Latest news with #gangsters
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Corrupt police sanctioned over Channel migrant smuggling
Corrupt police will be among two dozen people smugglers named this week as subject to the first financial sanctions to combat Channel migrant crossings. The suspected criminals behind people smuggling into the UK and Europe will be sanctioned on Wednesday, enabling UK investigators to freeze any assets they have in Britain and those of any individual who supplies them with equipment or helps them financially. Like Russian oligarchs, they will also be banned from travelling to the UK under the new powers, which will be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday, 24 hours before the two dozen 'linchpins' in the illegal trafficking trade are named. At least two corrupt police officers are among those to be 'named and shamed' alongside the gangsters heading the people-smuggling networks, suppliers of dinghies, equipment and fake passports and middlemen who facilitate payments through the Hawala network. The Hawala system enables transfers of funds agreed between operators, or hawaladars, in different countries so no cash crosses borders.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Shocking tapes reveal unbreakable bond between Kray twins & how vain overreaction led to brutal machete attack
DURING their brutal 10-year reign as London's kingpin gangsters, Ronnie and Reggie Kray were known as hard men who let their fists do the talking before moving onto knives, guns and murder. But the notorious pair shared an incredibly tender bond which few would have understood - until now. 18 18 The loving relationship has been revealed in remarkable, never-before-heard prison tapes that Reggie made to his twin brother from one prison to another, along with his own personal memories of their life together. The two-part Amazon documentary, Krays: London 's Gangsters, also features interviews with their criminal associates, family friends and psychologists in an attempt to get under their skin and discover the men inside the monsters. In 1995, both brothers were serving a life sentence for the murder of fellow gangster, Jack 'The Hat' McVitie. Reggie was in Maidstone Prison while Ronnie, who for years had struggled with mental health issues, was in Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital. Always protective of his more volatile brother, Reggie recorded a message on tape for him to listen to, hoping that the sound of his voice would reassure him in his darkest moments. 'Hello, Ron,' it began. 'Reg speaking. Now, I'm very concerned for you of late but I wish to help you. You are making yourself suffer by thinking bad thoughts. You must only think of good thoughts. 'Life gets shorter and shorter as each day goes by. Try to realise what I'm telling you because here's the truth and any time you get down just play this tape again.' In another message to Ronnie, Reggie attempted to calm his increasing paranoia with the words: 'You are inflicted with an illness. You should realise that no one is talking about you. That you are paranoid. As soon as you realise you are paranoid, you should give other people the benefit of the doubt because they are not talking about you.' The close bond they shared throughout their life was stretched when they were imprisoned away from each other but Reggie attempted to ease Ronnie's anxiety with a philosophical approach: 'Life is very complex, as you know, but according to the universal laws, each one of us has a role in life. This is the path that we've all been pushed on, you know? All our paths take different ways.' Just weeks after Reggie recorded the tape to his brother, Ronnie passed away at the age of 61. Their reliance on each other was evident as babies as family friend, Maureen Flanagan, reveals. Maureen was a hairdresser for the twin's beloved mother, Violet, who she used to visit at her home in Vallance Road in Bethnal Green, East London. 'The first brother that I met was the eldest one, Charlie,' she says. 'He remarked about what gorgeous hair I had. It was all hanging down, long and blonde and looking quite glamorous, I suppose. And I said 'I'm a hairdresser' and he said, 'You wouldn't go to our home and do my mother's hair?' 'I pulled up in my white Mini and knocked at the door and this little lady came out and said, 'Hello darling. You must be Maureen. Would you like a tea, coffee? I've made a beautiful cake.' Tight upbringing 'As I was having tea and cake I noticed some photographs along the mantelpiece and I got up to have a look and one was of two boys in their boxing shorts and boxing gloves and they were absolutely identical. 'Then she started telling me about the time when they were three and they both caught diphtheria. People always talk to hairdressers! 'They were put into the London Hospital where Reggie got better and Violet was told she could take him home but Ronnie continued to get worse and she was told that he might not survive. 