Richardson - The last gangster : my final confession

Contents

Notorious Charlie Richardson was the most feared gangster in 1960s London. Boss of the Richardson Gang and rival of the Krays, to cross him would result in brutal repercussions. Famously arrested on the day England won the World Cup in 1966, his trial heard he allegedly used iron bars, bolt cutters and electric shocks on his enemies.

The Last Gangster is Richardsons frank account of his largely untold life story, written just before his death in September 2012. He shares the truth behind the rumours and tells of his feuds with the Krays for supremacy, undercover missions involving politicians, time banged up in prison and reveals shocking secrets about royalty, phone hacking, bent coppers and the infamous black box.

Straight up, shocking and downright gripping, this is the ultimate expose on this legendary gangster and his extraordinary life.

My book would never have been possible without my fantastic wife Ronnie; my children Charlie Boy, Carol, Michelle, Susan and Mark; my sister Elaine; my writer, David Meikle; crime buff Fred Dinenage; Kate Beal; my lawyer, Giovanni Di Stefano; Bobby Cummines OBE; Wilf Pine; and Chris Lambrianou. Thank you all.

I have so many memories of Charlie. We met in 1987, around three years after he came out from prison, and we clicked from day one. I was with some friends in a wine bar, as youll read later, and they knew people in another group. Well, I was introduced to Charlie and I wasnt sure what to expect. His grey/blue eyes caught my attention straight away. Those eyes were amazing.

He was an absolute gentleman, kissed my hand, and said How do you do? He was straight in with business advice for me. That was typical Charlie; he always had business on his mind.

We chatted and chatted, and he suggested going out for a meal. Well, I couldnt refuse. He swept me off my feet. A few nights later I was enjoying an intimate dinner with him. There were candles, attentive waiters, bottles of wine and Charlie, with those sensational eyes.

I found him intelligent, charismatic, warm, generous and very thoughtful the complete opposite of how he is portrayed. After twenty-six years with Charlie I can honestly say all of that, hand on heart. I am a great believer in taking people as you find them. He didnt do any of that black box stuff. He would punch people on the nose, or something like that, to sort things out. If he wanted his money back, and there was none forthcoming, he would take a painting, or a vase, or goods to the value.

Charlie and his mates were all in the same circle and would keep matters within limits. He would never break into anyones home, for example. He was certainly no angel, but no way did he deserve a sentence of twenty-five years!

I always remember him saying: Dont think local: think global. He persuaded many to take up the route of education. That is one reason why he inspired so many people and they were all at his funeral.

Charlie was like a father to my own son Lee, who tragically died in 2008. He gave the same attention to my daughter Hayley. Really, he was their father and I owe him everything for that. He took on my children as well as his own children. When he died he had fourteen grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. What a family man. I considered myself very lucky to have my own family and such strong connections with all of my husbands family, too.

Little did I know that our lives together would be cut so short. I miss Charlie so much; we were by each others sides, constantly, for more than a quarter of a century.

My sweet Charlie will always be remembered with the greatest of affection and will always be the love of my life.

Sleep peacefully, my darling.

October 2012

As I write this, I have to say that Im not a well man. I have breathing difficulties and other health issues. Being locked up for eighteen years out of a twenty-five-year sentence, with so many stresses and traumas, you can imagine the effect on my health but Im battling on with this book and hope that you will see all sides of me as a person.

The idea is to go through my life with my writer, trying to explain as many incidents as well as we can, with a lot of light and shade. My wife Ronnie, my children and old pals from the past are certainly helping us to get it all together.

There are many chapters about my experiences from my boyhood in war-torn London, through to the present day. Can you imagine London during the war? Bombs were dropping, houses were burning and people died all around me. And yet Eddie and I had so many adventures in the bomb craters and I even collected shrapnel. That was the start of my interest in metals, which led later to my passion for mining.

Along the way I have met film stars, bugged a prime ministers phone, mined in South Africa and spent nearly two decades in prison. I was the first-ever member of the Astor Club in London and mingled with stars of the day; that seemed normal at the time. You could have a chat with Jack Lemmon at the bar or discuss George Bests latest goal with the man himself. You cant do that nowadays. In a later chapter, The Swinging Sixties, I describe the scene exactly as it was. And there are a few surprises in there, too.

Ive tried to show how I ended up doing my bird, with a timeline leading up to my imprisonment and release. What a feeling to finally walk the streets again as a free man. What a feeling, though, to have lost so much of my life. I knocked people about a bit and probably deserved a short prison spell. But a twenty-five-year sentence? Never!

I want my story told in an original, compelling way to make it different from other books of its type. With seventy-eight years to draw on, there is an awful lot to say and probably an awful lot to leave out.

Fortunately our family has quite a photo album. When I describe my adventure with my toy boat in 1939, there is the picture! When I talk about being on the run in Spain, there is the picture! When I say I went out with boxing legends Lenny McLean and Roy Shaw, there are the pictures! When I eventually left prison my first job was to read bedtime stories to my granddaughters. Again, I have the picture.

I have to pay tribute to my wife Ronnie, who has looked after me through thick and thin. You can imagine how, when I came out of prison, I was on another planet. I wasnt used to decimalisation and carried around bags of change. Ronnie helped me to adapt and gave me the love and support that I desperately needed.

An important part of the book, for me, is the chapter Hell in Prison. I have tried to show exactly what conditions were like, and Ive put forward my ideas for a better system from the time I spent inside. You have to remember that I kept being refused for parole and I was an angry man with a lot of time on my hands. That gave me plenty of scope to educate myself and right the wrongs of the prison system. I saw so many prisoners do their time, go back into society, reoffend and end up back inside! That has to be wrong.

Another important section is my relationship with the Kray twins. I met them at a young age and, believe it or not, we did form some sort of meaningful relationship! That will come as a surprise to many, but the two chapters on the Krays and the Richardsons will explain all.

Now, its not all serious stuff. There are plenty of light touches in here, and even some humour during the infamous torture trial with the black box as the prize exhibit. Actually Ive never seen this black box. Where the hell did they get it? Someone told me it came from a museum