I was the Kray twins’ most feared rival…they were fake hardmen who broke down in tears to me over notorious murder
THE Krays are legends in the minds of many – but not to former rival Eddie Richardson who was once part of the notorious Richardson gang along with his brother Charlie.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, the now 89-year-old revealed his memories of the Krays and his time in the dark underworld of 50s and 60s London.
“If people knew them better,” said Eddie, “they’d realise what two f***ing mugs they were.”
With the new series of Peaky Blinders expected to focus on the rise of what’s dubbed the “golden era” of British gangsters, only a handful of people who saw it firsthand are still alive to tell their story.
Eddie, who served more than 23 years behind bars as a double A category prisoner in some of the country’s most secure institutions, said: “I was working the stores in Parkhurst, and the Krays were in the hospital wing.
“They’d come to where I was working. But they were like two lost sheep.
“I had a date I was coming home, so my mind was outside prison.
“I don’t know what was in their heads – not a lot. They were both very thick.”
With brother Charlie and friends like the notorious “Mad” Frankie Fraser, the Krays were the undisputed kings of their patch of the capital.
Born in 1936, Eddie started in the scrap metal industry before building an empire of clubs and businesses across South London that rivalled anything Reggie and Ronnie had in the East End.
“I met them at the Elephant and Castle pub one time, because I wanted to have a meeting,” Eddie recalled.
“I only stayed there for about half an hour.
“It was a waste of time – they weren’t any benefit to us.”
While the Krays’ infamous lives have been immortalised in endless books and even a film, 2015’s Legend, they still held secrets known only to those there at the time.
“A lot of people think Reggie wasn’t gay, but he was,” revealed Eddie.
It was widely known that his brother, Ronnie, was gay or at least bisexual – even enjoying a sadistic sexual relationship with the Tory peer Lord Boothby.
Tragic marriage
Reggie wed Frances Shea in 1965, but she walked out less than a year into the marriage and repeatedly tried to get it annulled on the grounds of non-consummation.
In 1967 she was found dead at the tender age of 23.
An inquest concluded she had committed suicide – although some have since claimed she was murdered.
“I went to the film Legend, I was on the red carpet for that,” told Eddie.
“The Shea family were there protesting because he never even consummated the marriage with that girl.
“It was ridiculous what they’d done to her. She was a nice, attractive girl, enjoying life.
“Finished up with them two f***ing w***ers, and committed suicide.”
Decades later, Reggie’s former cellmate Bradley Allardyce claimed the gangster told him Ronnie forced her to swallow an overdose of pills out of jealousy.
Kray biographer John Pearson was also reportedly told by Ronnie that the twins had enjoyed sex with each other when they were young.
“Reggie was making out that he was heterosexual, making it out that he wasn’t gay like his brother, but they both were. He kept it quiet,” said Eddie.
“It was symbolic what they’d done to Frances – such f***ing idiots.”
Brutal murder
The Richardsons made a fortune through Soho cinemas showing ‘blue’ movies, fruit machine rackets and ‘security’ firms, with Eddie enjoying luxury nights out on London clubs and splashing out on Rolls Royces.
But a bust-up in a Catford nightclub in 1966 saw Kray associate Richard Hart shot dead, and Eddie was sentenced to five years in prison for affray.
It put an end to a life that, until then, had been packed with fine dining, tailored suits, and celebrity pals.
His enforcer, “Mad” Frankie Fraser, was charged with the shooting, though this was later dropped.
Eddie looks back fondly on the loyalty that Frankie, who passed away in 2014, showed to him.
“He was game at heart, Frankie. Very game. Never argued, did whatever I said.
“He got more money with me than he’d ever had in his life.
“He knew a lot of people, which was useful to me too – (Scottish enforcer) Albert Dimes, (gangster) Billy Hill, people like that.”
Following the shooting, police arrested most of the gang on July 30, the day England triumphed in the World Cup.
With mounting testimony from victims, and gang members increasingly willing to talk in exchange for pardons, 1967 saw the so-called “torture trial” kick off at the Old Bailey.
The court heard how those who got on the wrong side of the gang faced beatings, having their teeth ripped out with pliers, and their genitals clamped with a wind-up electric generator.
Eddie had ten years added onto his sentence, while brother Charlie was put away for 25 years after being found guilty of fraud, extortion, assault, and grievous bodily harm.
The Krays, in turn, were arrested in Bethnal Green on May 8, 1968.
Ronnie was found guilty for the murders of Jack “The Hat” McVitie, and Richardson associate George Cornell, allegedly in revenge for the latter calling him a gay slur.
Cornell was shot at point blank range and in full public view at the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel on March 9 1966, the day after the Catford shooting.
The pair were handed life sentences, where they once again crossed paths with Eddie in Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight.
Ronnie was eventually diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and lived out the rest of his life in Broadmoor.
Life behind bars
“Reg was opposite cells to me, in Parkhurst,” said Eddie.
“I used to get the Times, and he got the Telegraph. At tea time we’d swap papers. His paper hadn’t even been opened – pages still stuck together.
“You can understand why. He wasn’t thinking about outside – but my mind was. I had family and all that.
“I had plenty of friends outside, whereas they didn’t really have anyone like that.”
At one point, the murder of Frank Mitchell, a one-time friend of the Krays, came up.
In December 1966, the pair helped the gangster, dubbed “Britain’s most violent convict”, escape from Dartmoor prison before deciding he was ‘out of control’ and ordering his murder, 12 days later.
“I said to Reggie, ‘That was a f***ing liberty, killing Frank Mitchell’”, Eddie remembers.
“Tears came into his eyes, and he said: ‘I didn’t want it done, Ed. I didn’t want it done’.”
Eddie also recalled a time when, in a Leicester prison, Reggie was caught in a fight with a fellow inmate.
“It went on a little while, and eventually, Reggie was on top. After about five minutes, I thought enough’s enough,” said Eddie.
“I got hold of him and pulled him off. I was the only one there who could have done that without him having a row with me.”
Eventually freed in 1977, Eddie was sent down again for 25 years in 1990 after being convicted of importing cocaine and cannabis into the country.
He takes a dim view of people like Dave Courtney, a self-proclaimed gangster who died in 2023.
I got hold of him and pulled him off. I was the only one there who could have done that without him having a row with me
Eddie Richardson
Released early in 2001, he now lives in a leafy suburb of the capital, and – popular with the ladies as ever – also has a girlfriend.
He spends a lot of his time painting, having learned about art in prison.
Reflecting on how the world’s changed, Eddie added: “Everyone looked after themselves back then – we sorted out our own problems.
“That’s changed completely.”
An Evening with Eddie Richardson will be held on Thursday 12 June at 7pm in The Brookmill Pub, Deptford, SE8 4EJ.
Tickets are available online at prioritypromotions.com for £30, and include entry, meet and greet, raffle, and memorabilia auction.