Wannabe in My Gang? by Bernard O'Mahoney Read Free Book Online

any parents have to go cap in hand to save their child’s life?
    Hundreds of Kray supporters had recently marched on the streets of London in protest at the length of time the twins had been imprisoned. They demanded their release in letters to their MPs and the Prime Minister. Everybody knew the Kray brothers were two convicted murderers who refused to show any remorse. That fact didn’t seem to concern their adoring ‘fans’ who would send in money for the ‘Free the Krays’ campaign.
    I had been trying to get people to donate £5 to James Fallon, a boy who through no fault of his own had been imprisoned in a broken body. Few had responded until the Krays put their name to the cause. I didn’t blame the brothers and I appreciated their help, but it did make me wonder about people’s priorities. James had put up a tremendous fight and I felt deeply sorry for him and his family.
    I couldn’t believe after all the suffering he had endured that his life had been so cruelly snatched away. I went back into the pub and told Brazier and Campbell the sad news about James. Their reaction sickened me; there was no talk of remorse or respect, all they wanted to know was what we were going to do with the proceeds from the boxing show now. I told them in no uncertain terms that James’s family had incurred huge debts in their fight for James as there was no National Health Service in South Africa. All money from the event, regardless of whether James was alive or not, would still go to the family who needed it.
    On the night of the event, a telephone was connected to the public-address system. There were 200 diners there who had each paid £40 a ticket. They all fell silent as Reggie Kray, having been granted special permission to telephone the hotel from Lewes Prison, paid a moving tribute to James. It was a sight to see so many criminal heavyweights standing sombrely and paying tribute to a ten-year-old boy. Charlie Kray attended, as did Ronnie Kray’s new wife, Kate. Ex-Kray gang member Tony Lambrianou and his younger brother Nicky arrived with TV stars Glen Murphy and Ray Winstone. There wasn’t an empty seat in the entire hall.
    Several of the people in attendance did not want to publicise their presence as they had risked entering the country from exile in Spain. They were there simply because Reg had asked them to attend. It was at this event that I met Geoff Allen, the man described in many books and newspaper articles as the ‘Godfather’ of the Krays. Geoff was 70, but he had the mind and attitude of a man half his age. He came across as a country gent but in reality he was a well-connected villain.
    Geoff was jailed at Norwich Crown Court for 7 years in 1976 for masterminding a £300,000 insurance swindle after a historic building, Briggate Mill, was burned down. It was also believed in police circles that Geoff was the brains behind the Great Train Robbery. It was Geoff’s house in Suffolk where Ronnie and Reggie had gone to lay low after murdering Jack ‘the Hat’ McVitie. I liked Geoff a lot. With him, you got what you saw. There was no gangster chit chat about how well respected he was or the usual shit the vast majority of Kray hangers-on came out with. Geoff warned me that many of the people present were not what they made themselves out to be and I should be cautious about getting involved with them. ‘Steer clear of the Frayne brothers,’ he warned, ‘and that Tony Lambrianou.’
    I had never heard of the Frayne brothers but I had heard of Tony Lambrianou. Tony had lured Jack McVitie to a house in East London where the Kray twins had lain in wait. Once McVitie entered the house, Ron had glassed him and Reg had stabbed him to death. Lambrianou had not given evidence in his defence at the trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment. I was surprised Geoff was telling me to give him a wide berth. Perhaps Lambrianou was an East End psycho and Geoff was telling me to avoid him for my own safety, I