Marie was strong willed and used to getting her own way. Tel was a hardened crime boss who believed that women should know their place. They were a very unlikely match, but what bound them together was their hunger for power, and their willingness to commit barbaric acts in order to reach their goal. Their marriage brought about many unwelcome changes in the London underworld. Rival gangland boss Pete Farrow, was stunned to hear that Marie was intent on becoming an active member of the Barker firm. He used intimidation tactics to show her that she didn't belong in the lifestyle, and only realised that he had underestimated her, when she retaliated by carrying out a number of astonishingly brutal attacks on his men. Her rise to prominence was swift, and together with her husband she swept through South East London, destroying anybody who got in her way . It was suddenly becoming very clear that the Barker firm's reign of terror had only just begun.