just some faces of the Uk Gangland & organised crime
freddie foreman
Frederick Gerald Foreman is a convicted English criminal involved in the disposal of the body of Jack "the Hat" McVitie (killed by Reggie Kray) and for which he was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was nicknamed "Brown Bread Fred".
Foreman was involved in the Shoreditch Security Express robbery of 1983, which at the time was the largest cash robbery in the UK. For his part in it he received nine years in prison.
Foreman also confessed to the murders of Frank "Mad Axeman" Mitchell, and of Tommy "Ginger" Marks in the 1960s in revenge for the shooting of his brother (shot in the legs). He had been acquitted of the murders at an Old Bailey trial in the 1960s. He additionally claimed to have intimidated witnesses to the killing of George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel by Ronnie Kray and to having been a hitman for the Kray twins.
He is the father of actor Jamie Foreman, Gregory Foreman and Danielle Foreman
Foreman was involved in the Shoreditch Security Express robbery of 1983, which at the time was the largest cash robbery in the UK. For his part in it he received nine years in prison.
Foreman also confessed to the murders of Frank "Mad Axeman" Mitchell, and of Tommy "Ginger" Marks in the 1960s in revenge for the shooting of his brother (shot in the legs). He had been acquitted of the murders at an Old Bailey trial in the 1960s. He additionally claimed to have intimidated witnesses to the killing of George Cornell in the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel by Ronnie Kray and to having been a hitman for the Kray twins.
He is the father of actor Jamie Foreman, Gregory Foreman and Danielle Foreman
billy hill
Billy Hill wrote his memoir Boss of Britain's Underworld. In it he described his use of the shiv:
"I was always careful to draw my knife down on the face, never across or upwards. Always down. So that if the knife slips you don't cut an artery. After all, chivving is chivving, but cutting an artery is usually murder. Only mugs do murder".
Hill was an English criminal, linked to smuggling, protection rackets, and extreme violence. He was one of the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London from the 1920s through to the 1960s. He project managed cash robberies and, in a clever scam, defrauded London's High Society of millions at the card tables of John Aspinall's Clermont Club.
Hill was born in Fitzrovia, Central London to Frances Mary A H (née Sparling) and Frederick Joseph Hill, who married in 1888. Growing up in an established criminal family, Hill committed his first stabbing at age fourteen. He began as a house burglar in the late 1920s and then specialized in "smash-and-grab" raids targeting furriers and jewellers in the 1930s.
During World War II, Hill moved into the black market, specializing in foods and petrol. He also supplied forged documents for deserting servicemen and was involved in West Endprotection rackets with fellow gangster Jack Spot. In the late 1940s, he was charged with burgling a warehouse and fled to South Africa. Following an arrest there for assault, he was extradited back to Britain, where he was convicted for the warehouse robbery and served time in prison. This was his last jail term. After his release he met Gypsy Riley, better known as "Gyp Hill", who became his common-law wife.
In 1952, he planned the Eastcastle St. postal van robbery netting £287,000 (2010: £6,440,000), and in 1954 he organised a £40,000 bullion heist. No one was ever convicted for these robberies. He also ran smuggling operations from Morocco during this period.
Hill was mentor to twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray, advising them in their early criminal careers.
"I was always careful to draw my knife down on the face, never across or upwards. Always down. So that if the knife slips you don't cut an artery. After all, chivving is chivving, but cutting an artery is usually murder. Only mugs do murder".
Hill was an English criminal, linked to smuggling, protection rackets, and extreme violence. He was one of the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London from the 1920s through to the 1960s. He project managed cash robberies and, in a clever scam, defrauded London's High Society of millions at the card tables of John Aspinall's Clermont Club.
Hill was born in Fitzrovia, Central London to Frances Mary A H (née Sparling) and Frederick Joseph Hill, who married in 1888. Growing up in an established criminal family, Hill committed his first stabbing at age fourteen. He began as a house burglar in the late 1920s and then specialized in "smash-and-grab" raids targeting furriers and jewellers in the 1930s.
During World War II, Hill moved into the black market, specializing in foods and petrol. He also supplied forged documents for deserting servicemen and was involved in West Endprotection rackets with fellow gangster Jack Spot. In the late 1940s, he was charged with burgling a warehouse and fled to South Africa. Following an arrest there for assault, he was extradited back to Britain, where he was convicted for the warehouse robbery and served time in prison. This was his last jail term. After his release he met Gypsy Riley, better known as "Gyp Hill", who became his common-law wife.
In 1952, he planned the Eastcastle St. postal van robbery netting £287,000 (2010: £6,440,000), and in 1954 he organised a £40,000 bullion heist. No one was ever convicted for these robberies. He also ran smuggling operations from Morocco during this period.
Hill was mentor to twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray, advising them in their early criminal careers.
wilf pine
Wilf Pine has a tough-guy reputation after being one of only two Englishman to be allowed into the American Mafia.
But Wilf Pine has a big heart when it comes to his former school.
Wilf is a member of the Old Boys of Wellesley Nautical School, a place where 13 to 17-year-olds were sent by the courts to give them discipline.
And it has been revealed he is among those who donated the 10ft figurehead of Admiral Boscawen, who once stood proudly at the gates of the infamous Blyth school before the building was demolished in 2007, to the Ashington Sea Cadets’ headquarters at TS Tenacity.
He was also one of the Old Boys to put his hand in his pocket to raise cash needed to restore him.
Wilf, who was born in Newcastle, before moving to the Isle of Wight, was at the school between 1959 and 1961. He was sent there at the age of 15 after being regularly beaten by his father, rebelling against him, and moving into petty crime.
The 65-year-old made friends there as a youngster and remains good pals with them today.
Wilf admits his time at Wellseley turned him into a “lethal fighter” and through his pals there had access to a network of invaluable contacts in the criminal underworld throughout the country.
He started out heading a team of bouncers to man the doors of the drinking clubs on the Isle of Wight. He later became a minder for Carl Wayne and The Move during the height of the band’s popularity in the 60s. And he soon rose up the music ranks – co-managing Black Sabbath, fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, and managing The Groundhogs and Stray.
His pals include train robber Ronnie Biggs, Ronnie Knight, who was linked to the Security Express robbery, and armed robber Charles Bronson, known as Britain’s most violent prisoner.
He was friends with the Kray twins and Ronnie Kray’s book is dedicated to Wilf. He was even a pallbearer at Reggie Kray’s funeral.
It was there that true crime author John Pearson learned how Wilf was as legendary on the streets of New York as on the streets of London and persuaded him to put his story in a book.
Wilf became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families and he revealed his life story in “One of the Family – The Englishman and the Mafia.”
But Wilf has never forgotten his roots and remains in touch with his pals as a youngster at the Wellseley School.
Now he and around 100 others with the Wellseley Old Boys are wanting to give something back to society and have “adopted” the Ashington Sea Cadets.
The Chronicle told earlier this month how the figurehead of Admiral Boscawen was donated to the cadets.
Today Wilf, who now lives in the south of England, said: “I made good friends at Wellseley School and we all felt we would like to donate the figurehead. Many of us also gave money to get it restored.”
The school was originally founded in 1868 by a group of Newcastle businessmen with the aim of providing shelter for Tyneside’s destitute and homeless where they were trained for service in both the Royal and Merchant Navy. But it later became an approved school for delinquent boys.
The school started as a training ship they called the Wellesley, but that was replaced by a bigger ship called the Boscawen, originally launched in 1844, which was obtained from the Admiralty. However, for continuity its name was changed to Wellesley .
It was based at the mouth of the Tyne but it was wrecked by fire in 1914. However, the figurehead of Admiral Boscawen was preserved and presented to the school when the boys were transferred to a new home on the site of Blyth’s First World War submarine base.
In 1973 it was later changed to a children’s home and was run by Sunderland City Council. But by 1992 Admiral Boscawen was in a sorry state and was replaced with a replica.
Wild Pine died March 2018
But Wilf Pine has a big heart when it comes to his former school.
Wilf is a member of the Old Boys of Wellesley Nautical School, a place where 13 to 17-year-olds were sent by the courts to give them discipline.
And it has been revealed he is among those who donated the 10ft figurehead of Admiral Boscawen, who once stood proudly at the gates of the infamous Blyth school before the building was demolished in 2007, to the Ashington Sea Cadets’ headquarters at TS Tenacity.
He was also one of the Old Boys to put his hand in his pocket to raise cash needed to restore him.
Wilf, who was born in Newcastle, before moving to the Isle of Wight, was at the school between 1959 and 1961. He was sent there at the age of 15 after being regularly beaten by his father, rebelling against him, and moving into petty crime.
The 65-year-old made friends there as a youngster and remains good pals with them today.
Wilf admits his time at Wellseley turned him into a “lethal fighter” and through his pals there had access to a network of invaluable contacts in the criminal underworld throughout the country.
He started out heading a team of bouncers to man the doors of the drinking clubs on the Isle of Wight. He later became a minder for Carl Wayne and The Move during the height of the band’s popularity in the 60s. And he soon rose up the music ranks – co-managing Black Sabbath, fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, and managing The Groundhogs and Stray.
His pals include train robber Ronnie Biggs, Ronnie Knight, who was linked to the Security Express robbery, and armed robber Charles Bronson, known as Britain’s most violent prisoner.
He was friends with the Kray twins and Ronnie Kray’s book is dedicated to Wilf. He was even a pallbearer at Reggie Kray’s funeral.
It was there that true crime author John Pearson learned how Wilf was as legendary on the streets of New York as on the streets of London and persuaded him to put his story in a book.
Wilf became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families and he revealed his life story in “One of the Family – The Englishman and the Mafia.”
But Wilf has never forgotten his roots and remains in touch with his pals as a youngster at the Wellseley School.
Now he and around 100 others with the Wellseley Old Boys are wanting to give something back to society and have “adopted” the Ashington Sea Cadets.
The Chronicle told earlier this month how the figurehead of Admiral Boscawen was donated to the cadets.
Today Wilf, who now lives in the south of England, said: “I made good friends at Wellseley School and we all felt we would like to donate the figurehead. Many of us also gave money to get it restored.”
The school was originally founded in 1868 by a group of Newcastle businessmen with the aim of providing shelter for Tyneside’s destitute and homeless where they were trained for service in both the Royal and Merchant Navy. But it later became an approved school for delinquent boys.
The school started as a training ship they called the Wellesley, but that was replaced by a bigger ship called the Boscawen, originally launched in 1844, which was obtained from the Admiralty. However, for continuity its name was changed to Wellesley .
It was based at the mouth of the Tyne but it was wrecked by fire in 1914. However, the figurehead of Admiral Boscawen was preserved and presented to the school when the boys were transferred to a new home on the site of Blyth’s First World War submarine base.
In 1973 it was later changed to a children’s home and was run by Sunderland City Council. But by 1992 Admiral Boscawen was in a sorry state and was replaced with a replica.
Wild Pine died March 2018
bert rossi
Bert is a very intelligent man who was not only a Mafia boss in London during the 1950’s – 1980’s, but he was also a mentor to the Kray Twins and a Gambino Associate.
During Bert Rossi’s time he had met with the likes of Angelo Bruno and other mob bosses from the US in efforts to expand their reach to England and Europe. In one particular case Bert Rossi had helped Meyer Lansky in acquiring the Colony Sports Club in London which would become a gambling casino that was operated by both Meyer Lansky and Angelo Bruno, using George Raft as the frontman.
Bert died July 2017
During Bert Rossi’s time he had met with the likes of Angelo Bruno and other mob bosses from the US in efforts to expand their reach to England and Europe. In one particular case Bert Rossi had helped Meyer Lansky in acquiring the Colony Sports Club in London which would become a gambling casino that was operated by both Meyer Lansky and Angelo Bruno, using George Raft as the frontman.
Bert died July 2017
buster edwards
Ronald Christopher "Buster" Edwards was an English criminal who was a member of the gang that committed the Great Train Robbery. He had also been a boxer and nightclub owner.
Edwards was born in Lambeth, the son of a barman. He worked in a sausage factory after leaving school, where he began his criminal career by stealing meat to sell on the post-war black market. During his National Service in the RAF, he was detained for stealing cigarettes. When he returned to south London, he ran a drinking club and became a professional criminal.
He married June Rose in 1952. They had a daughter, Nicky.
He was involved in the theft of £62,000 (£1.19 million today) from Comet House, the headquarters of British Overseas Airways Corporation at Heathrow Airport, in 1962. Many of the gang were captured, but Edwards escaped arrest. Many from the same gang would go on to undertake the Great Train Robbery in August 1963.
The Great Train gang intercepted the Glasgow–London mail train in Buckinghamshire in the early hours of 8 August 1963. After tampering with the track-side signal lights, they stopped the train at Sears Crossing and moved the engine and high-value carriage to Bridego Bridge, near Cheddington, and they escaped with £2,600,000 of used banknotes(£49.1 million today). The driver, Jack Mills, was beaten over the head and suffered from related complications for the rest of his life—opinion is divided as to whether the injury was a factor in his death. The gang's temporary hideout at Leatherslade Farm was quickly found. Most of the gang were captured, tried, and imprisoned, but Edwards evaded arrest with his £150,000 share of the stolen money.
Edwards and another gang member, Bruce Reynolds, took their families to Mexico. The money ran out, and Edwards' family became homesick, so he negotiated his return to England in 1966. He was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Edwards spent 9 years in prison. After his early release in 1975, he ran a flower stall outside Waterloo Station in London. He gave interviews to writer Piers Paul Read, persuading him to write in his 1978 book The Train Robbers that the robbery was led by German commando Otto Skorzeny, and that Edwards was the person responsible for hitting Jack Mills. Edwards later retracted these claims. Buster, a film about his role in the Great Train Robbery, was made in 1988, with Edwards played by Phil Collins.
Buster Edwards can be seen making a cameo appearance in the film Buster alongside Phil Collins' wife Jill in the scene where Buster and June land in Mexico, he and Jill walk out of the airport in front of Buster and June Edwards.
Edwards died in Lambeth, London, at the age of 63. He was found by his brother, hanging from a steel girder inside a lock-up garage in Leake Street, Lambeth. At the Inquest following Edwards' death, a panel recorded an open verdict, based on testimony that the deceased was too intoxicated to form an intent to kill himself. However, at the time of his death, he was being investigated by the police as part of an inquiry into a suspected large-scale fraud and it is speculated that fear of being re-imprisoned could have led to a suicide attempt.
Edwards was survived by his wife and their daughter.
Edwards was born in Lambeth, the son of a barman. He worked in a sausage factory after leaving school, where he began his criminal career by stealing meat to sell on the post-war black market. During his National Service in the RAF, he was detained for stealing cigarettes. When he returned to south London, he ran a drinking club and became a professional criminal.
He married June Rose in 1952. They had a daughter, Nicky.
He was involved in the theft of £62,000 (£1.19 million today) from Comet House, the headquarters of British Overseas Airways Corporation at Heathrow Airport, in 1962. Many of the gang were captured, but Edwards escaped arrest. Many from the same gang would go on to undertake the Great Train Robbery in August 1963.
The Great Train gang intercepted the Glasgow–London mail train in Buckinghamshire in the early hours of 8 August 1963. After tampering with the track-side signal lights, they stopped the train at Sears Crossing and moved the engine and high-value carriage to Bridego Bridge, near Cheddington, and they escaped with £2,600,000 of used banknotes(£49.1 million today). The driver, Jack Mills, was beaten over the head and suffered from related complications for the rest of his life—opinion is divided as to whether the injury was a factor in his death. The gang's temporary hideout at Leatherslade Farm was quickly found. Most of the gang were captured, tried, and imprisoned, but Edwards evaded arrest with his £150,000 share of the stolen money.
