Former gangster Eddie Richardson, a rival of the Kray twins, has died at the age of 90. He passed away in hospital in the early hours of Friday, having been admitted earlier in the week with pneumonia.
Family's tribute
His sister Elaine Richardson said he died at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley, south London. She said: "We are all very sad. He had his 90th birthday in January. Eddie was a family man and he had a lot of friends, he was very loyal to his friends. We know he was 90 but we are all going to miss him."
Notorious past
Richardson was part of the notorious Richardson mob in Sixties London. With his older brother Charlie, he led the south London "Torture Gang" which feuded with the east London Kray twins more than 60 years ago.
In 2015, Richardson, then 79, described the twins as "like lost sheep" in jail and added: "We never even considered them to be rivals." He said: "They were small-timers who played up to the gangster image. They were not hard enough to take us on until we were all banged up."
He added: "The Krays had watched too many US gangster films. They wanted to be like Al Capone but didn't have the brains to do anything major league. It amazes me how much interest there is in them. They just wanted to play at being gangsters. It was all acting. There was nothing glamorous about it and by no stretch of the imagination were they ever legends."
Jail time and criminal empire
Richardson, who hired "Mad" Frankie Fraser as his enforcer, added: "There was no war between us, that's a myth. The truth is they didn't fancy us at all. The Krays didn't dare take us on until we were all under lock and key — then they started taking liberties."
Richardson served a total of more than 23 years in jail, in two stretches, before his final release in 2002. Born in Camberwell, south London, on January 21, 1936, he used a scrap metal business and fruit machine company as fronts for a criminal empire involving drug dealing, protection and extortion rackets.
His criminal empire came crashing down on July 30, 1966, the day England won the World Cup, when the Richardson gang were rounded up during mass police raids. The following "Torture Trial" made headlines as rival criminals told how they were beaten and electrocuted.
Anyone who crossed the Richardsons were said to be subjected to a kangaroo court, with Charlie presiding and then handed over to Mad Frankie for punishment. He pulled out teeth with pliers and nailed people to the floor using six-inch spikes. His specialism was torture by electrocution of the genitals.
In 1967 Charlie Richardson was jailed for 25 years for fraud, extortion, assault and grievous bodily harm. Eddie got ten years, on top of five he was sentenced to for affray over a nightclub fight. Richardson was freed in 1977 then jailed again in 1990, for 35 years, after being convicted of importing cocaine and cannabis said to be worth £78million.
Eddie Richardson remained out of prison for the rest of his life and was living in Beckenham, south London, before his death.
