Читать книгу The Twins - Men of Violence - Kate Kray - Страница 6

It has been seven long years since Ron died. My life has moved on, I’ve written a number one bestseller, and I now have my own TV series on Channel 5. So when I was asked to write this book, I was very, very reluctant.

I telephoned Joey Pyle, one of Ron’s oldest friends, for some advice. Joey is a shrewd man and always puts me right. Joe told me not to write the book: leave their memories in peace.

I almost put my pen down and stopped writing that moment. He was echoing the very thoughts that had been going through my head the moment I started work. But then I sat down and thought about it. I thought about everything that had been written about Ron and Reg in the past, so much of it crap from people who had never met them — hearsay, half truths, sometimes just plain lies. Even if the twins had lived to be a hundred, they would never have managed to collect the number of minders, drivers and associates that seem to have crawled out of the woodwork. It seemed to me that everyone had had their pound of flesh from the Krays. Only a handful of people knew the real Ron and Reg. I was lucky — I was married to Ron and even seven years after his death, people still ask me questions. Were they really as vicious as everyone said? Why did they stay in prison so long? What? Why? Where? When?

So I decided to carry on with my work. I feel that if I can give an honest, no-nonsense account of what I know, then Ron and Reg Kray can be left in peace. I don’t want to glorify them like some soppy bird seeing them through rose-tinted glasses — they were vicious men, and I know that. But they were a big part of my life for a long time and if by writing this book I can put the record straight once and for all, then so be it.

I’d like to think that this will be the last thing ever written about them. Somehow I doubt it will be …

Kate Kray London, October 2000