- published: 30 Mar 2015
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Howard Marks (born Dennis Howard Marks on 13 August 1945) is a Welsh author and former drug smuggler who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he was supposedly smuggling consignments of the drug as large as 30 tons, and was connected with groups as diverse as the CIA, the IRA, MI6, and the Mafia. He was eventually convicted by the American Drug Enforcement Administration and handed a 25-year sentence to be served at Terre Haute, though he was released in April 1995 after serving just seven years. Though he had up to 43 different aliases, he became known as Mr. Nice, after he bought a passport from convicted murderer Donald Nice.
Marks was born in Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend, Wales, the son of Dennis Mark, a captain in the Merchant Navy, and Edna, a teacher. He has stated that his earliest memory is of throwing his father's ship's cat into the Indian Ocean; he also stated that that memory haunted him for the rest of his life, and that he was so young at the time that he had expected the cat to catch fish and then swim back to the ship. Brought up as a Baptist, he later turned to Buddhism, though he did not become a devout follower. He attended the Garw Grammar school in Pontycymer (he is a fluent Welsh speaker).