The twins were text book thugs. They were revered by their neighbours, feared by their foes, fascinating to celebrities, pardoned by politicians and frustrating to the
police force.
It was as if a puff adder had turned the tables and had hypnotised the piper.
But it was a body they dumped in Newhaven Harbour that brought the freewheeling crime career of the Kray twins to a halt.
They were guilty of almost every crime in the book. Murder, extortion, kidnap, robbery and bribery. But it was the arrogance of the invincible that brought their reign of terror to a close. But even then such was the celebrity status of the twin brother gangsters that while Reggie was languishing in Lewes Prison, he continued to partner brother Ronnie in a protection service for Frank Sinatra and other film stars including George Raft and Judy Garland.
Today’s programmes of rehabilitation in prisons can learn a thing or two from the Kray’s business.
There was no secrecy about the fact they provided tough guys to protect the stars. On the contrary, the authorities discussed putting an end to the Krays’ business but concluded they could do nothing because their activities were legit.
Reggie joined a string of celebrated names when he strode through the great gates of Lewes gaol sometime after his Old Bailey conviction of 1969.
Eamon DeValera the first Irish President was held there, celebrity acid bath killer John George Hague, and Rolling Stones Mick Jagger were also on the list and now Reggie Kray.
They replicated in the sixties the same ‘no prisoners’ approach of 1930s Chicago mobster
Al Capone.
They protected locals from petty thieves and villains while ruthlessly rubbing out anyone who threatened their crime territory in executioner style.
And eventually that was what brought them to their knees. They were meticulous planners but emotion overtook them one October day in 1967 when they publicly shot a rival in cold blood, in an East End pub and in the cold light of day.
This murder also brought the oldest Kray brother into the family ‘business’ .
Charles Kray had been distanced from Reggie and Ronnie because of his wife, Dolly.
The two younger boys didn’t like her and as their criminal empire increased Charles was left to pursue his own bad boy career. But make no mistake he was no innocent chicken.
He was caught smuggling millions of pounds worth of cocaine into Britain in 1997 and died in Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight in 2000.
But the wife he adored strayed with another gangster and he divorced her, followed by a brief fling with East Enders star Barbara Windsor.
But the disappearance from the scene of wife Dolly, saw the twins use Charles to dispose of Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie’s body in Newhaven, for which he was banged up for ten years.
The police at long last had found an incorruptible and fearless champion in Chief Detective Inspector Leonard ‘Nipper’ Reed who pursued the Krays relentlessly, despite their almost untouchable status and reputation for bumping off anyone who threatened their empire.
Both major political parties were reluctant to support any initiative to lock the Krays away. The Conservatives didn’t want it known that Ronnie was having a homosexual affair with Lord Boothby and Labour’s Harold Wilson was afraid a leading member of the Party Tom Driberg’s affair with Ronnie would be exposed. Bear in mind that homosexuality was still illegal in the 60s.
Many witnesses to their crimes were either scared into silence or bumped off. Rivals were murdered and incredibly the nation saw them as some sort of Robin Hoods, such was the celebrity with which they surrounded themselves. Before we start tut tutting though, the Krays have inspired books, plays and movies in profusion and even today a section of our modern society are as enthralled with them as were those in the 20th century.
Back to the crimes that became their undoing and saw Reggie take up residence in Lewes prison.
Firstly Reggie raced across London in May 1966 to a pub where rival gang leader George Cornell was drinking and shot him in the head. Cornell died of his wounds.
Then came the execution of Mad Axeman Frank Mitchell. The Krays had sprung Mitchell from gaol but the mentally unbalanced gangster began to talk and was duly despatched and dumped in the Channel. The third murder was the shooting and stabbing of Jack McVitie. Ronnie used such savagery in this murder that at long last their allies began turning away.
Big brother Charles was charged with getting rid of the body but bungled it, leaving it sitting in a car outside a church in Docklands.
A member of the Kray Gang, known as The Firm, then drove it to Newhaven and dumped it in the sea.
A massive police effort to protect witnesses broke the wall of silence and in 1969 the twins went down for life and Charles was given ten years. They were only 35 years old.
The two never came out of gaol. Ronnie was sent to Broadmoor psychiatric prison and Reggie recycled around a number of prisons including Lewes.
Initially the twins terrorized the prison guards.
But once separated, they calmed down and when a gangster pal was also sent to Lewes, he described Reggie as being welcoming and caring. He told of how Reggie regaled other prisoners with stories of his exploits and when he heard of family sickness, sent bouquets of get well flowers.
The two hoodlums were wealthy prisoners and became more so from book and film royalties as their celebrity attracted a whole string of plays, and TV shows based on their lives.
The pair had caviar and pork pies from Harrods sent in, dressed in Armani suits and lived a very high lifestyle. They also donated huge amounts of money to charity, giving a golden glow to their celebrity status.
A large number of supporters remained loyal to the twins and happily went on shopping sprees for them, including well known stars such as actress Diana Dors. Life meant life and the twins only left prison for their mother’s funeral but then both died in prison, Ronnie in 1995 aged 61.
Reggie passed away in 2000 at 66.
Yet they continue to enthrall and Lewes Prison and Newhaven Harbour are part of the legend.
A reflection on the allure gangsterism has for modern society? Perhaps.
But I think I would have preferred facing Al Capone than the Kray twins.
Fortunately our paths never crossed.
What landed the most famous crime lord in history to Lewes prison
