Criminal Masterminds

by Anne Williams

  When Reggie was told the news and saw that his brother’s health was deteriorating, he decided to do something about it. He blamed his ill health on the large doses of drugs that Ronnie was being administered, and decided he needed to get his brother out of prison. Luckily for Reg, they transferred his brother to the Long Grove mental hospital, which made it a lot easier for him to spring Ron. Reg’s plan was to try and get a second opinion regarding his brother’s sanity, and then when the diagnosis proved to be incorrect the authorities would have to rethink about having him returned to hospital. Being identical twins, the plan was simple, Reggie simply visited the hospital and changed places with his brother. By the time the doctors realised what had happened, Ronnie was long gone, and Reggie had to be released as well.

  Ronnie remained on the run for five months, but it wasn’t long before Reggie and Charlie realised what a big mistake they had made. It soon became apparent that Ronnie really was very ill. There were times that he was so bad that he didn’t even recognise his own family and became paranoid that everyone was out to get him. It became evident that Ronnie needed to be readmitted to hospital and the Kray family had to do the unthinkable – turn their own brother over to the police.

  The police raided the house and Ronnie was arrested without one word of protest. He was reassessed and returned to prison, where he stayed until his release in May 1959.

  When Ronnie was released, it was clear that he was still very sick and was subject to violent mood swings. He became a violent embarrassment and a liability to The Firm, and he was still paranoid that everyone was plotting against him. The family knew he desperately needed help and they took him to hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, this treatment involved taking drugs for the remainder of his life, which had a devastating affect on his appearance. Although the drugs helped to keep him calm, he gained a lot of weight, his speech became slurred and, in short, he was nothing like the man he used to be.

  Reggie became his backbone and kept their businesses afloat, but he was arrested in 1959 for demanding money with menaces. He was given an eighteen month jail sentence and was sent to Wandsworth prison. While under lock and key, he associated with two hoods by the name of Jack ‘the Hat’ McVitie and ‘The Mad Axeman’ Frank Mitchell, two men who played a major part in the twins eventual downfall.

  the good times

  At the beginning of the 1960s, the three brothers were back together and, with Ronnie back to his old self for a while, it appeared to be the start of some good times. Business was thriving and they were starting to make inroads into the West End club and gambling scene.

  Their first foothold into the West End came when they opened an upmarket gambling club in Knightsbridge, called Esmerelda’s Barn. To give the club an appearance of respectability they paid a peer to join them on the board. Lord Effingham, the sixth Earl of Effingham, used to stand at the door and welcome customers as they came into the club. The Krays were obsessed with celebrities and they lavishly entertained actors, pop stars, sports personalities, in fact anyone with any claim to fame.

  The Krays also invested a lot of money into a coastal development in a place called Enugu in Nigeria. The project was set up by the Kray’s business manager, Leslie Payne, and Ernest Shinwell, who was the son of the labour MP, Manny Shinwell. The first meeting to discuss the plans was between Ron, a man called Leslie Holt and a peer of the realm, Lord Boothby. However, the project collapsed and the money seemed to vanish into thin air. What did come out of the project was an alleged relationship between Ronnie and Lord Boothby. The couple originally met at one of the many gay parties they both regularly attended. Ronnie had realised that he was a homosexual at an early age when he had a crush on a boy that lived in the same street. He didn’t attempt to hide his preference for men, but it wasn’t really until the 1960s that it became public knowledge. In July 1964, the Sunday Mirror got scent of the relationship between Ronnie and Lord Boothby and decided to run a story saying that Scotland Yard were investigating an illicit romance. When Boothby was approached, he adamantly denied the relationship and explained away a photograph of them together by the fact that Ronnie simply loved to be photographed with celebrities. The Sunday Mirror immediately backed down, sacked its editor and paid Boothby £40,000 so that the matter didn’t go to court. Leslie Holt, the third man at the meeting, died under very strange circumstances.

