Wednesday 4 April 2012

Villains We Have Known

Title: Villains We Have Known

Author: Reg Kray

Year of publication: 1993, Arrow edition 1996

Back cover blurb: 'A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM REG KRAY
   "I would like to mention that the people I have written about would not rape, hurt or harm, in any way, women or children or mug the elderly, they were mainly professional people of their chosen way of life.
   During the Fifties and Sixties these people were of a minority, and had strong moral codes and ethics of their own standard, and violence was kept within their own jungle, but today criminal boundaries have spilled out to national proportions, hence the lack of morals we see today, because many of the crimes committed cannot even be considered in a professional capacity."'

Quick flick reveals: Prolific author Kray reminisces about various wrong'uns he and his brother Ron used to know in their 'not in prison' days.  None of them did anything that bad, apparently, as in those days criminals existed in an entirely closed system, hitting seven shades of shit out of each other for absolutely no reason, and had nothing to do with extorting money out of honest businesspeople with the threat of extreme violence or anything like that.  Except, they did, (see below) but that's ok, apparently.  Sadly, Kray's sometime writing partner, gangland legend and longtime Coast-to-Coaster Fred 'the Tie' Dinenage did not have a hand in this one.

Random paragraph: 'Another story reveals how he approached the owner of a fish shop for money but was refused payment.  Wassle hastened away, but returned minutes later holding a cat by its throat.  Without hesitation, Wassle threw the crying feline into the fry-pan, ensuring once again, that in future, regular payments would come his way from this particular establishment.'


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