The Fall of the Essex Boys

The Fall of the Essex Boys is a 2013 British gangster thriller film based on the true story of the Rettendon murders in 1995. It follows the rise and ultimate fall of the feared criminal gang The Essex Boys.

On a boat in the North Sea, three men are importing drugs into Essex: Mickey Steele, Darren Nicholls and Jack Whomes. Unbeknownst to the other two, Nicholls is a police informant who has told D.I. Stone, a police officer, about the drugs. The drugs, however, still reach Essex because Steele anticipates trouble and sends Whomes away on a boat with the contraband.

It is revealed by Nicholls, who serves as the film's narrator, that the three men are suppliers to an Essex-based drug dealer named Tony Tucker. Tucker, his right-hand man Craig Rolfe and the psychotic Patrick "Pat" Tate serve as the three core members of the Essex boys. The gang grows progressively in stature until a girl falls into a coma and later dies after taking a "pure" ecstasy pill.

Enraged, Tucker and Tate visit Steele and threaten him. To repay them, Steele tells them of a job in Amsterdam, which Nicholls, Tate, Rolfe and Steele successfully complete. Nicholls, however, is wracked with guilt after killing three men. Meanwhile, Tate sees himself as "unstoppable" and cheats on his partner Karen, only for her to leave him for Steele. He also brutally assaults a pizza restaurant employee because the employee refuses to make a bespoke pizza for Tate's new partner, giving the police solid charges against a member for the first time. Despite this, Stone tells the employee to drop the charges as he knows a longer-term conviction is needed. Nevertheless, he comes under scrutiny from his superiors for this decision.

The now wealthy gang approach veteran criminal Billy Carmichael and, despite Tucker arguing with Carmichael, they secure a share of a lucrative shipment of guns and drugs going into Rettendon. They then recruit former associate of Carmichael, Ronnie Walsh, who is described as psychopathic and "would eat your face for a fiver and a gram of coke". Nicholls, knowing the power and influence they would hold if the job was successful and fearing for his life, informs Steele of the shipment and Steele duly puts into motion a plan to kill Rolfe, Tucker and Tate.