Edwards and another gang member, Bruce Reynolds, took their families to Mexico. The money ran out, and Edwards' family became homesick, so he negotiated his return to England in 1966. He was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Edwards spent 9 years in prison. After his early release in 1975, he ran a flower stall outside Waterloo Station in London. He gave interviews to writer Piers Paul Read, persuading him to write in his 1978 book The Train Robbers that the robbery was led by German commando Otto Skorzeny, and that Edwards was the person responsible for hitting Jack Mills. Edwards later retracted these claims. Buster, a film about his role in the Great Train Robbery, was made in 1988, with Edwards played by Phil Collins.
Buster Edwards can be seen making a cameo appearance in the film Buster alongside Phil Collins' wife Jill in the scene where Buster and June land in Mexico, he and Jill walk out of the airport in front of Buster and June Edwards.
Edwards died in Lambeth, London, at the age of 63. He was found by his brother, hanging from a steel girder inside a lock-up garage in Leake Street, Lambeth. At the Inquest following Edwards' death, a panel recorded an open verdict, based on testimony that the deceased was too intoxicated to form an intent to kill himself. However, at the time of his death, he was being investigated by the police as part of an inquiry into a suspected large-scale fraud and it is speculated that fear of being re-imprisoned could have led to a suicide attempt.
Edwards was survived by his wife and their daughter.
ronnie biggs
Ronald Arthur "Ronnie" Biggs was born in Stockwell, Lambeth, London. As a child during the Second World War, he was evacuated to Flitwick, Bedfordshire, and then Cornwall.
Biggs was an English thief, known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, for his escape from prison in 1965, for living as a fugitive for 36 years and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, he returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. Biggs was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013.
In 1947, at age 18, Biggs enlisted in the RAF. However, he was dishonorably discharged for desertion two years later, after breaking into a local chemist shop. One month after that, he was convicted of stealing a car and sentenced to prison. On his release, he took part in a failed robbery attempt of a bookmaker office in Lambeth, South London. During his incarceration in HMP Wandsworth, he met Bruce Reynolds.
This time after his release, Biggs tried to go straight and trained as a carpenter. In February 1960, he married 21-year-old Charmian (Brent) Powell in Swanage, the daughter of a primary school headmaster. They had three sons together.
Biggs, who needed money to fund a deposit on the purchase of a house for his family, happened to be working on the house of a train driver who was about to retire. The driver has been variously identified as "Stan Agate", or because of his age, "Old Pete" or "Pop". His real name is unknown, since he was never caught. However, he was the one that introduced Biggs to the train robbery plot. Reynolds gave Biggs the job of arranging for Agate to move the train after it had been waylaid.
On the night of the hold up, Biggs told his wife he was off logging with Reynolds in Wiltshire. The gang then stopped the mail train from Glasgow to London in the early hours of 8 August 1963, which was Biggs's 34th birthday. Stan Agate was unable to operate the main line diesel-electric locomotivebecause he had only driven shuntinglocomotives on the Southern Region. Therefore, driver of the intercepted train, Jack Mills, was coshed with an iron bar and forced to move the engine and mail carriages forward to a nearby bridge over a roadway, which had been chosen as the unloading point. Biggs' main task had been to get Agate to move the train and when it became obvious that the two were useless in that regard, they were banished to a waiting vehicle while the train was looted.
Having unloaded 120 of the 128 mailbags from the train within Reynolds' allotted timetable, and returned to their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, various sources show that the robbery yielded the participants £2.6 million; Biggs's share was £147,000. With their timetable brought forward due to the police investigation closing in, Biggs returned home on the following Friday, with his stash in two canvas bags.
After an accomplice failed to carry out his instructions to burn down Leatherslade Farm to destroy any evidence there, Biggs's fingerprints were found on a ketchup bottle by Metropolitan Police investigators. Three weeks later, he was arrested in South London, along with 11 other members of the gang. In 1964, nine of the 15-strong gang, including Biggs, were jailed for the crime. Most received sentences of 30 years.
Biggs was an English thief, known for his role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963, for his escape from prison in 1965, for living as a fugitive for 36 years and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, he returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. Biggs was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013.
In 1947, at age 18, Biggs enlisted in the RAF. However, he was dishonorably discharged for desertion two years later, after breaking into a local chemist shop. One month after that, he was convicted of stealing a car and sentenced to prison. On his release, he took part in a failed robbery attempt of a bookmaker office in Lambeth, South London. During his incarceration in HMP Wandsworth, he met Bruce Reynolds.
This time after his release, Biggs tried to go straight and trained as a carpenter. In February 1960, he married 21-year-old Charmian (Brent) Powell in Swanage, the daughter of a primary school headmaster. They had three sons together.
Biggs, who needed money to fund a deposit on the purchase of a house for his family, happened to be working on the house of a train driver who was about to retire. The driver has been variously identified as "Stan Agate", or because of his age, "Old Pete" or "Pop". His real name is unknown, since he was never caught. However, he was the one that introduced Biggs to the train robbery plot. Reynolds gave Biggs the job of arranging for Agate to move the train after it had been waylaid.
On the night of the hold up, Biggs told his wife he was off logging with Reynolds in Wiltshire. The gang then stopped the mail train from Glasgow to London in the early hours of 8 August 1963, which was Biggs's 34th birthday. Stan Agate was unable to operate the main line diesel-electric locomotivebecause he had only driven shuntinglocomotives on the Southern Region. Therefore, driver of the intercepted train, Jack Mills, was coshed with an iron bar and forced to move the engine and mail carriages forward to a nearby bridge over a roadway, which had been chosen as the unloading point. Biggs' main task had been to get Agate to move the train and when it became obvious that the two were useless in that regard, they were banished to a waiting vehicle while the train was looted.
Having unloaded 120 of the 128 mailbags from the train within Reynolds' allotted timetable, and returned to their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, various sources show that the robbery yielded the participants £2.6 million; Biggs's share was £147,000. With their timetable brought forward due to the police investigation closing in, Biggs returned home on the following Friday, with his stash in two canvas bags.
After an accomplice failed to carry out his instructions to burn down Leatherslade Farm to destroy any evidence there, Biggs's fingerprints were found on a ketchup bottle by Metropolitan Police investigators. Three weeks later, he was arrested in South London, along with 11 other members of the gang. In 1964, nine of the 15-strong gang, including Biggs, were jailed for the crime. Most received sentences of 30 years.
bruce reYnolds
Bruce Richard Reynolds was an Englishcriminal, who masterminded the 1963 Great Train Robbery.
At the time it was Britain's largest robbery, netting £2,631,684, equivalent to £49 million today. Reynolds spent five years on the run before being sentenced to 25 years in 1969. He was released in 1978. He wrote three books and performed with the band Alabama 3, for whom his son, Nick, plays.
Bruce Richard Reynolds was born at Charing Cross Hospital, in the Strand, central London, the only child of Thomas Richard and Dorothy Margaret (née Keen). He was initially brought up in Putney, and his mother, a nurse, died in 1935 when he was aged four. His father, a trade-union activist at the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, married again, and the family moved to Gants Hill. Reynolds found it difficult to live with his father and stepmother, choosing often to stay with one or other of his grandmothers. During the London Blitz of the Second World War he was evacuated to Suffolk and then to Warwickshire.
On leaving school at 14½, Reynolds failed the eyesight test to join the Royal Navy, and decided he wanted to become a foreign correspondent, so he applied in person for a job at Northcliffe House. Employed first as a messenger boy, he then worked in the accounts department of the Daily Mail. By the age of 17 he had become bored with the routine and was working in the Bland/Sutton Institute of Pathology at Middlesex Hospital, before joining Claud Butler as a bicycle messengerand a member of their semi-professional racing team, where he first met criminals and began a life of crime.
After undertaking some petty crime and spending time in HMP Wormwood Scrubs and Borstal for theft (from which he escaped and was eventually caught and sent to Reading Prison), he spent six weeks of the required two years doing National Service in the British Army, before running away to return to petty crime. Sentenced to three years in 1952 for breaking and entering, he was sent to the juvenile wing of Wandsworth Prison in London. He then graduated to jewellery theft from large country houses.
In 1957 Reynolds was arrested, together with Terry Hogan, for assault and robbery of a bookmaker returning from White City Greyhounds with £500. The police stated their belief that the intent of the cosh attack was grievous bodily harm and not robbery. Hogan was sentenced to 2½ years and Reynolds received a year longer. After spending time in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Durham, on release in 1960 he then became an antiques dealer and thief.
He joined a gang with future best friend Harry Booth and future brother-in-law John Daly. Later on, he did some work with Jimmy White and met Buster Edwards at Charlie Richardson's club. Richardson in turn introduced him to Gordon Goody. Having gained the moniker Napoleon, in 1962 his gang stole £62,000 in a security van robbery at London Heathrow Airport. They then attempted to rob a Royal Mail train at Swindon, which netted only £700. But Reynolds, now looking for his career-criminal defining moment, started planning his next train robbery over a period of three months.
Reynolds organised a gang of 15 men to undertake the 1963 Great Train Robbery (which he later referred to as his "Sistine Chapel ceiling"). After the theft, Reynolds spent six months in a mews house in South Kensingtonwaiting for a false passport. He then travelled via Elstree Airfield to Ostend, was then driven to Brussels Airport, before flying with Sabenaairlines to Mexico City via Toronto. Assuming the name Keith Clement Miller, he was joined by his wife Frances, who changed her name to Angela, and son Nick.
For Christmas 1964, the family were joined in Acapulco by fellow train robbers Buster Edwards, who had not yet been caught, and treasurer Charlie Wilson, who had escaped from HMP Winson Green. Reynolds and his family later moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where Wilson had settled with his family, but a proposed theft of Canadian dollarswas stopped due to Royal Canadian Mounted Police observation. Reynolds then moved to Vancouver, before returning that summer to the South of France. By now running low on cash, he heard a similarly sized large robbery was being planned. The family returned to London, before then moving to Torquay, Devon. Assuming the name Keith Hiller, the family began a life of settling into Reynolds' former childhood holiday town, before he had the urge to make contact with his old friends back in London. The Metropolitan Police whilst watching the London criminal scene realised that Hiller was in fact Reynolds, and arrested him in Torquay on 9 November 1968. Offered a deal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) to plead guilty and avoid them pursuing his son, wife and family on further criminal charges, Reynolds agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 25 years. All of the Great Train robbers were held in maximum security in a specially built unit at HMP Durham. After making friends with both Charlie and Eddie Richardson whilst in prison, Reynolds was released from HMP Maidstone in 1978.
After a failed attempt in the textile trade, he began trafficking and money laundering for many South London drugs gangs.
Arrested for dealing amphetamines, he was jailed in the 1980s for three years.
On release he gained a profile as a media "former criminal" figure, and acted as a consultant on the film Buster, with Larry Lambportraying Reynolds. Reynolds then published his autobiography The Autobiography of a Thief(1995). In the book, Reynolds commented that the Great Train Robbery had proved a curse that followed him around, as after it no-one wanted to employ him either legally or illegally:
"I became an old crook living on handouts from other old crooks"
Having either spent or had removed by courts the monies that he gained through crime, by the 1990s Reynolds was living on income supportin a flat in Croydon, Greater London, supplied by a charitable trust.
Reynolds' wife predeceased him. He died on the afternoon of 28 February 2013 at the age of 81. At the time of his death, Reynolds was working on The Great Train Robbery 50th Anniversary:1963–2013, published by Mpress in July 2013.
At the time it was Britain's largest robbery, netting £2,631,684, equivalent to £49 million today. Reynolds spent five years on the run before being sentenced to 25 years in 1969. He was released in 1978. He wrote three books and performed with the band Alabama 3, for whom his son, Nick, plays.
Bruce Richard Reynolds was born at Charing Cross Hospital, in the Strand, central London, the only child of Thomas Richard and Dorothy Margaret (née Keen). He was initially brought up in Putney, and his mother, a nurse, died in 1935 when he was aged four. His father, a trade-union activist at the Ford Dagenham assembly plant, married again, and the family moved to Gants Hill. Reynolds found it difficult to live with his father and stepmother, choosing often to stay with one or other of his grandmothers. During the London Blitz of the Second World War he was evacuated to Suffolk and then to Warwickshire.
On leaving school at 14½, Reynolds failed the eyesight test to join the Royal Navy, and decided he wanted to become a foreign correspondent, so he applied in person for a job at Northcliffe House. Employed first as a messenger boy, he then worked in the accounts department of the Daily Mail. By the age of 17 he had become bored with the routine and was working in the Bland/Sutton Institute of Pathology at Middlesex Hospital, before joining Claud Butler as a bicycle messengerand a member of their semi-professional racing team, where he first met criminals and began a life of crime.
After undertaking some petty crime and spending time in HMP Wormwood Scrubs and Borstal for theft (from which he escaped and was eventually caught and sent to Reading Prison), he spent six weeks of the required two years doing National Service in the British Army, before running away to return to petty crime. Sentenced to three years in 1952 for breaking and entering, he was sent to the juvenile wing of Wandsworth Prison in London. He then graduated to jewellery theft from large country houses.
In 1957 Reynolds was arrested, together with Terry Hogan, for assault and robbery of a bookmaker returning from White City Greyhounds with £500. The police stated their belief that the intent of the cosh attack was grievous bodily harm and not robbery. Hogan was sentenced to 2½ years and Reynolds received a year longer. After spending time in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Durham, on release in 1960 he then became an antiques dealer and thief.
He joined a gang with future best friend Harry Booth and future brother-in-law John Daly. Later on, he did some work with Jimmy White and met Buster Edwards at Charlie Richardson's club. Richardson in turn introduced him to Gordon Goody. Having gained the moniker Napoleon, in 1962 his gang stole £62,000 in a security van robbery at London Heathrow Airport. They then attempted to rob a Royal Mail train at Swindon, which netted only £700. But Reynolds, now looking for his career-criminal defining moment, started planning his next train robbery over a period of three months.
Reynolds organised a gang of 15 men to undertake the 1963 Great Train Robbery (which he later referred to as his "Sistine Chapel ceiling"). After the theft, Reynolds spent six months in a mews house in South Kensingtonwaiting for a false passport. He then travelled via Elstree Airfield to Ostend, was then driven to Brussels Airport, before flying with Sabenaairlines to Mexico City via Toronto. Assuming the name Keith Clement Miller, he was joined by his wife Frances, who changed her name to Angela, and son Nick.
For Christmas 1964, the family were joined in Acapulco by fellow train robbers Buster Edwards, who had not yet been caught, and treasurer Charlie Wilson, who had escaped from HMP Winson Green. Reynolds and his family later moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where Wilson had settled with his family, but a proposed theft of Canadian dollarswas stopped due to Royal Canadian Mounted Police observation. Reynolds then moved to Vancouver, before returning that summer to the South of France. By now running low on cash, he heard a similarly sized large robbery was being planned. The family returned to London, before then moving to Torquay, Devon. Assuming the name Keith Hiller, the family began a life of settling into Reynolds' former childhood holiday town, before he had the urge to make contact with his old friends back in London. The Metropolitan Police whilst watching the London criminal scene realised that Hiller was in fact Reynolds, and arrested him in Torquay on 9 November 1968. Offered a deal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) to plead guilty and avoid them pursuing his son, wife and family on further criminal charges, Reynolds agreed to plead guilty and was sentenced to 25 years. All of the Great Train robbers were held in maximum security in a specially built unit at HMP Durham. After making friends with both Charlie and Eddie Richardson whilst in prison, Reynolds was released from HMP Maidstone in 1978.
After a failed attempt in the textile trade, he began trafficking and money laundering for many South London drugs gangs.
Arrested for dealing amphetamines, he was jailed in the 1980s for three years.
