1981, smokable heroin appeared just as mass unemployment hit, and within a few years, Liverpool gained the nickname Smack City. As addiction spreads and deaths increase, Merseyside Police adopted new enforcement tactics, while Showers' wealth and influence continued to grow, leading to a final confrontation.