22/03/04 - A rare insight or just opportunism?
Essex Evening Echo
JO MOORHOUSE reads Bernard O'Mahoney's new book Wannabe in my Gang?
BERNARD O'Mahoney has an interesting perspective on the Essex crime scene. Specifically, from the middle of it. In the Eighties and Nineties, he was part of the Essex Firm, a criminal organisation which dealt in drugs, violence and intimidation.
He was chief bouncer at Raquels when a friend of Leah Betts bought the Ecstasy tablet that killed the teenager at her 18th birthday party. When the firm was abruptly disbanded in 1995 with the shootings of Tony Tucker, Craig Rolfe and Pat Tate - which became known as the Rettendon murders - Bernard O'Mahoney branched out.
His account of the Rettendon murders, Essex Boys, formed the basis of a film of the same name. Other books have included So This is Ecstasy?, a look at the gangland culture and Soldier of the Queen, on his military service in Northern Ireland. He's posed as a woman to write to convicted killers, including nail bomber David Copeland, and revealed information and even confessions to the press.
Mr O'Mahoney's latest book, however, comes back to more familiar territory. Wannabe in my Gang?, out next Monday, looks at and rubbishes - the gangland myths around a host of well-known criminal faces.
"They use their books to boast and brag to impressionable young kids about the heinous crimes they have committed, the lavish lifestyle they have enjoyed on the back of a life of crime and the 'useful' time they have spent in prison," said Mr O'Mahoney in the book.
Of course, cynics might suggest that Mr O'Mahoney himself kickstarted his writing career by using his connections with the Rettendon victims.
The Krays
BERNARD O'Mahoney says he first came into contact with Reggie and Ronnie Kray after enlisting their support for a charity appeal and later travelled to Broadmoor and prison respectively to meet them both. "To be honest, I felt sorry for Ron," he said.
"His life revolved around his famous name, which after two decades in custody was all he had left." Reggie Kray, Mr O'Mahoney alleges, had a sexual relationship with an underage offender he calls Ryan and asked Mr O'Mahoney to persuade the boy to remain silent.
He refused. "Reg started to rant about his name being rubbished in the papers, friendship, loyalty and being let down, but i wouldn't change my mind. He made me feel sick."
Mr O'Mahoney attended Ronnie's funeral in 1995 and was invited to view the corpse. "I couldn't feel sorry for Ronnie, a man who had inflicted fear, pain and even death on others," he said.
Rettendon murderers
JACK Whomes and Mick Steele were jailed for life for the Rettendon murders, but Mr O'Mahoney claims they are innocent and is campaigning for their release. "Anybody who knows anything about the case knows that these two men should never have been found guilty and I am confident that one day their convictions will be overturned," he said.
Tucker, Tate and Rolfe
BERNARD O'Mahoney came to work at Raquels in 1989 and describes horrific fights and injuries inflicted by staff and patrons. He also worked at Epping Forest Country Club, where he met Tony Tucker - at the time running a security firm for clubs.
"He had a very dry sense of humour and could be quite aggressive towards those who tried to mix in his circle of friends without having been invited," said Mr O'Mahoney. In September 1993. Bernard O'Mahoney and Tony Tucker went into partnership to run security at Raquels.
"I told him I would run the door and he could reap whatever benefits there were from providing invoices and any other 'commodities' such as drugs, protection and so on," he said. Mr O'Mahoney met Craig Rolfe and Pat Tate, the other two Rettendon victims.
He said a young father from Basildon, Kevin Whitaker, had been used as a drug courier until a deal went wrong - when he was held responsible for repaying £60.000 to Tucker. Whitaker was.
Ex-criminal rubbished
JOHN "Gaffer" Rollinson - a self- confessed criminal with convictions for violence - is given short shrift by Mr O'Mahoney. After the Rettendon trial, Mr O'Mahoney claims to have been attacked and had ammonia squirted in his eyes by Rollinson, who he describes as a "gutless coward", in a club on the Festival Leisure Park.
Mr O'Mahoney pulled out a 12- inch knife and threatened Rollinson, but claimed to the police it was Rollinson's knife, which he had grabbed away. Carlton Leach's autobiography Muscle, in which he claims Mr O'Mahoney kept taking his picture, is rubbished.
Gangsters who seek publicity, Mr O'Mahoney concludes, are "sad, lonely individuals who want people to admire them, like them and think they are somebodies".
The death of Leah Betts
LEAH Betts, said Mr O'Mahoney, had been barred from the Raquels club in Basildon not long before her death after fighting with a barmaid - at which point it emerged she was only 17. "If she had been allowed in the club, would the tragedy ever have happened?" he asked.
The ecstasy pills bought for Leah's 18th birthday party, Mr O'Mahoney claims, were part of a batch Tucker knew were too strong, but ordered a dealer to sell in the club. One of the pills was to kill Leah. After her death - and in a bid to stop himself being identified - Mr O'Mahoney set up Steve Packman, who helped supply Leah the pills.
He arranged a meeting, tipped off a newspaper and taped the conversation. As a result the dealer was identified in the press, Tucker and Tate were enraged and Mr O'Mahoney was out of Raquels for good. Packman was acquitted and accomplice Stephen Smith, who pleaded guilty, was given a two-year conditional discharge.
"I was pleased for Packman and Smith," said Mr O'Mahoney, claiming that the dealer - who had fled abroad - was the man responsible for Leah's death. |
