A Bump in the Road for Europe’s Narco-Busters
by Fin Carter
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Johnny Morrissey might have been affiliated with the Kinahan crime family, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from diversifying his business portfolio. The obvious choice? A vodka brand.
At the end of 2021, things were looking good for the Morrissey family. Johnny Morrissey and his wife Nicola had just launched their vodka brand, Nero Vodka, and scored an interview with a Spanish luxury magazine. The piece featured shots of Nicola sporting a red ball gown behind the wheel of her Rolls-Royce, and posing in various rooms around their lavish villa in Marbella. In other photos, the couple’s young son rides a quad bike dressed in a suit and bowtie, and Johnny, a known associate of the Kinahan drug cartel, enjoys a perfectly staged plate of eggs Benedict.
Asked about her goals for 2022, Nicola Morrissey tells the magazine she is “finalizing plans” to launch the vodka brand in America. A few months later, Johnny Morrissey and Nero Vodka were placed on a Kinahan-related sanctions list by the United States, and the couple were arrested at the Marbella villa on charges of money laundering for the Irish crime syndicate. This time, the cameras were less welcome. Video footage captured by the Spanish Civil Guard shows Johnny shirtless and in handcuffs in his living room, while a group of agents conducts a search of the house, removing paintings, gathering electronics, and inspecting bottles of Nero Vodka. Nicola flipped off a press photographer as she was escorted off the property. Nero Vodka’s U.S. launch appears to have been delayed, for now.
Nicola was released after a couple of days, but Johnny was imprisoned for two years without trial, before eventually being released on bail in May this year. Finally free, he was spotted celebrating with a fat cigar and, you guessed it, a glass of his favorite emperor-inspired vodka brand. An unnamed source recently revealed to the Irish Independent that the Kinahans have dropped Morrissey, describing him as “disposable.”
Born in Manchester, Johnny began work as a nightclub bouncer before getting involved in organized crime. In the 90s, he ran a restaurant in Cork – until Irish authorities raided his home and seized €600,000 in cash and property. The raid prompted him to flee to Spain’s Costa del Sol in the early 2000s, and he has remained there since. He gained the moniker “Johnny Cash,” as he would often carry large wads of bank notes, flaunting his growing success.
For the most part, the Morrisseys erased their social media presence following their arrests in Marbella. But it would appear Johnny forgot to wipe one platform: his YouTube account. He was a prolific uploader of family videos, outings with his friends, and low-budget promotional videos for Nero Vodka. One video shows the Morrisseys’ son training at a gym with former boxing heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Johnny’s strong Mancunian accent can be heard shouting encouragement from behind the camera. Another shows Johnny at a bar in Marbella, forcing his friends to do a blind taste test between Nero Vodka and Grey Goose. The drug world’s finest liquor is, to no surprise, much better received.
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