Product Description

Reggie and Ronald Kray ruled London's gangland during the 1960s with a ruthlessness and viciousness that shocks even now. This book has been expanded to include further material on such matters as Lord Boothby's close relationship with the killer twins.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27027 in Books
• Published on: 1995-01-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

About the Author
John Pearson is the author of several novels and biographies including 'The Life of Ian Fleming', 'Stags and Serpents: The History of the Dukes of Devonshire' and 'The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins', which awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Special Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Customer Reviews

The template for the Long Firm
Deadbeat account of the rise and fall of the Krays, most famous of the post-war London gangsters. A must for anyone curious as to the underside of 1960's London, the East End, and the source for the white hot poker incident, killing of Jack the Hat and other incidents recounted in the Long Firm.

very compelling, very direct
Very good account of the Kray twins rise to power, and thier fall. Very insightful. It does fall down a bit at the end by belaboring the obvious and trying to explain them in broad sociological terms. And earlier on in the book, one gets the feeling the author has identified a little too strongly with the Krays and glories a little in their successes.

Want to know what the Krays were really like???
Fantastic - I was given this as a present and its one of my favourite books ever. It toes the line between admiration and revulsion for the twins and their lifestyle. Well-researched and brilliantly written by a journalist initially approached by the Krays (just prior to their arrest) to write their life story. Little did he know what he had stumbled on! It records the lives of the twins in extraordinary detail, minus all those sensational headlines. It tries to explain how they became what they were, and gives a real sense of the bizarre double standards of the old East End. I was hooked.