A former undercover customs officer who infiltrated London's drug gangs has spoken about his double life, which inspired the Netflix series Legends. Known only as 'Guy Stanton', he spent a decade posing as a gangster, travelling the world and building relationships with some of the most dangerous criminals.
Guy's cover was so deep that even his family believed he worked in a quiet customs policy office. In reality, he was part of the secretive Beta Projects unit, which used fake identities—or 'legends'—to get close to drug traffickers. His legend was a London gangster, complete with a council flat in Tower Hamlets and postcards from South America sent by other operatives to maintain his cover.
One of the most dangerous moments came on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, where Guy was caught in a gun battle. 'People lay wounded around me. My great fear had been that it would end like this, far from my home and family,' he said. Despite the risks, no Beta operatives were killed in the field, though many have since died of natural causes.
Guy grew close to some criminals, including Pablo Escobar's cousin Vittorio. 'I was woken up at 3am in Dubai to be told he had died on the operating table and I have to say I was really sad,' he recalled. 'Some of the criminals I met had great brains. They could have been highly successful legitimate businessmen.'
After leaving the job, Guy suffered a nervous breakdown and later faced a false accusation of taking a bribe, though he was exonerated. Co-author Peter says, 'He was badly let down in the end, you could say he was himself betrayed.' The Beta Projects unit was closed in 2000 as its methods became known in the criminal underworld.
Despite the toll, Guy remains philosophical. 'I have had quite the adventure and quite the life,' he said. The war on drugs continues, but as Peter notes, 'What Guy and others did stopped tons of drugs coming into the UK... but it only made a small dent.'
