Johnny Morrissey’s wife Nicola was renting an office for their ‘dodgy’ vodka company above a bar called Hideout. The Scot was taken to the work space near Marbella in handcuffs after being arrested in bed with her alleged gangster husband in an armed police raid.
Cops told a building manager after finding it locked: “Get here in three minutes or we’ll have to break the door down." Records in Spain show Nicola, CEO of a firm Nero Drinks, which police say was a front to camouflage Johnny’s alleged criminal activities, changed its name after her husband was identified by US authorities in April as a key member of the Kinahan cartel.
The Spanish company was called Nero Drinks Company SL until May when it became Bebidas Espirituales SL - Spiritual Drinks in English. Well-placed sources said Morrissey had been removed from the payroll of UK-based firm Nero Drinks Company Limited after his public ‘outing’ by the Americans.
Nicola was paying £317 a month for the small office, sandwiched between toilets and a dietician’s office on the first-floor of a low-level business centre in a quiet street off the busy dual-carriageway running between Marbella and Fuengirola. Tenants and visitors who want to reach the office area have to go past the ground-floor Hideout bar and cafe, a popular spot with holidaymakers and locals.
There is no suggestion whatsoever the bar owner is involved in any way in any criminality and he said today that he was aware of the police operation but had no idea what it was all about. The bar and cafe sells food as well as alcohol including beer and wine but no spirits like Nero Premium Vodka which the Morrisseys marketed.
An insider at the premises, who asked not to be named, said: “Nicola showed her face from time to time but Johnny was never around. “She didn’t cause any problems, seemed a nice lady and always paid her rent on time.
“Police took away some material including computers but left a lot of things like phone chargers and paperwork inside. I know they went in with a dog and removed an air vent cover so they must have been looking for something specific.”
Another source said: “There was a sign on the door which said something like Bebidas Espirituales previously known as Nero Drinks but that’s gone and it’s just a white door now with the marks where the sign had been stuck on."
As well as changing the name of the firm that had been set up in April 2019 as Nero Drinks Company SL, its registered address was changed in May from the £2.5 million mansion in nearby La Cala de Mijas, owned by Johnny, which Nicola had planned to turn into a wellness centre.
Around the same time they downsized from another £4.5 million mansion to the three-bed £260,000 rented apartment where they were arrested on September 12 by Spanish Civil Guard officers. Morrissey, 62, was allowed to put on a green T-shirt and white trainers before being led out in handcuffs in the tropical shorts he is believed to have been sleeping in.
The business and address changes they made came weeks after former Cork restaurant owner Morrissey was one of seven people including crime boss Christopher Kinahan Sr and his son Daniel hit with sanctions and identified by the US department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The US authorities said of the British-born Irish passport holder, so close to alleged cartel boss Daniel Kinahan he was invited to his wedding in Dubai in the summer of 2017: “John Morrissey has worked for the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) for several years, including as an enforcer, and facilitates international drug shipments for the organisation from South America. John Morrissey is also involved in money laundering.
Nero Drinks was one of three companies included in the list and banned from trading in the States. The Spanish Civil Guard, who led the operation against Morrissey through its elite UCO unit with support from Garda, Britain’s National Crime Agency and the powerful US DEA law enforcement agency, say they believe he allegedly helped crime gangs launder up to £302,000 a day over the 18 months their investigation lasted.
They described it as the “most important international criminal organisation that operated in Spain dedicated to money laundering” in their only official comments so far. The informal Hawala method of moving money said to have been used, originating from an Arabic term for transfer or trust and involving a network of brokers, is known to have been adopted by criminal gangs who use code numbers or tokens like banknotes torn in half to prove cash is due.
Outlining the role Nero Drinks played, the Civil Guard said in a statement: “The principal members of the organisation in Spain allegedly created a luxury vodka brand promoted at shows, parties and events at nightclubs and restaurants in luxury Costa del Sol environments, presenting it as a successful drinks brand.
“This couldn’t be further from reality because according to information from tax authorities, it couldn’t be funding the lifestyle of the people arrested. Similarly they allegedly created another firm in the UK which was dependent on another company created in Gibraltar, with the aim of hiding the true identity of the directors of the firms that were used to launder the money coming from Hawala.”
Morrissey and a British man who has not been named were remanded in custody following a behind-closed-doors court appearance in Marbella last Wednesday. His wife was released after appearing in court but remains under investigation.
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