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Jailed crime boss ‘lived like a lord’
Seven-year term for Adams family ‘brains’
“BRAINS” behind a crime family empire has begun a seven-year jail term two decades after police first targeted him as a major villain.
Former meat porter Terry Adams and his brothers ran the much-feared Adams clan.
They raked in fortunes – most of it alleged to be from international drugs deals – and shrugged off the council estate lifestyles in which they grew up.
Known simply as “the organisation”, the Adams boys, initially from Clerkenwell, moved to dominate their “Caley manor” – a stretch of the Caledonian Road where they still have roots.
Prosecutor Andrew Mitchell, QC, told the Old Bailey: “Terry Adams was one of the country’s most feared and revered organised criminals. He comes with a pedigree, as one of a family whose name had a currency all its own in the underworld.”
As the 52-year-old, said to have made enough loot to enable him to retire at 35, listened from the dock, Mr Mitchell added: “He is well respected in the highest circles of the criminal fraternity.”
The Adams name was fiercely guarded like a company “trademark,” he added.
Gang associates are said to be linked to unsolved murders, including the stabbing of Ronnie Hinkson after a row in a bar in Camden Road, Camden Town, and the shooting outside the Northumberland Arms pub, in King’s Cross Road, of minicab operator David Foley.
Investigators from the Inland Revenue joined specialist crime squad detectives and MI5 agents to gather enough evidence to prosecute Adams for laundering £1.1 million.
“He always thought he was above the law,” said Mr Mitchell, describing how a raid was carried out in 2003 on his £2 million home near Barnet.
Adams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder proceeds of crime between 1997 and 2003.
He was ordered to pay £750,000 in compensation and £50,000 costs.
His brother, Tommy, 49, was previously jailed for masterminding an £8 million cannabis smuggling operation.
Another brother, Pat, served a seven-year stretch for armed robbery and is now living in Spain.
Terry Adams, who always liked to keep a low profile, escaped a long trial by confessing his guilt after being offered “a deal or no deal” solution.
Charges against his wife, Ruth, 46, were not proceeded with because of her ill health.
Joana Barnes, 38, of Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, was with him in the dock. She admitted forging a document to help Adams. A £5,000 fine with £5,000 costs resulted.
She is the widow of his trusted finance advisor, Solly Nahome, 41, shot dead outside his home in Golders Green.
A portfolio of properties, in Clerkenwell, Hatton Garden, Smithfield and Islington, was linked to Adams. But he was careful to have nothing in his own name. He had no bank accounts and no visible income.
“Yet he lived like a lord,” said a detective.
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