Post by Lord Emsworth on Apr 2, 2022 10:52:50 GMT
No Handcuffs: The Final Word on My War with The Krays - The Last King of Gangland
by Eddie Richardson
Just finished this, here's a few musings....
I'm interested in 1960s London gangland and have read a few books on the Krays however didn't know much about the Richardson brothers (Charlie and Eddie) whose names frequently crop up in the history of the era.
No Handcuffs: The Final Word on My War with The Krays - The Last King of Gangland was published in 2019 with many of the associated criminals now dead. This gives Eddie Richardson the freedom to be more honest about what happened.
If you are interested in this stuff then this book is well worth a read. Eddie refutes a lot of the mythology and claims that he made far more from his legitimate businesses than from any of his criminal enterprises.
He is very negative about his brother Charlie who betrayed him on numerous occaions and was indirectly responsible for his first stretch in prison. This sentence was as a result of the infamous Torture Gang trial. Eddie states he had no involvement and that the establishment was out to get him. It has the ring of authenticity as he appears so honest about so many of his less attractive characteristics. But who knows?
He is unapologetic about his violent past, various scams, and how he participated in paying off police. I came away liking the mature Eddie Richardson and really enjoyed his story. A typical working class London upbringing during the 1930s, into South London scrapyards, bars, night clubs, fruit machines etc as he moved into London's West End and Soho.
Despite the subtitle, the references to the Krays are relatively few but Eddie has no time for them, believing them to be stupid and ill equipped to deal with running businesses. He's also convinced in a one to one "straightener" he'd have had no problems in coming out on top. He actually encounters Reggie Kray a few times in prison and they get on well. He describes Reggie as lost and unable to deal with prison life. By contrast Eddie spends his first time fighting the system, and his second stretch taking every opportunity for education, finally reinventing himself as a fairly successful artist.
If you are intersted in the era then this memoir is full of great anecdotes, is well written and well structured. It's much better than I was expecting.
8/10
