‘I had three-year long feud with the Kray twins - this is what they were really like'

A former gang boss, who went to war with the feared Kray twins, branded them "wannabes" who "sought out publicity" and claimed he named them "Gert and Daisy."

Eddie Richardson, 88, headed the notorious south-London based Richardson Gang, with his late brother Charlie and has been shot at, dished out violent beatings, and accused of torturing rivals.

He spent 23 years of his life "fighting the system" in prison after two major convictions, before turning his back on crime and taking up art.

It was due to the Richardson's three-year feud with the east London Kray twins that George Cornell was famously shot dead in the head by Ronnie Kray, in front of customers of the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, on March 9, 1966.

Richardson's gang was also called the Torture Gang, due to claims of pulling out teeth with pliers, nailing victims to floors and electrocuting body parts, including testicles, during "kangaroo trials" to get information from rivals.

It included his brother Charlie, who died aged 78 in 2012, and others such as henchman and chief torturer "Mad" Frankie Fraser.

Both firms were rivals, but stayed apart until the Krays tried to muscle in on the Richardson's pornography activities in Soho. By December 1965 the two gangs clashed at the Astor Club, in Mayfair, when Cornell called Ronnie Kray a "fat poof".

The feud escalated in March 1966 when Richard Hart, a Krays' associate, was shot dead during a fight involving the Richardson Gang at Mr Smith's club in Catford, which the latter were acting as security for as "protection".

Eddie was also shot during the brawl and arrested with several of his gang. The arrest of the senior Richardson gang members, gave the Krays the confidence to strike, claims Eddie.

The following night Cornell was shot dead by Ronnie Kray in the Blind Beggar.

'They were a couple of lads trying to muscle in on my manor'

Ronnie Kray was arrested but later released after no one who saw the murder would testify. Justice caught up with Ronnie after Reggie murdered Jack "The Hat" McVitie at a Stoke Newington party in 1967 by repeatedly stabbing him in front of guests.

After his arrest, the Kray empire began to crumble and both twins were arrested and convicted of each of their murders as witnesses got the confidence to testify.

In 1968 both Ronnie and Reggie were jailed for life for murder and neither was released before their deaths in March 1995 and October 2000 respectively.

Despite shooting a man in a pub of customers who were all to scared to give statements, Eddie Richardson dismissed Ronnie and brother Reggie as "no real threat," to him.

Richardson claimed in his 2019 book No Handcuffs: The Final Word On My War With The Krays, written with Douglas Thompson, that they only struck then because he and Fraser were in custody and Charlie was in South Africa involved in "business".

Describing earlier events, including Fraser attacking a Kray associate in the head with a hatchet, and refusing to allow the twins to set up a blue cinema in Soho, Richardson wrote: "All the twins did was talk big down their mum's in Bethnal Green.

"Gert and Daisy were real mummy's boys. The thought of taking on Frank and me upset them. The twins weren't going to poke their snouts in the West End with Frankie Fraser and me walking around.

"We had complete control of the film clubs, the blue racket. Bulls*** and myth has overtaken the Krays. For me at the time they were just a couple of lads wanting to muscle in on my manor.

"They regarded us as competition, but they weren't a concern for me."

Asked by the Sunday Express why the Kray twins went on to become more well known that his gang, Richardson scoffed: "They sought out publicity.

"They wanted to be known as gangsters. When we were in prison with them they were reading gangster comics, but they would never take on me or Charlie in there as they knew they would come off worse off."

He also said they "lacked the brains" to be considered true rivals and ended up like "lost lambs" while in jail. He said: "there was noting legendary about them on the inside'.

"They wanted to be like the Godfather, but didn't have the brains to for major business." No handcuff was his second autobiography after The Last Word: My Life as a Gangland Boss in 2005.

In 1967 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the Richardson Torture Gang activities. He was jailed for 35 years aged 54 in 1990 for smuggling in cocaine and cannabis valued at £70 million.

He was released after 12 years, but it was while in prison he discovered a love of art and turned his back on crime and helped deter youths from crime.

He now regrets getting involved in the drugs trade and dismissed some of the more violent allegations about the activities of his gang.

He previously told the Sunday Express: "I was not even with Charlie when the torture stuff was supposed to have gone on. But it was all exaggerated anyway. Frankie Fraser used to trade on that stuff about pulling teeth out with pliers, but I don't think it happened."