London's Gangs at War

de Dick Kirby

The 1950s and 1960s saw a changing of the guard in London's gangland. A new and even more ruthless breed of criminal emerged to replace the aging generation of likes of Sabini, Mullins and Hayes. Protection rackets on bookies, club owners and shopkeepers were an everyday occurrence. Bloody and murderous turf wars to gain territorial supremacy were endemic. Police corruption was commonplace. Thanks to media interest, Charlie Richardson, 'Mad Frankie' Fraser, Jack Spot and Billy Hill became as widely known, as they were feared. And then there were the Kray Twins, whose names became watchwords for notoriety and brutality. But as this 'insider' book reveals, they did not have it all their own way. For a thrilling and shocking story, London's Gangs at War is in a class of its own. It reads like fiction; but what makes it so chilling is that the murders, torture and mayhem actually happened -- right on the streets of England's capital.