Product Description

"Killing Charlie" charts the extraordinary rise and spectacular fall of Charlie Wilson, the most powerful villain to emerge from the ultimate British crime of the twentieth century: "The Great Train Robbery". Wilson moved on from armed robbery to become an all-powerful figure in the drug underworld. But his life of greed and corruption came to a violent end when his rivals decided to wipe him off the face of the earth - with the tacit approval of Spanish, British and US drug enforcement agencies. Meticulously researched, "Killing Charlie" pulls the reader into Wilson's bizarre, sordid, crime-filled world - one that took him from the mean streets of south London to even harsher prison corridors, and from a quiet life in small-town Canada to the heated, manic, cocaine-fuelled Costa del Sol. Containing interviews with many of Wilson's former associates, the book also reveals how Wilson was feared by many other criminals; how his love of pretty women almost cost him his life; and how he desperately tried to 'retire', only to discover the inevitable - that gangsters never rest in peace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42710 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Wensley Clarkson is a investigative journalist and the author of many other true crime books, including Killer On The Road, Bindon, Whatever Mother Says, Hit 'Em Hard and Moody. He has also written screenplays and television documentaries and his books have sold more than a million copies in 17 countries worldwide.

Customer Reviews

A smooth operator
Charlie Wilson was one of gangland's most charismatic characters and one who was deeply admired by the underworld. The author of this book, Wensley Clarkson, is a highly talented writer as well as a very skilful investigative journalist. In this well written book, Clarkson manages to get the balance between the crims and the police just right, neither extolling one party, nor castigating the other.

The result is an informative work and I think it likely that more than anybody else, Clarkson has come nearer to the truth about the Great Train Robbery. Certainly, and again more than anybody else, he has provided enough information as to the identity of the person who ensured that Charlie departed this life, sooner than was absolutely necessary.

A very good read.