Paul Corkovic wanted to make a million. He needed an AK47 to do it

He was the king in his counting house. But a grainy photograph of gang boss Paava 'Paul' Corkovic checking his loot in the living room of his Salford home would lead to the downfall of one of the most prolific armed robbers Greater Manchester had ever seen.

Trigger happy and reckless, Corkovic was considered cavalier even by the standards of 1990s gangland Salford. And at a time when the city wasn't exactly short of armed robbers, Corkovic was perhaps the most notorious.

He was released from a stretch in prison in October 1994. But rather than turn his back on the life that had put him there Corkovic decided to double down on his criminal activities.

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While locked up he'd apparently decided he wanted to make a million pounds. And he knew only one way to earn that kind of cash. On his release he began putting together a crew of other blaggers 10 years younger than him.

They set up a base in a lock-up at Irlam industrial estate and equipped themselves with the tools of their trade: sawn-off shotguns, sledgehammers, machetes, baseball bats and - most terrifyingly - an AK47 assault rifle.

Within a month of Corkovic's release the gang had targeted a Morrisons supermarket in Eccles and a cash and carry at Salford Quays. Then they hit the Stanley Albion Casino in Pendleton in an audacious daylight raid.

After threatening a Securicor guard they bundled him to the cash office and smashed its security screen, before firing a shot into the ceiling to terrify the 40 customers. They then grabbed £100,000 in