Twin brothers Ronald "Ronnie" Kray (24 October 1933 – 17 March 1995) and Reginald "Reggie" Kray (24 October 1933 – 1 October 2000) were English gangsters who were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London during the 1950s and 1960s.

Ronald, commonly called Ron or Ronnie, most likely suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. With their gang, "The Firm", the Krays were involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, assaults, and the murders of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and George Cornell.

As West End nightclub owners, they mixed with prominent entertainers including Diana Dors, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland, and with politicians. The Krays were much feared within their milieu, and in the 1960s became celebrities in their own right, even being photographed by David Bailey and interviewed on television.

They were arrested on 9 May 1968 and convicted in 1969 by the efforts of a squad of detectives led by Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper" Read, and were both sentenced to life imprisonment.

Ronnie remained in Broadmoor Hospital until his death on 17 March 1995, but Reggie was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2000, eight weeks before his death from cancer.

Early life

Ronnie and Reggie Kray were born on 24 October 1933 in Hoxton, East London, to Violet (née Lee) (5 August 1909 – 7 August 1982) and Charles "Charlie" David Kray, Sr., (10 March 1907 – 8 March 1983), a scrap gold dealer. They were identical twins, with Reggie being born about ten minutes before Ronnie. Their parents already had a seven-year old son, Charles Jr, (9 July 1926 – 4 April 2000). A sister, Violet, born 1929, died in infancy. When the twins were three years old, they contracted diphtheria but survived. Ron Kray almost died in 1942 from a head injury suffered in a fight with his twin brother.

The twins first attended Wood Close School in Brick Lane and then went to Daniel Street School.

In 1938, the Kray family moved from Stean Street, Hoxton, to 178 Vallance Road, Bethnal Green. At the beginning of World War II, 32-year-old Charles Kray was conscripted into the army, but refused to go and went into hiding.

The influence of their maternal grandfather, Jimmy "Cannonball" Lee, caused the brothers to take up amateur boxing, then a popular pastime for working class boys in the East End. Sibling rivalry spurred them on, and both achieved some success. They are said never to have lost a match before turning professional at age 19.

National service

The Kray twins were notorious locally for their gang and its violence. They narrowly avoided being sent to prison several times, and 1952 both were called up for national service with the Royal Fusiliers. They reported but attempted to leave after only a few minutes. The corporal in charge tried to stop them, but Ronnie punched him in the chin, leaving him seriously injured. The twins walked back to the East End "just in time for tea". The next morning they were arrested and turned over to the army.

While absent without leave, they assaulted a police constable who tried to arrest them. They were among the last prisoners held at the Tower of London, before being transferred to Shepton Mallet military prison in Somerset for a month to await court-martial. They were convicted and sent to the Home Counties Brigade Depot jail in Canterbury, Kent. Their behaviour in prison was so bad that they both received dishonourable discharges from the army. During their few weeks in prison, when their conviction was certain, they tried to dominate the exercise area outside their one-man cells. They threw tantrums, emptied their latrine bucket over a sergeant, dumped a dixie (a large food/liquid container) full of hot tea on another guard, handcuffed a guard to their prison bars with a pair of stolen cuffs, and set their bedding on fire.

When they were moved to a communal cell, they assaulted their guard with a china vase and escaped. Quickly recaptured and awaiting transfer to civilian authority for crimes committed while at large, they spent their last night in Canterbury drinking cider, eating crisps, and smoking cigarillos courtesy of the young national servicemen acting as their guards.

Criminal careers

Nightclub owners

Their criminal records and dishonourable discharges ended their boxing careers, and the brothers turned to crime full-time. They bought a run down snooker club in Bethnal Green, where they started several protection rackets. By the end of the 1950s, the Krays were involved in hijacking, armed robbery and arson, through which they acquired other clubs and properties. In 1960 Ronnie Kray was imprisoned for 18 months for running a protection racket and related threats. While he was in prison, Peter Rachman, head of a violent landlord operation, gave Reggie a nightclub called Esmeralda's Barn on the Knightsbridge end of Wilton Place next to Joan's Kitchen, a bistro. The location is where the Berkeley Hotel now stands, on the corner opposite the church.

This increased the Krays' influence in the West End, by now making them celebrities rather than criminals. They were assisted by a banker named Alan Cooper, who wanted protection from the Krays' rivals, the Richardsons, based in South London.

Celebrity status

In the 1960s, they were widely seen as prosperous and charming celebrity nightclub owners and were part of the Swinging London scene. A large part of their fame was due to their non-criminal activities as popular figures on the celebrity circuit, being photographed by David Bailey on more than one occasion; and socialising with lords, MPs, socialites and show business characters including actors George Raft, Judy Garland, Diana Dors, Barbara Windsor and singer Frank Sinatra.