On release he gained a profile as a media "former criminal" figure, and acted as a consultant on the film Buster, with Larry Lambportraying Reynolds. Reynolds then published his autobiography The Autobiography of a Thief(1995). In the book, Reynolds commented that the Great Train Robbery had proved a curse that followed him around, as after it no-one wanted to employ him either legally or illegally:
"I became an old crook living on handouts from other old crooks"
Having either spent or had removed by courts the monies that he gained through crime, by the 1990s Reynolds was living on income supportin a flat in Croydon, Greater London, supplied by a charitable trust.
Reynolds' wife predeceased him. He died on the afternoon of 28 February 2013 at the age of 81. At the time of his death, Reynolds was working on The Great Train Robbery 50th Anniversary:1963–2013, published by Mpress in July 2013.
gordon goody
Douglas Gordon Goody, known as Gordon Goody, was a British criminal who played a role in the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
He was born in Oxford, England, but raised in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Goody was known for playing a role in the Great Train Robbery in 1963 that was led by Bruce Reynolds.
Goody was sentenced to 30 years in jail, but was released in 1975. A year after his release, he moved to Spain, where he opened a small business as a bar owner.
Goody died at his home in Mojácar, Spain, from a heart attack on 29 January 2016 at the age of 85.
He was born in Oxford, England, but raised in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Goody was known for playing a role in the Great Train Robbery in 1963 that was led by Bruce Reynolds.
Goody was sentenced to 30 years in jail, but was released in 1975. A year after his release, he moved to Spain, where he opened a small business as a bar owner.
Goody died at his home in Mojácar, Spain, from a heart attack on 29 January 2016 at the age of 85.
charlie wilson
On August 12, 1964, Charlie Wilson, part of the gang who pulled off the 1963 Great Train Robbery, one of the biggest heists of its kind, escapes from Winson Green Prison in Birmingham, England. Several men broke into the maximum-security facility to free Wilson, who remained on the loose until 1968.
The so-called Great Train Robbery took place on August 8, 1963, when 15 masked men attacked the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train near Buckinghamshire, England. The thieves hauled off 120 bags of money totaling a record 2.6 million pounds. In less than a week, a tip led police to the robbers’ hideout, Leatherslade Farm in Bedfordshire, where they found fingerprints and other evidence. Charlie Wilson and other gang members were soon arrested. In April 1964, Wilson was sentenced, along with six other Great Train Robbers, to 30 years in prison. Five other men received shorter terms. In 1969, group leader Bruce Reynolds, who initially evaded capture, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The majority of the Great Train Robbery loot was never recovered.
On August 12, 1964, just four months into his sentence, Wilson, age 32, escaped from Winson Green Prison. He eluded police for several years before being recaptured in Canada on January 24, 1968. He was returned to England, where he served out the rest of his punishment. Wilson later moved to Spain, where he allegedly became a drug dealer, and was shot to death on April 23, 1990.
The most famous of the Great Train Robbers was Ronnie Biggs, who broke out of Wandsworth Prison in July 1965 by climbing a wall. Biggs changed his appearance with plastic surgery and eventually moved to Brazil. He was discovered there by British authorities in the 1970s, but Brazilian law made it impossible for Biggs to be extradited. As a result, he became a tabloid hero in Britain. In May 2001, Biggs, who was in poor health, turned himself in to authorities and was returned to prison in England.
The so-called Great Train Robbery took place on August 8, 1963, when 15 masked men attacked the Glasgow to London Royal Mail train near Buckinghamshire, England. The thieves hauled off 120 bags of money totaling a record 2.6 million pounds. In less than a week, a tip led police to the robbers’ hideout, Leatherslade Farm in Bedfordshire, where they found fingerprints and other evidence. Charlie Wilson and other gang members were soon arrested. In April 1964, Wilson was sentenced, along with six other Great Train Robbers, to 30 years in prison. Five other men received shorter terms. In 1969, group leader Bruce Reynolds, who initially evaded capture, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The majority of the Great Train Robbery loot was never recovered.
On August 12, 1964, just four months into his sentence, Wilson, age 32, escaped from Winson Green Prison. He eluded police for several years before being recaptured in Canada on January 24, 1968. He was returned to England, where he served out the rest of his punishment. Wilson later moved to Spain, where he allegedly became a drug dealer, and was shot to death on April 23, 1990.
The most famous of the Great Train Robbers was Ronnie Biggs, who broke out of Wandsworth Prison in July 1965 by climbing a wall. Biggs changed his appearance with plastic surgery and eventually moved to Brazil. He was discovered there by British authorities in the 1970s, but Brazilian law made it impossible for Biggs to be extradited. As a result, he became a tabloid hero in Britain. In May 2001, Biggs, who was in poor health, turned himself in to authorities and was returned to prison in England.
tommy wiseby
Tommy William Wisbey was a bookie hired as "muscle" for the Great Train Robbery, which took place on 8 August 1963.
Wisbey, whose role in the heist was to frighten the train staff, was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for his involvement but was released in 1976.
Wisbey died in 2016 after suffering a major stroke
Wisbey, whose role in the heist was to frighten the train staff, was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for his involvement but was released in 1976.
Wisbey died in 2016 after suffering a major stroke
Tony LambrIanou
Anthony 'Tony' Lambrianou was a gangland underworld figure who achieved a peculiar 20th-century celebrity for his association with two of Britain's most notorious criminals, Reg and Ron Kray.
In his time he had been a violent career criminal who had been attracted to the glamour and easy pickings of the Kray
crime circus, but he acquired more status and respect for his loyalty to the Krays, even after they were dead, than for any of his criminal exploits. Not only did he become a regular at charity events, in 2001, with his fellow
underworld icon Freddie Foreman, he was hired to promote the shirtmakers Thomas Pink. The advertising agency countered criticism by claiming, "They have served their time, paid their debt and are now free to do whatever they want."
In autumn 1967 Tony Lambrianou and his brother Chris, as junior members of the Kray firm, were tasked with luring Jack "The Hat" McVitie to a flat in Stoke Newington, London, for a party. McVitie had been a nuisance & embarrassment to the Kray twins for some time, and in the chaotic atmosphere that enshrouded the firm in the wake of the Kray-engineered escape and subsequent killing of Frank Mitchell, Ron's shooting of George Cornell and the suicide of Reg's wife Frances, a further violent escalation was inevitable.
McVitie had bungled a shooting for which the Krays had paid him, and his final mistake was in threatening the twins after ripping them off on a drug deal.
Tony Lambrianou, along with most of the Kray firm, assumed that a punishment beating would take place, but Reg Kray first produced a handgun which failed to fire, and then proceeded to butcher McVitie with a carving knife. The Lambrianous assumed responsibility for getting rid of the body, which was wrapped in a bedspread and placed in McVitie's car. Tony then drove the car to south London where the body was later picked up and apparently given an informal burial at sea.
When, in 1968, the entire Kray firm was mopped up by a special squad of detectives, Tony Lambrianou found himself under a media spotlight seldom afforded to such a small-time criminal. The ensuing trial at the Old Bailey saw several key members of the firm turn Queen's Evidence, while the Lambrianou brothers remained staunch throughout, and received life with a 15-year recommendation.
Anthony Lambrianou was born in east London in 1942, the third of five sons named after saints. His father Christopher was a Cypriot who had been sold into slavery at the age of 12. He escaped in Egypt and arrived in England as a teenager. He found work during the First World War in a Newcastle munitions factory, after which he trained as a
chef in London.
A highly successful gambler, in the late 1930s Christopher Lambrianou bought a restaurant in Charlotte Street, in the West End. At this time he was also drafted into the RAF and was sent to work in the same Newcastle munitions factory, where he met and married Lillian, the daughter of a strict Roman Catholic farming family from Consett. By 1945 he had acquired another restaurant in Charlotte Street and seemed set for prosperity.
However, two years later a rat was discovered in one of the restaurants and Christopher killed it by pouring boiling water over it. At the High Court he was found guilty of cruelty and was forced to sell the restaurants to pay the massive legal costs. The family fortunes took a nosedivefrom which they were never to recover.
Christopher picked up whatever casual kitchen work was available, but this did not prevent the family enduring a spell in a south London workhouse. In 1949 the Lambrianou family was re-housed in a flat in bomb-ravaged Haggerston, not far from Tony's birthplace in Bethnal Green. Despite Lillian's ferocious defence of her sons, immersed in poverty and the detritus of war, the Lambrianou brothers quickly acquired a reputation as toughs and petty thieves.
As a child Tony was not averse to hard work, and from the age of eight supplemented the family purse by working for a coal merchant, and by selling sheets of race results. By the
time he left school at the age of 14 to work for a local bed manufacturer, the Lambrianou brothers, despite their hard-working, strict and religious parents, were well established as thieves and fighters, and a more exciting world of dancehalls, violence, scams and gangs beckoned.
Tony Lambrianou left the bed factory and made his money from thieving and protection, and eventually received his first conviction for burglary in 1960. The violence became more extreme and Lambrianou thrived as an all-purpose money-maker, stealing, running protection rackets, and working as both a bookmaker's runner and a Jew-baiting
Mosleyite thug, at £50 per day. He received another conviction in 1961 for housebreaking, resulting in a three-year probation order.
Tony married a cab-driver's daughter, Pat Strack, in 1962, and that year became a father for the first time. In 1963 he received his first prison sentence - 18 months for stealing a car - but was released on appeal nine months later. Tony's older brother Chris was busy forging an even more formidable reputation for reckless and violent adventurism, and both Chris and Tony eventually attracted the attention of the
gangsters Reg and Ron Kray.
By the early 1960s the Krays were well established in the East and West Ends of London, and were always on the lookout
for up-and-coming criminal talent. The Lambrianous could also appreciate the benefits of association with such a
potent brand as the Kray twins, and they found that they could make good money with minimal effort by merely uttering the twins' names.
In 1965 Tony received a prison sentence of 30 months for assault with intent to rob, and on his release became closely associated with the event that was to mark the demise of the Kray firm.
At the start of his sentence for his part in the murder of McVitie, Tony Lambrianou was a 26-year-old father of two, and he proceeded to serve some very hard time. Three of his 15 years were spent in punishment blocks as a result of various assaults, riots and thefts.
On his release in September 1983 he faced a world more complex than the one he had left behind. Both of his parents were dead; his brother Chris, who had discovered religion while in prison, and was released on the same day, became a market gardener. Tony clashed with his wife and with his by then grown-up children. Divorce and serious illness followed, and in the late 1980s Tony Lambrianou began a relationship with Wendy Mason, whom he later married.
But crime had been his life, and in 1991 he published an autobiography, Inside the Firm: the untold story of the Krays' reign of terror, and more recently co-authored with Freddie Foreman Getting It Straight: villains talking (2001). The public's enormous fascination with 1960s gangland increased throughout the 1990s, and he became a highly visible celebrity at boxing matches and charity events. In 1995 he collaborated with a latter-day Kray associate, Steve Wraith, in raising thousands of pounds for the Gateshead burns victim Terry Moran.
Tony Lambrianou was a passionate keeper of the Kray flame, and was willing to defend their most indefensible crimes. He campaigned for the release of the twins and even after their deaths (Ron died in 1995 and Reg in 2000) was always available to speak to the mass media in never less than glowing terms on their behalf. He often spoke of a set of underworld ethics that now seem as dated as bowler hats and bubble cars.
He was most eloquent about traditional family values. "If you didn't have a family of brothers with you, you were nothing. Brothers were your strength." Lambrianou knew all about brothers.
In his time he had been a violent career criminal who had been attracted to the glamour and easy pickings of the Kray
crime circus, but he acquired more status and respect for his loyalty to the Krays, even after they were dead, than for any of his criminal exploits. Not only did he become a regular at charity events, in 2001, with his fellow
underworld icon Freddie Foreman, he was hired to promote the shirtmakers Thomas Pink. The advertising agency countered criticism by claiming, "They have served their time, paid their debt and are now free to do whatever they want."
In autumn 1967 Tony Lambrianou and his brother Chris, as junior members of the Kray firm, were tasked with luring Jack "The Hat" McVitie to a flat in Stoke Newington, London, for a party. McVitie had been a nuisance & embarrassment to the Kray twins for some time, and in the chaotic atmosphere that enshrouded the firm in the wake of the Kray-engineered escape and subsequent killing of Frank Mitchell, Ron's shooting of George Cornell and the suicide of Reg's wife Frances, a further violent escalation was inevitable.
McVitie had bungled a shooting for which the Krays had paid him, and his final mistake was in threatening the twins after ripping them off on a drug deal.
Tony Lambrianou, along with most of the Kray firm, assumed that a punishment beating would take place, but Reg Kray first produced a handgun which failed to fire, and then proceeded to butcher McVitie with a carving knife. The Lambrianous assumed responsibility for getting rid of the body, which was wrapped in a bedspread and placed in McVitie's car. Tony then drove the car to south London where the body was later picked up and apparently given an informal burial at sea.
When, in 1968, the entire Kray firm was mopped up by a special squad of detectives, Tony Lambrianou found himself under a media spotlight seldom afforded to such a small-time criminal. The ensuing trial at the Old Bailey saw several key members of the firm turn Queen's Evidence, while the Lambrianou brothers remained staunch throughout, and received life with a 15-year recommendation.
Anthony Lambrianou was born in east London in 1942, the third of five sons named after saints. His father Christopher was a Cypriot who had been sold into slavery at the age of 12. He escaped in Egypt and arrived in England as a teenager. He found work during the First World War in a Newcastle munitions factory, after which he trained as a
chef in London.
A highly successful gambler, in the late 1930s Christopher Lambrianou bought a restaurant in Charlotte Street, in the West End. At this time he was also drafted into the RAF and was sent to work in the same Newcastle munitions factory, where he met and married Lillian, the daughter of a strict Roman Catholic farming family from Consett. By 1945 he had acquired another restaurant in Charlotte Street and seemed set for prosperity.
However, two years later a rat was discovered in one of the restaurants and Christopher killed it by pouring boiling water over it. At the High Court he was found guilty of cruelty and was forced to sell the restaurants to pay the massive legal costs. The family fortunes took a nosedivefrom which they were never to recover.
Christopher picked up whatever casual kitchen work was available, but this did not prevent the family enduring a spell in a south London workhouse. In 1949 the Lambrianou family was re-housed in a flat in bomb-ravaged Haggerston, not far from Tony's birthplace in Bethnal Green. Despite Lillian's ferocious defence of her sons, immersed in poverty and the detritus of war, the Lambrianou brothers quickly acquired a reputation as toughs and petty thieves.
As a child Tony was not averse to hard work, and from the age of eight supplemented the family purse by working for a coal merchant, and by selling sheets of race results. By the
time he left school at the age of 14 to work for a local bed manufacturer, the Lambrianou brothers, despite their hard-working, strict and religious parents, were well established as thieves and fighters, and a more exciting world of dancehalls, violence, scams and gangs beckoned.
Tony Lambrianou left the bed factory and made his money from thieving and protection, and eventually received his first conviction for burglary in 1960. The violence became more extreme and Lambrianou thrived as an all-purpose money-maker, stealing, running protection rackets, and working as both a bookmaker's runner and a Jew-baiting
Mosleyite thug, at £50 per day. He received another conviction in 1961 for housebreaking, resulting in a three-year probation order.
Tony married a cab-driver's daughter, Pat Strack, in 1962, and that year became a father for the first time. In 1963 he received his first prison sentence - 18 months for stealing a car - but was released on appeal nine months later. Tony's older brother Chris was busy forging an even more formidable reputation for reckless and violent adventurism, and both Chris and Tony eventually attracted the attention of the
gangsters Reg and Ron Kray.
By the early 1960s the Krays were well established in the East and West Ends of London, and were always on the lookout
for up-and-coming criminal talent. The Lambrianous could also appreciate the benefits of association with such a
potent brand as the Kray twins, and they found that they could make good money with minimal effort by merely uttering the twins' names.
