Ronald James "Ronnie" Kray and Reginald "Reggie" Kray were English gangsters or organised crime figures and identical twin brothers from Haggerston who were prominent from the late 1950s until their arrest in 1968. Their gang, known as the Firm, was based in Bethnal Green, where the Kray twins lived. They were involved in murder, armed robbery, arson, protection rackets, gambling and assaults. At their peak in the 1960s, they gained a certain measure of celebrity status by mixing with prominent members of London society, being photographed by David Bailey and interviewed on television.
Harry Maurice Roberts is an English career criminal and murderer who in 1966 instigated the Shepherd's Bush murders, in which three police officers were shot dead in London. The murders took place after plainclothes officers approached a Standard Vanguard estate car, in which Roberts and two other men were sitting in Braybrook Street near Wormwood Scrubs prison in London. Roberts feared the officers would discover firearms his gang were planning to use in a robbery. He killed two, while one of his accomplices shot dead the third.
The Inter City Firm (ICF) is an English football hooligan firm associated with West Ham United, which was mainly active in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The name came from the use of InterCity trains to travel to away games. They were the subject of a 1985 Thames Television documentary, Hooligan.
Jack McVitie, best known as Jack the Hat, was an English criminal from London during the 1950s and 1960s. He is posthumously famous for triggering the imprisonment and downfall of the Kray twins. He had acted as an enforcer and hitman with links to The Firm, and was murdered by Reggie Kray in 1967.
Operation Century was the code name for a sting operation by Essex Police for investigating the Rettendon murders of three violent drug dealers that happened at Rettendon, Essex, England, in December 1995. It was assisted by RUC Special Branch officers. The purpose of the operation was to pressure people whom the police suspected of having knowledge about the triple murder, in order to incriminate the suspects in question and/or others.
The murder of Rosie Palmer took place in Hartlepool, County Durham, England on 30 June 1994. Three-year-old Rose Frances Palmer was abducted, raped and murdered after buying an ice pop from an ice cream van only 20 metres from her home. Her partially clothed and mutilated body was found in a house 50 metres from her own on 3 July 1994. It was the third visit to the premises by police during the inquiry, and the second time that it had been searched. The occupant was Tony Armstrong, who had a history of psychiatric problems and was widely disliked in the neighbourhood, where he was known as "Tony the Pervert". In March 1993 a social worker had warned that Armstrong was "likely to be a risk to any child he comes into contact with" but Cleveland County Council failed to act on the report. He was convicted of Palmer's murder on 27 July 1995 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Revelation Films is a British film and television production and distribution company delivering visual entertainment via cinema, television and digital platforms.
Essex Boys is a 2000 British crime film. It was directed by Terry Winsor and stars Sean Bean, Alex Kingston, Tom Wilkinson, Charlie Creed-Miles and Holly Davidson.
Rise of the Footsoldier is a British gangster film franchise written and directed by Julian Gilbey, Will Gilbey, Ricci Harnett, Zackary Adler, Andrew Loveday and Nick Nevern, distributed by Optimum Releasing. The franchise and its first two films are based on true events featured in the autobiography of Inter City Firm hooligan turned gangster Carlton Leach before later films focus on the lives of drug dealers Pat Tate and Tony Tucker who were gunned down in the Rettendon murders in 1995.
Bonded by Blood is a 2010 crime film directed by Sacha Bennett and starring Tamer Hassan, Vincent Regan, and Adam Deacon. It is loosely based on the Rettendon murders in 1995.
Events from 1995 in England
The Fall of the Essex Boys is a 2013 British gangster thriller film based on the true story of the Rettendon murders in 1995. It follows the rise and ultimate fall of the feared criminal gang The Essex Boys.
The Rettendon murders occurred on 6 December 1995 in the village of Rettendon in Essex, England, when three drug dealers were shot dead in a Range Rover on a small farm track. The murders were the subject of a major police investigation and various special operations, including Operation Century. The murders have also been the subject of books and feature films.
Martin John Kemp is an English musician and actor, best known as the bassist in the new wave band Spandau Ballet and for his role as Steve Owen in EastEnders.
British firms are organised crime groups originating in the United Kingdom.
David Litvinoff was a consultant for the British film industry who traded on his knowledge of the criminal elements of the East End of London. A man for whom there are few truly reliable facts, it is unclear how genuine his expertise really was, though he certainly knew the Kray Twins and was particularly friendly with Ronnie Kray, according to a biography published in 2016. He entertained his showbiz friends with stories of the Krays' activities and his niece Vida described him as "the court jester to the rich, smart Chelsea set of the sixties".
Beeba Boys is a 2015 Canadian crime thriller film written and directed by Deepa Mehta. It stars Randeep Hooda as Jeet Johar, a loving single father, a dutiful son, a proud, observant Sikh and a ruthless gangster managing a team of stylish, charismatic but brutal and unforgiving young men. The film is a fictional take based on real incidents, including Bindy Johal.
On 3 June 1991, 21-year-old Alison Shaughnessy was stabbed to death in the stairwell of her flat near Clapham Junction station. Shaughnessy was newly married, but her husband was having an affair with a 20-year-old woman, Michelle Taylor. A witness reported seeing two women running from Shaughnessy's building after the murder, and fingerprints found at the scene matched those of Michelle and her sister Lisa Taylor, who claimed never to have been there. Michelle's diary included an entry that read: "My dream solution would be for Alison to disappear, as if she never existed."
