The cult of violence: The untold story of the Krays

by John George Pearson

John Pearson knows more about the Krays than anyone alive. His book The Profession of Violence was published 28 years ago (by W&N) to huge acclaim and is still in print today in paperback. The Krays film was based on the book and it was Pearson who exposed the Boothby connection in 1994. In 1967, the year before they were arrested, the twins asked Pearson to write their biography. He remained a confidant of the family and the brothers throughout their trial and prison years. Reg was in prison for 33 years although the judge recommended 30 years and was only released when he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and given weeks to live. Using the trail as the fulcrum for the narrative, Pearson, in this completely new book, will revisit the twins criminal past, including a raft of new material hitherto unpublished. The trial will be re-examined (he still has contact with the living trial lawyers) and he will look at their time in gaol (including Ronnie’s bizarre life in Broadmore) and examine what it is about the Krays which, at the time and over the next thirty years, made them ‘criminal celebrities’. On the one hand they were pursued by a fascinated media who wanted to re-create these two brutal murderers as folk heroes, and on the other they were demonised by an establishment ashamed of the way it had embraced them. Pearson will examine just why successive Home Secretaries found it too unpalatable to release the twins when so many other less well-known, but possibly more unsavoury murderers and criminals, were released after serving a fraction of their time. This is a timely book and, with Reg’s death, Pearson is now at liberty to tell the whole amazing, fascinating story.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, Biography

241 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John Pearson was a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming. He was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming. Pearson also wrote "true-crime" biographies, such as The Profession of Violence: an East End gang story about the rise and fall of the Kray twins.

Pearson would also become the third official James Bond author of the adult-Bond series, writing in 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, a first-person biography of the fictional agent James Bond. Although the canonical nature of this book has been debated by Bond fans since it was published, it was officially authorized by Glidrose Publications, the official publisher of the James Bond chronicles. Glidrose reportedly considered commissioning Pearson to write a new series of Bond novels in the 1970s, but nothing came of this.

Pearson was commissioned by Donald Campbell to chronicle his successful attempt on the Land Speed Record in 1964 in Bluebird CN7, resulting in the book Bluebird and the Dead Lake.

Pearson wrote the non-fiction book, The Gamblers, an account about the group of gamblers who made up, what was known as the Clermont Set, which included John Aspinall, James Goldsmith and Lord Lucan. The film rights to the book were purchased by Warner Bros. in 2006. He also wrote Façades, the first full-scale biography of the literary Sitwell siblings, Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell, published in 1978.

Pearson also wrote five novels:

Gone To Timbuctoo (1962) - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award

James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007 (1973)

The Bellamy Saga (1976)

Biggles: The Authorized Biography (1978)

The Kindness of Dr. Avicenna (1982).

Pearson passed away on November 13, 2021. He was ninety one at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If there's a moral to the story of my long involvement with the Krays it has to be that biographers with families to support should never get involved with criminals. Or if they do they should always pick dead ones."

Very interesting biography of the notorious Kray twins. Ron was a terrifying man and Reg well I sorta felt bad for him at times. Perhaps without his twin he could have lived a better life. I wish Pearson had written more in depth about the doomed marriage of Reg & Frances. Her story is so heartbreaking, married to a dangerous criminal and hated by her husband's psychotic jealous twin.

[Dave Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. You can see why the cult still exists - you couldn't make this up. Low life pyscho crime to coverups from No 10 on down.

Just would have liked a little more info on the day to day business and size of the firm as these guys don't seem clever enough to have run an empire.

[Michelle Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful follow-up, with insights and facts not able to be revealed until after the twins' deaths, because of the author's personal safety. Love his writing style and analysis of the continuing fascination with the Krays (myself included).

[James Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this sequel to the Profession of Violence, John Pearson draws upon a mass of first hand interviews and private information that he was unable to use while the Krays were still alive, he can now recount the chilling untold story of the Twins.

I was thoroughly engrossed in this book, knowing what I knew of Ron and Reg, I was stunned to know that there was more to them that I realised. Having read other books on the twins it seems that Pearson knows about them more than any other person. He traces the legend of probably the most famous East End villains using the information that he already knew about them and couldn't use in the Profession of Violence.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Interesting Read

I'm American and didn't know much about the Krays. This was a fascinating look at London crime and the twins who were at the top of the heap, at least in their own minds. The entire setup is so different from New York crime families, the personalities, the organization, the size.

Pearson writes so well. The book flowed and kept my interest from start to finish.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting and disturbing. The infamous Kray family, though a distasteful subject to say the least, speaks to a significant era in the history of the UK. In some ways they were Robin Hoods but mainly and mostly they were criminal desperadoes who needed, and received, justice finally and at last. Sad about the victims.

[Jo Cleobury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece by John Pearson!

[Bobby24 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and interesting about a strange family.

[Ryan Winstanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Pearson’s “History of Violence” kicked off my interest in the Krays and this follow up was another fantastic insight into the Krays.

[Evans Chumo]

It was an amazing and stunning insight into the lives of one of the most hallowed criminals to come out of Britain. I especially loved Pearson's style of biography, where in-between the actual or non-fictional accounts of crimes, characters, places and other significant events, it gathers itself into the bungly darkness of fiction, such that even to have been aware of these mentioned things beforehand, his telling still finds you curious and leaves you refreshed.. This is not an isolated experience, as you get to see the narrator quip up from time to time with his own assessment of the information that he is presenting to you. His interferences are the guiding wisps of cold air behind the ears that tell you what to look for, how to think and what to think of when you read his words on the page. Awesome, awesome book.

[Prentice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting read for me, especially since up until a few months ago I didn’t even know the Kray name other than from television shows that referenced them. Equally chilling and ambitious, both Ron and Reg were definitely unique characters in the web of criminal empires and/or the making of them. Pearson did a nice job of exploring the whys, hows, and whens of certain situations as well as giving insights into the twins’ relationship, both with each other and with others in and out of their circle.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freed from the censure of the establishment by time and any displeasure of the Krays by their deaths, this represents John Pearson's second, and this time unmolested, insight in to the lives and world of London's best know gangsters. It is a great read and arguably the book that 'Profession' should have always been.

[Russ Dent · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great insight into the twins. Better than any other Kray book with loads of facts that is not in other books on the twins.

[Pipa Guest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book