In 1965 Tony received a prison sentence of 30 months for assault with intent to rob, and on his release became closely associated with the event that was to mark the demise of the Kray firm.
At the start of his sentence for his part in the murder of McVitie, Tony Lambrianou was a 26-year-old father of two, and he proceeded to serve some very hard time. Three of his 15 years were spent in punishment blocks as a result of various assaults, riots and thefts.
On his release in September 1983 he faced a world more complex than the one he had left behind. Both of his parents were dead; his brother Chris, who had discovered religion while in prison, and was released on the same day, became a market gardener. Tony clashed with his wife and with his by then grown-up children. Divorce and serious illness followed, and in the late 1980s Tony Lambrianou began a relationship with Wendy Mason, whom he later married.
But crime had been his life, and in 1991 he published an autobiography, Inside the Firm: the untold story of the Krays' reign of terror, and more recently co-authored with Freddie Foreman Getting It Straight: villains talking (2001). The public's enormous fascination with 1960s gangland increased throughout the 1990s, and he became a highly visible celebrity at boxing matches and charity events. In 1995 he collaborated with a latter-day Kray associate, Steve Wraith, in raising thousands of pounds for the Gateshead burns victim Terry Moran.
Tony Lambrianou was a passionate keeper of the Kray flame, and was willing to defend their most indefensible crimes. He campaigned for the release of the twins and even after their deaths (Ron died in 1995 and Reg in 2000) was always available to speak to the mass media in never less than glowing terms on their behalf. He often spoke of a set of underworld ethics that now seem as dated as bowler hats and bubble cars.
He was most eloquent about traditional family values. "If you didn't have a family of brothers with you, you were nothing. Brothers were your strength." Lambrianou knew all about brothers.
chris lambrianou
Chris Lambrianou was a former East End gangster and an associate of the notorious Kray twins who dominated the East End of London in the 1950s and 1960s.
On October 29, 1967, Mr Lambrianou and his brother Tony were lured to a party in a basement of a flat in Evering Road, London, where Reggie Kray stabbed Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie to death.
Mr Lambrianou, his brother and other members of ‘The Kray Firm’ were left to dispose of the body and clear up the crime scene.
It was the events of this night that led Mr Lambrianou to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on March 4, 1969, to life in prison, with the condition he served a minimum of 15 years.
When Chris Lambrianou left prison in 1983, he had just served 15 years after being convicted for murder alongside the Kray twins. As a free man he began a new life, having become a born-again Christian while in jail. Eventually, he married. In time, there were children. They turned out to be twins. “A boy and a girl, not two boys,” he says. “Still, life can be ironic.”
For Lambrianou, escaping the Krays has never been easy. After watching Tom Hardy's 'Legend' Lambrianou is quietly impressed. “I’ve got to say, Tom Hardy plays it brilliantly. He does the twins great. He may go a little over the top with Ronnie, but he plays Reggie very sensitively.”
His brother Tony was also mixed up in their empire. When Legend’s writer/director Brian Helgeland came to London to research the film, Lambrianou showed him around the twins’ old haunts. According to Helgeland, Lambrianou also gave him the key to the whole drama. That was Frances Shea, the ill-starred Bethnal Green girl whose relationship with Reg is the heart of the movie.
It was Lambrianou who told the director how important Frances was to the Krays’ story. He had been to school with her big brother Frank (played by Merlin's Colin Morgan in the movie). “Me and Frank were best mates. You couldn’t have met a nicer guy. There was nothing criminal about him, but he ended up working as the Krays’ driver.”
Frances was soon pulled into the twins’ orbit, too, as Reg became smitten. They made an unlikely couple. “The Sheas were a dead straight family, and Frances was a decent girl. But you can’t tell someone who to fall in love with.”
At first, Lambrianou thought Frances might persuade Reg to abandon crime. He wasn’t alone. The couple married in 1965, but Ron saw their relationship as a threat. “Ronnie’s love for Reggie meant tightening the fist around him,” he recalls. “It was, ‘We need you with us, not her.’”
Lambrianou says the mental state of Ron, a paranoid schizophrenic, was the real cause of the Krays’ destruction. “Ron had a bit of the Napoleon in him. You never knew how far he would take things.” For Frances, the marriage was disastrous. Psychologically fragile herself, she committed suicide in 1967. “She didn’t stand a chance. The Krays leaned on each other, and in doing that they squeezed the girl to pieces.”
In Legend, the story of Frances and Reg is played as tragic romance, with Hardy’s Reg a smooth talker in a tailored suit. Here, Lambrianou thinks a touch of dramatic licence has been involved. “Reggie didn’t have a lot of confidence. He was too shy to go up and start talking to women. He’d need a bit of speed, to be honest, to be able to chat a girl up. He was a sensitive soul really, Reggie.”
On October 29, 1967, Mr Lambrianou and his brother Tony were lured to a party in a basement of a flat in Evering Road, London, where Reggie Kray stabbed Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie to death.
Mr Lambrianou, his brother and other members of ‘The Kray Firm’ were left to dispose of the body and clear up the crime scene.
It was the events of this night that led Mr Lambrianou to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on March 4, 1969, to life in prison, with the condition he served a minimum of 15 years.
When Chris Lambrianou left prison in 1983, he had just served 15 years after being convicted for murder alongside the Kray twins. As a free man he began a new life, having become a born-again Christian while in jail. Eventually, he married. In time, there were children. They turned out to be twins. “A boy and a girl, not two boys,” he says. “Still, life can be ironic.”
For Lambrianou, escaping the Krays has never been easy. After watching Tom Hardy's 'Legend' Lambrianou is quietly impressed. “I’ve got to say, Tom Hardy plays it brilliantly. He does the twins great. He may go a little over the top with Ronnie, but he plays Reggie very sensitively.”
His brother Tony was also mixed up in their empire. When Legend’s writer/director Brian Helgeland came to London to research the film, Lambrianou showed him around the twins’ old haunts. According to Helgeland, Lambrianou also gave him the key to the whole drama. That was Frances Shea, the ill-starred Bethnal Green girl whose relationship with Reg is the heart of the movie.
It was Lambrianou who told the director how important Frances was to the Krays’ story. He had been to school with her big brother Frank (played by Merlin's Colin Morgan in the movie). “Me and Frank were best mates. You couldn’t have met a nicer guy. There was nothing criminal about him, but he ended up working as the Krays’ driver.”
Frances was soon pulled into the twins’ orbit, too, as Reg became smitten. They made an unlikely couple. “The Sheas were a dead straight family, and Frances was a decent girl. But you can’t tell someone who to fall in love with.”
At first, Lambrianou thought Frances might persuade Reg to abandon crime. He wasn’t alone. The couple married in 1965, but Ron saw their relationship as a threat. “Ronnie’s love for Reggie meant tightening the fist around him,” he recalls. “It was, ‘We need you with us, not her.’”
Lambrianou says the mental state of Ron, a paranoid schizophrenic, was the real cause of the Krays’ destruction. “Ron had a bit of the Napoleon in him. You never knew how far he would take things.” For Frances, the marriage was disastrous. Psychologically fragile herself, she committed suicide in 1967. “She didn’t stand a chance. The Krays leaned on each other, and in doing that they squeezed the girl to pieces.”
In Legend, the story of Frances and Reg is played as tragic romance, with Hardy’s Reg a smooth talker in a tailored suit. Here, Lambrianou thinks a touch of dramatic licence has been involved. “Reggie didn’t have a lot of confidence. He was too shy to go up and start talking to women. He’d need a bit of speed, to be honest, to be able to chat a girl up. He was a sensitive soul really, Reggie.”
leslie payne
Leslie Payne was a close associate of Ronald and Reginald Kray in the early 60s, the years of their real rise to power and wealth. In this rise Payne played a vital part. The Krays were in truth little more than East End thugs with a certain native wit. Payne was an expert operator and fraudsman. He provided the brains and confidence necessary to conduct the activities - gambling and fraud - on which the 'firm' flourished; the twins provided the personnel, the gangland aparate. He eventually drifted away from the Krays, alarmed by their psychopathic violence. It was Payne who played a crucial role in the conviction of the Krays, after their attempt to have him murdered had driven him into the arms of the police
jack the hat mcvitie
Jack the hat McVitie was born on 19 April 1932 in Battersea, South London and was one of five children along with brothers Henry, Leonard and Fred, and a sister Jean.
During the Second World War, the McVitie family broke up and he lived with an aunt in Gilbey Road, Tooting, and later, with a family known as the Hutchinsons. His first in a long line of criminal convictions came in October 1946 when he was bound over at Buntingford Juvenile Court for stealing a watch and cigarettes.
At the age of fourteen he met Marie Esther Marney, a pupil at Western Road Secondary Modern School for Girls in Mitcham, who was a year his junior. McVitie (whom everyone at the time called ‘Dennis’) and Marie became engaged whilst still in their teens and, immediately after, Marie fell pregnant.
A daughter, Mary Elizabeth was born at St James’ Hospital, Balham, on 6 September 1950, whilst McVitie was undertaking his National Service, and three weeks later, he and Marie tied the knot at Wandsworth Registry Office.
The marriage was doomed, as the only time Marie ever got to see her husband was when he was on army detention in Reading, and pretty soon she left him. When McVitie went to see his wife and child at her parents’ house, his father-in-law told him to go away and never return; it was the last time Marie would ever see McVitie. She had no communication with him, never received any maintenance payments for the child and, despite entering a long-term relationship with another man, Henry Cooper, which resulted in more children, she never married Cooper and never divorced McVitie either.
McVitie’s criminal life gathered pace from March 1952; Borstal training followed another conviction for stealing and, four months later, one month imprisonment and further time in Borstal for assaulting a police officer. Four separate prison terms followed over the next four years, for offences ranging from stealing to assault.
In 1954, McVitie had met Sylvia Ann Mitchell, who was to briefly become his common-law wife and the mother of his second child, Tony Jackson McVitie, in 1958.
They drifted apart after McVitie was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on 3 April 1959 after being found guilty, with three other men, of being in possession of explosives for an unlawful purpose and possessing a flick-knife in public. By all accounts, Jack McVitie feared very few people and could certainly handle himself. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and heavily built, with blue eyes and, on his hands, arms and chest numerous tattoos, with one particular adornment, on his left wrist, reading ‘ANN’.
Despite his later reputation as an unpredictable liability who drank to excess and mixed alcohol with drugs, some in the criminal fraternity spoke well of him.
During the Second World War, the McVitie family broke up and he lived with an aunt in Gilbey Road, Tooting, and later, with a family known as the Hutchinsons. His first in a long line of criminal convictions came in October 1946 when he was bound over at Buntingford Juvenile Court for stealing a watch and cigarettes.
At the age of fourteen he met Marie Esther Marney, a pupil at Western Road Secondary Modern School for Girls in Mitcham, who was a year his junior. McVitie (whom everyone at the time called ‘Dennis’) and Marie became engaged whilst still in their teens and, immediately after, Marie fell pregnant.
A daughter, Mary Elizabeth was born at St James’ Hospital, Balham, on 6 September 1950, whilst McVitie was undertaking his National Service, and three weeks later, he and Marie tied the knot at Wandsworth Registry Office.
The marriage was doomed, as the only time Marie ever got to see her husband was when he was on army detention in Reading, and pretty soon she left him. When McVitie went to see his wife and child at her parents’ house, his father-in-law told him to go away and never return; it was the last time Marie would ever see McVitie. She had no communication with him, never received any maintenance payments for the child and, despite entering a long-term relationship with another man, Henry Cooper, which resulted in more children, she never married Cooper and never divorced McVitie either.
McVitie’s criminal life gathered pace from March 1952; Borstal training followed another conviction for stealing and, four months later, one month imprisonment and further time in Borstal for assaulting a police officer. Four separate prison terms followed over the next four years, for offences ranging from stealing to assault.
In 1954, McVitie had met Sylvia Ann Mitchell, who was to briefly become his common-law wife and the mother of his second child, Tony Jackson McVitie, in 1958.
They drifted apart after McVitie was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on 3 April 1959 after being found guilty, with three other men, of being in possession of explosives for an unlawful purpose and possessing a flick-knife in public. By all accounts, Jack McVitie feared very few people and could certainly handle himself. He was 5 feet 9 inches tall and heavily built, with blue eyes and, on his hands, arms and chest numerous tattoos, with one particular adornment, on his left wrist, reading ‘ANN’.
Despite his later reputation as an unpredictable liability who drank to excess and mixed alcohol with drugs, some in the criminal fraternity spoke well of him.
frank mitchell
Frank Mitchell
Frank Mitchell was a giant of a man and as strong as an Ox. He had a long history of violence, and from the age of seventeen, was always in and out of prisons or mental institutions. He had been declared insane on a couple of occasions and spent time in both Rampton and Broadmoor. He wasn't really crazy, he just had the mind of a child and like a child had many a tantrum.
While serving time in Broadmoor, he escaped and broke into an old couple's house and held them captive with an axe he found in their garden shed. He forced them to watch television while he drank tea with the axe neatly balanced across his knees.
'The MAD Axeman' was captured and sent to prison for life.
Frank was sent to Dartmoor where he continued to serve his time.
No one could contol him not even the prison guards. He was left to get on with his sentence without too much hassle from the authorities. He would roam the moors while out on working parties and even visit the local pub with a scew keeping watch for him. As long as he was back in time for the evening role call he was left to his own devices.
He had already served nine years of his life sentence and at the age of 37 had many more ahead of him. The Home Secretary hadn't given him a release date and with no light at the end of the tunnel there was nothing to hope for.
Ronnie and Reggie had already met Mitchell years before in Wandsworth. Frank kept up this relationship and often wrote to Ron telling him of his frustration at not being given a review date for his case.
Many reasons have been given for the following events that took place but two things are certain: the Twins did mastermind Frank Mitchell's escape from Dartmoor and he did disappear shortly afterwards.
The Twins say that their reason for breaking Frank Mitchell out of prison was purely to highlight the fact that he hadn't been given a release date and that if they could keep him out long enough without him getting into trouble then they would have to consider his case.
On the 12th of december 1966 Frank Mitchell escaped from Dartmoor prison.
To say that he escaped leads you to believe that he was held captive which isn't quite true. The security at Broadmoor was so lax that he just walked out to a previously arranged rendezvous point where he was picked up and taken back to London.
Before the escape Reg Kray had visited the prison (in disguise) with the boxer Ted 'Kid' Lewis to show some boxing films. A good time was had by all and he was invited back 'anytime' by the prison Governor.
Frank was picked up by Albert Donoghue, 'Mad' Tommy Smith and Billy Exley.
As the car sped back to London, Frank changed into some clothes provided by Tommy 'The Bear' Brown an ex-boxing champ. They were all elated at how smoothly things had gone, all except Frank Mitchell who didn't show any emotion at all.
It was arranged that he should be taken to Nobby Clark's flat but when they got there he had second thoughts and said that the plans had been changed and that he had to be taken to Lennie Dunn's flat in Canning Town.
The plan was to send letters to the newspapers so that they would publicise Frank's case and force the authorities into doing something. That was Mad Teddy Smith's role and he managed to get Frank's plea into the Times and the Daily Mirror.
While all this was happening Frank was kept locked up in Lennie's flat with members of the Firm taking turns in keeping him company. It was decided that he should have a woman to satisfy his other needs so a hostess was chosen for him from the Winston club. Her name was Lisa Prescott and she hit it off with Frank straight away. She knew who he was and that there was a nationwide hunt to find him but that didn't really matter.
Although Frank had Lisa to keep him occupied he would have very bad mood swings which went from being hyperactive and wanting to play games with everyone to being very depressed and threatening the Firm and the Twins.
Ron had been the main instigator in getting Frank out of prison but never ever visited him while he was on the run and Reg had only been there once to sort out a companion for him.
Frank saw this as disrespect after all the promises they had given him.
