The family of underworld cocaine kingpin Leo Morgan – a mobster who rose from humble Birmingham butcher to global drugs baron – say he’s been left to rot in a Panamanian prison.

And brother Peter is demanding answers about the former boxer’s welfare after Morgan simply “fell off the radar”.

He described the marathon sentence for money-laundering – a sentence seemingly without end – as an injustice. “I think he should come out now,” he said.

The former Marks and Spencer worker last had contact with the drugs baron – a criminal with alleged links to the Russian mafia – five years ago.

He believes Morgan, who has served 18 years in a succession of sweltering, rat-infested prisons rife with TB, Aids and now Covid, has more than done his time.

At the very least, keep-fit fanatic Morgan, now 63, deserves the opportunity to serve what’s left of his sentence in Britain, Peter believes.

Leo Morgan
Leo Morgan

Speaking from his Kingshurst, home, Peter said: “I know drugs are different, but it’s not as bad as murder, in my book.

“It looks as if he’s been left to rot. We want to know if he’s alright and when he’s coming out, that’s it.

“He is a Birmingham citizen, he can’t be left to spend the rest of his life in there.

“There is no information. I look at Facebook and nothing’s said about him. I’ve read all the different stories and don’t believe half of them, but I know he’s not having a good time.

“OK, he keeps himself fit, but he’s not young any more.”

Morgan, who also has two sisters in the city, has been caged in prisons where inmates walk a tightrope between life and death – ever since a £500,000 haul of cocaine was discovered at his Panamanian ranch.

He fled to Central America as the net closed on a UK cannabis smuggling ring. Morgan, who has three children in the West Midlands, remarried in Panama.

He has served time in notorious El Renacer jail, where Panamania despot General Noriega languished.

The sweltering prison on the banks of the Panama Canal – a pit where guns and grenades are rife – is so dangerous the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division stormed it during the 1989 invasion of Panama.

In 2013, Morgan rang our reporter from the hellhole. He said he’d been stabbed twice – “it happens” – witnessed 59 deaths and scraped a living through organised fist fights.

Morgan also sent stomach-churning pictures of butchered prisoners, severed limbs arranged ritualistically on bloody torsos.

When asked how he’d survived the regime, Morgan growled: “Cream always rises to the top.”

His current location is unknown to his West Midlands family.

Panama’s penal system is, however, preferable to what awaits in Chechnya, a Russian republic that spent years attempting to gain an extradition order for Morgan. He is wanted there to face drugs charges, but fears he would “disappear” before trial.

Morgan’s climb to the top of the criminal hierarchy began with a custodial sentence for motoring offences, Peter maintains.

“It was a short sentence for driving,” said the 60-year-old. “It’s the same thing you see all the time. They go inside as Jack the Lad and ten years later they’re the top geezer.”

He remembers Leo as a man with a healthy, legitimate work ethic.

Morgan, raised in Witton, planned to follow his brother into the army, but was thwarted by a motorcycle accident.

He gained qualifications as a master butcher and opened a business called Birmingham Bacon, followed by Cotteridge eatery Bunter’s Diner, an a la carte restaurant and a TV and video company in Curzon Street. Peter worked alongside his brother.

Morgan’s boxing prowess also gained him a job on the door at Snobs nightclub. “We were close growing up as kids,” said Peter. “He was a good person, fair. He looked after his family, a grafter.

El Rencaser Prison, in Panama
El Rencaser Prison, in Panama

“He could look after himself, he had his own boxing gym behind the business. If you upset him, I suppose there was another side to him. But if you got on the wrong side of him, he wasn’t going to shoot you.

“All the time I knew him, he was good to people, all people. He’d give them money to set their own businesses up.”

Peter, however, admitted he could not argue with the “gangster” term used to describe his brother – “s’ppose he is”, but stressed Morgan is not evil. “I knew some of the things that were going on, but not everything,” he said.

Behind bars, Morgan has been an outspoken advocate for prisoners’ rights.

During a stretch in La Joya prison, he became the mouthpiece for banged-up Brits. While languishing there, Morgan survived a “hack and slash” attack during a full-blown riot that claimed 50 lives.

Last year, 15 inmates died during a gun battle.

The notorious El Rencaser Prison in Panama which is home to 56-year-old Birmingham drugs lord Leo Morgan.
Hellish conditions in a Panama jail (stock image)

Morgan was particularly scathing about the treatment meted out to cellmate Mark Bodden from British overseas territory the Cayman Islands. The 37-year-old died after falling eight feet from his makeshift bed.

According to a document leaked by Morgan, it was 12 hours before drugs mule Bodden received medical attention for serious head injuries.

“Mark didn’t have to die,” said Morgan. “It could have been prevented. He died because of neglect.

“He didn’t have to go like that. He kept on about fishing in Cayman, but he was a fish out of water here.”

If nothing else, Morgan is a survivor. He has gained respect through running boxing classes behind bars.

During his 2013 interview with our reporter, he graphically described what it takes to prevent becoming a target in Panamanian penitentiaries.

“You have to be as bad as them. You have to earn your spurs. You have to step to the line, you have to step up and be counted,” he said in a rapid-fire, treacle-thick Brummie accent.

“I’m not a gambler and I’m not a drug-user. You have your little battles and people get to know you. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

“I’ve lost a bit of weight, but I’m OK. I’ve kept myself in shape, done a bit of boxing and I’ve fought here. You fight the Panamanians and get money for that. It’s gambling.”

Morgan spoke candidly of a prison regime so brutal it would stun inmates in UK institutions.

“It’s terrible, I’ve seen terrible things. It’s a third world country,” he said.

“People are expendable here – I’ve seen 59 deaths.”

The punishment, he insisted, did not fit the crime.

I had a choice to do what I did,” he spat out. “I knew the risks. No-one held a gun to my head.

“People might say, ‘let him suffer’, but I never sent one kilo to England. I’m in here for money laundering, not drug trafficking. I don’t want to be slaughtered. They keep having a go, but I never killed anyone.

“I don’t get any response from Interpol, the Serious Organised Crime Agency isn’t interested, the Home Office say it’s nothing to do with them. They are not bothered, that’s what I’m up against.

“I don’t know whether I’ll see Birmingham again. They don’t want me back in the UK.”

On Friday, a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Our consular staff spoke to Mr Morgan, who is in detention in Panama, in the last few days.”

She provided a contact number for family members seeking information.