Dennis Howard Marks was born on August 13, 1945, in Kenfig Hill, United Kingdom. He studied physics and philosophy at Oxford University while selling marijuana on the side. He became one of the largest drug traffickers in the world, who at his peak in the 1970s controlled a substantial fraction of the world's hashish and marijuana trade. He was finally arrested in 1988 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1990. He was held in a high-security federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana and was released in 1995. He returned to Britain and capitalized on his notoriety by becoming an author. He books included Mr. Nice, which was adapted into a film, and Mr. Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament. He died from colorectal cancer on April 10, 2016 at the age of 70.