He was getting restless being couped up in a little flat after spending many years in relative freedom on the moors. His liberators now taking on the role of gaolers. He and Lisa were guarded night and day by Scotch Jack Dickson and Billy Exley who would report everything back to Ron and Reg.
The Firm were there to stop Lisa from leaving if she didn't get on with Mitchell and to stop Frank from going walk about and getting into trouble.
Frank was making more and more threats saying that if the Twins didn't come to see him then he would go to them. It was clear that they couldn't handle him and that a solution to the problem had to be sought. What is puzzling though is what made the Twins think that they could control Frank when all the top prisons and institutes couldn't.
What options did they have?
If they had told the police where he was then Mitchell would have implicated them in the breakout. If they had just released him then he would have been caught and he probably would still have pointed the finger at Ron and Reg.
It is at this point that the Frank Mitchell story takes two different routes.
Ronnie Kray's version says that Billy Exley and three greeks offered, for a price, to get Mitchell out of the country. They took him away but found that he was too much of a handful and they ended up killing him. He had three bullets fired into him with Exley fireing the fatal shot.
Albert Donoghue's version was more or less the truth. He says that he brought Frank Mitchell out to a waiting van under the pretext of him spending christmas in Kent with Ronnie Kray.
Frank climbed into the back of the van and sat on one of the wheel arches.Sitting opposite was Freddie Foreman and his pal Alfie Gerrard. Before the van had hardly moved Frank had been fatally shot. It took twelve bullets to finish him off. One of the major differences between Donoghue's story and Foreman's is the amount of money paid for the contract. Albert says that he delivered £1000 to Foreman on the Twins behalf. But Fred says that he did it as a favour for 'one of the chaps' and there was no payment involved. This account of the killing has been substantiated by Foreman himself in his book 'Respect'.
Frank Mitchell was a giant of a man and as strong as an Ox. He had a long history of violence, and from the age of seventeen, was always in and out of prisons or mental institutions. He had been declared insane on a couple of occasions and spent time in both Rampton and Broadmoor. He wasn't really crazy, he just had the mind of a child and like a child had many a tantrum.
While serving time in Broadmoor, he escaped and broke into an old couple's house and held them captive with an axe he found in their garden shed. He forced them to watch television while he drank tea with the axe neatly balanced across his knees.
'The MAD Axeman' was captured and sent to prison for life.
Frank was sent to Dartmoor where he continued to serve his time.
No one could contol him not even the prison guards. He was left to get on with his sentence without too much hassle from the authorities. He would roam the moors while out on working parties and even visit the local pub with a scew keeping watch for him. As long as he was back in time for the evening role call he was left to his own devices.
He had already served nine years of his life sentence and at the age of 37 had many more ahead of him. The Home Secretary hadn't given him a release date and with no light at the end of the tunnel there was nothing to hope for.
Ronnie and Reggie had already met Mitchell years before in Wandsworth. Frank kept up this relationship and often wrote to Ron telling him of his frustration at not being given a review date for his case.
Many reasons have been given for the following events that took place but two things are certain: the Twins did mastermind Frank Mitchell's escape from Dartmoor and he did disappear shortly afterwards.
The Twins say that their reason for breaking Frank Mitchell out of prison was purely to highlight the fact that he hadn't been given a release date and that if they could keep him out long enough without him getting into trouble then they would have to consider his case.
On the 12th of december 1966 Frank Mitchell escaped from Dartmoor prison.
To say that he escaped leads you to believe that he was held captive which isn't quite true. The security at Broadmoor was so lax that he just walked out to a previously arranged rendezvous point where he was picked up and taken back to London.
Before the escape Reg Kray had visited the prison (in disguise) with the boxer Ted 'Kid' Lewis to show some boxing films. A good time was had by all and he was invited back 'anytime' by the prison Governor.
Frank was picked up by Albert Donoghue, 'Mad' Tommy Smith and Billy Exley.
As the car sped back to London, Frank changed into some clothes provided by Tommy 'The Bear' Brown an ex-boxing champ. They were all elated at how smoothly things had gone, all except Frank Mitchell who didn't show any emotion at all.
It was arranged that he should be taken to Nobby Clark's flat but when they got there he had second thoughts and said that the plans had been changed and that he had to be taken to Lennie Dunn's flat in Canning Town.
The plan was to send letters to the newspapers so that they would publicise Frank's case and force the authorities into doing something. That was Mad Teddy Smith's role and he managed to get Frank's plea into the Times and the Daily Mirror.
While all this was happening Frank was kept locked up in Lennie's flat with members of the Firm taking turns in keeping him company. It was decided that he should have a woman to satisfy his other needs so a hostess was chosen for him from the Winston club. Her name was Lisa Prescott and she hit it off with Frank straight away. She knew who he was and that there was a nationwide hunt to find him but that didn't really matter.
Although Frank had Lisa to keep him occupied he would have very bad mood swings which went from being hyperactive and wanting to play games with everyone to being very depressed and threatening the Firm and the Twins.
Ron had been the main instigator in getting Frank out of prison but never ever visited him while he was on the run and Reg had only been there once to sort out a companion for him.
Frank saw this as disrespect after all the promises they had given him.
He was getting restless being couped up in a little flat after spending many years in relative freedom on the moors. His liberators now taking on the role of gaolers. He and Lisa were guarded night and day by Scotch Jack Dickson and Billy Exley who would report everything back to Ron and Reg.
The Firm were there to stop Lisa from leaving if she didn't get on with Mitchell and to stop Frank from going walk about and getting into trouble.
Frank was making more and more threats saying that if the Twins didn't come to see him then he would go to them. It was clear that they couldn't handle him and that a solution to the problem had to be sought. What is puzzling though is what made the Twins think that they could control Frank when all the top prisons and institutes couldn't.
What options did they have?
If they had told the police where he was then Mitchell would have implicated them in the breakout. If they had just released him then he would have been caught and he probably would still have pointed the finger at Ron and Reg.
It is at this point that the Frank Mitchell story takes two different routes.
Ronnie Kray's version says that Billy Exley and three greeks offered, for a price, to get Mitchell out of the country. They took him away but found that he was too much of a handful and they ended up killing him. He had three bullets fired into him with Exley fireing the fatal shot.
Albert Donoghue's version was more or less the truth. He says that he brought Frank Mitchell out to a waiting van under the pretext of him spending christmas in Kent with Ronnie Kray.
Frank climbed into the back of the van and sat on one of the wheel arches.Sitting opposite was Freddie Foreman and his pal Alfie Gerrard. Before the van had hardly moved Frank had been fatally shot. It took twelve bullets to finish him off. One of the major differences between Donoghue's story and Foreman's is the amount of money paid for the contract. Albert says that he delivered £1000 to Foreman on the Twins behalf. But Fred says that he did it as a favour for 'one of the chaps' and there was no payment involved. This account of the killing has been substantiated by Foreman himself in his book 'Respect'.
Albert donnaghue
Albert Donoghue was Reggie Kray's right hand man, his minder and chief executive. Recruited into the firm after being shot by reggie in the foot and not grassing to the police. He became deeply implicated in their criminal rackets, collecting protection money and acting as paymaster to the other members of the firm. But then the Kray's made what was to be one of their most dangerous mistakes. They tried to get Donoghue to admit to the killing of Frank Mitchell.
“The Kray twins said to him, ‘Put your hands up to these murders’ and he just said, ‘Bastards’.
Albert, who had become increasingly appalled by the violent turn the Twin's business affairs had been taking, testified against them.
He played a huge part in the rise of the country's most notorious criminals, and witnessed their final descent into self-destruction.
“The Kray twins said to him, ‘Put your hands up to these murders’ and he just said, ‘Bastards’.
Albert, who had become increasingly appalled by the violent turn the Twin's business affairs had been taking, testified against them.
He played a huge part in the rise of the country's most notorious criminals, and witnessed their final descent into self-destruction.
lenny mclean
McLean's pugilist reputation began in the East End of London in the late 1960s and was sustained through to the mid-1980s. He has stated that he had been involved in up to 4,000 fight contests.
McLean claimed in his autobiography to have been well known in the criminal underworld. As a respected and feared figure, he often associated with such people as the Kray twins, Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson. He was also known in the London nightclub scene as a bouncer, where he often managed security.
In his later life, McLean became an actor, performing his most acclaimed role of 'Barry The Baptist' in Guy Ritchie's 1998 British gangster comedy film: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Known as the Guv'nor
McLean claimed in his autobiography to have been well known in the criminal underworld. As a respected and feared figure, he often associated with such people as the Kray twins, Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson. He was also known in the London nightclub scene as a bouncer, where he often managed security.
In his later life, McLean became an actor, performing his most acclaimed role of 'Barry The Baptist' in Guy Ritchie's 1998 British gangster comedy film: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Known as the Guv'nor
roy shaw
Royston Henry Shaw also known as Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw, Roy "Mean Machine" Shaw and Roy West, was an English millionaire, real estate investor, author and businessman from the East End of London who was formerly a criminal and Category A prisoner.
During the 1970s–1980s, Shaw was active in the criminal underworld of London and was frequently associated with the Kray twins. Shaw is best remembered today for his career as a fighter on the unlicensed boxing scene, becoming an arch-rival with Lenny McLean.
Shaw was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for an armed robbery in 1963, one of England's largest armoured truck robberies. Shaw reportedly fought his way out of two different holding cells at Her Majesty's Prison at Maidstone, assaulting several prison guards.
Shaw, who claimed he "simply hates the system", and that the "system could never beat him", was consistently moved onto different prisons and spent time at Broadmoor Hospital for Criminally Insane. According to Shaw's autobiography, Pretty Boy (1999), "uncontrollable prisoners, were deliberately drugged up with the aim of turning them into permanent 'cabbages'". At Broadmoor, Shaw underwent experimental electroconvulsive therapy in an attempt to control his temper. His doctor claimed that Shaw had at first come across as a large and intimidating yet soft-spoken gentleman, but when faced with treatment he didn't want, Shaw became "the most powerful and dangerous man I have ever tried to treat". The doctor reported the treatments as having been a complete failure, and only served to make Shaw even more aggressive and unpredictable.
Shaw routinely stabbed police informers and even slashed the throat of a former best friend while incarcerated owing to his strong belief in a 'code of honour' amongst criminals which must not be broken.
During his time in Broadmoor, Shaw again encountered Ronnie Kray. Shaw also spent time with such people as Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson at other prisons. By 1974, Shaw had already spent around 18 years in more than 22 different prisons.
Shaw never married and lived alone in Waltham Abbey, Essex with two Rottweilers as pets.
In 2000, Shaw was one of the best known mourners to attend the funeral of Reggie Kray, a lifelong friend. Shaw said of Kray: "Kray came from an era before drugs became common currency, when there was honour among thieves and few criminals double-crossed their friends. In those days there was loyalty. Nowadays they are all having each other over all the time."
Having served all his prison sentences, Shaw stated that he was going legitimate and had retired from both a life of crime and bareknuckle boxing. Shaw became a businessman and author with numerous financial and non-financial ventures, such as a best-selling autobiography. He appeared in two documentary DVDs by Director Liam Galvin, 'Roy Shaw: Brute Force' and 'Roy Shaw-Fight School' and later made a cameo in the film 'Killer Bitch', he also became involved in numerous internet ventures, and real estate investment. The land investments, something Shaw had been involved in since before his first prison sentence, were the ventures which eventually made Shaw a millionaire.
During the 1970s–1980s, Shaw was active in the criminal underworld of London and was frequently associated with the Kray twins. Shaw is best remembered today for his career as a fighter on the unlicensed boxing scene, becoming an arch-rival with Lenny McLean.
Shaw was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for an armed robbery in 1963, one of England's largest armoured truck robberies. Shaw reportedly fought his way out of two different holding cells at Her Majesty's Prison at Maidstone, assaulting several prison guards.
Shaw, who claimed he "simply hates the system", and that the "system could never beat him", was consistently moved onto different prisons and spent time at Broadmoor Hospital for Criminally Insane. According to Shaw's autobiography, Pretty Boy (1999), "uncontrollable prisoners, were deliberately drugged up with the aim of turning them into permanent 'cabbages'". At Broadmoor, Shaw underwent experimental electroconvulsive therapy in an attempt to control his temper. His doctor claimed that Shaw had at first come across as a large and intimidating yet soft-spoken gentleman, but when faced with treatment he didn't want, Shaw became "the most powerful and dangerous man I have ever tried to treat". The doctor reported the treatments as having been a complete failure, and only served to make Shaw even more aggressive and unpredictable.
Shaw routinely stabbed police informers and even slashed the throat of a former best friend while incarcerated owing to his strong belief in a 'code of honour' amongst criminals which must not be broken.
During his time in Broadmoor, Shaw again encountered Ronnie Kray. Shaw also spent time with such people as Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson at other prisons. By 1974, Shaw had already spent around 18 years in more than 22 different prisons.
Shaw never married and lived alone in Waltham Abbey, Essex with two Rottweilers as pets.
In 2000, Shaw was one of the best known mourners to attend the funeral of Reggie Kray, a lifelong friend. Shaw said of Kray: "Kray came from an era before drugs became common currency, when there was honour among thieves and few criminals double-crossed their friends. In those days there was loyalty. Nowadays they are all having each other over all the time."
Having served all his prison sentences, Shaw stated that he was going legitimate and had retired from both a life of crime and bareknuckle boxing. Shaw became a businessman and author with numerous financial and non-financial ventures, such as a best-selling autobiography. He appeared in two documentary DVDs by Director Liam Galvin, 'Roy Shaw: Brute Force' and 'Roy Shaw-Fight School' and later made a cameo in the film 'Killer Bitch', he also became involved in numerous internet ventures, and real estate investment. The land investments, something Shaw had been involved in since before his first prison sentence, were the ventures which eventually made Shaw a millionaire.
paul sykes
Paul Sykes became one of Britains hardest Prisoners.
He grew up in the Lupset council estate and boxed at the Robin Hood and Thorpe Amateur Boxing Club. He is also known to have boxed at White Rose Boxing Club, Thornes Wharfe, Wakefield where, amongst others, he flattened John Taylor.
Sykes displayed considerable talent at an early age which, with his size and ability to move, made him formidable. However, he also began drinking heavily at a young age. When he was 16 he went to Germany to fight and the night before was carried out of a bar. Unsurprisingly, he lost.
Sykes's adult life was peppered with alcohol abuse, petty robberies, violent crime and prison. Nonetheless, during a brief period of rehabilitation, he fought ten bouts as a professional boxer between 1978 and 1980. In his sixth fight, Sykes knocked American David Wilson unconscious and continued to hit him relentlessly as he draped over the ropes, before the referee managed to pull him away. Wilson was put on a life support machine and needed a month in hospital to recover
Sykes' career peaked in June 1979 when he lost a British and Commonwealth title fight to John L. Gardner at Wembley. This proved to be an evenly matched contest as it entered the sixth round, though the younger Gardner's stamina proved too much for the 33-year-old Sykes, and the fight was stopped when Sykes turned his back, clearly overwhelmed by Gardner's onslaught. Gardner was seven years younger than Sykes (Gardner referred to Sykes after the fight as "an old man"), and this was his thirty-first professional fight; in contrast, Sykes had entered the fight after just eight professional bouts. Sykes still holds the record for being the British Heavyweight title challenger with fewest professional fights, having effectively been fast tracked by people involved with the sport who had been convinced of his potential. Despite many years in prison, such was the level of interest that Sykes generated on starting his belated boxing career following his release in 1978, that he found himself in promotional photographs with Don King and Larry Holmes, and also travelled to the United States to stand in as a sparring partner for Leon Spinks. Sykes' manager, the highly respected Tommy Miller later said, "Paul could have gone right to the top, quite easily .. he impressed everybody", but "he was always in trouble one way or another, he'd always loads of worry on his mind."
