The Profession of Violence by John Pearson

Author:John Pearson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

Organized Crime

Just eight weeks after Reggie emerged from Wandsworth, all three Kray brothers were in trouble with the Law. First Reggie – he was accused of petty house-breaking on the evidence of a woman who failed to identify him when she entered the witness-box of the East London Magistrates’ Court. The case was dismissed; Reggie was awarded costs.

Then it was his brothers’ turn; both were accused of ‘loitering in the Queensbridge Road with intent to commit a felony’ and of trying the door-handles of parked cars. The improbability of the charges gave Ronnie just the case he needed to stage a demonstration of the power of the Krays against the Law. It was something he’d been waiting for.

There was a combination of flair and thoroughness in the way he played it. The first thing he wanted was publicity; he briefed Nemone Lethbridge, the prettiest young female barrister in the country, to defend him. His case needed to be watertight so he hired a private detective and produced eight solid witnesses to swear to his alibi. Finally he wanted to teach the local police a lesson; this wasn’t difficult. Through a contact on a local paper he made sure the East End press carried his allegations of victimization by the police under banner headlines: ‘Detective called us “scum of the earth”.’

In court the case could not stand up: on 8 May the Marylebone Magistrates’ Court dismissed the charges. Now Ronnie could enjoy himself handling the publicity against the Law like an adroit public relations man. He held a full-scale party for the press at Esmeralda’s Barn, where he proposed a toast to ‘British justice’. There was a lot of free champagne and instant friendship. He got the full press coverage he wanted – the Daily Express carried a long article complete with pictures of the twins and ample quotes from them both under the headline: ‘“It’s a vendetta,” say freed boxing twins.’

The impression was of a pair of clean-living cockney sporting boys caught up in a sinister persecution by the police. From now on it would be a bold East End policeman who would risk his career tangling with them.

Photographed that night at their victory party as Esmeralda’s Barn, both twins were smiling – Ronnie from a sense of triumph, Reggie with relief. For Ronnie the acquittal at Marylebone confirmed what he had always known – he was being picked out, persecuted, but had the power to beat his enemies. He was untouchable. Reggie felt none of this. He had loathed his time in prison and wanted no more risks. All he desired was peace and the chance to enjoy himself like any normal man. That summer he tried very hard to get it. His share of profit from Esmeralda’s Barn had mounted in his absence. He was rich. He bought a new Mercedes, smart clothes, improved his dancing, rode, ran, kept himself fit. He spent weekends at Steeple Bay in Essex where the family had a caravan and he could swim and lie in the sun.

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