The Krays - Letter to The Firm

  

Reggie and Ronnie Kray were boxers who idolised London mobster Billy Hill and were obsessed with gangster magazines and films. Their criminal empire was founded in the East End of London in 1954 when they took ownership of a Billiard Hall in Bethnal Green. When Maltese thugs tried to get them to pay protection money, Ronnie was so angry that he mangled them both with a cutlass. 

 Seeing as this was a lucrative business they started their own protection racket where they allegedly had a bet with each other over who could accrue the most money in one day, earning themselves a reputation for violence as a result. 

 Reggie and Ronnie quickly established their gang "The Firm" with Freddie Foreman, a powerful East End gangster as their part-time enforcer. 

 In 1975 they became the owners of the "Double R" nightclub, and then extended their franchise west by buying "Esmeralda's Barn" a gambling club in Knightsbridge. 

 Although the Krays reputation overshadowed them, Charlie and Eddie Richardson were far crueller and calculated than the Krays. Charlie was once labelled as a "vicious and sadistic disgrace to civilisation" by a judge. Charlie was the brains of their operation and Eddie was the braun. The Richardson gang tortured victims by nailing them to the floor,  pulling out teeth with pliers and chopping off fingers and toes with bolt cutters. 

 The Richardsons most feared enforcer was Frankie Fraser or his nickname "Mad" Frankie Fraser which he got by slashing a knife at the face of powerful crime boss Jack Corner. Frankie offered protection to clubs and pubs if they allowed The Richardson's fruit machines in their establishments. Those who refused became victims of vandalism or worse. They performed this extortion ritual just as well as dealing in narcotics and pornography and they laundered their money through their Brixton scrap yard and fruit machine businesses. 

 The first clash between The Krays and The Richardsons occurred one night in a west end nightclub when Eddie Richarson and Frankie Fraser severely beat Kenny Hampton a young man employed by Freddie Foreman. Vowing revenge, Freddie stormed into a club and jammed a .38 pistol at Frankie. 

 Tensions boiled over in March 1966 with the "Battle of Mr. Smiths" when members of each gang shot, stabbed and beat each other in a club in South East London. Both Fraser and Eddie were shot along with five others, while Kray cousin Dickie Hart was murdered with his own .45 gun. Fraser and Eddie were sentenced to five years in prison for the affray. Charlie was later arrested whilst watching the 1966 world cup final on the 30th of July, and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. 

 Several days after this, Ronnie Kray entered a busy White Chapel pub and in retaliation from being insulted by a drunk Richardson gang member named George Cornell, preceded to shoot him fatally in the head. 

 At an early Christmas party on the 7th of December Reggie Kray repeatedly knifed drug dealer Jack McVitie in a dispute over money.

 On the 8th of May 1968, The Krays were arrested by the detective chief inspector Nipper Reads and his flying squad, along with fifteen other members of "The Firm." The twins were sentenced to life without parole (thirty years.)

 Ronnie died from a heart attack in 1995 and in 2000 Reggie's terminal cancer led to his compassionate release from prison where he passed away in October that year.