A first hand account of some of the motivations behind some of the most well known murders by the Krays.
From the outset I should state that this is not a new book but rather a re-issue by a different publisher. As such for me one of its major failings is that it does not provide an update s to what happened to Dickson in terms of his appearance at court and his later life. For me this leaves the story half finished as there is not much point giving a brief history of his life before the Krays if you are not going to give a brief account of what happened after them.
As a history of how the Krays selected members of the The Firm and then drew them into their various crimes and kept them from distancing themselves from these the book works very well. I do however find it difficult to have much sympathy for Dickson who appears to want to try and defend his joining The Firm by his wish to take part in the night life that they enjoyed. By doing so he seems to have turned a blind eye to much of the violence that surrounded this way of life – though he does mention money drying up for a period. I found his defence of the life he choose slightly disingenuous given the life experience had gained in growing up in Leith and then serving in the Royal Marines in both Korea and Malaysia. I suppose that it was my moral outrage that made it difficult for me to enjoy this book as much as it probably deserved given its portrayal not only of the Krays themselves but also many of the other East End underworld characters.
As a history of how the Krays selected members of the The Firm and then drew them into their various crimes and kept them from distancing themselves from these the book works very well. I do however find it difficult to have much sympathy for Dickson who appears to want to try and defend his joining The Firm by his wish to take part in the night life that they enjoyed. By doing so he seems to have turned a blind eye to much of the violence that surrounded this way of life – though he does mention money drying up for a period. I found his defence of the life he choose slightly disingenuous given the life experience had gained in growing up in Leith and then serving in the Royal Marines in both Korea and Malaysia. I suppose that it was my moral outrage that made it difficult for me to enjoy this book as much as it probably deserved given its portrayal not only of the Krays themselves but also many of the other East End underworld characters.