His 'big chance' lost, Sykes was clearly demoralized and his professional career ended in March 1980 when African journeyman Ngozika Ekwelum knocked him out in the first round of a fight in Lagos, Nigeria.
Interestingly, it would appear that Sykes had been billed to fight Lenny Mclean at London's Rainbow Theatre on 20 November 1979, but this fight never materialised. Lenny Mclean, in his autobiography, later explained: "A week before the off, Sykes went into a club in Wakefield where he lives, got well pissed and had a ruck with four doormen. He did them all but one of them got lucky and put a cut above his eye that took eight stitches to pull together".
Sykes was soon back in prison and setting records for lifting weights. An incredibly strong man, he was the holder of the British amateur weightlifting record (deep knee bend 500 lbs).
Sykes was classed as one of the most difficult prisoners in the UK throughout the 1970s and 1980s and by 1990, had spent 21 out of 26 years in 18 prisons for many violent acts against prison officers and police officers. He committed violent offences all over the North of England and was very well known to locals and the police in Leeds, Liverpool, Blackpool, Hull, and Rotherham, and also known and respected by the hard cases in London, possibly as a result of Sykes having trained alongside and sparred with such notorious criminals as Roy Shaw during his lengthy prison career. Some apparently classed Paul Sykes as one of the hardest men in Great Britain during the 1980s.
Paul Sykes is mentioned in the book, Legendsby Charles Bronson, an A to Z guide of the men Bronson had regarded to be the toughest in Britain. Referring to him as 'Sykesy', Bronson describes him as "a legend, born and bred" and writes: "I first met Sykes in Liverpool in the early 70s and at that time he was probably the fittest con in Britain. A hard man from Yorkshire, a fighting man in every sense. A lot of people never liked him, perhaps they even feared him but I respected the man for what he stood for". Bronson then goes on to relate an incident said to have taken place in HMP Liverpool, when Sykes allegedly killed the prison's cat and fashioned it into a "Davey Crocket" hat.
While in prison, Sykes earned a BA in Physical Sciences from Open University and wrote a memoir, Sweet Agony. This book is now a rare title and, in good condition, commands a high price amongst collectors.
Following his release from HM Prison Hull in 1990, producer Roger Greenwood followed him in the course of filming the documentary Paul Sykes: At Large. Greenwood described Sykes as "a fascinating character and incredibly intelligent".
A further documentary explored Sykes's brief post-release career as a debt collector, a business venture he dubbed the 'Last Resort Debt Collecting Agency... "threatenergrams" a speciality', and which was utilised by Wakefield businessman, Dennis Flint, who sent Sykes to collect debts in Spain in addition to funding his autobiography, 'Sweet Agony'.
Sadly, Sykes could not control his drinking, his life began to crumble and he became a notorious character in the city of Wakefield. In 2000, Wakefield Council secured a two-year ASBO banning him from the city centre after a string of aggressive drunken incidents including shouting abuse and urinating in public.
He was arrested in August 2003 for violating the ban by making an appointment with an optician in Wakefield, but was released on his own recognizance.
Sykes died on 7 March 2007 at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield. His cause of death was noted as pneumonia and liver cirrhosis. His death certificate states his occupation as 'author (retired)' and the funeral service was held at Wakefield Baptist Church, which he regularly attended. He is buried in the Alverthorpe cemetery Wakefield
Paul Sykes has two children who are both serving life sentences for murder. Paul Leighton Sykes is serving a life sentence for stabbing Michael Gallagher to death in a frenzied knife attack at his flat in Lupset, Wakefield in June 2004. In 2008, 25-year-old Michael Sharp became the second son of Paul Sykes to be jailed for murder, when he was given a minimum 27-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court for killing 38-year-old David Ward, a former police officer, following a botched armed robbery at his home on Denby Dale Road in Wakefield.
He grew up in the Lupset council estate and boxed at the Robin Hood and Thorpe Amateur Boxing Club. He is also known to have boxed at White Rose Boxing Club, Thornes Wharfe, Wakefield where, amongst others, he flattened John Taylor.
Sykes displayed considerable talent at an early age which, with his size and ability to move, made him formidable. However, he also began drinking heavily at a young age. When he was 16 he went to Germany to fight and the night before was carried out of a bar. Unsurprisingly, he lost.
Sykes's adult life was peppered with alcohol abuse, petty robberies, violent crime and prison. Nonetheless, during a brief period of rehabilitation, he fought ten bouts as a professional boxer between 1978 and 1980. In his sixth fight, Sykes knocked American David Wilson unconscious and continued to hit him relentlessly as he draped over the ropes, before the referee managed to pull him away. Wilson was put on a life support machine and needed a month in hospital to recover
Sykes' career peaked in June 1979 when he lost a British and Commonwealth title fight to John L. Gardner at Wembley. This proved to be an evenly matched contest as it entered the sixth round, though the younger Gardner's stamina proved too much for the 33-year-old Sykes, and the fight was stopped when Sykes turned his back, clearly overwhelmed by Gardner's onslaught. Gardner was seven years younger than Sykes (Gardner referred to Sykes after the fight as "an old man"), and this was his thirty-first professional fight; in contrast, Sykes had entered the fight after just eight professional bouts. Sykes still holds the record for being the British Heavyweight title challenger with fewest professional fights, having effectively been fast tracked by people involved with the sport who had been convinced of his potential. Despite many years in prison, such was the level of interest that Sykes generated on starting his belated boxing career following his release in 1978, that he found himself in promotional photographs with Don King and Larry Holmes, and also travelled to the United States to stand in as a sparring partner for Leon Spinks. Sykes' manager, the highly respected Tommy Miller later said, "Paul could have gone right to the top, quite easily .. he impressed everybody", but "he was always in trouble one way or another, he'd always loads of worry on his mind."
His 'big chance' lost, Sykes was clearly demoralized and his professional career ended in March 1980 when African journeyman Ngozika Ekwelum knocked him out in the first round of a fight in Lagos, Nigeria.
Interestingly, it would appear that Sykes had been billed to fight Lenny Mclean at London's Rainbow Theatre on 20 November 1979, but this fight never materialised. Lenny Mclean, in his autobiography, later explained: "A week before the off, Sykes went into a club in Wakefield where he lives, got well pissed and had a ruck with four doormen. He did them all but one of them got lucky and put a cut above his eye that took eight stitches to pull together".
Sykes was soon back in prison and setting records for lifting weights. An incredibly strong man, he was the holder of the British amateur weightlifting record (deep knee bend 500 lbs).
Sykes was classed as one of the most difficult prisoners in the UK throughout the 1970s and 1980s and by 1990, had spent 21 out of 26 years in 18 prisons for many violent acts against prison officers and police officers. He committed violent offences all over the North of England and was very well known to locals and the police in Leeds, Liverpool, Blackpool, Hull, and Rotherham, and also known and respected by the hard cases in London, possibly as a result of Sykes having trained alongside and sparred with such notorious criminals as Roy Shaw during his lengthy prison career. Some apparently classed Paul Sykes as one of the hardest men in Great Britain during the 1980s.
Paul Sykes is mentioned in the book, Legendsby Charles Bronson, an A to Z guide of the men Bronson had regarded to be the toughest in Britain. Referring to him as 'Sykesy', Bronson describes him as "a legend, born and bred" and writes: "I first met Sykes in Liverpool in the early 70s and at that time he was probably the fittest con in Britain. A hard man from Yorkshire, a fighting man in every sense. A lot of people never liked him, perhaps they even feared him but I respected the man for what he stood for". Bronson then goes on to relate an incident said to have taken place in HMP Liverpool, when Sykes allegedly killed the prison's cat and fashioned it into a "Davey Crocket" hat.
While in prison, Sykes earned a BA in Physical Sciences from Open University and wrote a memoir, Sweet Agony. This book is now a rare title and, in good condition, commands a high price amongst collectors.
Following his release from HM Prison Hull in 1990, producer Roger Greenwood followed him in the course of filming the documentary Paul Sykes: At Large. Greenwood described Sykes as "a fascinating character and incredibly intelligent".
A further documentary explored Sykes's brief post-release career as a debt collector, a business venture he dubbed the 'Last Resort Debt Collecting Agency... "threatenergrams" a speciality', and which was utilised by Wakefield businessman, Dennis Flint, who sent Sykes to collect debts in Spain in addition to funding his autobiography, 'Sweet Agony'.
Sadly, Sykes could not control his drinking, his life began to crumble and he became a notorious character in the city of Wakefield. In 2000, Wakefield Council secured a two-year ASBO banning him from the city centre after a string of aggressive drunken incidents including shouting abuse and urinating in public.
He was arrested in August 2003 for violating the ban by making an appointment with an optician in Wakefield, but was released on his own recognizance.
Sykes died on 7 March 2007 at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield. His cause of death was noted as pneumonia and liver cirrhosis. His death certificate states his occupation as 'author (retired)' and the funeral service was held at Wakefield Baptist Church, which he regularly attended. He is buried in the Alverthorpe cemetery Wakefield
Paul Sykes has two children who are both serving life sentences for murder. Paul Leighton Sykes is serving a life sentence for stabbing Michael Gallagher to death in a frenzied knife attack at his flat in Lupset, Wakefield in June 2004. In 2008, 25-year-old Michael Sharp became the second son of Paul Sykes to be jailed for murder, when he was given a minimum 27-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court for killing 38-year-old David Ward, a former police officer, following a botched armed robbery at his home on Denby Dale Road in Wakefield.
jimmy boyle
Jimmy Boyle (born 1944) is a Scottish sculptor, novelist and convicted murderer.
In 1967, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of another gangland figure, William "Babs" Rooney. During his incarceration in the special unit of Barlinnie Prison, he turned to art and wrote an autobiography, A Sense of Freedom (1977), which has since been filmed and starred David Hayman as Jimmy. Boyle always maintained his innocence of the conviction.
On his release from prison he moved to Edinburgh to continue his artistic career. He designed the largest concrete sculpture in Europe called "Gulliver" for The Craigmillar Festival Society in 1976. The following year he co-wrote the play The Hardman with Tom McGrath, premiered at the Traverse Theatre.
In 1983 Boyle set up the Gateway Exchange with his wife Sarah and the artist Evlynn Smith; a charitable organisation offering art therapy workshops to recovering drug addicts and ex-convicts. Though the project secured funding from private sources (including Sean Connery, Billy Connolly and John Paul Getty) it lasted only a few years. During this time Boyle was allegedly engaged in a long term affair with Smith, alongside a homosexual relationship with her husband Sebastian Horsley. According to Horsley's 2008 autobiography this contributed to the breakdown of their marriage.
Boyle has published Pain of Confinement: Prison Diaries (1984), and a novel, Hero of the Underworld (1999). The latter was adapted for a French film, La Rage et le Rêve des Condamnés(The Anger and Dreams of the Condemned), and won the best documentary prize at the Fifa Montreal awards in 2002. He also has written a forthcoming novel, A Stolen Smile, which is about the theft of the Mona Lisa and how it ends up hidden on a Scottish housing estate; Disney reportedly bought the film rights.
In 1998, he was named as a financial donor of the Labour Party.
The character Nicky Dryden in the 1999 film The Debt Collector is loosely based on Boyle.
In 1967, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of another gangland figure, William "Babs" Rooney. During his incarceration in the special unit of Barlinnie Prison, he turned to art and wrote an autobiography, A Sense of Freedom (1977), which has since been filmed and starred David Hayman as Jimmy. Boyle always maintained his innocence of the conviction.
On his release from prison he moved to Edinburgh to continue his artistic career. He designed the largest concrete sculpture in Europe called "Gulliver" for The Craigmillar Festival Society in 1976. The following year he co-wrote the play The Hardman with Tom McGrath, premiered at the Traverse Theatre.
In 1983 Boyle set up the Gateway Exchange with his wife Sarah and the artist Evlynn Smith; a charitable organisation offering art therapy workshops to recovering drug addicts and ex-convicts. Though the project secured funding from private sources (including Sean Connery, Billy Connolly and John Paul Getty) it lasted only a few years. During this time Boyle was allegedly engaged in a long term affair with Smith, alongside a homosexual relationship with her husband Sebastian Horsley. According to Horsley's 2008 autobiography this contributed to the breakdown of their marriage.
Boyle has published Pain of Confinement: Prison Diaries (1984), and a novel, Hero of the Underworld (1999). The latter was adapted for a French film, La Rage et le Rêve des Condamnés(The Anger and Dreams of the Condemned), and won the best documentary prize at the Fifa Montreal awards in 2002. He also has written a forthcoming novel, A Stolen Smile, which is about the theft of the Mona Lisa and how it ends up hidden on a Scottish housing estate; Disney reportedly bought the film rights.
In 1998, he was named as a financial donor of the Labour Party.
The character Nicky Dryden in the 1999 film The Debt Collector is loosely based on Boyle.
jimmy moody
James "Jimmy" Alfred Moody was an English gangster and hitman whose career spanned more than four decades and included run-ins with Jack Spot, Billy Hill, "Mad" Frankie Fraser, the Krays, the Richardsons and the Provisional IRA. Described by Police Detectives as "extremely professional" and "extremely intimidating", Moody's speciality was robbing armoured trucks and would use a chainsaw to saw through the side of security vehicles.
Moody was born to a mother who was a wartime evacuee from Camberwell, London. His father was killed during World War II after his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Moody was an enforcer for the Richardsons and did freelance "work" for the Krays. He was considered by many of his peers to be "the hardest man in London". In the 1970s, he joined a team of criminals to form the Chainsaw Gang who went on to become that decade's most successful group of armed robbers.
Moody was convicted, along with his brother Richard, of manslaughter in 1967 for the killing of William Day, a young merchant navy steward. He was released in 1972, but sent in 1979 on remand to Brixton Prison to await trial for armed robbery His cellmate was Provisional IRA member Gerard Tuite. The two men and fellow-robber Stan Thompson escaped Brixton Prison on 16 December 1980, which put them to the top of Scotland Yard's Most Wanted list. It was alleged that Moody had been paid £10,000 by the IRA to help get Tuite out of prison.
Fleeing to Northern Ireland, Moody worked with the Provisional IRA. It was there that Moody coined the expression of awarding someone an OBE (One Behind The Ear) as in to shoot them in the head, a play on an OBE Award. The expression would reportedly be used by killers in Belfast for the next decade or so. Tuite was later arrested in Dublin.
Still on the run, Moody returned to London in the late 1980s where he was now known as "Mick the Irishman". By now, his list of enemies included the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British security services. He was shot dead on 1 June 1993 in the Royal Hotel (now Royal Inn on the Park) in Hackney, East London by an unknown assailant, who was described as being in his late forties and wearing a leather bomber jacket. The assailant fled in a stolen Ford Fiesta
Following his death, Moody was linked to multiple unsolved murders including that of gangster David Brindle in August 1991, of businessman Terry Gooderham and his girlfriend Maxine Arnold in Epping Forest, and that of a couple, the Dixons, walking the Pembrokeshire coast in June 1989 who had potentially unearthed a cache of weapons owned by the Provisional IRA. Pembrokeshire-based serial killer and rapist John Cooper was found guilty of the murder of the Dixons in May 2011.
The police had been unable to establish what Moody had been doing since his return to England, nor who had arranged a council flat for him. His flat was only traced three weeks after his death, by which time it had been completely emptied.
Moody was born to a mother who was a wartime evacuee from Camberwell, London. His father was killed during World War II after his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Moody was an enforcer for the Richardsons and did freelance "work" for the Krays. He was considered by many of his peers to be "the hardest man in London". In the 1970s, he joined a team of criminals to form the Chainsaw Gang who went on to become that decade's most successful group of armed robbers.
