Gangster brothers who ran a £7m empire tried to one-up each other to get mum’s approval with money laundering

Two drug-dealing brothers who ran a £7m empire constantly tried to one-up each other to win the approval of their money-laundering mother.

The Fitzgibbon crime family are notorious in Merseyside for their criminal empire which imported several kilos of super-strong heroin and ecstasy from Turkey which they then distributed throughout their elaborate network. Made up of drug baron brothers Jason and Ian and money laundering mum Christine, they have built a global network in their quest to become top dogs in the Merseyside criminal underworld.

But their elaborate network was foiled after an international police operation busted a drug racket in Istanbul and traced it back to Merseyside, where the family lived. The ECHO looked back at the fate of the Fitzgibbons and how their illicit dealings were brought down as part of a regular new series looking at Merseyside gangland.

READ MORE: Family of mother killed by pedophile criticizes ‘lack of transparency’ in parole hearing

READ MORE: The one phone that changed their lives forever

Previous media reports have detailed how the brothers were raised around crime and, as teenagers, oversaw protection rackets, ran off to extort money from local businesses. After being schooled in crime by their mother, they eventually moved on to shoplifting and carjacking before graduating to the dreaded men who set up drug businesses in Europe and South America.

In the late 1990s, police intelligence experts identified the brothers as key players at the crime scene, and in May 1998 Operation Black was launched to bring the pair and their cohorts to justice. Following an investigation into the brothers, they pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to supply heroin and were both jailed.

The brothers were also accused of running a multi-million pound operation to bring Class A drugs into the UK by ferry from Holland, but it was ruled by a bench of Dutch judges that the evidence was weak . However, their time in prison did not steer the brothers away from a life of crime; if anything, it drew them in deeper.

The fearsome brothers were not afraid to spread violence to further their ambitions to become Merseyside’s top dogs, ruling the region with “fear and terror”. In 2006, Jason, known as the tough family man, was involved in a major standoff with a north Liverpool drug gang in a nightclub on Victoria Street. He was said to have been threatened with a gun leading to a near riot.

On another occasion, Jason was jailed for his role in luring a car dealer to a Whiston venue before launching a brutal attack with the help of two gang associates. The Fitzgibbons were even suspected of being involved in a feud with Curtis Warren in the 1990s, which only ended when the Toxteth man moved out of town.

The brothers often traveled abroad for face-to-face meetings with drug cartel associates in Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Turkey. Detectives investigating the family believed the brothers never had a legitimate income, and no tax records were ever found.

The pair developed numerous tactics to outwit the detectives. They held business meetings while jogging, repeatedly took different routes, and developed a secret language that no one else understood. For example, “boys” were ecstasy pills, a “ticketman” was a courier and “a pound” was actually £1,000.

Mother Christine Fitzgibbon was an expert money launderer, managing the brothers’ criminal network as a business secretary. She would book multiple flights for each trip in an attempt to ward off the detectives and even advised them on exchange rates to optimize her profits.

All the while she and her husband William claimed £1,500 a month in Income Support and Pension Credit. They lived in a smart, luxuriously furnished detached house in leafy Mossley Hill, while Jason lived in Aigburth and expensive Ian in St Helens.

The frat houses were moderate, but they drove flash cars. Conscious of the impression he would give, Christine once scolded Jason when he parked a Porsche sports car in her driveway. The family also enjoyed holidays at their luxury villa in Spain, brought in for more than £300,000, but refrained from further luxury trips abroad due to fears of attracting the attention of the police.

Although the Fitzgibbons, known locally as the ‘Fitzys’, built their criminal empire on ecstasy and cocaine, heroin would prove to be their downfall. The brothers were behind a plot to import 57kg of super-strong heroin from Turkey into the UK. But the scheme worth around £7m was foiled when a car with the boot full of the drug was found in Istanbul.

Intelligence services from England to the Turkish police stopped the business in its tracks and on 26 September 2011, five local drug dealers were arrested. Investigations by the Serious and Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) traced the planned importation of the drugs back to Liverpool, with suspicion falling on the family. SOCA officers managed to plant a listening device inside the family’s home on Edale Road and over three years eavesdropped and recorded hundreds of hours of conversations.

Conversations recorded by officers noted sibling rivalry between Jason and Ian, who constantly argued and sought their mother’s approval. On one occasion, Jason yelled, “Anything he can do, Mom, I can do 10 times better.” Ian replied, “But who do you know there, boy. Who do you know? Who brought it all back? When did yours bring anything back? When?”

Another time, the brothers were recorded singing Jessie J’s hit ‘It’s All About the Money’ while boasting about their growing wealth. The aftermath of the botched drug deal in Turkey was also recorded, with Ian remarking: “That’s the story of Jason’s life, that Turkey thing. Three hundred pounds… three hundred pounds he owes us.”

Once the police amassed enough evidence through their painstaking operation, they raided the family home and discovered matriarch Christine was far from heavy when it came to finances. They discovered carrier bags containing £182,820 in cash were found hidden under the floor and in the center column of a dining room table.

A further almost £35,000 was found in Ian’s home in St Helens. The money was in a mixture of English, Irish and Scottish notes indicating how far their criminal tentacles stretched. Crime writer and former ECHO contributor Graham Johnson told Channel 4 News the family were “major players in organized crime for 30 or 40 years”.

Speaking about how they have stayed on top for so long, Mr Johnson added: “They can be very intimidating and they are very good at getting witnesses, which is why the police find it very difficult to build cases and they are extremely good. drug dealers, so it’s a recipe for success as an underworld crime family.”

Appearing at Manchester Crown Court, prosecutor Paul Mitchell said: “The drug dealing involved huge quantities of both heroin and ecstasy. It involved the importation of multi-kilogram quantities of drugs into this country and the subsequent supply of those drugs.

“The scale of the undertaking was truly astounding. Those involved established criminal networks not only in the UK but also in foreign countries, including Turkey, from where they obtained massive amounts of heroin.”

In June 2013 Ian Fitzgibbon, then 39 and from St Helens, admitted conspiracy to supply heroin, MDMA and money laundering and was jailed for 14 years and six months. Jason Fitzgibbon, then 40 and from Aigburth, pleaded guilty to conspiring to import heroin and was jailed for 16 years. Christine Fitzgibbon admitted money laundering and was sentenced to two years in prison. Other gang members Daniel Smith, from Blundellsands, got 10 years for conspiring to supply MDMA, and Neil Williams, from Waterloo, was jailed for 21 months for money laundering.

The two brothers have continued to remain in the media spotlight in recent years, regularly appearing on the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) hit list. The NCA, which replaced SOCA, publishes a list each year of offenders subject to serious crime prevention orders (SCPOs), legal requirements that restrict travel and the possession of cash.

Earlier this year, Ian Fitzgibbon’s son Ian Jr admitted his role in a heroin and cocaine conspiracy following a police raid on the encrypted messaging service EncroChat. During a brief hearing in March, Ian Jr pleaded guilty to the two drug conspiracy charges, both dating between September 2019 and June 2020, as well as one charge of possession of criminal property in relation to £12,000 in cash seized from him on 20 February 2024. In November 2023, he was acquitted of involvement in the murder of Ashley Dale.

For decades, the Fitzgibbon family has been one of the main names when it comes to organized crime in the city. After their eventual sentencing, SOCA’s Matt Burton said: “What we’re talking about here is a family that has had a very tight grip on areas of Liverpool for many years.

“They thought they were untouchable. Their motive: financial greed and greed for their status and notoriety.”

Don’t miss the biggest and breaking stories by subscribing to the Echo Daily newsletter here.