This tremendous power to terrify was the Twins’ greatest weapon. ibid.
In the warped world of the Twins their next victim Jack the Hat McVitie caused his own death. ibid.
The Krays’ violence went beyond mere intimidation. In 1966 at the Blind Beggar pub Ronnie shot dead rival gangster George Cornell. One year later the brothers used the pretence of a party to lure one of the own firm – Jack the Hat McVitie – into a basement flat where Reggie fatally stabbed him in the face, neck and stomach with a carving knife. Crimes that Shocked Britain
On March 5th 1969 identical twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray were sent to prison for a minimum of thirty years. The Twins will always be remembered as Britain’s most notorious gangsters. During the sixties they built a criminal empire of fraud, gambling, protection and extortion. They punched and slashed their way to the top of the criminal pile. Cutting Edge: Reggie Kray, Channel 4 2000
Reggie is still in prison after thirty-one years. Should we let him out? Why are we keeping him in prison? ibid.
In 1963 a set of photographs recorded some most unusual friendships. They featured the most popular peer of the day and the man who would become Britain’s most notorious gangster. There was a third man also a gangster and the lover of a senior Labour MP. And a fourth man – a cat-burglar and lover to the peer. Secret History: Lords of the Underworld, Channel 4 1997
The scandal which got away, and of the love that in 1964 dared not speak its name. The peer in the photographs was Robert Boothby. ibid.
Boothby’s most enduring heterosexual affair which lasted over three decades was with Lady Dorothy Macmillan, the wife of his Conservative colleague Harold Macmillan. ibid.
Holt became a frequent visitor to Boothby’s flat. ibid.
In Early 1963 Holt introduced him [Boothby] to a man called Ronnie Kray. ibid.
The next year the Tories were hit by another scandal which threatened to rival Profumo: on 12th July 1964 the Sunday Mirror printed a story about a homosexual relationship between a prominent Conservative peer and a leading London thug. ibid.
They dominated the East End – their manor as they liked to call it. ibid.
In addition to his bouts of madness and violence Ronnie Kray was a self-proclaimed homosexual. Something of a novelty on the macho London crime scene. ibid.
Boothby’s friendship with Kray was attracting the attention of Scotland Yard’s intelligence section C11. ibid.
Some of the photographs showed a fourth man, Teddy Smith, or Mad Teddy as he was known. ibid.
The Mirror caved in. Cecil King agreed to pay Boothby £40,000. ibid.
There were orgies too. ibid.
The unlikely friendships which at once seemed so promising were disintegrating. ibid.
20 years ago on 26th November 1983 Britain’s largest ever armed robberies was made to look like a raid on a cornershop by the biggest heist of them all … The gang that broke into the vault at the Brink’s-Mat warehouse near Heathrow Airport escaped with £26 million’ worth of the purest gold bars. Brinks’-Mat: The Greatest Heist I, Channel 4 2003
Pure unadulterated gold – and there was three and a half tons to shift. ibid.
Despite the arrest of three suspects and the inside man, no-one at Scotland Yard was any clearer where the Brink’s-Mat gold was. ibid.
£26 million’ worth of gold and diamonds were stolen from Heathrow Airport. It was the biggest robbery in British history. Since then three men have been imprisoned for their part in the robbery but the gold was never found. Secret History: Brink’s-Mat: The Greatest Heist II
The leader of the gang was Michael McAvoy from south London. ibid.
Noye was to remain in custody until his next charge of handling stolen bullion. ibid.
With McAvoy’s inability to return the stolen gold his 25-year sentence was now looking precisely that – they’d be no early release. ibid.
Those living off Brink’s-Mat gold had begun to think they were untouchable. ibid.
The whole Swiss laundering operation came to light. ibid.
Freddie Foreman had a life-long association with the Krays. The Krays – Inside the Firm, ITV 2000
In December 1961 Foreman’s gang attacked a bank van carrying wages worth today over a million pounds ... The failed raid left the police with plenty of forensic evidence. ibid.
London was less security conscious in the 1960s. ibid.
In January 1965 Freddie Foreman became a murderer. ibid.
The defeat of the Richardsons robbed Ronnie Kray of the violent night out he craved. And he was not to be thwarted. ibid.
In the 1960s Britain’s most infamous gangsters played host to movie stars, politicians and boxing champions. Behind the glamorous facade Ronnie and Reggie Kray conducted a ruthless reign of terror. The Twin’s criminal organisation was known as the Firm. And their most trusted henchman was Albert Donoghue. Gangsters: The Krays – The Firm, 1994
The firm’s real strength lay in professional violence. ibid.
The police moved in and netted almost the entire south London gang. ibid.
Franny Kray killed herself with an overdose of sleeping tablets. ibid.
The police were now investigating the Krays’ involvement in at least three murders. ibid.
Three brothers named Kray had ambitions to become the godfathers of British crime. They created an evil empire of violence, extortion and intimidation. The Krays – Unfinished Business, ITV 2000
Mitchell put his trust in the Krays. But in return they destroyed him. ibid.
Reggie Kray recruited Albert Donoghue into The Firm after first shooting him in the leg as a punishment for insulting the Twins. But when he didn’t grass he was put on the payroll and became a core member of the Kray organisation. ibid.
The Krays had a sentimental attachment to the community spirit which excluded outsiders. ibid.
The apparent injustice of Mitchell’s punishment brought out the Krays’ charitable instincts. ibid.
Two months before Mitchell escaped, Albert Donoghue came on a visit with Ronnie Kray. ibid.
Foreman was from south London not the East End. But he knew the Krays well ... The Krays wanted Foreman to do something about Mitchell. ibid.
The Twins’ elder brother Charlie had been a boxing champion whilst serving in the Royal Navy and was keen to encourage Ron & Reg. The Notorious Kray Twins
All three Kray brothers fought on the same bill at the Royal Albert Hall. ibid.
The Richardson’s Gang were involved in a shootout in Mr Smith’s club in south London. ibid.
The Krays felt invincible. To enhance their reputation they hatched an audacious plan to spring one of England’s most dangerous criminals from Dartmoor Prison – Frank Mitchell. ibid.
Ronnie’s thirst for murder was out of control. ibid.
May 9th 1968 the Kray Twins and other members of The Firm were arrested by Nipper Read and his team. ibid.
With around six million CCTV in the UK, we are the most watched nation on Earth. Operating 24/7 they’re catching more and more criminals in the act. Nick Wallis, Guns and Gangs: Caught on Camera, Channel 5 2015
London: an army of over 400,000 CCTV cameras. ibid.
CCTV is helping the police put criminals behind bars. ibid.
London has been called the World’s gang capital. ibid.
In the early days they were both homosexuals. And then Reggie sort of came away from it. Albert Donoghue
There’s little I can do about it now. Reggie Kray, interview hospital bed
I allowed him to dominate me to a point. Reggie Kray
We were wicked little bastards really. Reggie Kray
As London woke up on that sunny May morning in 1968 and two sleepy gangstas were driven at record speed to Scotland Yard we knew only one thing: the party was over, but it had been great while it lasted. Reggie Kray
They fitted into the whole world of fame, celebrity, stars ... Ronnie ... was the first gay gangsta in England that came out of the closet. John Pearson, Krays’ biographer