Moody was convicted, along with his brother Richard, of manslaughter in 1967 for the killing of William Day, a young merchant navy steward. He was released in 1972, but sent in 1979 on remand to Brixton Prison to await trial for armed robbery His cellmate was Provisional IRA member Gerard Tuite. The two men and fellow-robber Stan Thompson escaped Brixton Prison on 16 December 1980, which put them to the top of Scotland Yard's Most Wanted list. It was alleged that Moody had been paid £10,000 by the IRA to help get Tuite out of prison.
Fleeing to Northern Ireland, Moody worked with the Provisional IRA. It was there that Moody coined the expression of awarding someone an OBE (One Behind The Ear) as in to shoot them in the head, a play on an OBE Award. The expression would reportedly be used by killers in Belfast for the next decade or so. Tuite was later arrested in Dublin.
Still on the run, Moody returned to London in the late 1980s where he was now known as "Mick the Irishman". By now, his list of enemies included the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British security services. He was shot dead on 1 June 1993 in the Royal Hotel (now Royal Inn on the Park) in Hackney, East London by an unknown assailant, who was described as being in his late forties and wearing a leather bomber jacket. The assailant fled in a stolen Ford Fiesta
Following his death, Moody was linked to multiple unsolved murders including that of gangster David Brindle in August 1991, of businessman Terry Gooderham and his girlfriend Maxine Arnold in Epping Forest, and that of a couple, the Dixons, walking the Pembrokeshire coast in June 1989 who had potentially unearthed a cache of weapons owned by the Provisional IRA. Pembrokeshire-based serial killer and rapist John Cooper was found guilty of the murder of the Dixons in May 2011.
The police had been unable to establish what Moody had been doing since his return to England, nor who had arranged a council flat for him. His flat was only traced three weeks after his death, by which time it had been completely emptied.
the clerkenwell crime syndicate
The Clerkenwell crime syndicate, also known as the Adams Family or the A-team, is an English criminal organisation, allegedly one of the most powerful in the United Kingdom. Media reports have linked the Adams family to around 25 murders and credited them with wealth of up to £200 million.
During the 1980s Terence "Terry" George Adams formed a syndicate with his brothers Thomas "Tommy" Sean Adams and Patrick "Patsy" Daniel John Adams as its financier and enforcer respectively. The brothers were born to Irish parents, part of a large family of 11 children who grew up in Barnsbury, Islington.
The syndicate was based in Clerkenwell while Terry Adams, until his admission of money laundering in 2007, had lived in Barnsbury. The syndicate expanded over years to include other members of the Adams' Irish family and close childhood friends.
The gang is allegedly heavily involved in drug trafficking and extortion as well as the hijacking of gold bullion shipments and security fraud. They have been linked to 25 gangland murders, using Afro-Caribbean muscle as additional manpower to murder informants and rival criminals. In addition to developing alleged connections to Metropolitan Police officials, they were also stated to have had a British Conservative MP in their pocket at one point.
The shooting of the then 68-year-old "Mad" Frankie Fraser, a former enforcer for The Richardson Gang, in July 1991 was said to have been ordered by the Adams family — though Fraser said he had been targeted by rogue police. The family is believed to have connections with various criminal organisations, specifically with South Americandrug cartels.
The BBC has asserted that their influence decreased from 2000 onwards. Police officers, speaking off-record to British newspapers, have said that the family has been credited with acts that they simply did not carry out and judging by the number of alleged key gang members killed or imprisoned below this might well be true, however the Metropolitan Police took the Adams crimes so seriously they considered the need to involve not only a hand-picked CPS lead team of detectives but the country's highest level security service, MI5, in order to crack the Adams mafia-like organised crime cartel.
Tommy Adams was imprisoned for his involvement in money laundering and a drugs plot that was described as not having been sanctioned by his brothers. During an 18-month bugging operation by MI5, Terry Adams was recorded speaking about his brother in very strident terms and suggesting that, in 1998 at least, relations between them were kept to a minimum. It has been stated that they have a criminal fortune of up to £200 million.
Before Tommy and Terry Adams were convicted in 1998 and 2007 respectively, the failure of the police to secure convictions against them had led to a belief that they had undermined the justice system to become untouchables. Police, Crown Prosecution Service staff and jurors were said to have been bribed and intimidated leading to not-guilty verdicts against members of the gang that were said to be wrong.
The gang's alleged leader, Terry Adams, has been serving a prison sentence since February 2007, and two of his brothers are under surveillance by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and police in Spain, making other criminals reluctant to do business with them. It has been said that Terry Adams faces severe financial difficulties having been ordered, in May 2007, to repay £4.7 million in legal aid and pay prosecution costs of £800,000.
Sean "Tommy" Adams gained high-profile public attention during a trial in 2004, when he was described as having attended a meeting in 2002 at the request of the former football international Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish was a major shareholder in Wilmslow based sports agency Pro Active, a leading sports management firm headed up by local Wilmslow businessman Paul Stretford. Dalglish was reported to have hired Adams during a protracted deal to secure Pro Active's exclusive management rights to Manchester United and England football striker Wayne Rooney in circumstances where another company claimed to represent Rooney.
In February 2010 a 38-year-old man, claiming to be Terry Adams' nephew, was convicted in a case known as the jigsaw murder: the trial revealed that the man, Stephen Marshall, had disposed four bodies for the Adamses, which sentenced him to at least 36 years in prison.
In 2014, Sean "Tommy" Adams and 13 other people believed to be affiliated with the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate were arrested in a police operation codenamed "Octopod." Designer watches, six shotguns and large sums of cash were found in other addresses across the city, with a concentration in north London. The arrests were linked to conspiracy to assault, money laundering, fraud and revenue offences.
At the time, in December 2014, of the death of a bankrupt businessman Scot Young, who had been involved in 2013 in a high-profile divorce case, media reports that flagged Young's involvement with Patrick Adams asserted that Tommy Adams and Michael Adams faced no charges after their arrest earlier in 2014.
During the 1980s Terence "Terry" George Adams formed a syndicate with his brothers Thomas "Tommy" Sean Adams and Patrick "Patsy" Daniel John Adams as its financier and enforcer respectively. The brothers were born to Irish parents, part of a large family of 11 children who grew up in Barnsbury, Islington.
The syndicate was based in Clerkenwell while Terry Adams, until his admission of money laundering in 2007, had lived in Barnsbury. The syndicate expanded over years to include other members of the Adams' Irish family and close childhood friends.
The gang is allegedly heavily involved in drug trafficking and extortion as well as the hijacking of gold bullion shipments and security fraud. They have been linked to 25 gangland murders, using Afro-Caribbean muscle as additional manpower to murder informants and rival criminals. In addition to developing alleged connections to Metropolitan Police officials, they were also stated to have had a British Conservative MP in their pocket at one point.
The shooting of the then 68-year-old "Mad" Frankie Fraser, a former enforcer for The Richardson Gang, in July 1991 was said to have been ordered by the Adams family — though Fraser said he had been targeted by rogue police. The family is believed to have connections with various criminal organisations, specifically with South Americandrug cartels.
The BBC has asserted that their influence decreased from 2000 onwards. Police officers, speaking off-record to British newspapers, have said that the family has been credited with acts that they simply did not carry out and judging by the number of alleged key gang members killed or imprisoned below this might well be true, however the Metropolitan Police took the Adams crimes so seriously they considered the need to involve not only a hand-picked CPS lead team of detectives but the country's highest level security service, MI5, in order to crack the Adams mafia-like organised crime cartel.
Tommy Adams was imprisoned for his involvement in money laundering and a drugs plot that was described as not having been sanctioned by his brothers. During an 18-month bugging operation by MI5, Terry Adams was recorded speaking about his brother in very strident terms and suggesting that, in 1998 at least, relations between them were kept to a minimum. It has been stated that they have a criminal fortune of up to £200 million.
Before Tommy and Terry Adams were convicted in 1998 and 2007 respectively, the failure of the police to secure convictions against them had led to a belief that they had undermined the justice system to become untouchables. Police, Crown Prosecution Service staff and jurors were said to have been bribed and intimidated leading to not-guilty verdicts against members of the gang that were said to be wrong.
The gang's alleged leader, Terry Adams, has been serving a prison sentence since February 2007, and two of his brothers are under surveillance by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and police in Spain, making other criminals reluctant to do business with them. It has been said that Terry Adams faces severe financial difficulties having been ordered, in May 2007, to repay £4.7 million in legal aid and pay prosecution costs of £800,000.
Sean "Tommy" Adams gained high-profile public attention during a trial in 2004, when he was described as having attended a meeting in 2002 at the request of the former football international Kenny Dalglish. Dalglish was a major shareholder in Wilmslow based sports agency Pro Active, a leading sports management firm headed up by local Wilmslow businessman Paul Stretford. Dalglish was reported to have hired Adams during a protracted deal to secure Pro Active's exclusive management rights to Manchester United and England football striker Wayne Rooney in circumstances where another company claimed to represent Rooney.
In February 2010 a 38-year-old man, claiming to be Terry Adams' nephew, was convicted in a case known as the jigsaw murder: the trial revealed that the man, Stephen Marshall, had disposed four bodies for the Adamses, which sentenced him to at least 36 years in prison.
In 2014, Sean "Tommy" Adams and 13 other people believed to be affiliated with the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate were arrested in a police operation codenamed "Octopod." Designer watches, six shotguns and large sums of cash were found in other addresses across the city, with a concentration in north London. The arrests were linked to conspiracy to assault, money laundering, fraud and revenue offences.
At the time, in December 2014, of the death of a bankrupt businessman Scot Young, who had been involved in 2013 in a high-profile divorce case, media reports that flagged Young's involvement with Patrick Adams asserted that Tommy Adams and Michael Adams faced no charges after their arrest earlier in 2014.
the essex boys
The Rettendon murders (also known as the Range Rover murders or Essex murders) occurred on 6 December 1995 in the village of Rettendon in Essex, England, when three drug dealers were shot dead in a Range Rover down a small farm track.
The incident was followed by a major police investigation – Operation Century – and has been the subject of many books and feature films.
On 6 December 1995, Rettendon was the scene of the triple murder of Tony Tucker (38), Patrick Tate (37) and Craig Rolfe (26), three drug dealers shot dead in a Range Rover down a small farm track. The three men were found the following morning by farmer Peter Theobald and his friend Ken Jiggins.
The sting "Operation Century" produced no arrests or evidence leading to a criminal prosecution. A prosecution that was eventually brought in connection with the murders was wholly based on police operations subsequent to the abandonment and closure of Operation Century.
Two men, Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, were convicted of the murders after police informer Darren Nicholls gave evidence against his former friends at their Old Bailey trial.
The incident was followed by a major police investigation – Operation Century – and has been the subject of many books and feature films.
On 6 December 1995, Rettendon was the scene of the triple murder of Tony Tucker (38), Patrick Tate (37) and Craig Rolfe (26), three drug dealers shot dead in a Range Rover down a small farm track. The three men were found the following morning by farmer Peter Theobald and his friend Ken Jiggins.
The sting "Operation Century" produced no arrests or evidence leading to a criminal prosecution. A prosecution that was eventually brought in connection with the murders was wholly based on police operations subsequent to the abandonment and closure of Operation Century.
Two men, Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, were convicted of the murders after police informer Darren Nicholls gave evidence against his former friends at their Old Bailey trial.
arthur ThOmpson
Arthur Thompson also known as "The Scottish Godfather", was a Scottish gangster who made his mark on the streets of Scotland in the 1950s.
He then went on to take charge of organised crime for over thirty years. He was born in September 1931 in the industrial area of Springburn, Glasgow. He died in Glasgow on 13 March 1993 from natural causes – a heart attack – at the age of 61.
According to rumour and later newspaper reports, he did not die in his bed, but paramedics took his body there following his death.
Thompson began his career as a money lender. He was said to crucify those who did not repay their debts, by nailing them to floors or doors. Protection rackets soon followed. He then went on to invest his money into legitimate businesses, which grew more and more over the years, making him a very wealthy man. By the 1980s, the Thompson family had entered the drug trade, led by Thompson's son Arthur Jr. It was rumoured that, by the 1990s, Thompson was earning some £100,000 a week as a loan shark (usurer).
Thompson was one of the most feared criminals in Scotland. In 1966, he narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded under his car; his mother-in-law, in the passenger seat, was killed. Shortly afterwards, he spotted two men he suspected of the attack, Patrick Welsh and James Goldie, members of the rival Welsh family gang. He forced their van off the road by driving his own car directly at it – the van hit a lamp post and both men were killed. Thompson was charged with murder but not prosecuted as the police could find no witnesses who would testify. In 1969, Thompson's wife Rita forced her way into the Welsh home and stabbed Patrick Welsh's wife in the chest; she was jailed for three years.On 18 August 1991 Thompson's son Arthur Jr (nicknamed "Fatboy") died after being shot three times outside the family home "The Ponderosa".
A former enforcer for the Thompson family, Paul Ferris, was arrested, charged with the murder and remanded to HM Prison Barlinnie. On the day of Thompson Jr's funeral a car was found containing the bodies of two friends of Ferris, Robert Glover and Joe Hanlon, who were also suspected of involvement in his death and had been killed by gunshots to the back of the head and up the anus. Their bodies had been dumped on the route of Fatboy's funeral procession, so that his hearse passed their dead bodies. There was to be further drama that day as there was also a bomb scare at the cemetery where Thompson Jr was due to be buried.
At his trial in 1992, Paul Ferris was charged with Arthur Thompson Jr's murder but was found not guilty and released without charge.
Over 300 witnesses, including Thompson Sr, were called to give evidence at a trial which lasted fifty four days and cost £4 million, at the time the longest and most expensive trial in Scottish legal history. Ferris claimed the younger Thompson had been shot by a hit man known only as "The Apprentice". He was acquitted of all charges. Thompson, Sr.'s daughter, Margaret, died from a drug overdose in 1989.
His other son, Billy, was stabbed and seriously wounded 400 yards from the family home in 2000, but survived. Billy had recently served a prison sentence for possessing a harpoon gun. He had been given two-and-a-half years, reduced on appeal to 18 months. Billy died on 4th March 2017, it is understood his death was the result of his drug addiction.
Thomson, Sr is now survived by Tracey Thompson, his last remaining child.
He then went on to take charge of organised crime for over thirty years. He was born in September 1931 in the industrial area of Springburn, Glasgow. He died in Glasgow on 13 March 1993 from natural causes – a heart attack – at the age of 61.
According to rumour and later newspaper reports, he did not die in his bed, but paramedics took his body there following his death.
Thompson began his career as a money lender. He was said to crucify those who did not repay their debts, by nailing them to floors or doors. Protection rackets soon followed. He then went on to invest his money into legitimate businesses, which grew more and more over the years, making him a very wealthy man. By the 1980s, the Thompson family had entered the drug trade, led by Thompson's son Arthur Jr. It was rumoured that, by the 1990s, Thompson was earning some £100,000 a week as a loan shark (usurer).
Thompson was one of the most feared criminals in Scotland. In 1966, he narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded under his car; his mother-in-law, in the passenger seat, was killed. Shortly afterwards, he spotted two men he suspected of the attack, Patrick Welsh and James Goldie, members of the rival Welsh family gang. He forced their van off the road by driving his own car directly at it – the van hit a lamp post and both men were killed. Thompson was charged with murder but not prosecuted as the police could find no witnesses who would testify. In 1969, Thompson's wife Rita forced her way into the Welsh home and stabbed Patrick Welsh's wife in the chest; she was jailed for three years.On 18 August 1991 Thompson's son Arthur Jr (nicknamed "Fatboy") died after being shot three times outside the family home "The Ponderosa".
