Drug lord's illicit £28m empire brought down during hunt for cop killer Dale Cregan

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A man who claimed to be a shop worker with a £28m drugs empire has been brought down during a police hunt for killer Dale Cregan.Billy Black told His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) he'd earned just £1,985 over an eight-year period.

However, the drug dealer managed to extend his home in Droylsden, Greater Manchester, and also flashed a Rolex watch, 60-inch TV, a luxury caravan and a plush Mercedes CLK 200 soft-top sports car.The fact was Black owned a £28 million property empire financed by his drug dealing.

His 28 rental homes across Manchester were used to launder ill-gotten gains he brought in from dealing.But it was to be the exploits of a fellow criminal that crashed his illegal operations.

In May 2012, Cregan had slaughtered rivals Mark Short, 23, and his father David Short, 46, in Droylsden in a pair of terrifying gun and grenade gangland hits.During the search for Cregan, cops searched for him in Black’s home, but there was no sign of him.