  In 1965, the Kray twins were arrested again for demanding money with menaces from a man called Hew McGowan. He was the owner of a club called The Hideaway. Although they were remanded in custody in Brixton prison, by now their influence was so far-reaching that questions were asked in the House of Lords as to how long they were going to keep the Krays locked up without officially being charged. The question was raised by Ronnie’s friend, Lord Boothby, which caused quite a sensation. However, it had the desired effect and when the case went to court they were cleared of all charges. Less than a month later they were the proud owners of The Hideaway, which then became known as El Morocco.

  In April 1965, Reggie married twenty-one-year-old Francis Shea, who was the sister of his good friend, Frank. She was the love of his life and Reggie was devastated when the marriage ended in disaster eight months later, masterminded by his in-laws.

  By the beginning of 1966, Ronnie and Reggie were moving into the world of organised crime in a big way. They forged links with the Mafia and even went to the USA to meet with some of their top men. They made some very useful connections during their visit and offered protection to any US celebrities visiting or performing in England.

  clashes

  Of course, the Krays were by no means the only gang operating in London and this led to them poaching on each other’s territories, which nearly always ended up in violence. The Richardson brothers ran the south of London and had a reputation as being among London’s most sadistic gangsters. They were also known as the ‘Torture Gang’ because their speciality was pinning victims to the floor with six inch nails and removing their victim’s toes with bolt cutters. The Krays and the Richardsons crossed paths frequently.

  One member of the Richardson gang who came into contact with the Krays was ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser. He was an extremely violent and remorseless man who tried to take over a chain of gambling machines owned by his rivals, the Krays. They took out their revenge on the Richardsons by trying to bully the gang into sharing their profits from some of their other rackets with the Krays. This made another Richardson member angry, a man by the name of George Cornell. Cornell had worked with the Krays before jumping ship and joining the Richardsons, so the brothers were fully aware of his fearsome reputation.

  In March 1966, a gun battle erupted outside a club called Mr Smiths in Catford, which resulted in a man called Richard Hart being shot dead. It is thought that the Richardson gang had gone there with the intention of trying to eradicate the Krays. However, there was only one member of the Kray family there, Richard Hart, who happened to be a cousin of the twins.

  Family came first in the Kray organisation, and they immediately wanted revenge. On the night of March 9, 1966, Ronnie, Reggie and other members of The Firm were drinking in The Lion pub when they were told that Cornell was drinking in the Blind Beggar pub just down the road. At approximately 8.30 p.m. Ronnie and one of his associates walked into the Blind Beggar, only to be met by Cornell throwing abuse at them by calling Ronnie a ‘fat poof’. Ronnie didn’t waste any time in pulling out his pistol, shooting Cornell three times in the head. Although there was no proof that Cornell actually fired the shot that killed Richard Hart, all the other members of the Richardson gang were either in hospital or in prison at the time, so Cornell was the only one to bear the brunt of the Kray’s revenge. Shortly after the killing of Cornell, Ronnie sank into another period of his psychotic depressions, and the good times seem to be coming to an end.

  ‘the mad axeman’

  Towards the end of 1966, the Kray brothers decided to try and spring ‘The Mad Axeman’ Frank Mitchell from Dar
tmoor prison. He was serving a sentence for breaking into an elderly couple’s house and holding them hostage with an axe, hence the nickname ‘The Mad Axeman’. When he broke into the house he was on the run having only just escaped from prison, so when he was recaptured the authorities were not keen on giving him a new release date.

  The plan the Krays hatched was to break Mitchell out of prison and keep him in hiding long enough for the media to run a story with the promise of his case being investigated. Mitchell would then give himself up and return to prison.