18 18 18 "So, she marched down to the hospital and said, 'I'm taking him home.' They said, 'You can't move him. This is a really dangerous situation. He might not make it through the night.' She said, 'I'm taking him home.' 'She wrapped him in a blanket, walked home and put him next to Reggie in bed and wrapped the two babies in the same blanket so they were as close as they could be. And in two days he was better. All he needed was his twin. "I think that was probably the start of their togetherness. They couldn't get away from each other and didn't want to. 'They were called 'The two ones.' Their aunties used to say, 'Where's the two ones, Violet?' It was like two people in one.' Professor Ruth Penfold-Mounce, a criminologist at the University of York, says that the boys would have attracted an instant celebrity status when they were born in the 1930s. The problem with twin that they are not encouraged to develop separately as individuals Vivienne Lewin 'At the time when they were born, it was really unusual to have identical twins who survived infancy,' she says. 'When Violet was walking down the street with her twin sons, people would have noticed. People would have stopped and stared. There was like a minor celebrity status that surrounded these boys.' Vivienne Lewin, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist explains how they would have been conditioned to have been influenced by each other. 'There are some misconceptions about twins,' she says. 'The most damaging one, I think, is that they are two halves of one. But the fact is, no two twins are two halves of one. Each is an absolute separate individual with an individual personality. 'The problem with twin development, where the twins themselves and twin-ship is idealised, is that they are not encouraged to develop separately as individuals. Sometimes, to the extent that they are really very entangled with each other and have difficulty leading separate lives.' This was undoubtedly the case with Reggie and Ronnie, who were born on 24 October 1933. Their father, Charlie Snr., a street-seller on the run from the police for refusing to be conscripted into the army, was largely absent during their childhood, but Violet showered them with love. 18 18 18 Broadcaster and TV presenter Fred Dineage, who wrote the Krays official biography, says: 'Violet always said that her twins were special and she treated them like that. She treated them like pieces of rare bone china, really. They could do no wrong in her eyes.' 'Violet was often called to their school because of their fighting,' says Maureen. 'All little boys fought but they fought back to back. In other words, if Ronnie had hit a boy and the boy had hit back and got his mate to join in, Reggie would go and stand with his back to Ronnie.' Rising stars At the end of the war they took up boxing which became a big part of their teens. Both were very adept at it, particularly Ronnie, and that, along with glowing reports in the local newspaper of their success, gave them extra status in the area. It also fuelled their arrogance. In 1952, they were conscripted into National Service for two years. They turned up but Ronnie lost his temper with the CO's attitude so he punched him on the nose and they walked out and went home. Effectively, they were dishonourably discharged and ended up serving their two years in prison instead and were released when they were 20. A life of crime now lay ahead. They bought a run-down billiard hall which they built up and started a protection racket business on the side. This led to several clubs and casinos in London during the late 50s and 1960s which attracted the celebrities of the day, including Barbara Windsor Diana Dors, Shirley Bassey, Terence Stamp, David Bailey, Christine Keeler and even Judy Garland and World Heavyweight boxing champion Sonny Liston, when they were in town. 18 18 18 The twins loved the glamour, impeccably dressed in made to measure suits, crisp white shirts and silk ties. Ronnie, in particular, idolised gangsters from Hollywood films played by the likes of Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney. Such was their fame that they were even interviewed on the BBC, in which they talked about being club owners and that a little bit of violence was sometimes justified. 'You will get the occasional drunk and sometimes they have to be slung out and that's why there are doormen,' said Reggie. 'I suppose it's like club land all over the world. I don't suppose it can be all that bad or else people wouldn't go to them, would they?' Ronnie chipped in: 'Most clubs are very respectable and I don't think there's any trouble at all in them…. except occasionally.' He took him in the toilet and slashed his face and the back of his head with a machete that he had in his overcoat Maureen With a thriving club business, they could have turned away from violence and the criminal world, but they didn't. 