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- Rivals In Murder
On 9 March 1966. George Cornell perched on a stool in
the Blind Beggar's saloon bar on the Whitechapel Road.
At 8.30 p.m on a midweek evening, the place was almost
empty. Two other men were drinking at one of the tables,
and an old man sat alone in the public bar. Twenty-four
hours earlier.
Cornell had been a leading member of a south London gang
run by two brothers. Charlie and Eddie Richardson, The
previous night, they had raided a pub in Catford south-east
London, The raid had turned into a full-scale shoot-out,
A man called Richard Hart had been shot and killed, Others,
including Eddie Richardson, were wounded. With abundant
evidence to work on the police swooped,
Gangland feud
By the following day. only Cornell had escaped the dragnet.
But for reasons known only to himself, instead of going
to ground he decided he needed a drink, Strangely, instead
of choosing a pub in south London, where the Richardsons
had ruled supreme, he headed north of the Thames to Bethnal
Green - the heartland of the Richardsons greatest rivals.
Reggie and Ronnie Kray. For several months the two gangs
had been engaged in a bitter struggle and although the
raid on the Catford pub had not directly concerned the
Krays. Richard Hart had been a member of their gang. Revenge
was called for and this alone singled out Cornell as a
marked man.
But Ronnie Kray had even more reason to want him dealt
with. Shortly before Christmas 1965 the Krays had met
the Richardsons at the Astor Club off Mayfair's Berkeley
Square, ostensibly to discuss how their gangs could co-exist
without confrontation. The talks broke down almost immediately,
but not before Cornell had called Ronnie 'a big. fat poof'.
Wrong place, wrong time
When Cornell took his seat in the Blind Beggar. Reggie
and Ronnie were drinking in another pub with various members
of their gang (better known as the 'Firm'). Soon a startling
piece of news arrived along the East End grapevine George
Cornell was drinking on their territory. Ronnie announced
he was going to drink elsewhere.
He called for his driver Jack Dickson and his minder Scotsman
John 'Ian' Barrie and asked to be driven home to Vallance
Road. Bethnal Green. There he collected his 9-mm Mauser
automatic and told Dickson their next destination was
to be the Blind Beggar. When Ronnie Kray and Barrie walked
through the saloon bar door the barmaid was in the act
of putting on a record, ironically titled The Sun Ain't
Gonna Shine Any More by the Walker Brothers.
Well look who's here, said Cornell. No more words were
spoken. Barrie fired two shots into the ceiling and the
barmaid ran down into the cellar. Ronnie then shot Cornell
in the forehead and watched him slump down on to the bar.
The pair turned and walked from the pub. They got into
their car and drove off for Ronnie this was the moment
of triumph.
He had finally committed the ultimate crime without fear
and in the open. The news spread fast, and soon everyone
in the East End including the police had heard about the
murder. Ronnie revelled in the sensation. "I had
killed a man." he later wrote, "and everyone
knew I had killed him . Now there was no doubt I was the
most feared man in London.
They called me the Colonel because of the way I organized
things and the way I enjoyed battles. It was a name that
I loved. It suited me perfectly. But despite the fact
that everyone knew who had murdered George Cornell, no
one would speak to the police. All four witnesses in the
Blind Beggar were visited by members of the Firm and warned
of the consequences of opening their mouths.
And with no evidence beyond the corpse itself, the police
were powerless. In killing Cornell Ronnie did more than
demonstrate an ability to stretch violence to its limits
he also got one up on his twin brother. For the next 18
months, he kept on reminding Reggie that until he too
had killed they could not be regarded as equals.
Failed assassin
By the autumn of 1967 the Firm was having increasing problems
with one of its hangers-on, a small-time crook called
Jack McVitie. known as "the Hat because of the headwear
he wore to hide his baldness. An immensely strong man.
and once a fearless brawler. McVitie had gradually been
consumed by drink and drugs. Occasionally the twins offered
McVitie a spell of employment. In the summer of 1967 he
cheated them of some money.
To prove his loyalty, he was told to shoot Leslie Payne
a former business associate ol the Krays. He was given
a gun and an advance of £100 with another £400
to follow on completion of the job. McVitie never did
kill Payne but he kept the Krays money. When Reggie tried
to smooth matters over, by lending McVitie another £50.
Ronnie taunted his brother that he was turning soft.
Matters grew worse when McVitie got drunk and armed with
a sawn-off shotgun went to the Regency Club in Hackney
claiming he was going to shoot them. His threats soon
reached the ears of the Krays. On Saturday 28 October
1967 the twins arranged a party for their mother and friends
in a Bethnal Green pub.
During the course of the evening Reggie received word
that McVitie was due to turn up at the Regency later on
that night. After drinking himself to the point of numbness.
Reggie took leave of his guests and arrived at the Regency
just before 11 p.m. McVitie was nowhere to be seen. Frustrated
Reggie left his .32 revolver with Tony Barry one of the
two brothers who managed the club, and left to join his
brother at a party in nearby Cazenove Road.
Fatal party
When Reggie arrived Ronnie was disappointed his brother
had failed him once again. Resolving on action Ronnie
dispatched his cousin Ronnie Hart to the Regency to retrieve
the gun insisting it had to be delivered by Tony Barry
himself. Then he sent out Anthony and Christopher Lambrianou,
two half-Greek brothers, to track down Jack McVitie.
Hart returned first Barn handed over the gun and disappeared
into the night. Shortly before midnight the Lambrianous
came back. With them was Jack the Hat. Completely drunk,
he walked into the room shouting. 'Where's the birds and
the booze?' Reggie was waiting for him behind the door.
He put his gun against McVitie's head and pulled the trigger.
The killing should have been as simple as Ronnie's but
the gun failed to fire. Reggie grabbed McVitie but he
managed to struggle his way free and tried to throw himself
through the window. He was hauled back in by his legs.
'Be a man. Jack' said Ronnie. 'I'll be a man.' said McVitie
by now in tears, 'but I don't want to fucking die like
one.
With McVitie's arms held behind his back by Ronnie, Reggie
took a carving knife and plunged it into his face just
below his eye. He then stabbed him repeatedly through
the chest and stomach until he was dead. The house was
cleaned up. and the corpse disposed of. At last Ronnie
could be proud of his brother.
With no witnesses other than members of the Firm, it was
a while before the police got wind of McVitie's disappearance.
His wife reported him missing, but with no body, there
seemed little reason to suspect foul play.
Even when rumours of McVitie's killing reached the police
there was little they could do. For the second time the
twins had killed in cold blood, but sheltered by the barrier
of the East End wall of silence, for the time being they
managed to remain impregnable. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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