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delivering half of his cocaine to that same movie producer. ‘I travelled all over the world with coke for that man. He was insatiable. I have no idea to this day whether he did all the coke himself or whether he shared it out among his friends. But then I never actually met him!’
    That particular ‘cash cow’ came to a sudden and dramatic end when Tony’s VIP customer died after a drug binge. ‘Wow.That was a pretty tricky time because he was found dead in his bathroom from a cocaine and alcohol overdose. In the end the cause of death was covered up for the sake of his family. I’ve been asked a couple of times if I felt guilty about what happened to him, but I don’t see it as my fault. He made a decision. He was rich enough to hire a doctor to get him off the booze and coke if he’d really wanted to.’
    Unperturbed, Tony continued to build on his upmarket Barbados contacts and says that during the peak holiday season over Christmas time, he has 200 different customers each week. ‘I make an average $500 from each one of them so the money is incredible and the ironic thing is that quite a few of those customers know that I dealt all the coke to that guy who died but it doesn’t seem to bother them in the slightest.’
    Tony claims that among his best customers at that time of year are many of the journalists who swamp the islands writing stories about all the celebrities who go on holiday there every winter. ‘It’s a bun fight but I get my business from both “ends”, so to speak; the journalists and the celebs. It couldn’t be better.’
    Today, Tony still has numerous rich and sometimes high-profile clients and is sometimes flown across continents with special consignments of cocaine for his wealthier customers, whom he first made contact with on Barbados. ‘They’re all professional people, who need a discreet dealer who isn’t interested in who they are. I never ask awkward questions and I make a point of not trying to be their friends if I dealwith them direct, but usually it’s through their assistants. It’s much better that way for me and them.’
    But Tony claims it is the consistent quality of his cocaine that makes him such a successful dealer on the island. ‘Too many dealers these days look at the short-term. They supply shit coke and then wonder why their customers stop using them. I know that as long as I can provide top quality cocaine then they will all come to me. It has to be consistent. If you sell them superb stuff one week and crap the next, then they start not to trust you and begin looking around for another dealer. It’s all common sense really. But you’d be amazed how few dealers understand those rules. Mind you, if they did then I’d have a lot less customers.’
    Tony’s businesslike attitude and back-story provides a fascinating insight into what has been called the ‘acceptable face of drug dealing’.
    Recently, Tony celebrated his fiftieth birthday with his young girlfriend, who was born on the island. ‘I toasted out loud all the rich clients who’ve made me who I am, especially that poor guy who died from an overdose of coke.
    â€˜Hopefully my luck will stay intact and I’ll carry on for another ten years maybe and then retire to the English countryside and live the life of a country squire back home. I always insist I don’t miss England but maybe it would be better to get off this island once my career is over.’
    Tony has led a much more charmed life than most cocaine dealers. The reality of the ‘business’ is that it is a high-risk occupation with danger lurking around every corner.

CHAPTER 8

CARLOS AND JOSE
    Brazil’s efforts to clean up the streets of Rio in preparation for the World Cup and then the 2016 Olympics have been well documented. But this supposedly booming South American country has recently been dubbed the