Staff Reporter
Retired cop warns Marbella has become the ‘Wall Street of crime’ and blames the current wave of violence on a new breed of ‘reckless’ gangers
A RETIRED cop who worked the Costa del Sol for two decades, dedicating his career to tracking down drug lords and dismantling their gangster empires, has spoken out about his life.
Former national police officer Juan Jose Gómez Millan, originally from Granada, moved to Malaga in 1996, an area renowned as the global headquarters for organised crime.
“There were already score-settling events here in the ’90s, but they were more selective. Now they’re more reckless, more crude,” Juanjo Gómez told Diario Sur.
Gómez said the first to arrive were the English in the 60s, several responsible for the Glasgow train robbery, a heist of more than £2.61 million from a Royal Mail train travelling from Glasgow to London in 1963.
“At that time, there was practically no international cooperation and the extradition treaties were nineteenth-century, so they took refuge here and started buying land,” he said.
As tourism in the area took off, visitors mixed among mobsters, both groups living lives of luxury, indulging in parties mixed with alcohol and sunshine.
It was a playground for the rich. To the south lay Algeciras, the gateway for cocaine, tax-haven Gilbraltor, and the world’s largest producer of hashish. Morocco.
“Organizations are like multinationals, and Marbella is the Wall Street of crime, “ Gómez told Diario Sur.
“The heart of the matter is on the Costa del Sol, and if you don’t have a branch here, you’re a nobody.”
Although authorities claim the number of crimes on the coast is lower than last year, there’s been a rise in organised crime.
Gómez thinks it may be because mafias are increasingly recruiting younger children, enticing them with the Pablo Escobar dream of street kid turned mobster, reveling in a life of glamour.
He also warned of an increase in gangs compared to organisations, where ‘charismatic leaders’ commit any crime with ‘no rules.’
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