Page 191 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Criminal careers - Nightclub owners

Their criminal records and dishonourable discharges ended their boxing
careers, and the brothers turned to crime full-time. They bought a run-down
snooker club in Mile End (The Regal) with financial support from their brother
Charlie, where they started several protection rackets. By the end of the
1950s, the Krays were working for Jay Murray from Liverpool and were
involved in hijacking, armed robbery and arson, through which they acquired
other clubs and properties.

In 1960, Ronnie Kray was imprisoned for 18 months for running a protection
racket and related threats. While Ronnie was in prison, Peter Rachman, head
of a landlord operation, gave Reggie a nightclub called Esmeralda's Barn on
the Knightsbridge end of Wilton Place next to a bistro called Joan's Kitchen.
The location is where the Berkeley Hotel now stands.

This increased the Krays' influence in the West End by making them celebrities
as well as criminals. The Kray twins adopted a norm according to which
anyone who failed to show due respect would be severely punished. They
were assisted by a banker named Alan Cooper who wanted protection
against the Krays' rivals, the Richardsons, based in South London.
Celebrity status

In the 1960s, the Kray brothers were widely seen as prosperous and charming
celebrity nightclub owners and were part of the Swinging London scene. A
large part of their fame was due to their non-criminal activities as popular
figures on the celebrity circuit, being photographed by David Bailey on more
than one occasion and socialising with lords, MPs, socialites and show
business characters, including actors George Raft, Judy Garland, Diana Dors
and Barbara Windsor.
“They were the best years of our lives. They called them the swinging sixties. The
Beatles and the Rolling Stones were rulers of pop music, Carnaby Street ruled the
fashion world... and me and my brother ruled London. We were fucking
untouchable...” – Ronnie Kray, in his autobiography My Story

Lord Boothby and Tom Driberg

The Krays also came to public attention in July 1964 when an exposé in the
tabloid newspaper Sunday Mirror insinuated that Ronnie had conceived a
sexual relationship with Lord Boothby, a Conservative politician, at a time
when men having sex with men was still a criminal offence in the U.K.
Although no names were printed in the piece, the twins threatened the
journalists involved, and Boothby threatened to sue the newspaper with the
help of Labour Party leader Harold Wilson's solicitor Arnold Goodman (Wilson
wanted to protect the reputation of Labour MP Tom Driberg, a relatively Page191
open gay man known to associate with both Boothby and Ronnie Kray, just