Читать книгу Insanity - My Mad Life - Charles Bronson - Страница 6

I think Charlie’s had a rough deal and I think they’re treating him all wrong. I know that if Charlie was free he could make a living; obviously he couldn’t get a normal job, but he could make a living by being on the crime circuit like most of the other well-known characters from the underworld.

I go down to London every year, always ending up having a meal in the Blind Beggar pub. On one particular occasion, Frankie Fraser came in with a tour party, showing them the notorious haunts where shootings took place from the days of the Kray twins. I got talking to Frankie and said, ‘I’m not on the tour, but I’m a big ’60s crime fan,’ and I introduced myself as Mick Peterson.

Frankie said, ‘Oh, yeah, I know you.’ We just left it at that because he was taking his tour around the sights.

A few years later, I went to a boxing tournament and caught Frankie’s eye. I went over and said, ‘All right, Frank, I’m Mick Peterson.’

Frankie said, ‘I’ve never seen you for ages … remember when we were in Dartmoor?’

‘No, that wasn’t me, you’re thinking of Charlie Bronson,’ I said.

Frankie was adamant it was me he’d met and said, ‘No, no, no. You!’

Frankie was convinced I was his old prison pal, Charlie Bronson, and he was saying to this other guy, one of the organisers, ‘Me and him …’ pointing at me, ‘we were in Dartmoor together.’

The man pulled me to one side and said, ‘Were you and Frankie really in jail together?’

‘No, no, he’s got the wrong bloke. I think he thinks I’m Charlie Bronson,’ I replied.

Eventually, I read one of Frankie Fraser’s books and he said he knew Mick Peterson, but not Charlie Bronson! So I don’t know if there was another Mick Peterson besides the one who eventually changed his name to Charles Bronson.

I think if Charlie was free then he’d need someone to look after him and point him in the right direction. The last time he came out of prison he was left to his own means – no money and no prospects. Now, though, Charlie could earn a good living just from his books and going around giving talks and interviews. I don’t think he would need to sign on at the dole office.

I’m a big Tottenham Hotspur fan, as is Charlie, although I’ve still got a soft spot for my local team, Hartlepool United. Charlie and I have a lot in common, in that we both like a drop of vodka and a pint or two of Guinness and, of course, our past links with the crime world. I was just as bad as Charlie when I was younger and my criminal record proves it. Charlie would bash people up and I would, too, but I paid the price and learned my lesson. Now that Charlie’s remarried I think he’ll realise what he’s missing being behind bars, and that’s what can drive the man on to win his freedom … thinking of his family.

Good luck, Charlie.

Michael Peterson