Hunt For Mad Axeman. Daily Mirror headline
Kray Twin In Suicide Bid: Reggie found with wrists cut in jail. Star front page
Found guilty, they went on to spend the rest of their lives in prison. In that time the legend of the Krays grew and their fame transformed into infamy. The Krays: The Prison Years, Discovery 2015
Recreate their criminal empire behind bars. ibid.
Now He [Mitchell] was getting a bit naughty with his attitude. Frettenin’ he was gonna do this, do that. Take a few coppers with him rather than go back to prison. And then I was charged with the murder afterward. Went for trial. I was found not guilty. I was acquitted. Freddie Foreman
I had to finish it properly. Freddie Foreman, re murdering Frank Mitchell
I’m a retired gentleman now. An old-age pensioner. Freddie Foreman
There’s nothing glamorous about it. All those Christmases and Birthdays and Holidays and New Years that you miss when you’re banged up inside. You can’t repay. You can’t get those years back. Freddie Foreman
The twins had to live up to this reputation. Tony Lambrianou
But the Kray Twins could actually reach you, find you, almost anywhere, no matter where you where, even though they were both inside. I’ll always remember one Sunday morning, I was having a bit of emergency dental treatment at a hospital in Portsmouth. I’d just sat back in the dentist’s chair. He was just about to stick the needle in my gum. When I heard a phone ring outside. The receptionist knocked on the door, stuck her head round the door and said, ‘There’s a phone call for Mr Dinenage.’ The dentist was horrified. He said, ‘What!’ He said, ‘Who is it?’ She said, ‘It’s someone called Reggie Kray.’ ‘God,’ said the dentist, ‘you’d better answer it.’ The Krays by Fred Dinenage, 2010
Frances committed suicide overdosing on barbiturates only two years after she married Reg. Rumours still persist about her death, and some people don’t think it was even suicide. It was another extraordinary chapter in the life of the Twins. ibid.
There’s a paradox about East End gangstas that’s always puzzled me. On the one hand they were boys who loved their mum and went to Church, but on the other, they were vicious gangstas who destroyed families. ibid.
The Kray Twins weren’t the only duo ruling London’s underworld. A rival gang, the Richardsons, Charlie and Eddie, were based south of the river. The Kray Twins told me they [Richardsons] had a reputation so fierce it earned them respect from the hardest of criminals. They became famous for their brutal torture techniques. ibid.
McAvoy – an armed robber who applied his trade in the shadow of legendary villains like Freddie Foreman. Now he was ready to write his own story in the chapter of London’s underworld. November 26th 1983 McAvoy and a gang of six robbers head for a lucrative target, Brink’s-Mat – a storage facility for money and precious metals near Heathrow Airport ... No combination. No cash. Then the gang made an amazing discovery ... It was an incredible stroke of good luck. The gold had been packed for shipment to a customer. The gang had stumbled across 7,000 gold bars – over three tons ready for delivery. The haul is worth a staggering £100,000,000 in today’s money. It was the biggest gold bullion robbery in British history. McAvoy had pulled off the crime of the century. But the gold was about to give his gang more trouble than it was worth ... Some of the proceeds of the gold were invested in property, including the rebuilding of the docklands, part of the original heartland of organised crime in London. But as the money from the robbery spread out, police began to close in. Detectives discovered Brink’s-Mat guard Anthony Black had a sister who lived with a well-known bank robber Brian Robinson. ibid.
By the dawn of the new millennium, the era of London’s infamous gangstas was over. ibid.
The Richardson gang ... Were they businessmen, torturers or gentlemen gangstas? The Richardsons by Fred Dinenage
For years the press labelled them the Torture Gang. ibid.
Camberwell, South London: Charlie was born in 1934 followed by younger siblings Eddie, Alan and Elaine. Much of their childhood was spent in the Second World War. ibid.
Charlie’s scrap metal empire was born. ibid.
On the other side of the River the Kray Twins were developing their own reputation for business. ibid.
By 1965 the Richardsons were at their peak. ibid.
Ten thousand miles away Charlie got to know the South African secret society The Broederbond; a member asked him to tap the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s phone. Charlie was perfectly placed to do this with a cleaning company he owned which was employed at Number Ten. ibid.
Both Eddie Richardson and Frankie Fraser had been shot, and rival Dickie Hart shot dead. ibid.
The next night Richardson associate George Cornell was shot by Ronnie Kray in the Blind Beggar pub. ibid.
1966 World Cup Final day: Charlie was arrested in a dawn raid along with a number of his associates. ibid.
The press dubbed it The Torture Trial. ibid.
Charlie ... was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment. ibid.
He was deemed to be a threat to national security. ibid.
Charlie was released on 24th August 1984 after serving eighteen years. ibid.
The once close brothers have gone their separate ways. ibid.
The press created their own celebrity gangstas. ibid.
Charlie and his associates are the last of a generation. ibid.
They [the Richardsons] tortured people. Pulling teeth out of victims. Wiring them up to machines which generate electricity. Wiring terminals to their genitalia. And causing electric shocks. Burning. Beating. John O’Connor, former Scotland Yard Detective
It was getting like the wild west. John O’Connor, commander Flying Squad, re ’60s & ’70s bank robberies
Frankie has lived through the most notorious battles of the British underworld, from the Sabini gang to the Billy Hill era, to the Krays and the Richardsons. Frankie Fraser’s Last Stand, CI 2013
When Frankie was nine years old his criminal potential was talent-spotted by a well-known London gang – the Sabinis. ibid.
In May 1952 Billy Hill allegedly pulled off the biggest heist of the time – the East Castle robbery. ibid.
Frankie was found guilty of maliciously wounding Jack Spot. ibid.
Frankie had aligned himself with the South Londoners – the Richardsons. ibid.
Frankie was charged with [Richard] Hart’s murder ... five years for affray. ibid.
In 1967 forty-two-year-old Frankie was sentenced to another ten years inside. ibid.
Frankie spent more than forty-two years in prison. ibid.
I never murdered anybody, shot anybody. Charlie Richardson
It’s bollocks, all mythology. Charlie Richardson
They put me in open prison; I fucked off from there. Charlie Richardson
There was something a bit noble about them. Steven Berkoff
We had our own company, Atlantic machines, and we had our one-armed bandits in clubs. ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser, Richardson lieutenant
The police say I’ve killed forty people, not forty-one. If they’d have said forty-one I’d have really been upset. I hate odd numbers. ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser
A lot of people ask me, What are you going to say when you meet your Maker? I have to be honest and say, There’s no danger of that happening. I’ve already been booked up. I’ve got the chief stoker’s job down below. ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser
As long as I go down as the best dentist I don’t mind. ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser