THERE are four golden rules to follow in the Adams crime family. Do not touch another man’s wife. Do not rip anyone off. Do not touch heroin. And, most importantly, don’t be a grass. Any associate found to be in breach of any of those rules faces punishment of the most extreme and savage kind, as a long list of casualties can testify. Patrick “Patsy” Adams, 60, stayed true to the code by shooting former enforcer Paul Tiernan, believing him to be an informant AND heroin dealer. Last night Adams, a henchman for the elite North London-based organised crime network, was starting a nine-year jail sentence as the only Category AA prisoner in notorious maximum security HMP Belmarsh. Tiernan, 56, fiercely denies he is a grass and has told The Sun that being shot was nothing compared to the pain of being branded a snitch and junkie by Adams. Old friends, including the Hatton Garden bank vault raiders, are also sticking by Tiernan and have confronted Adams. Tiernan believes someone poisoned the mobster’s mind against him and adds: “Being shot was an occupational hazard back then. The pain and operations meant nothing. What upset me much more was being labelled a grass. That still burns inside me.”
