Crime does pay - for some. The richest villains in the UK are worth hundreds of millions of pounds, with the number one fraudster said to be as rich as the Queen.

The BBC has delved into the criminal underworld to discover the elite of British crime to produce the Underworld Rich List (see below).

The resulting three-part series of the same name follows the fortunes of these villans, among them Mickey Green, a London armed robber-turned-drug trafficker; Curtis Warren, a Toxteth street dealer who's made it big; and professional gambler Brian Wright, who is now a fugitive cocaine baron.

UK'S RICHEST DRUG BARONS
Who?	Business?	Worth?
1. Brian Brendan Wright	Drug trafficking	�100+m
2. Michael Tyrrell	Drug trafficking	�100m
3. Curtis Warren	Drug trafficking	�80+m
4. Mickey Green	Drug trafficking	�75m
5. A Liverpool godfather*	Drug trafficking	�55m
6. A London crime family*	Drug trafficking	�50m
7. David Huck	Drug trafficking	�30m
8. Brian Charrington	Drug trafficking	�20+m
9. Walter Douglas	Drug trafficking	�20m
10. Thomas McGraw	Drug trafficking	�14m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons

UK'S RICHEST FRAUDSTERS
Who?	Business	Worth?
1. John Palmer	Timeshare fraud	�300m
2. Sheridan Leslie Cox	Boiler room fraud	�280m
3. A Scottish-based team*	VAT fraud	�30m
4. A playboy businessman*	VAT fraud	�15+m
5. An entrepreneur*	Pension fund fraud	�15m
6. A swindler now on the run*	Accounting fraud	�11.85m
7. Monmoham Singh Sandhu	VAT fraud	�6+m
8. A criminal hard-liner from Kent*	VAT fraud	�6m
9. David Withers	VAT fraud	�2.5m
10. Azil Nadir	Fraud	�2m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons

UK's RICHEST SMUGGLERS
Who?	Business?	Worth?
1. Tom 'Slab' Murphy	Cigarette and oil smuggling	�35-40m
2. The Deo Gang	People smuggling	�37m
3. Martin Potter	Drugs, cigarette and arms smuggling	�25m
4. A London villain*	Alcohol and cigarette smuggling	�17.3m
5. The Daniels family	Cigarette and drug smuggling	�16m
6. Frederick Roberts	Cigarette smuggling	�8+m
7. James Nisbet	Cigarette smuggling	�7m
8. An Essex crook*	Cigarette smuggling	�6m
9. An Irish paramilitary*	Alcohol and fuel smuggling	�4-5m
10. Kashmir Singh Nanan	People smuggling	�4m
* denotes can't be named for legal reasons