'They threw it all away,' says Dinenage. 'Reggie would be quite content to get dressed every evening, go to his clubs, take his money, pay his people and live a good life,' says Maureen. 'But he was a twin. He was half of another half and that other half was Ronnie Kray.' Violent spirals Ron's mental issues had him on heavy medication but when he didn't take it he became volatile and dangerous and had paranoid thoughts. 18 18 'As he was put on stronger medication, Ronnie became puffy in the face and put on a stone, which he hated,' says Maureen. 'I heard one day in the pub there was a man who said, 'Hello, Ron. How are you? You've put on a bit of timber.' Ronnie looked down at himself and said, 'Yeah, I have.' 'He walked out and got in a car, drove half a mile down the road, turned round, came back to the pub and said to the man, 'I want to talk to you for a minute.' He took him in the toilet and slashed his face and the back of his head with a machete that he had in his overcoat. 'People asked him why he did it. He was happily talking to the man. And he just replied, 'That will teach him to talk about my weight.' That's how he could change in an instant.' Reggie recorded his memories of life with Ronnie in his tapes made in 1995, relishing their violent episodes. 'A memory I've got is when Ron and myself was in a dance hall in Tottenham,' he said. 'We saw about five fellas who came from the Stamford Hill area. Ron and I waited for them to come across and as they did so, right in front of the band, we hit them on the chin and also hit them on the heads with chairs. It was just like the cowboy days. We finished up having knocked them all out, and they lay in front of the band and the band was still playing the music.' Another memory was: 'We were sitting on bar stools. There's Ron and I, and we were drinking gin and tonics, when three fellas came into the pub and they stood behind Ron and started making detrimental remarks against Ron, and I watched him as he stepped down from the bar stool and hit one with a right hand punch. Knocked him spark out. Turned the other way and hit another one with a left hook.' Feeling invincible, they took things too far and the murder of rival gangster, George Cornell in The Blind Beggar Pub, was the beginning of their downfall. Ronnie walked in and shot him between the eyes in front of a handful of drinkers and a traumatised barmaid. But they were all too scared to say anything to police. Reg's new wife Frances – who Ronnie jealously resented for coming between him and his brother – had recently taken her own life by taking an overdose. He was not thinking straight and was increasingly being led along by Ronnie into his crazy and dangerous exploits. 18 18 The pair bizarrely tried to get a friend of Ronnie's, Frank 'The Mad Axeman' Mitchell, a release date from prison. They helped him escape and hid him away, telling him to write to the Home Secretary saying 'If you give me a date for my release I will give myself up.' Roy Jenkins, Home Secretary of the time, flatly refused and with Mitchell now a liability on their hands, they arranged for him to be murdered and his body disposed of. Jack 'The Hat' McVitie was next to be brutally stabbed to death by Reggie after he was paid but failed to carry out the task of killing their business manager, Leslie Payne, for talking to police after being concerned by the twins increasing violence. With the police now committed to putting the Krays behind bars, they offered protection for those willing to come forward, including the barmaid at the Blind Beggar who gave evidence against them in court about the murder of George Cornell. Ronnie and Reggie were firmly behind bars in 1969, having been given life sentences with a minimum of 30 years to be served. Reggie was allowed out, on compassionate grounds, to attend Ronnie's funeral in March 1995, where crowds lined the streets. Amongst the floral tributes was one from Reggie – flowers that spelt out 'To the other half of me' – and a wreath from Barbara Windsor. Five years after Ronnie's death, Reggie died of cancer at the age of 66. He was buried next to his twin. Whether it was irony or that he had finally discovered the decent, sensible and happy way to live, is unclear. But Reggie commented on his 1995 tape: 'What you give out in life is returned to you. If you give out love, love will be returned to you. If you give out hatred, hatred will be returned to you.'
Daily Mail
11-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'Some coppers are bent, but only a handful': What fighting Liverpool's notorious drugs gangs is really like, by two veteran detectives
With their flashy cars and luxury watches, gangsters hardly go out of their way to blend into the background. In plenty of cases, their names and the source of their wealth are widely known by neighbours. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes.
