Costa Del Crime

by Wensley Clarkson

Ever since the collapse of the extradition treaty with the UK in the late 1970s, Spain's southern coastal strip of the Costa Del Sol has been a safe haven for criminals. Drug smuggler Howard Marks; Ronnie Knight and Clifford Saxe, both involved in the $6 million Security Express raid of 1983, and Kenneth Noye, eventually convicted for a road rage murder, are some of those whose dramatic stories are told in this thrilling account. Spain's unique status became a thing of the past when the governments agreed fast-track extraditions. But now there's a new threat. These days, drug dealers make runs over to the tip of Africa in nearby Morocco, some meeting gruesome ends at the hands of rivals, and unscrupulous property barons hatch dubious deals to provide homes for the rapidly expanding population, much of which is made up of UK ex-pats. This is the fascinating history of the criminals' favourite playground.

Genres: True Crime, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Dustin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book sucks. I expected it to be about the Russian or Italians mafias operating in the Costa del Sol but instead was about low level British bookies and pimps. Also definitely not a book for an international audience, I had to look up a lot of the British-isms. Don't waste your time

[David Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. Having read the Brinks Mat story by the same author and owning an apartment on Costa del Sol myself, I thought this might be interesting. How wrong I was! endless short chapters about a certain element of the Costa, none of which are particularly interesting. Even worse everything here has clearly been lifted from other sources and there's no sense that the author has done any research other than consulting Google. Avoid!

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

No está mal aunque no me gusta mucho cómo está escrito. Literalmente al hablar de un delito tan grave como una violación dice que "espera que sirva como un aviso para chicas jóvenes extranjeras que viajen a la costa del sol". Un discurso muy "moralista" y peligroso. No se puede culpabilizar a la víctima nunca. No llegue a terminar de leerlo, solo leí partes que me interesaban.

[Stuart Pope · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read a lot of the books by this author but this one was rubbish his stories were just a rehash of other stories.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

When a writer fails at writing the novel of his life he gets a second chance by publishing the junk documentation as "a true story".

[anthony winn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Probably not the most factual book but all the same an interesting read. Allows the reader to be lost in a Spanish world full of brits

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed this book having visited almost all the costa del sort resorts and having once had a villa in alicante it is defo a good read to see what goes on

[Johnny Bolton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book, great author