London’s hidden crime lords: how international mobsters live double lives in plain sight

Blending into the crowds of tourists and office workers who pack the Tube every day, they are gang leaders in disguise who believe they are untouchable.

But after a swaggering Eastern European crime boss was recently hauled away by cops in London, we can reveal the mob kings who turned the city into a gangster’s paradise, hiding out in leafy suburban semis and even running a food kiosk before their disturbing “parallel lives” were exposed.

Mob boss Ion Gusan, 54, was dramatically arrested by cops near Tower Bridge in LondonCredit: OCCRP

The Moldovan was linked to weapons smuggling across the continentCredit: OCCPR

For years, kingpin Ion Gusan had walked the streets of London a free man, despite being the head of a criminal network whose tentacles stretched across Europe.

That all came crashing down when the Moldovan national was dragged from his chauffeur-driven Mercedes and arrested in December, after officers from the National Crime Agency boxed him in near Tower Bridge.

It was a major coup in the fight against organised crime.

But the fact he had been on the run for three years, and supposedly living in a plush apartment in Canary Wharf, has highlighted how the capital has become something of a haven for the upper echelons of the international criminal underworld. 

Plenty of mob bosses over the years have managed to live free and undetected, blending in among the millions of other people who call the city home.

“It’s so easy to be anonymous in cities, where people don’t speak to their neighbours and where people don’t speak the same language,” said Peter Bleksley, a former detective with London’s Metropolitan police.

“You can come to the UK, live in a major city and keep your head down, and go undetected – and the bad guys know this.

“If they do come on to law enforcement’s radar, you’re going to have to be pretty high up in the pecking order for the police to launch a specific operation to try and capture them.”

He added: “With the case of Ion Gusan, how many of his underlings are not on the radar and are still living here? How many people are forced into modern slavery, or forced to pay off their fares for being smuggled over?”

And the very nature of organised crime means those in the know are rarely going to let the truth slip out.

“The people who you’ve smuggled, or those who are dealing your drugs, are never going to go to the authorities,” added Peter.

“They’re rarely going to grass you up, so it’s a continual revenue stream, providing you with the profits of your illegal activities. The cash economy is so often fuelled by crime.

“It’s a whole parallel economy, and they’re supported by some people who have been here for many years.

“They’re well established, and well entrenched – parallel lives, parallel communities, plenty of cash in hand, and it’s easy to live an anonymous life.”

Cathy Haenlein, Director of Organised Crime and Policing Studies at defence and security think tank RUSI, added that London in particular provides a lot of advantages for criminals looking to hide their wealth.

“There are structural reasons why the UK, and especially London, have long been attractive to high-profile criminals,” she said.

“London is one of the world’s largest financial centres. Sophisticated financial ecosystems of this kind can be exploited by criminals looking to hide or legitimise their assets.

“High-value UK property, corporate vehicles, and other financial structures can be used to absorb questionable funds, embedding illicit money into the legitimate economy.”

‘The Patron’ mafia boss

Ion Gusan managed to evade law enforcement for nearly 25 yearsCredit: OCCRP

Prosecutors accused him of hiring a hitman to take out Russian banker German Gorbuntsov, pictured, who was gunned down in Canary WharfCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd

Gusan is alleged to have headed up a major Eastern European crime network called ‘The Patron’, believed to have links to the Russian mafia.

He was a wanted man in France and was sentenced in absence last May for armed robbery, extortion with violence, racketeering, smuggling, money laundering and for being part of an organised crime gang.

Born in a tiny Moldovan village, he had managed to evade law enforcement for nearly 25 years despite the work of intelligence agencies across Europe.

Moldovan prosecutors accused him of hiring a hitman to take out wealthy Russian businessman German Gorbunstov, known as the Black Banker, who was shot six times with a semi-automatic pistol as he got out of a taxi near his apartment in Canary Wharf – and miraculously survived. 

Gusan is also accused of being linked to migrant smuggling operations, and to the trafficking of Russian weaponry including a tank missile system and a rocket launcher.

According to intelligence, Gusan, also known by the name ‘Nicu Patron’, had attained the rank of ‘thief in law’ – a ‘vor-v-zakone’ – the highest level of criminal in former Soviet countries. 

Cop killer kingpin

Albanian gangster Maksim Cela is fighting his deportation from the UKCredit: The Sun

He was previously jailed in his native Albania for the killing of a policeman and for plotting to bomb a football stadiumCredit: Refer to source

Last March, an Albanian terrorist guilty of killing a police officer was let free to walk the streets of London after being granted bail amid an asylum battle. 

The Sun previously told how mafia kingpin Maksim Cela, 59, had been costing UK taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds in his fight against deportation. 