"They were the best years of our lives. They called them the swinging sixties. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were rulers of pop music, Carnaby Street ruled the fashion world... and me and my brother ruled London. We were fucking untouchable..." – Ronnie Kray, in his autobiographical book, My Story.

Lord Boothby and Tom Driberg

The Krays also came into the public attention when an exposé in the tabloid newspaper Sunday Mirror alleged that Ron had had a sexual relationship with Lord Boothby, a UK Conservative Party politician. Although no names were printed, after the twins threatened the journalists involved and Boothby threatened to sue, the newspaper backed down. It sacked the editor, printed an apology and paid Boothby £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. Because of this, other newspapers were unwilling to expose the Krays' connections and criminal activities. Much later, the BBC established the truth of the allegations, and released a documentary on the subject in 2009, The Gangster and the Perverted Peer.

The police investigated the Krays on several occasions, but the brothers' reputation for violence made witnesses afraid to testify. There was also a problem for both main political parties. The Conservative Party was unwilling to press the police to end the Krays' power for fear the Boothby connection would again be publicised, and the Labour Party's MP Tom Driberg was rumoured to have had a relationship with Ron Kray.

Frank Mitchell

On 12 December 1966 the Krays helped Frank Mitchell, "The Mad Axeman", to escape from Dartmoor Prison (Frank Mitchell should not be confused with the contemporaneous Frankie Fraser, "Mad Frankie Fraser", who allied with the Krays' rivals, the Richardson gang). Ronnie had befriended Mitchell while they served time together in Wandsworth prison. Mitchell felt the authorities should review his case for parole, so Ronnie felt he would be doing him a favour by getting him out of Dartmoor, highlighting his case in the media and forcing the authorities to act.

Once Mitchell was out of Dartmoor, the Krays held him at a friend's flat in Barking Road, East Ham. However, as a large man with a mental disorder, he was difficult to control. He disappeared, but the Krays were acquitted of his murder. Freddie Foreman, a former member of The Firm, claimed in his autobiography Respect that Mitchell was shot and his body disposed of at sea.

George Cornell

Ronnie Kray shot and killed George Cornell, an associate of the Richardson brothers, leaders of a rival gang, at The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel on March 9, 1966. Ronnie was drinking in another pub when he learned of Cornell's location. He went there with his brother's driver John Dickson and his assistant Ian Barrie but killed Cornell alone. Just before he died, Cornell remarked "Well, look who's here."

There are differing motives offered for the murder: Cornell's position as a leader of an opposing gang; Cornell was threatening the Krays; he had previously insulted Kray; Cornell was thought to have a part in the murder of Ronnie's former associate, Richard Hart.

According to some sources, Ronnie killed Cornell because on Christmas 1965, during a confrontation between the Krays and the Richardsons at the Astor Club, Cornell referred to Ronnie as a "fat poof" (meaning that he was homosexual). The confrontation resulted in a gang war, and about three months later, on March 8, 1966, Richard Hart, Ronnie's associate, was murdered at Mr Smith's Club in Catford. A member of the Richardson gang "Mad" Frankie Fraser was taken to court for Hart's murder but was found not guilty. Another member of the Richardson gang testified that he saw Cornell kicking Hart. Due to intimidation, witnesses would not cooperate with the police in Hart's case, and the trial ended inconclusively without pointing to any suspect in particular.

Cornell was the only one to escape the brawl without major injuries, and was probably suspected by Ronnie as having an important role in Hart's murder. But at court, Ronnie denied that he had been insulted, and that the murder was in order to avenge Hart's death. Instead he claimed that the reason for the murder was because Cornell had been threatening the Kray brothers.

Jack "the Hat" McVitie

The Krays' criminal activities continued to be hidden behind their celebrity status and "legitimate" businesses. In October 1967, four months after the suicide of his wife Frances, Reggie was alleged to have been encouraged by his brother to kill Jack "the Hat" McVitie, a minor member of the Kray gang who had failed to fulfil a £1,500 contract paid to him in advance to kill Leslie Payne. McVitie was lured to a basement flat in Evering Road, Stoke Newington on the pretence of a party. As he entered, Reggie Kray pointed a handgun at his head and pulled the trigger twice, but the gun failed to discharge. Ronnie Kray then held McVitie in a bearhug and Reggie Kray was handed a carving knife. He stabbed McVitie in the face and stomach, driving it deep into his neck, twisting the blade, continuing as McVitie lay on the floor dying. Several other members of The Firm including the Lambrianou brothers (Tony and Chris) were convicted of this. In Tony Lambrianou's biography, he claims that when Reggie was stabbing Jack, his liver came out and he had to flush it down the toilet. McVitie's body has never been recovered.

