Book description
Charlie, snow, toot, white: cocaine goes by many different names. But
in Glasgow in the early 1980s, they called it Happy Dust.
At no-holds-barred parties of the glamorous and wealthy, cocaine was
the new aphrodisiac. A few lines of Charlie and a humdrum party could
become an orgy.
Hot from the forests of Colombia, Charlie flooded onto the streets
of Glasgow and was passed along the line to the cocktail set, highly
paid sports stars and yuppies desperate for kicks and thrills. Behind
it all was a man they called the Parachutist.
But all too soon, the party was over. People became too greedy and
the Parachutist was double-crossed. Some of the gang did shady deals
with detectives in hotel rooms; others flew to seek shelter in the
sun, their reputations destroyed but not their fortunes.
The good times might have been over for the Happy Dust Gang, but
their legacy lives on to this day.
David Leslie has worked for the
News of the World
since 1970. Since then, he has covered scores of major stories,
including the tragedies of Zeebrugge, Piper Alpha, Lockerbie and
Dunblane. Since 1994, he has concentrated on crime and major
investigations. He is also the author of the bestselling
Crimelord:
The Licensee
, about the elusive multimillionaire gangster Tam McGraw.