A former enforcer for the Thompson family, Paul Ferris, was arrested, charged with the murder and remanded to HM Prison Barlinnie. On the day of Thompson Jr's funeral a car was found containing the bodies of two friends of Ferris, Robert Glover and Joe Hanlon, who were also suspected of involvement in his death and had been killed by gunshots to the back of the head and up the anus. Their bodies had been dumped on the route of Fatboy's funeral procession, so that his hearse passed their dead bodies. There was to be further drama that day as there was also a bomb scare at the cemetery where Thompson Jr was due to be buried.
At his trial in 1992, Paul Ferris was charged with Arthur Thompson Jr's murder but was found not guilty and released without charge.
Over 300 witnesses, including Thompson Sr, were called to give evidence at a trial which lasted fifty four days and cost £4 million, at the time the longest and most expensive trial in Scottish legal history. Ferris claimed the younger Thompson had been shot by a hit man known only as "The Apprentice". He was acquitted of all charges. Thompson, Sr.'s daughter, Margaret, died from a drug overdose in 1989.
His other son, Billy, was stabbed and seriously wounded 400 yards from the family home in 2000, but survived. Billy had recently served a prison sentence for possessing a harpoon gun. He had been given two-and-a-half years, reduced on appeal to 18 months. Billy died on 4th March 2017, it is understood his death was the result of his drug addiction.
Thomson, Sr is now survived by Tracey Thompson, his last remaining child.
thomas mcgraw
Thomas "Tam" McGraw, also known as "The Licensee"or "Wan-Baw McGraw", was a gangster involved in organized crime including extortion, narcotics and drug trafficking in Glasgow, Scotland.
One of the wealthiest businessmen in Glasgow, he owned numerous businesses including security companies and taxi firms as well as properties throughout Scotland and Ireland with an estimated worth of £10 million. His drug trafficking activities were worth an estimated £14 million.
Born in the East End of Glasgow, at an early age he became involved in criminal activity, including shoplifting and burglary during the early 1960s. Although in and out of approved schools and Borstals during his teenage years, he was eventually recruited into the small Bar-L team, based around the Barlanark area of Glasgow and specializing in armed robbery.
He participated in the gang's post office raids throughout Scotland, eventually becoming one of the most wanted criminals in the country. He and the others managed to evade police for some time before eventual arrest in a failed robbery of a social club outside Glasgow, as he loaded several crates of alcohol into his van. McGraw had evaded police during a brief high speed chase before his vehicle overturned, but was arrested while trying to flee on foot. However, given the circumstance of his arrest, there was speculation that McGraw may have been a police informant for the Serious Crime Squad, supplying information on associates in exchange for police protection from his own illegal activities. Indeed, the charges were dropped and he was released the morning after his arrest. Similarly, he was tried and acquitted for the attempted murder of a police officer in 1978.
During the early 1980s, he began expanding his criminal operations becoming involved in narcotics such as heroin as he began purchasing nightclubs and pubs. Paul John Ferris, another rival Glasgow organized crime figure, claimed in his autobiography The Ferris Conspiracy that McGraw became involved in dealing heroin due to his connections to corrupt police officers, receiving confiscated drugs which he sold on the streets.
Also identified as a figure involved in the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars in 1984, McGraw was attempting to expand his own ice-cream van business and had been known to use violence and intimidation to secure the most lucrative rounds for himself.
In 1998, he was arrested for drug smuggling. While several of his associates were convicted, McGraw was once again acquitted.
In 2002, he was attacked by unidentified assailants less than a mile from his East End home and stabbed several times, suffering wounds to his arms, wrists and buttocks. Protected by a bulletproof vest, he had received only minor injuries.
During this time, with imported bodyguards from Ireland as well as surveillance by the Serious Crime Squad, McGraw was one of the most heavily protected criminals in the city. He later reportedly brokered a deal with Ferris, with whom he had been feuding for some time over allegations in the latter's first book. It was also reported that McGraw paid Paul Ferris £1.5 to £2 million to keep the peace and make sure Paul Ferris didn't take revenge on him. In the last few years after Ferris was freed from prison, McGraw was said to be spending more time in his villa abroad, with a few of his henchmen.
Tam McGraw died of a suspected heart attack at his home in Mount Vernon, Glasgow. Paramedics arrived at his home at about 1500 BST on Monday 30 July 2007 but were unable to resuscitate him. He was declared dead on arrival at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
One of the wealthiest businessmen in Glasgow, he owned numerous businesses including security companies and taxi firms as well as properties throughout Scotland and Ireland with an estimated worth of £10 million. His drug trafficking activities were worth an estimated £14 million.
Born in the East End of Glasgow, at an early age he became involved in criminal activity, including shoplifting and burglary during the early 1960s. Although in and out of approved schools and Borstals during his teenage years, he was eventually recruited into the small Bar-L team, based around the Barlanark area of Glasgow and specializing in armed robbery.
He participated in the gang's post office raids throughout Scotland, eventually becoming one of the most wanted criminals in the country. He and the others managed to evade police for some time before eventual arrest in a failed robbery of a social club outside Glasgow, as he loaded several crates of alcohol into his van. McGraw had evaded police during a brief high speed chase before his vehicle overturned, but was arrested while trying to flee on foot. However, given the circumstance of his arrest, there was speculation that McGraw may have been a police informant for the Serious Crime Squad, supplying information on associates in exchange for police protection from his own illegal activities. Indeed, the charges were dropped and he was released the morning after his arrest. Similarly, he was tried and acquitted for the attempted murder of a police officer in 1978.
During the early 1980s, he began expanding his criminal operations becoming involved in narcotics such as heroin as he began purchasing nightclubs and pubs. Paul John Ferris, another rival Glasgow organized crime figure, claimed in his autobiography The Ferris Conspiracy that McGraw became involved in dealing heroin due to his connections to corrupt police officers, receiving confiscated drugs which he sold on the streets.
Also identified as a figure involved in the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars in 1984, McGraw was attempting to expand his own ice-cream van business and had been known to use violence and intimidation to secure the most lucrative rounds for himself.
In 1998, he was arrested for drug smuggling. While several of his associates were convicted, McGraw was once again acquitted.
In 2002, he was attacked by unidentified assailants less than a mile from his East End home and stabbed several times, suffering wounds to his arms, wrists and buttocks. Protected by a bulletproof vest, he had received only minor injuries.
During this time, with imported bodyguards from Ireland as well as surveillance by the Serious Crime Squad, McGraw was one of the most heavily protected criminals in the city. He later reportedly brokered a deal with Ferris, with whom he had been feuding for some time over allegations in the latter's first book. It was also reported that McGraw paid Paul Ferris £1.5 to £2 million to keep the peace and make sure Paul Ferris didn't take revenge on him. In the last few years after Ferris was freed from prison, McGraw was said to be spending more time in his villa abroad, with a few of his henchmen.
Tam McGraw died of a suspected heart attack at his home in Mount Vernon, Glasgow. Paramedics arrived at his home at about 1500 BST on Monday 30 July 2007 but were unable to resuscitate him. He was declared dead on arrival at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
john palmer
John Edward Palmer was an English gangster and former market trader and gold dealer, involved in various criminal activities including mortage and time-share fraud.
The police believed that much of his alleged £300 million fortune was the result of swindles, violence, racketeering and money laundering. Palmer owned a complex network of 122 companies, many offshore in the Isle of Man, Madeira and the British Virgin Islands, as well as 60 offshore bank accounts.
In 1985, following the November 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, Chappell and Patch of Scadlynn Ltd were arrested for their involvement in melting down £26 million worth of gold from the robbery to try and pass it off as legitimate. Two days after armed robbers Brian Robinson and Micky McAvoy were jailed, Chappell withdrew £348,000 from the company's accounts.
Throughout their trial, a total of £1.1m had been withdrawn.
During the raids, one of the suspects refused to confirm what they had been melting that morning. It was revealed that the company had been processing millions of pounds worth of gold, but claimed it was gold they had purchased themselves. The companies books stated that they were selling the melted gold for virtually the same amount as they had purchased it for - which didn't make sense, unless the records were false. Confiscated documents also showed that the company had been evading tax, and were ordered for pay £80,000 in unpaid tax.
Palmer evaded arrest at the time, after fleeing to Tenerife with his family just days prior to his company being raided and its directors arrested. His family returned to England, whilst he sold his remaining assets back home and set up a timeshare business at Island Village, near Playa de las Americas. He attempted to move to Brazil after Spain signed an extradition treaty with the UK, but he was arrested and his entry refused as he had travelled on an expired passport. Deported back to England, he was forced to face trial.
Despite Palmer admitting to melting down gold bars from the robbery in his garden, he was acquitted during the trial in 1987 after claiming that he wasn't aware they were stolen. Chappell was sentenced to ten years in the earlier trial.
He was reported by The Independent in 1993 as being subject to an asset freezing Mareva Injunction gained by Brink's-Mat from the High Court of Justice, enabling investigators to track his substantial financial resources, He later paid out £360,000 to Lloyd's the insurers as a result of a civil action brought against him, but continued to plead his innocence in the 1987 robbery and in 1999 claimed the authorities were persecuting him. For his connection to the Brink's-Mat robbery, Palmer acquired the sobriquet of 'Goldfinger'.
In 2001, he defended himself after sacking his legal team in one of the longest fraud trials in British legal history. He was found guilty "of masterminding the largest timeshare fraud on record" and jailed for eight years. It is reported that he swindled 20,000 people out of £30 million, but attempts by the Crown to confiscate this profit were later stopped in a court hearing. Sentenced to 8 years, he served just over half of this term. His fortune at the time of his conviction was estimated at about £300 million, but Palmer was declared bankrupt in 2005 with debts of £3.9m.
In 2007, he was arrested on charges including fraud. Reportedly, he had been able to continue his criminal activities during his incarceration, following his 2001 conviction. In 2009, after two years without charge in a high security Spanish jail, he was released on bail, but was required to report to court authorities every two weeks.
In 2015, it was alleged by The Times from leaked Operation Tiberius files, that Palmer was protected from arrest and investigation by a clique of high-ranking corrupt Metropolitan Police officers. Palmer's companions were reportedly once detained in possession of a silenced Uzi submachine gun and 380 rounds of ammunition.
He was murdered on 24 June 2015 at the age of 64 in his gated home of South Weald, near Brentwood, Essex by a gunshot wound to the chest.
The fact that he had been shot was only revealed during a post mortem as he had had open heart surgery which the wound was mistaken for. The shooting could have been linked to the Hatton Garden robbery. It was later revealed that at the time of his death, Palmer faced charges in Spain for fraud, firearm possession and money laundering. It was only after his death that it was also revealed that in addition to his activities in Spain, Palmer also opened the first Russian timeshare company in the 90s. It was suggested that he had secret service connection, but lost the Russian business to rivals.
According to a special documentary broadcast by the BBC presented by broadcaster Roger Cook reveals that since 1999 police had run an intelligence operation on Palmer from the RAF Spadeadam base in Cumbria. Palmer was under electronic surveillance by a secret police intelligence unit for 16 years until his assassination by a hitman in 2015, according to the special BBC television investigation the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) – now the National Crime Agency – had gathered intelligence on Palmer in an operation codenamed Alpine because of concerns of corruption in the Metropolitan police.
Following his death, it was revealed Palmer's partner Christina Ketley remained under police surveillance following reports from Spanish law enforcement agencies that she played a "predominant role" in his criminal empire. Ketley and fellow mistress Saskia Mundinger, who both had children with Palmer, demanded payouts from him in 2005 to "keep them in the lifestyle they became accustomed to". He also had two daughters with his wife Marnie.
The police believed that much of his alleged £300 million fortune was the result of swindles, violence, racketeering and money laundering. Palmer owned a complex network of 122 companies, many offshore in the Isle of Man, Madeira and the British Virgin Islands, as well as 60 offshore bank accounts.
In 1985, following the November 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, Chappell and Patch of Scadlynn Ltd were arrested for their involvement in melting down £26 million worth of gold from the robbery to try and pass it off as legitimate. Two days after armed robbers Brian Robinson and Micky McAvoy were jailed, Chappell withdrew £348,000 from the company's accounts.
Throughout their trial, a total of £1.1m had been withdrawn.
During the raids, one of the suspects refused to confirm what they had been melting that morning. It was revealed that the company had been processing millions of pounds worth of gold, but claimed it was gold they had purchased themselves. The companies books stated that they were selling the melted gold for virtually the same amount as they had purchased it for - which didn't make sense, unless the records were false. Confiscated documents also showed that the company had been evading tax, and were ordered for pay £80,000 in unpaid tax.
Palmer evaded arrest at the time, after fleeing to Tenerife with his family just days prior to his company being raided and its directors arrested. His family returned to England, whilst he sold his remaining assets back home and set up a timeshare business at Island Village, near Playa de las Americas. He attempted to move to Brazil after Spain signed an extradition treaty with the UK, but he was arrested and his entry refused as he had travelled on an expired passport. Deported back to England, he was forced to face trial.
Despite Palmer admitting to melting down gold bars from the robbery in his garden, he was acquitted during the trial in 1987 after claiming that he wasn't aware they were stolen. Chappell was sentenced to ten years in the earlier trial.
He was reported by The Independent in 1993 as being subject to an asset freezing Mareva Injunction gained by Brink's-Mat from the High Court of Justice, enabling investigators to track his substantial financial resources, He later paid out £360,000 to Lloyd's the insurers as a result of a civil action brought against him, but continued to plead his innocence in the 1987 robbery and in 1999 claimed the authorities were persecuting him. For his connection to the Brink's-Mat robbery, Palmer acquired the sobriquet of 'Goldfinger'.
In 2001, he defended himself after sacking his legal team in one of the longest fraud trials in British legal history. He was found guilty "of masterminding the largest timeshare fraud on record" and jailed for eight years. It is reported that he swindled 20,000 people out of £30 million, but attempts by the Crown to confiscate this profit were later stopped in a court hearing. Sentenced to 8 years, he served just over half of this term. His fortune at the time of his conviction was estimated at about £300 million, but Palmer was declared bankrupt in 2005 with debts of £3.9m.
In 2007, he was arrested on charges including fraud. Reportedly, he had been able to continue his criminal activities during his incarceration, following his 2001 conviction. In 2009, after two years without charge in a high security Spanish jail, he was released on bail, but was required to report to court authorities every two weeks.
In 2015, it was alleged by The Times from leaked Operation Tiberius files, that Palmer was protected from arrest and investigation by a clique of high-ranking corrupt Metropolitan Police officers. Palmer's companions were reportedly once detained in possession of a silenced Uzi submachine gun and 380 rounds of ammunition.
He was murdered on 24 June 2015 at the age of 64 in his gated home of South Weald, near Brentwood, Essex by a gunshot wound to the chest.
The fact that he had been shot was only revealed during a post mortem as he had had open heart surgery which the wound was mistaken for. The shooting could have been linked to the Hatton Garden robbery. It was later revealed that at the time of his death, Palmer faced charges in Spain for fraud, firearm possession and money laundering. It was only after his death that it was also revealed that in addition to his activities in Spain, Palmer also opened the first Russian timeshare company in the 90s. It was suggested that he had secret service connection, but lost the Russian business to rivals.
According to a special documentary broadcast by the BBC presented by broadcaster Roger Cook reveals that since 1999 police had run an intelligence operation on Palmer from the RAF Spadeadam base in Cumbria. Palmer was under electronic surveillance by a secret police intelligence unit for 16 years until his assassination by a hitman in 2015, according to the special BBC television investigation the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) – now the National Crime Agency – had gathered intelligence on Palmer in an operation codenamed Alpine because of concerns of corruption in the Metropolitan police.
Following his death, it was revealed Palmer's partner Christina Ketley remained under police surveillance following reports from Spanish law enforcement agencies that she played a "predominant role" in his criminal empire. Ketley and fellow mistress Saskia Mundinger, who both had children with Palmer, demanded payouts from him in 2005 to "keep them in the lifestyle they became accustomed to". He also had two daughters with his wife Marnie.
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