Monty Python parodied them as the Piranha Brothers, Doug and Dinsdale, who were ‘smashing blokes’ despite their psychotic violence. As journalist Duncan Campbell put it: ‘The twins were always better at fame than crime.’įrom left to right: Reggie, Charlie and Ronnie Kray outside their home in Bethnal Green, east London That, after all, was why they courted celebrities. Their high profile protected them for a while, but it also made them fixtures on Scotland Yard’s radar, and when the right time came, they were nicked and put away for life - hardly the career move of master-criminals.īut they passed into the land of legend, as they had always wanted to. World boxing champions Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Sonny Liston threw pretend ‘matey’ punches. Judy Garland stood on a pub table and sang for them. They loved the limelight too much, parading their friendships with the famous. Some argue that the Krays were pretty rotten gangsters anyway, making the cardinal error of drawing attention to themselves rather than amassing their millions in the shadows. With their flash and swagger, there is a danger that they become pantomime villains rather than the deranged sadists they actually were. The Mail’s film critic Brian Viner says of Legend that it ‘commits the error of genuflecting to its subjects just as their many acolytes did’ in real life. The danger is that the violence becomes sanitised and the hard lessons we should learn from their criminal ways are lost - as they were on that thug who felt empowered by their example to cook a dog alive. Yet, just like those who crossed their path in the East End all those years ago, we dabble in the lives of the Krays at our peril. So it seems the macabre fascination is as great as ever. Yet another film, The Rise Of The Krays - whose executive producer is the pornographer and joint chairman of West Ham David Sullivan - came out last month and will be followed by a sequel later this year. The Krays: The Prison Years will appear soon on the Discovery Channel, while The Krays: Kill Order, is released on DVD next week. On the small screen, several more documentaries about them are in the pipeline.
Over the years, dozens of films and books have been made on Ronnie and Reggie Kray (pictured circa 1965)Īnyone with the smallest connection has a story to tell - even their mum’s hairdresser, who happily chatted to The Guardian this week about how Vi Kray, sitting under the dryer, would be pestered by people wanting her sons to ‘have a word’ with someone on their behalf.