Arrest and trial

When Inspector Leonard "Nipper" Read of Scotland Yard was promoted to the Murder Squad, his first assignment was to bring down the Kray twins. It was not his first involvement with them. During the first half of 1964, Read had been investigating their activities, but publicity and official denials of allegations of Ron's relationship with Boothby made the evidence he collected useless. Read went after the twins with renewed activity in 1967, but frequently came up against the East End "wall of silence", which discouraged anyone from providing information to the police.

Nevertheless, by the end of 1967 Read had built up enough evidence against the Krays. Witness statements incriminated them, as did other evidence, but none made a convincing case on any one charge.

Early in 1968 the Krays employed a man named Alan Bruce Cooper, who sent Paul Elvey to Glasgow to buy explosives for a car bomb. Elvey was the radio engineer who put Radio Sutch, later renamed Radio City, on the air in 1964. Police detained him in Scotland and he confessed to being involved in three murder attempts. The evidence was weakened by Cooper, who claimed he was an agent for the United States Treasury Department investigating links between the American Mafia and the Kray gang. The botched murders were his attempt to put the blame on the Krays. Read tried using Cooper, who was also being employed as a source by one of Read's superior officers, as a trap for the Krays, but they avoided him.

Conviction and imprisonment

Eventually, a Scotland Yard conference decided to arrest the Krays on the evidence already collected, in the hope that other witnesses would be forthcoming once the Krays were in custody. On 8 May 1968, the Krays and 15 other members of their "firm" were arrested. Many witnesses came forward now that the Krays' reign of intimidation was over, and it was relatively easy to gain a conviction. The Krays and 14 others were convicted, with one member of the firm being acquitted. One of the firm members who provided a lot of the information to the police was arrested yet only for a short period.

The twins' defence, under their counsel John Platts-Mills, QC, consisted of flat denials of all charges and the discrediting of witnesses by pointing out their criminal past. The judge, Mr Justice Melford Stevenson said: "In my view, society has earned a rest from your activities." Both were sentenced to life imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 30 years for the murders of Cornell and McVitie, the longest sentences ever passed at the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court, London) for murder. Their brother Charlie was jailed for 10 years for his part in the murders.

Imprisonment

On 11 August 1982, under tight security, Ronnie and Reggie Kray were allowed to attend the funeral of their mother Violet, who had died of cancer the week before, but they were not allowed to attend the graveside service at Chingford Mount Cemetery in East London where their mother was interred in the Kray family plot. The service was attended by celebrities including Diana Dors and underworld figures known to the Krays. The twins did not ask to attend their father's funeral when he died in March 1983, to avoid the publicity that had surrounded their mother's funeral.

Deaths

Ronnie Kray was eventually certified insane and lived the remainder of his life in Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, dying on 17 March 1995 of a heart attack at the age of 61.

Reggie Kray was a Category A prisoner, denied almost all liberties and not allowed to mix with other prisoners. However, in his later years, he was downgraded to Category C and transferred to Wayland Prison in Norfolk.

In 1985, officials at Broadmoor Hospital discovered a business card of Ron's, which prompted an investigation. It revealed the twins – incarcerated at separate institutions – plus their older brother, Charlie Kray and an accomplice not in prison, were operating a "lucrative bodyguard and 'protection' business for Hollywood stars". Documents released under Freedom of Information laws revealed that officials were concerned about this operation, called Krayleigh Enterprises, but believed there was no legal basis to shut it down. Documentation of the investigation showed that Frank Sinatra hired 18 bodyguards from Krayleigh Enterprises during 1985.

During his incarceration, Reggie Kray became a "born again" Christian. After serving more than the recommended 30 years he was sentenced to in March 1969, he was freed from Wayland on 26 August 2000. He was almost 67 and was released on compassionate grounds for having inoperable bladder cancer. The final weeks of his life were spent with his wife Roberta, whom he had married while in Maidstone Prison in July 1997, in a suite at the Townhouse Hotel at Norwich, having left Norwich hospital on 22 September 2000. On 1 October 2000, Reggie died in his sleep. Ten days later, he was buried beside his brother Ronnie in Chingford Mount Cemetery.

Older brother Charlie Kray was released from prison in 1975 after serving seven years, but was sentenced again in 1997 for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine worth £69 million in an undercover drugs sting. He died in prison of natural causes on 4 April 2000.

