Ron 'Killed Reg's Wife'
reports The News Of The World...13/1/02
The News Of The World reported today that
Ron Kray killed his brother Reg's wife Frances.
This revelation was apparently disclosed
in an Interview with Bradley Allerdyce on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Bradley was Reg's lover whilst he was serving part of a nine year sentence
in Maidstone prison for armed robbery.
An inquest at the time concluded that Frances
had commited suicide but Bradley claims that Reg told him Ron had murdered
her by forcing her to take the tablets that killed her.
He said "He put his head on my shoulder
and told me Ron had killed Frances. He told Reg what he had done two
days after."
The newspaper goes on to say that although
both Krays are dead it will investigate the allegations.
Empire Behind
Bars --- your comments
Thank you all for your comments on the Channel 5 Documentary
'The Krays - Their Empire Behind Bars'.
Your opinions were varied:
Many were disillusioned and felt betrayed by what the Krays supposedly
did behind bars. Others felt that the young men in the documentary,
Bradley Allerdyce, Gary Piper, Peter Gillett etc were not involved
enough with the Krays to give an opinion. And others felt that the
Krays were betrayed yet again by all those involved in the documentary.
My own feelings are that the Kray businesses didn't
end when they were imprisoned and that they still had their fingers
in many pies.
Many business people who are incarcerated for various reasons do not
necessarily give up their profitable enterprises and continue to operate
them for the length of their sentences. The fact that the Kray businesses
were less than legitimate didn't mean that they would cease to exist
once the brothers were arrested and jailed.
I was under no illusion when I decided to create
the web site and the on line campaign for Reg's release. I personally
thought that he was not being treated the way other criminals were
and that something had to be done about it.
The fact that he may or may not have had outside interests was irrelevant
to me and what I was trying to do. However those who did take part
in the documentary were associates of the Krays and did act on their
behalf in a number of ventures and would have first hand knowledge
of how, when and where the profits from these ventures went.
Whether the accounts they were giving in the documentary were fact,
exaggerations or fairy stories you can only guess. Maybe they were
just using the media to make a pound note!. The fact that these men
are speaking out now could mean that they feel safer with all the
brothers dead. Or maybe they think what the hell, here is a chance
to make a few bob and who really cares. There are no reputations to
be upheld... only myths to be destroyed!
Many have said that the Krays should now be left to
rest in peace. If only that could happen. Unfortunately the Krays
courted the press, they loved the media and their celebrity status
and it must be said they used that to their advantage many a time.
This interest in the Krays will continue for many years to come and
the myth that surrounds them will only grow stronger.
It was nice to see some new taped footage of Reg
in prison and of Charlie at one of the supporters parties.
All in all it was a different slant to an already
familiar theme....At the end of the day the documentary posed that
all important question.....Fact or Fiction?....Only time will tell.
The
Krays:
Their Empire Behind Bars 14/1/02
Channel 5 Monday 14th January 10:50
pm....following two parts Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th.
In 1969, East End gangsters Ronnie and
Reggie Kray were jailed for life for the murders of George Cornell and
Jack 'the Hat' McVitie. But this wasnšt the end of their criminal empire:
they made more money behind bars than they had as free men.
This eye-opening documentary series interviews
old friends and associates about the years when the twins began to build
their myth and exploit their growing notoriety.
This first episode tells of how the Krays
established their empire in Bethnal Green, East London. The pair were
a fearsome combination: Ronnie was mentally unstable, a big man with
a violent temper, while Reg was colder and more calculating. Between
them, they controlled a wide range of snooker halls, clubs and betting
offices, and extorted money from businesses. No one dared argue with
them, cowed by their willingness to kill anyone who stood in their way.
A former associate estimates that Ronnie killed around six men and Reg
three - and that they ordered the deaths of around 20 more. The bodies
were disposed of in other peoplešs graves, at sea, and in an aluminium
smelting plant.
Witnesses to convict them were, unsurprisingly,
hard to find - and when one murder trial fell through, the twins felt
untouchable. They extended their operations into Londonšs West End,
and Ronnie attempted to establish American Mafia connections. Although
he failed in this, Scotland Yard was alarmed and redoubled its efforts
to catch them. Finally, they put the two behind bars - but couldnšt
stop the brothers making serious money.
