??/??/?? - Obituary for Reggie Kray
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Reggie Kray, 1934 - 2000

Reggie Kray, the last of the notorious Kray Brothers who ruled the London crime world through the 1950s and 60s, died October 1st, 2000 at the age of 66. Kray had been a free man after over 30 years in prison on a life sentence for murder, following a Compassionate Parole granted by England's Home Secretary, MP Jack Straw on August 26th, 2000.

Kray, whose life of crime with his twin Ronnie was glamorized in books and films, had been afflicted with cancer. Born with his twin brother Ronnie to Charles and Violet Kray in the poor working class East End of London, Reggie Kray rose from poverty to become a Cockney crime lord with a carefully engineered public image as a "Gentleman Thief" which belied their inherent violence.

"The Twins" as Reggie and Ronnie Kray were most often known, were trained in their childhood as boxers by their older brother, Charlie, who was nearly 10 years their senior and a moderately successful pugilist. Friends and even family clergy recalled that rather than be an outlet for the boys, boxing seemed to deepen their unusual aggression and brutal streaks.

As young teens, Reggie and Ronnie were fined for using their new skills to knock out a milkman's horse, and their first arrest was for nearly beating to death a London policeman. By 1954, the 21-year-old Krays were AWOL from their mandatory National Service Assignments and rising to power in the world of London crime.

Managing a long string of extortion and "protection" rackets, Reggie and Ronnie Kray brought their older brother Charlie into their organization, known as "The Firm". The Twins conducted and deported themselves like upper-class business men, sporting expensive mohair suits and operating chic nightclubs.

The best known of the Krays clubs and Reggie's personal haven was the Double R, whose clientele included Hollywood elite like Judy Garland and Diana Dors and boxing legends Joe Louis and Sonny Liston. The Krays were often photographed with their celebrity guests, and Reggie was particularly pleased to have posed for society photographer David Bailey.

Reggie Kray enjoyed the privilege of political alliances, dining often at the House of Lords, a favor in return for his brother's illicit services to a Labor Party MP. Ronnie, openly bisexual, allegedly arranged liaisons for the MP with willing young gentlemen in return for social privilege and political favors.

The Krays friendly relations with celebrities and politicos only added to their crafted image of cosmopolitan, class-ascending crooks, and the Krays maintained a heroic image in their home quarter by spreading the propaganda that they only "killed their own kind", or other criminals.

Reggie Kray was known for handing huge sums of his ill-gotten cash to Cockney families in dire straits, supporting children's homes and churches, building a strong following that ignored his brutality and supported him as a folk hero until his demise. Despite their popularity amongst the commoners of London, Reggie and Ronnie Kray finally ventured too far with a pair of brash and highly public murders in 1968.

Ronnie Kray, who was after his incarceration diagnosed as a psychotic and sociopath, shot rival criminal George Cornell at point blank range in the busy Blind Beggar Pub over an alleged derogatory remark Cornell made about Ronnie's homosexuality. At nearly the same time, Reggie Kray murdered former compatriot Jack "The Hat" McVitie, stabbing McVitie so violently his organs were dislodged and he was left impaled to the floor of an East End apartment.

Both of The Twins were tried for their desperate murders and duplicity in a third killing and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years. Charlie Kray was tried and sentenced 10 years as an accomplice to the McVitie murder, serving only 7 years of his sentence.

When Charlie Kray was released in 1976, he began marketing Kray paraphernalia ranging from T-Shirts to lighters and books to continue The Twins urban legend, as well as revenues. Supporters of The Krays to this day maintain fan clubs and web sites devoted to the twin criminals some Londoners are convinced kept their city safe.

"The Firm" continued to operate, purportedly, and it is believed that from prison Reggie Kray continued to run London crime from his jail cell, which was furnished with carpeting, aquariums and false beam ceiling. Ronnie Kray, committed to the Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane died in 1995 after a long illness. Charlie Kray, arrested on drug charges died while serving a 12-year sentence imposed in 1997.

After a final visit from his brother Reggie, who, suffering with intestinal and bladder cancer, was brought to his side by armed guards, Charlie Kray died at the age of 73 in April of 2000. It was the first time Reggie Kray had been outside prison walls other than institution transfers since 1969. Following his grant of a compassionate parole in August 2000, Reggie Kray was admitted to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, where he remained until September 23rd, 2000.

Kray, extremely ill and weak was determined to go out of the world in his heretofore famous style, and was spirited from his hospital to a 3-Crown (3-Star) hotel in Norwich with his second wife, Roberta, using a cream-colored Rolls Royce as a decoy for the press. Reggie Kray remained in the honeymoon suite of the Beefeater Townhouse Hotel with his wife and a few close associates until he died in his sleep October 1st, 2000.

His wife Roberta Kray survives him. Though his attorney reported that he died penniless, Reggie Kray was known to have sold the rights to his life story for nearly a half million dollars for the 1990 film. "The Krays" starring Martin and Gary Kemp.

Kray had additionally published an autobiography, "Our Story", and a second memoir, "A Way Of Life" was due for release at the time of his death, and had collaborated on a biography, "The Profession of Violence" as well as publishing poetry and his personal life philosophies while in prison.