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Product Description
Product Description
Reggie and Ronald Kray ruled London's gangland during the 1960s with a ruthlessness and viciousness that shocks even now. This book has been expanded to include further material on such matters as Lord Boothby's close relationship with the killer twins.
From the Back Cover
Reggie and Ronald Kray ruled London's gangland during the 1960s with a ruthlessness and viciousness that shocks even now. Building an empire of organised crime such as nobody has done before or since, the brothers swindled, intimidated, terrorised, extorted and brutally murdered. John Pearson explores the strange relationship that bound the twins together, and charts their gruesome career to their downfall and imprisonment for life in 1969.
Now expanded to include further extraordinary revelations, including the unusual alliance between the Kray twins and Lord Boothby – the Tory peer who won £40,000 in a libel settlement when he denied allegation of his association with the Krays -'Profession of Violence 'is a truly classic work.
'The most famous biography of criminal life to have been published in Britain… it has become something of a cult amongst the young'
TIME OUT
'All credit to Mr. Pearson for a brave and disturbing book'
DAILY EXPRESS
'Mr. Pearson has produced a scrupulous dossier of the Krays weird career'
DAILY TELEGRAPH
'The biography is brave and useful; well-written, it's an exciting read'
THE TIMES
'The book is extremely well written and fittingly dead-pan'
NEW STATESMAN
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Very good account of the Kray twins rise to power, and thier fall. Very insightful. It does fall down a bit at the end by belaboring the obvious and trying to explain them in broad sociological terms. And earlier on in the book, one gets the feeling the author has identified a little too strongly with the Krays and glories a little in their successes.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Deadbeat account of the rise and fall of the Krays, most famous of the post-war London gangsters. A must for anyone curious as to the underside of 1960's London, the East End, and the source for the white hot poker incident, killing of Jack the Hat and other incidents recounted in the Long Firm.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fantastic - I was given this as a present and its one of my favourite books ever. It toes the line between admiration and revulsion for the twins and their lifestyle. Well-researched and brilliantly written by a journalist initially approached by the Krays (just prior to their arrest) to write their life story. Little did he know what he had stumbled on! It records the lives of the twins in extraordinary detail, minus all those sensational headlines. It tries to explain how they became what they were, and gives a real sense of the bizarre double standards of the old East End. I was hooked.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I cannot understand the hype about this book...!
Well, all I can say about John Pearson is, he thinks he knows everything and he knows nothing! To say he knew the twins personally, yet only for about 6 months, he acts as if he... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ricarda
The rise and fall of the Kray twins
Got this book for my husband to read on holiday. He is not normally a quick reader but he completed the book in a couple of days.
Published 9 months ago by Lynch1
fantastic book by a legendary author
this is a must read for any fan of true crime or the kray twins.
the book is wrote fantastic by the legendary author john pearson, it is a highly enjoyable book which once i... Read more
the book is wrote fantastic by the legendary author john pearson, it is a highly enjoyable book which once i... Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by M. Nesbitt
The Best Kray Book So Far
I have read all the books about Reg & Ron and without doubt this is the best of the bunch.
The author gets inside the minds of the twins and shows that both were into the... Read more
The author gets inside the minds of the twins and shows that both were into the... Read more
Published on 8 April 2008 by Mr Presley
You won't believe it can be true
The story of how two working class boys from the East End rose to become two of the most powerful men in Britain is quite astonishing. Read more
Published on 13 Jun 2007 by Tony Jackson
So good I've read it about four times now
This book was written in the 60's when the Krays were still at large so there are obvious inaccuracies as Mr Kirby points out. Read more
Published on 15 April 2007 by Syd Publick
Rather short on accuracy
Mr. Pearson has a very attractive style of writing (his biography of Ian Fleming is very readable) but dear me, he's not too strong on accuracy. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2006 by Mr. R. D. M. Kirby
the shocking truth
if your interested in the the krays than this book is a must, the book tells the shocking truth about gangland london in the 60`s and how the kray twins ruled london by fear and... Read more
Published on 25 May 2000 by willett1rj@aol.com
True to life, no holds barred,gritty & realistic
Given that the Kray twins have spent the best years of their lives in prison, this will tell you as precisly as possible what the Kray Twins were about. Read more
Published on 12 April 2000
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