I had just acquired a new book (From a charity shop) about those heroes to the mentally deranged, The Krays. Written by three brothers who were associates of them, one of them claims that he was the one that "Brought them down". Bobby Teale states that he worked as an informer for Tommy Butler, after the George Cornell murder, because he felt they had gone too far and that "He was the man to bring them to book". Delusions of grandeur seem to be the immediate response to this claim. It seems that the barmaid who witnessed the shooting and pointed the finger at Ronnie Kray & John Barrie, was like a sideshow, and John Dickson, who drove them both to the Blind Beggar pub, to commit the crime, his evidence was merely secondary. It seems that Teale believes that the whole case was built upon him.
The murder of Jack McVitie that put Reggie away, the story does have a number of different versions. Ronnie is supposed to have held McVitie whilst his brother stabbed him. Dickson, in his memoirs said thathe heard that Reggie and Ronnie Hart had done it. Hart was a cousin of the Krays. Lennie Hamilton, a villain tortured by Ronnie Kray, states that he was told by Ronnie Bender, a driver who was present at the scene, that McVitie was held by Hart and Tony Lambrianou, and the window was broken in the struggle with these two. The murder of Frank Mitchell was carried out by Freddie Foreman & Alfie Gerrard, witnessed by Albert Donoghue. Foreman later confessed to the murder in print and television, and confirmed that the evidence of Donoghue in court was true. Despite the change to the Double Jeopardy Law in 1998, Foreman has never been arrested and charged over the Mitchell and Marks murders. As for other murders, "Frosty" Bill Frost, not David, was a driver, and supposedly murdered. Yet, he popped up alive and well some years ago and gave interviews for documentaries. As for "Mad " Teddy Smith, former storng man villain, Henry "Buller" Ward, claims he ran into Smith, some years after his alleged murder, in London. Ward says that it was not hard to get away from the Krays, if you wanted to.
Teale may have been an informer for the Yard, but they already had a man on the inside. This was Alan Bruce Cooper, an American, who it later emerged, was an agent for John Du Rose, head of the Murder Squad. Lennie Hamilton admits to giving Read statements. Billy Webb, another villain says that he made statements to the Police. One woman, whose evidence was very minimal in the McVitie case, says that Reggie Kray threatened to kill her children. (Cues cries from the fan club "Good ole Reg would never do that") After they went down, Albert Donoghue never went into hiding. He stayed with his family in Bow. And why would Teale deem to think that by coming back to this country, the Police would be waiting for him at Heathrow Airport? The Krays went down in 1969, and he was talking about the last couple of years! Did he seriously think that he was SO important, and that they would be there saying, "Cor blimey, Bob, we`ve got you now, for skipping our protection"? After forty years? Don`t you think that the Police have more pressing Law & Order issues to deal with, than a guy still concerned over events in the sixties?
As for the continued "They were too powerful" claims, what about the time they were told to get out of Manchester by the Police? What about their trip to Liverpool and where Reg had a gun put under his chin by a DI and told to leave and not come back? What about the family in the East End that they never bothered? The Tibbs family? What about the time, just before their arrest, when thay attempted to muscle in on the rackets being run by the Dixon Brothers and their boys? The Dixon mob stood up to them apparently, so it seems logical that they would have been mysteriously arrested by East End cops with immaculate information, shortly afterwards. Everybody knows that "Ole Ron & Reg never grassed anybody". Of course you can believe that. If you want to.
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