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- The Hunt - Cracking the case
All previous attempts to corner the Krays had been confounded
by a wall of silence from potential witnesses. In 1967
Inspector 'Nipper' Read was brought in to break the deadlock.
In the aftermath of the Hew McCowan case, the twins found
themselves in a strong position. If the police harassed
them, or worse still failed in another attempt to bring
them to justice, they could claim they were being victimized.
As long as they remained discreet, it looked as if their
long-term future was secure, especially as virtually no
news of McVitie's murder had leaked out.
The police had heard little more than that some immigrant
crooks had been involved. In 1967, however, Scotland Yard
decided it was time the twins were permanently put out
of circulation. The head of the operation was the twins'
old adversary, Leonard 'Nipper' Read.
To prevent leaks, his team of 14 detectives moved into
Tintagel House, a block of government offices on the south
bank of the Thames, which was isolated from all but the
most essential contact with Scotland Yard. Here Read began
the long and painstaking task of sifting through all the
known information about the twins. Progress was slow.
Reggie and Ronnie soon discovered detectives had attempted
to interview many of their victims and associates, and
warned them to keep silent. It looked as if once again
the wall of silence would see the twins through. What
Read needed was a break.
It came from the unlikely source of Leslie Payne, the
man who had masterminded the acquisition of Esmeralda's
Barn and organized many of the 'long firm' frauds, and
was triggered by the twins use of gratuitous violence.
In a belated attempt to test McVitie's loyalty before
Reggie stabbed him, Ronnie had dispatched him to murder
Payne.
Although McVitie bungled the attempt, Payne came to the
conclusion that it was either his life or theirs. He decided
to talk to the police, and in December 1967, he spent
three weeks in a Marylebone hotel giving Nipper Read a
statement that eventually ran to some 200 pages.
It contained everything he knew about the twins' activities,
from Esmeralda's Barn to their Mafia connections. The
task now was to verify Payne's claims. Read's solutions
involved attaching a safety clause to all the statements
his team gathered, whereby they would never be used unless
the twins had first been arrested.
Continuing confidence
Despite the secrecy of Read's operation, the twins network
of sources soon let them know he was on their trail. They
were not unduly disturbed as Reggie later said. "We
didn't think we would go down. We underestimated the cunning
of the police. They contented themselves with buying two
pythons and naming them Nipper and Gerrard (after the
detective involved in the McCowan case).
Ironically, the snakes proved too hard to handle. One
escaped, and the other was returned to its seller. At
this point. Alan Cooper, a financier, began to play a
more important role in the Krays lives. Cooper had helped
the twins dispose of some stolen Canadian bonds. Although
Reggie favoured caution until the police hunt had died
down. Ronnie was growing ever more obsessed with establishing
himself as the Godfather figure of the London underworld.
This called for more contact with the Mafia and in Cooper
he thought he had found the contact who could help him.
Despite the fact that Ronnie had a criminal record. Cooper
said he could arrange an American visa for him through
Paris, and once in the United States, various meetings
could be arranged with the Mafia. Ronnie leapt at the
opportunity.
Cooper was as good as his word and in April 1968 the two
of them flew into New York for a few days discussions
with a Mafia representative called Frank lleano. To Ronnie.
it looked like another step up the ladder. After returning
to Britain, he warmed to Cooper's suggestion that the
Mafia would appreciate the killing of George Caruana a
Maltese club owner, as a display of the Krays strength.
The two of them decided to put a bomb in his car. Cooper
said he knew a man who could supply the explosive. He
dispatched an assistant to fly to Glasgow to collect four
sticks of dynamite from a contact in the centre of the
city. As he boarded his return flight, the man was arrested.
Under questioning he named Cooper as his boss.
Nipper Read hauled Cooper in only to discover both to
his surprise and irritation that Cooper had been operating
as an agent of the United States Treasury Department and
with the knowledge of Read's superiors at Scotland Yard.
According to Cooper his task was to implicate the twins
in attempted murder.
With the dynamite courier arrested, this now became impossible,
so Read decided to use Cooper as bait to get the twins
to incriminate themselves. He installed Cooper in a private
hospital with a microphone beside his bed. He then got
him to invite the twins round. A certain strangeness in
Coopers manner on the telephone alerted Ronnie and Reggie,
and instead of going themselves they sent one of Reggie's
friends.
He refused to commit himself in front of Cooper and once
again the twins had escaped Nipper Read. It seemed that
the police had walked into another cul-de-sac. The twins
tightened their organization and opted for a low-profile
approach to running their empire. With the Richardsons
in jail and the deaths of Cornell and McVitie fading into
the past, it looked as if they would weather the storm.
Nonetheless, the strain of endless vigilance had begun
to tell. Although the money continued to flow in from
the clubs and casinos, with no major deals on the go life
had lost some of its excitement. One evening in early
May 1968. Ronnie decided that what the Firm needed was
a good knees-up.
Last night out
He told everyone to collect their women and head for Mayfair's
Astor Club. Outside the club, there was the usual gaggle
of photographers snapping pictures of everyone who entered.
Maybe there were more than usual, and Reggie, visibly
irritated, shouted at them to stop.
No one noticed that they were never offered the rapidly
developed prints as souvenirs later in the evening. Through
the early hours of the morning, the twins carried on drinking,
their troubles forgotten. Ronnie was enjoying the company
of a young man he had brought along for the evening, and
Reggie had a young lady.
At 5 a.m.. they left the Astor and returned to their flat
at Braithwaite House, on City Road. Finsbury. They had
barely had time to fall asleep when the front door was
crashed off its hinges with a sledgehammer. Ronnie and
Reggie awoke to find themselves surrounded by armed policemen.
At their head was Nipper Read, clipping handcuffs around
their wrists and reading aloud the standard arrest statement.
Banged up
Simultaneously across the East End other groups of armed
police swooped on 24 addresses. Only two of the men on
Read's wanted list escaped the raids. With the twins picked
up the safely clause on the statements already collected
could be activated.
And although the evidence was not as strong as he would
have liked there was nothing pinning either of the murders
on Reggie and Ronnie if Read could demonstrate that now
he held the upper hand, then maybe others would talk.
Read was playing a risky game failure now would probably
put the twins beyond the reach of the law forever. But
if the wall of silence could be made to crack, then it
might pay off. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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