  They were successful in springing him from Dartmoor, but there was no following investigation and the authorities started an intensive manhunt. Although Ronnie had been the main instigator in getting Mitchell out of prison he never made the effort to visit him while he was on the run. Mitchell saw this as a sign of disrespect and, added to this, he was getting restless being couped up in a cramped apartment. Mitchell started making threats, saying that if the twins didn’t come and see him, then he would have to visit them. The Kray brothers knew they had to find a solution and fast. Frank Mitchell was found shot dead on December 23, 1966.

  a bad move

  Things were starting to look brighter for Reggie at the beginning of 1967. By June, it looked as if he would get the chance of getting back together with his wife Frances. What he didn’t realise was that Frances had been unstable before they were married and following the break-up she had suffered a mental breakdown. Her parents had been the ones who instigated the separation, because they were not happy about her association with a local gangster with such a bad reputation. When she was eventually released from hospital, Reggie arranged for them to have a second honeymoon. However, the constant fighting between Reggie and her parents had taken its toll and the day they were to leave for Ibiza, Frances took an overdose and died. Reggie was broken hearted and went into a deep state of depression for months. To try and bury his sorrow, he took to drinking all the time and it was during this traumatic period that the Kray’s world came crashing down around them.

  Jack ‘The Hat’ McVitie had been an associate of the twins for a long time and, although he never actually belonged to The Firm, the twins often used him for odd jobs. McVitie got his name from the fact that he never removed his hat that was covering a bald patch. He was a dangerous man who had no fear of the twins, and was often heard bad-mouthing them. Added to this he was an alcoholic who took drugs and liked to beat up women.

  Ronnie had given McVitie an advance payment to kill Leslie Payne, the twins ex-business manager, because he believed he was about to go to the police. However, he never fulfilled the contract and ran off with the money. As if this action wasn’t stupid enough, McVitie was also threatening some of the bar owners who were under the Kray’s protection and bragging about what he had done to Cornell. Despite numerous warnings from Reggie about his behaviour, McVitie continued to threaten until it was obvious he was riding for a fall.

  On October 29, 1967, McVitie was invited to a party with some of his underworld associates and their families. What McVitie didn’t know was that the twins had arrived early and had spent the last hour clearing the party of any guests. As soon as McVitie walked through the door, Reggie put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

  McVitie couldn’t believe his luck when the trigger jammed, but this caused Reggie to lose his temper even more and a scuffle broke out. Reggie threw down the gun and went for McVitie with a knife, stabbing him multiple times in the face, chest and stomach. This action proved to the last piece of violence to be carried out by the Krays and also culminated in the collapse of The Firm.

  Although the authorities turned their backs in the past, this time the Kray brothers had overstepped the mark and had to be brought to justice.

  the end of the line

  The Kray brothers were finally arrested by Scotland Yard on May 8, 1968. They appeared at the Old Bailey in 1969, along with other members of their gang. The trial started in January and lasted about six weeks, and the ten men who stood in the dock were all convicted of various charges, with the exception of one man Tony Barry, who was acquitted. Ronnie and Reggie Kray, who were thirty-five years old at the time, were both sentenced to thirty years for murder. Their forty-one-year-old brother, Charlie, was sentenced to ten years as an accessory to murder.

  Prison did little to suppress the legend of the Kray twins, with both men writing best-selling books about their lives. In 1990, a full-length feature film was made that gave details of their exploits, including the murder of McVitie, which earned the Krays a princely sum of £255,000. Many people campaigned for their release, feeling that the sentences were too harsh as they had never killed any members of the general public. In 1993, several hundred people held a rally in Hyde Park, before marching to Downing Street to hand in a 10,000-signature petition.

  Ronnie Kray died on March 17, 1995, after he collapsed in his ward at Broadmoor. Reggie was allowed out for one day to attend his funeral.

  In 1997, Charlie was found guilty of masterminding a £39 million cocaine plot and was jailed for a further twelve years. He died in the prison hospital in April 2000.

  In August 2000, the Home Secretary decided Reggie could be released on compassionate grounds due to his deteriorating health. Six weeks later on October 1, with his wife Roberta at his side, Reggie died in his sleep after a battle against cancer.

  To this day, although their names are synonymous with violence, they are also remembered for having rid the streets of London of some of the most feared criminals. Women and children from the East End of London swore that they felt safe just as long as the Krays were on the streets.

