I always knew Robert Frost was bad, but I never knew just how bad until I
read the recent obituary for London East End gangster Reggie Kray
(1933-2000) in The Times:
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"Reggie was the more calculating brother. He established a meeting place
for criminals, became a master of the protection racket and was prepared to
confront rival gangs with violence if necessary.
Their murder of Jack "The Hat" McVitie was as horrific as anything
portrayed in Goodfellas or Reservoir Dogs. The victim was held from behind
by Ronnie, who urged his brother "Kill him, Reg, do It." Reggie used a
knife so thoroughly that McVitie's liver fell out. Tony Lambrianou got rid
of the body by having it crushed inside a car into a three-foot (1m) square
cube, referred to by The Firm as "the Oxo".
Meanwhile Ronnie, a homosexual, took exception to being described by George
Cornell, an associate of another gang, as a "fat poof". Ronnie took an
automatic pistol into the Blind Beggar public house in Bethnal Green and,
as the jukebox played the Walker Brothers' song The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
Any More, shot him dead.
In 1969, Ronnie and Reggie were jailed for life for the McVitie and Cornell
killings. When examined by Home Office psychiatrists, Reggie Kray tried to
present himself self as a cultivated man who enjoyed listening to Maria
Callas, the operatic soprano, and reading poems by Robert Frost."
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Which poem by Robert Frost, I wonder? "The Death of the Hired Man" (1914),
perhaps?
John Tranter, Editor, Jacket magazine
from John Tranter
Editor, Jacket magazine: http://www.jacket.zip.com.au/
- new John Tranter homepage - poetry, reviews, articles, at:
http://www.austlit.com/johntranter/
- ancient history - the late sixties - at:
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/tranter/index.html
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