Personal lives

Ronnie was openly bisexual, evidenced by his book My Story and a confession to writer Robin McGibbon on The Kray Tapes where he states, "I'm bisexual, not gay. Bisexual." He also planned on marrying a lady named Monica in the 1960s whom he had dated for nearly three years. He called her "the most beautiful woman he had ever seen." This is mentioned in Reggie's book Born Fighter. Also, extracts are mentioned in Ron's own book My Story and Kate Kray's books Sorted, Murder, Madness and Marriage and Free at Last. He was arrested before he had the chance to marry Monica and even though she married Ronnie's ex-boyfriend, 59 letters sent to her between May and December 1968 when he was imprisoned show he still had feelings for her and his love for her is very clear. He refers to her as "my little angel" and "my little doll." She also still had feelings for Ronnie. These letters were auctioned in 2010.

A letter to his mother Violet, sent from prison in 1968, also gives references to Monica; "if they let me see Monica and put me with Reg, I could not ask for more." He went on to say, with spelling mistakes, "Monica is the only girl I have liked in my life. She is a luvely little person as you know. When you see her, tell her I am in luve with her more than ever." Reggie once had a one night stand with Barbara Windsor.

In an interview with author John Pearson, Ronnie indicated a strong identification with Gordon of Khartoum and accepted as true an unproved theory about him: "Gordon was like me, 'omosexual, and he met his death like a man. When it's time for me to go, I hope I do the same."

Controversies

There was a long-running campaign, with some minor celebrity support, to have the twins released from prison, but successive Home Secretaries vetoed the idea, largely on the grounds that the Krays' prison records were both marred by violence towards other inmates. The campaign gathered momentum after the release of a film based on their lives called The Krays in 1990. Produced by Ray Burdis, it starred Spandau Ballet brothers Martin and Gary Kemp, who played the roles of Reggie and Ronnie respectively.

Reggie wrote: "I seem to have walked a double path most of my life. Perhaps an extra step in one of those directions might have seen me celebrated rather than notorious." Others, however, point to Reggie's violent prison record when he was being detained separately from Ronnie and argue that in reality, the twins' temperaments were little different.

Reggie's marriage to Frances Shea (1944-67) in 1965 lasted 8 weeks, although the marriage was never formally dissolved. An inquest came to the conclusion that she committed suicide, but in 2002 an ex-lover of Reggie Kray came forward to allege that Frances was actually murdered by a jealous Ronnie. Bradley Allardyce spent 3 years in Maidstone Prison with Reggie and explained, "I was sitting in my cell with Reg and it was one of those nights where we turned the lights down low and put some nice music on and sometimes he would reminisce. He would get really deep and open up to me. He suddenly broke down and said 'I'm going to tell you something I've only ever told two people and something I've carried around with me' – something that had been a black hole since the day he found out. He put his head on my shoulder and told me Ronnie killed Frances. He told Reggie what he had done two days after."

In 2009 a British television documentary, The Gangster and the Pervert Peer, was aired which showed that Ronnie Kray was a man-on-man rapist (commonly referred to in criminal circles as a "nonce case"). The programme also went on to detail his relationship with Tory Lord Bob Boothby as well as an ongoing Daily Mirror investigation into Lord Boothby's dealings with the Kray brothers.[37]

In popular culture

• Piranha Brothers, Monty Python sketch. Leonard 'Nipper' Read is also burlesqued in the character Harry 'Snapper' Organs.
• The Krays, 1990 film
• The 'Two Rons' characters in The Management series of sketches and spin-off series featuring UK comedians Hale and Pace
• The former singer of The Smiths and solo artist Morrissey mentions each Kray brother by name in his song The Last of the Famous International Playboys saying, "Reggie Kray do you know my name?" and "Ronnie Kray do you know my face?". It is also said that he sent a wreath to Ronnie Kray's funeral.
• Ray Davies repeats the line "...and don't forget the Kray twins" in his song "London", later adding, "very dangerous people those Kray twins".
• Our Story, by Reggie & Ronnie Kray (1989) – ISBN 0-330-30818-1
• Born Fighter, by Reggie Kray (1991) – ISBN 0-09-987810-0
• My Story, by Ronnie Kray (1994) – ISBN 0-330-33507-3
• Ronnie Kray is mentioned in the Blur song Charmless Man in the line "I think he'd like to have been Ronnie Kray".
• A Way of Life: Over Thirty Years of Blood, Sweat and Tears, by Reggie Kray (2000) – ISBN 0-330-48511-3
• The television drama series Whitechapel include a three episode mini-series which was first aired 11 October 2010. In this series two twin brothers were portrayed as the alleged biological sons of Ronnie Kray
• The Krays Not Guilty Your Honour (2012), by JH Gaines
• The Green Green Grass Mentioned by Boycie (Better known from Only Fools and Horses)
• Legend (2015), a biopic starring Tom Hardy as the twins.
• The Winjin Pom - Ronnie and Reggie, the Crow Twins.