He claimed that sending him home would put him at risk from rival mobsters if he was sent back to Albania. 

Cela was detained in the UK after serving more than half his 25 year-sentence for murder and terrorism in Albania. 

It is believed he flew here from Spain using a false passport.

The hardman was jailed for masterminding the murder of cop Klenti Bano, who was gunned down with an AK47 outside his home, and for plotting to plant a bomb at a football stadium in 2009. 

He was jailed in 2001 and sentenced to 25 years in September 2006. 

He had planned to melt into Britain’s Albanian community straight after his release but was caught on entry. 

This then led him to launch a two-pronged attempt to stay in the country on human rights grounds.

He first claimed asylum, alleging that rival mobsters would kill him if he returned to Albania. 

He later changed his story to claim that deportation would put him at risk of degrading treatment or torture. 

Cela lost his appeal after the hearing was told he was a liar – though he remains in the UK, having lodged yet another appeal.

Smuggler boss’ double life

Over in east London, a Kurdish people smuggler had for years been living a double life, disguising himself as the owner of a humble food stall while earning thousands smuggling people in small boats. 

Hewa Rahimpur, 32, arrived in the UK in 2016 hidden upon a lorry, claiming asylum on the basis that he would face persecution back home in Iran, and was allowed to stay in 2020.

He set up a barber shop, but after this failed he set up a small food kiosk in Ilford, east London. 

But the fact he drove an expensive Mercedes S Class was a hint that Rahimpur lived a double life.

In reality, he was one of Europe’s most notorious people smugglers, responsible for sending up to 10,000 people across the Channel in small boats. 

It also emerged that he came not from Iran but from the city of Erbil in Iraq, after a Sky News investigation tracked down his origins. 

He was known to his neighbours to be friendly and quiet – but all the while he would refer to migrants as “chickens” and threaten violence. 

“He was like gold,” his neighbour Linda, who rented the shop to him, told Sky News.

“He was paying his rent like normal… he was nice to everyone around here.”

After an investigation by the NCA he was arrested near his home in Ilford in May 2022 and extradited to Belgium, where he was jailed for 11 years in October 2023.

Godfather in the suburbs

Even the Italian mafia have made a home for themselves in London. 

Back in 2013, an Italian mafia boss who had been on the run for 20 years was arrested in the capital – and he had been living in the leafy suburb of Uxbridge.

Domenico Rancadore was one of the heads of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, but had been living quietly in a semi-detached house under the name Marc Skinner.

Locals had little reason to suspect that their quiet and kind neighbour was in fact a mafia boss nicknamed “The Professor”, and once linked to extortion, racketteering and drug trafficking. 

He had escaped to London in the 90s and was convicted in 1999 in absentia by the Italian courts. 

However, he could not be extradited because the crime of mafia association was not recognised by British authorities. 

Neighbours were quick to describe him and his family as “lovely, caring people” – though they noted he was continually cleaning his Mercedes and Jaguar cars on his driveway.

After his eventual arrest, he fought extradition for 18 months, and by the time it was granted his sentence in Italy had expired, meaning he was a free man again. 

Gangsters for hire

Ainis Balodis was part of a highly-trained group that had access to sophisticated weaponryCredit: North Rhine-Westphalia Police

Another member of the group can be seen getting arrested as part of the probeCredit: Europol

Meanwhile, back in November a Latvian hardman was arrested over a plot to kidnap the boss of an Albanian mafia ring.

Ainis Balodis, 45, had been working as a security guard in London at a six-bedroom gated property. 

However, he was allegedly part of a group of highly-trained men, some of whom were believed to be former French Foreign Legion soldiers, who acted as heavies-for-hire.

He had been involved in the plot to kidnap the Albanian gang leader in revenge for carrying out the theft of millions of pounds of cannabis.

Balodis was one of four men held after they were tracked down by an international operation led by German police.

Europol said the operation was linked to the “alarming” trend of former special forces members being hired to carry out jobs for organised crime, something that has been on the increase since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

Others are yet to be brought to justice. 

Search for ‘cocaine plotter’

Daniel Dugic remains on the run and is believed to be in LondonCredit: Handout

Serbian mob boss Daniel Dugic is suspected of being involved in a plot to import 255 kilograms of cocaine into the country in 2011. 

He is on the National Crime Agency’s most wanted list – and it is believed he could also be hiding out in London. 

The plot to import the cocaine involved a small vessel from the UK heading out into the English Channel to meet a commercial container ship, where the drugs were then transferred. 

Although Dugic was not on board either vessel, he is alleged to have played a major part in organising the smuggling.

But he was never arrested – and remains on the run to this day.