Telegraph
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Britain will follow Australia into a crime storm with the Tobacco and Vapes bill
'A terrified tobacco runner was forced to tie up his friends and then bind his own feet, before Alameddine gangsters allegedly began cutting off his big toe in a horrific moment that illustrates how violence is part of doing business in Sydney's gang wars.' This opening line, from the Sydney Morning Herald last month, is the kind of thing you might expect in a story about the cocaine trade, but it was a tonne of illegal tobacco stored in a warehouse that the gang was after. Australia has become a cautionary tale of what not to do with tobacco and vapes. It has the highest cigarette taxes in the world and has banned vapes completely. It has always banned the sale of nicotine vapes, but that didn't work so they banned the importation of nicotine vapes. That didn't work either so they banned all vapes and made nicotine vapes available on prescription only. Again, it hasn't worked. For every vape sold on prescription, 1700 are sold on the black market. The most visible sign of failure is the firebombing of tobacconists and vape shops that has become a regular feature of the evening news, especially around Melbourne. There have been more than 230 arson attacks and a string of public shootings in the last two years as gangs fight for market share in the 'tobacco turf wars'. Could it happen here? There is no reason why not. Illicit vapes and counterfeit cigarettes are being sold more or less openly on high streets up and down the country. We have the second highest cigarette taxes in Europe (after Ireland) and the government is on the cusp of introducing the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which will ban a growing number of adults from buying tobacco products from 1 January 2027. Even the Australians haven't been daft enough to dabble with this form of prohibition. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will also allow the government to restrict the flavours of legal vapes, thereby giving the black market a lucrative new niche. Not content with banning disposable vapes last month, the government is going to double the cost of using refillable e-cigarettes by imposing a tax of £2.20 (plus VAT) per bottle next year. If you wanted to make a bad situation worse, you could hardly design a better set of policies than this. Sales of legal cigarettes nearly halved between 2021 and 2024 despite the number of smokers only falling by 5 per cent. It is obvious that the illicit market picked up the slack and yet HMRC claims that only one in ten cigarettes smoked in Britain is illegal. Reassured by such Panglossian factoids, virtue-signalling politicians have given the Tobacco and Vapes Bill minimal scrutiny and are patting themselves on the back for creating a 'smoke-free Britain'. It is a fantasy bordering on madness. They have picked the worst time to be complacent. The police are too busy to play whack-a-mole with Britain's countless illicit tobacco retailers. A £2 billion drop in tobacco duty revenue has already been added to Rachel Reeves' black hole. For the time being, the violence associated with Britain's booming black market tobacco trade is less visible than Australia's but it will only take a bit more prodding from guileless politicians for it to come out of the shadows.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Brave mourners gather for funeral of notorious Scottish 'Lyons' gangsters gunned down in the Costa del Sol despite warnings 'anyone who attends will be treated the exact same way'
Mourners have turned out for the funerals of two Scottish gangsters gunned down in the Costa del Sol despite being warned they could face violent repercussions. Top 'Lyons' gang figures Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, were shot dead in the hours after the Champions League final at Monaghans bar in Fuengirola, Spain on May 31. Their bodies were released to their families by Spanish authorities earlier this week and today their funerals took place back-to-back at a crematorium in north Glasgow. Neither Monaghan nor Lyons Jnr's name appeared on an early running order of services held at the funeral home on Friday - with both listed as 'private services'. Their names later appeared on a digital display of services displayed in the reception area of Bishopbriggs Crematorium in north Glasgow, a short drive from the Possilpark and Milton areas where the Lyons clan is believed to operate. Ahead of the ceremonies, anonymous online thugs issued a chilling threat via social media, warning attendees they would be considered allies of the pair and a Dubai-based 'Mr Big' with whom the Lyons were said to be affiliated. The post reads: 'Anyone who attends the funeral of Edward and Ross this week will be treated the exact same way as them. 'This is now time to fight fire with fire. Family and friends take note. One man and his ego caused all this.' The threat issued to mourners planning to attend Ross Monaghan's and Eddie Lyons Jnr's funerals, issued via social media The pair were cremated more than a month after the pair were shot dead at the bar, co-owned by Monaghan, as they sat drinking. A hooded gunman walked up to Lyons Jnr, who was sitting outside, and shot him dead with a single bullet. Monaghan ran inside as the killer, dressed in black, took aim again - before his weapon jammed. Police say the hitman was able to unjam his weapon before training it on Monaghan, who collapsed to the floor as he is struck by multiple bullets. As he crawled across the floor, he appeared to turn to look at his killer. Footage later shows him sitting upright, slumped against a wall. Outside, passersby desperately tried to save Lyons Jnr before police and paramedics covered his body with a blanket. The pair were both senior members of the Lyons crime gang, which has been at war with the rival Daniels clan in Glasgow for decades over the theft of a cache of drugs. Lyons Jnr had been on a golfing trip with pals when he decided to hook up with best friend Monaghan who lived there. A source said this week: 'Things are really beginning to heat up again now, especially in Glasgow. The pair were gunned down outside Monaghan's bar, which Monaghan co-owned, in Fuengirola. It has since been re-named 'A house connected to the Lyons was recently smashed into with a motor. It went straight into the front room with people inside. 