He has been dubbed the “second father” of Tyson Fury, who guided him from obscurity to the world heavyweight championship.
Proud uncle Peter Fury was the Gypsy King’s trainer from a young age and stayed by his side as he rose to claim the heavyweight crown, which he will regain if he defeats. Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh tonight.
This positive contribution marks a stark contrast to a darker side to Peter’s story as a former gangster boss, who oversaw a major drugs operation in the northwest of England.
But while the 56-year-old has long acknowledged his past as an amphetamine dealer, he has chosen to remain secretive about a particularly shocking episode in his criminal career.
MailOnline can today reveal Peter Fury’s involvement in a shocking firearms conspiracy that sheds new light on his previous links to the criminal underworld.
This saw Fury, then serving time for drug offences, lead police on a series of weapons thefts, including Soviet-made Mac-10 and RPG-18 machine guns.
But what appeared to be a genuine lead was soon suspected to be nothing more, and the gangster was later accused of organizing the planting of the weapons himself.
According to Fury’s information, the police found a total of four caches of weapons. in Kent and London between November 1996 and October 1997.
Peter Fury was Tyson’s trainer from a young age and remained by his side as he rose to claim the heavyweight crown, which he will regain if he defeats Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh tonight.
While the 56-year-old has long acknowledged his past as an amphetamine dealer, he has chosen to remain secretive about a particularly shocking episode in his criminal career.
He claimed to have heard the information in the high security wing of HMP Full Sutton before passing it on to officials in exchange for a reduction in his security status and parole.
But when the decision was made not to downgrade his security rating, Fury launched a legal case appealing the move, which is when allegations about his involvement in the conspiracy first came to light.
According to a source with knowledge of the legal case, police responded to their judicial review by warning that the weapons caches were part of an elaborate scheme by the gangster to curry favor with authorities and reduce his parole, with the weapons purchased and then abandoned. . for his contacts in the underworld.
Officers’ suspicions about Fury’s trail were fueled by an ongoing investigation at the time involving Liverpool gangsters John Haase and Paul Bennett, who were released shortly after police carried out several gun hauls in Merseyside thought to be linked to the IRA.
It later emerged that Haase and Bennett used their criminal network to obtain and plant the weapons in an attempt to pervert the course of justice. Both were later sentenced to life in prison.
Senior officers knew Fury was partnering with Haase and Bennett in the high security wing of HMP Full Sutton and believed he had attempted to replicate what they had achieved.
And after an investigation into his criminal contacts, they claimed to have discovered evidence that supported their theory.
In a book published in 2022, former Met detective Michael Hallowes revealed his frustration that the scale of the alleged firearms conspiracy orchestrated by Fury appears to have been erased from history.
Peter (main, right) watches a Tyson press session at a school in Bolton in 2014.
Peter (left), with Tyson and his father John (right) at a press conference in Bolton in 2015.
MailOnline contacted the Metropolitan Police, Kent Police and the Crown Prosecution Service to ask about the firearms discoveries and why Fury was never prosecuted, but was told the historic nature of the case meant the records could not recover immediately.
Hallowes, author of Operation Fertilizer: Inside story of Britain’s biggest arms trafficking scandal that government officials didn’t want to tell, told MailOnline: “It is a matter of public record that Haase and Bennett were prosecuted for their role. on a similar plan.”
‘At the time I found it enormously frustrating that this person was not subject to similar prosecution. It is evident that he attempted to pervert the course of justice. And the loot he led us to included automatic weapons of the type used in gangland murders across the UK.
It is incredible how an official could have accepted the proposal that was made to them. I can only conclude that this is the reason he was never prosecuted. He was buried to save appearances.
The firearms conspiracy has similarities to another plot orchestrated by criminals linked to the Kinahan cartel.
Earlier this year, a court heard how Liam Byrne and Shaun Kent planted machine guns in a bid to help Kinahan boss Thomas Kavanagh mislead authorities.
The National Crime Agency later found the weapons haul buried in County Down, which included three Skorpion machine guns, three Heckler and Koch automatic pistols, a PPS43 submachine gun, a POF PK1 submachine gun and an Uzi machine gun.
Kavanagh was sentenced to a new prison sentence of six years to be served consecutively. Byrne received five years in prison and Kent received six years in prison.
A file photo of a Mac-10 machine gun, one of the weapons recovered by police
They also seized Soviet-made RPG-18, a type of disposable launcher. stock photo
Peter Fury’s involvement in the firearms conspiracy and his access to military-grade weapons will raise further questions about the worrying relationship between boxing and organized crime.
Although he has acknowledged his criminal past while chatting with podcasters, he has chosen not to talk about this particularly dramatic episode.
Speaking to former reality star James English, Fury told how he grew up on a traveler site in Lancashire and made a living as a door-to-door salesman after leaving school several years earlier.
He claimed to have set up a successful used car sales business before starting to supply amphetamines, which led to a ten-year prison sentence in 1995.
Fury seemed bewildered by the tight security measures put in place to transport him while he was in custody. He told the podcast that on one occasion police provided air support while he was handcuffed inside a security van.
Tyson has spoken about how Peter became a central figure in his life after his own father, John, was imprisoned.
In his autobiography, the boxer tells how Peter became a “second father to him” on his journey to the world heavyweight championship.
However, Tyson later split from his uncle and his promoter Mick Hennessy after their relationship soured.
Peter speaking at a press conference in London ahead of Tyson’s fight with Derek Chisora in 2014.
Tyson Fury weighs in before his fight against Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk tonight in Riyadh.
In his autobiography, Tyson said: “As for Peter, it’s heartbreaking how our relationship disintegrated because at one point in my life he was like a second father to me.”
Peter Fury was sentenced to two years in prison in 2008 after pleading guilty to several money laundering offences.
Prosecutors said they believed he had “misled” authorities about his assets when he was jailed for drug offenses in 1995.
Prosecutors added that they believed he “laundered hidden funds through real estate transactions.”
MailOnline has contacted Peter Fury for comment.