  The Blood Brothers

  The Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix Organisation (AFO), was a Mexican drug cartel from Tijuana, in Baja California. The AFO was a family business led by Benjamin and Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix. Ramón was considered to be the most violent of the seven brothers, a sociopath who seemed to thrive on murder. In fact the whole organisation had a reputation for extreme violence and Ramón ended up on the FBI’s list of its ten most wanted men. In September 1998, Ramón ordered a hit which resulted in the mass murder of nineteen people in Ensenada, Baja California.

  the brothers

  Benjamin Arellano Félix, assumed leader of the Arellano Félix organization.

  Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix, considered to be the most violent brother, was responsible for the organisation’s security, plucking members from the midst of violent street gangs. He was also responsible for dealing with rival drug dealers, law enforcement officials who the cartel could not bribe and any members of the AFO who didn’t obey the rules.

  Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, was the third-ranking of the cartel brothers, after Benjamin and Ramón, and controlled the organisation’s finances.

  Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix, was the eldest brother who was responsible for the buying and selling of the narcotics.

  Eduardo Arellano and Carlos Arellano Félix, were both responsible for coordinating the smuggling of cocaine shipments to the USA.

  Luis Fernando Arellano Félix, ran the family-owned businesses, which were allegedly used for money laundering the profits from the cartel’s drug dealings.

  the cartel

  The organisation that Ramón and his brothers ran was named after the violent border town, Tijuana, in which it was based. The US drug enforcement agencies were under no misapprehension about the power of the cartel, as it was considered to be one of the most powerful, violent and agressive drug trafficking organisations in the world. Their corruption and violence had such an impact that it even inspired a film, Traffic, which, if anything, was toned down to make it bearable to watch.

  The Arellano Félix brothers were set up in the drug business by their cousin, Miguel Angel Félix Gallardo, who ran his own drug empire out of Culiacán, a city in north-western Mexico. Gallardo built his business up by trading locally grown marijuana and heroin across the border into the USA, but he was jailed
for the murder of a DEA agent, Enrique Camarena, in 1989, which left his cartel in a state of disorder. The Félix brothers took advantage of the situation, inherited their uncle’s business and saw this at their first big break.

  The Félix brothers traded in a completely different direction, by trafficking cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines via a 160-km (100-mile) corridor between Tijuana and Mexicali, which lies directly on the border of California. The drugs literally poured across the border by car, by boat along the Pacific coast and even by tunnel.

  In February 2002, following a tip-off, police searched a farm on the US side of the border. Underneath the stairs they discovered a safe, but when they broke into it, it was empty. They were about to move away and start their search elsewhere, when they noticed that the safe had a false bottom. When they removed the floor they found a deep shaft which descended to a 365-m (1,200-ft) tunnel, complete with electric lights and rails, which the police estimated had carried billions of dollars of drugs under the US–Mexican border.

  Many of the Arellano Félix cartel were ruthless gunmen, who had literally been recruited off the streets in San Diego’s Barrio Logan, an area noted for its violent gangs. The leader of the Barrio Logan assassins was an experienced gangster called

  David Barron Corona, who had earned the Félix brother’s loyalty by saving two of the brothers from an ambush.

  Despite the cartel’s notoriety, they managed to remain untouched for thirteen years, due partially to bribes. They bought themselves protection by paying large amounts of cash to politicians and police, at an estimated $1 million a week. Anyone they couldn’t buy, they simply killed. They murdered without giving it a second thought, and it is estimated their victims could amount to more than 1,000 people. Their targets were witnesses, innocent bystanders, federal police commanders, judges and even a Roman Catholic cardinal by the name Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo. The cardinal was killed by mistake at Guadalajara airport in 1993, when members of the Félix gang mistook his car for that of a rival drug baron. The blunder meant that the gang had to adopt false names and lie low for a while, but it had little effect on their business transactions, apparently unafraid of capture.