'The main figures in the Lyons crew will want to show strength at the funerals but at the same time this will put a target on their backs. 'Their boss Steven lives in Dubai and didn't turn up for the last major funeral so it remains to be seen if he will this time.' Scottish cops initially downplayed any suggestion that a rival gangster in the UK was to blame but senior Spanish counterparts have claimed the killer was a member of the Daniels crime clan. Top cop Pedro Agudo Novo said last month: 'The double murder was carried out by a professional killer and member of one of the victims' rival gangs. 'In this case we're not talking about an independent hired killer but an internal member of the rival Daniels gang who ends up assassinating two members of an enemy gang.' Following the killings, police arrested suspect Michael Riley, 44, from Merseyside, last month. He has appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in connection with the killings and remains in custody, pending an extradition hearing, after magistrates deemed him a flight risk. Riley was alleged to be set to flee for a 'paradise island tax haven' before he was detained, according to Spanish authorities. He allegedly used disguises to make his way through Spain to Portugal and then on to Leeds And the hit coincided with an ongoing gang war in Edinburgh and Glasgow that has seen scores of firebombings and beatings - apparently targeting the Daniels and their associate, Edinburgh-based Mark Richardson. A former Rangers football ultras 'capo', named in reports as 31-year-old Ross McGill, is thought to be orchestrating the war against Richardson and the Daniels from Dubai with a faceless group known as the Tamo Junto (TMJ). Gangsters working for Richardson, who is currently behind bars, are thought to have ripped off McGill with £500,000 of fake cash for a cocaine shipment. The Lyons were alleged to have fed McGill information on the Edinburgh-based gangsters as he conducted his campaign of revenge. Staff at Rangers are said to be shocked by McGill's elevation to desert-based gang boss after enjoying a privileged status at the club for years as a leading figure in the Union Bears. He stepped down from the role in autumn 2021, writing on a now-deleted Twitter account that he 'won't be able to attend matches as regularly'. He wrote: 'Sunday will be my final game as Capo in BF1. What a journey it's been but it's time for me to step down from this role. 'Been doing this for a long time and I won't be able to attend matches as regularly. Thanks for so many amazing days & nights in the stands.' He is said to have fled the country after the Encrochat messaging service was cracked by UK, French and Dutch police, exposing thousands of criminals and their illicit activities. A Rangers source told the Daily Record: 'He was trusted by the club more than most of the security staff and was respected by the players, managers and directors. 'Nobody could have had even the slightest idea about his life of crime. We were led to believe that he ran his own business.' 'But it did seem strange that he just walked away from the club after being such a central figure for a number of years.' Monaghan was previously linked to the murder of gangland enforcer Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, who was shot dead in an Asda supermarket car park in Glasgow in 2010. He was accused of the murder but acquitted due to a lack of evidence. Monaghan and Lyons Jr were also cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire In August 2017. Lyons Jnr was also shot and wounded in an attack in 2006, which was believed to have been carried out by Carroll. After Monaghan's brutal execution, it emerged he also ran an online supermarket selling expats a taste of home. He became a director of Costa Shop And Drop after fleeing to Spain following a botched 2017 hit attempt outside a Glasgow primary school in which he was hit in the shoulder as he dropped off his daughter for the day. The gangster sold Walkers Crisps, Weetabix, Colman's Mustard, Pot Noodle snacks and even Irn-Bru with the slogan: 'Craving Your Favourite British Food?' Around 50 people have been arrested in a crackdown on the violence that has spread across Scotland's central belt in recent months. Police Scotland's chief constable Jo Farrell said last week she was still unaware of any alleged link between the Spanish killings and the ongoing warfare in Scotland. And she has warned foreign-based criminals like McGill that her officers were working with prosecutors and the National Crime Agency - Britain's FBI - to bring them to justice, telling the BBC: 'We'll be coming after you.' She added of the recent spate of arrests amid ongoing violence: 'We've created a lot of momentum and gained a lot of evidence and intelligence. 'We can see the temperature dropping in this space.' Monaghans pub, meanwhile, has reopened under a new name - The Irish Rover - with a new landlord.
