Charlie: The Final Word Mine For The Taking [Kindle Edition]

There have been many books about the extraordinary life of South London Sixties gangster Charlie Richardson, including his own autobiography My Manor. In that book, Richardson covered one of the more colourful periods of his life, during the 1960s, when he briefly realised his life-long ambition of owning a mine, only to become embroiled in the murky and sinister world of apartheid era South Africa in doing so. Eleanor Parks book examines this time in greater detail and, in doing so, uncovers an explosive story. At times the book reads more like a high level political thriller than an autobiography, as Charlie's attempts to procure and establish a mine in a remote region of South Africa leads him to becoming entangled with the secret services of three countries, the ransacking of offices belonging to the African National Congress, and a near attempt to bug the residence of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. It's explosive stuff, powered along by a breathless, breakneck narrative that has you turning the page for the next revelation.

Along for the ride are a host of real life characters. These include Eddie Richardson, Charlie's hot-tempered younger brother, who together form a sort of Ray and Dave Davies of South London villains. The infamous "Mad" Frankie Frazer, who teams up with Eddie in a protection racket, but ends up joining him in a shoot-out at a pub that precipitates the unravelling of Charlie's dreams. In South Africa, we meet Gordon Winter, journalist turned spy and husband of the beautiful, beguiling Jean le Grange, the woman with whom Charlie begins a passionate, once in lifetime love affair. In turn, Jean is the niece of the sadistically racist, truly terrifying Hendrik van der Bergh, head of the South African secret service, who recruits Charlie as a potential agent for the infiltration of the London offices of the ANC, return for favours relating to Charlie's mining development. In the course of his travels throughout South Africa, Charlie even meets Winnie Mandela, herself already an informant for South African intelligence. There is double dealing and double crossing everywhere, all of which culminates in the murder of Charlie's business partner, as engineered by Gordon Winter for revenge over the affair Richardson is having with his wife, and the closing in of both MI5 and a cadre of corrupt cops, all wanting to nail Charlie for their own nefarious purposes.

The language throughout the book is strong, reflecting the tough worlds it is set in, and the vivid use of conversation and detailed description of places and settings lends it the immediacy of a novel, adding to its fast paced appeal. The story ends rather abruptly, perhaps reflecting the falling out Parks had with Charlie Richardson over the telling of his story, and is marred in parts by some poor editing. Nonetheless, with its twists and turns, this tinderbox tale is a worthy addition to the gangster pantheon. It reveals much about the corruption, brutality and ruthless power of the political landscapes and institutions of both Great Britain and South Africa during the 1960s, and how one cocky gangster from Sarf London briefly became the centre of this secret world. Riveting read.