Double trouble: 7 facts about the Kray twins

Reginald was the oldest twin by ten minutes. He and his brother Ronald were born in 1933, in Hoxton. Their parents, Violet and Charles, were Eastenders of Irish and Jewish heritage, hailing from Bethnal Green and Shoreditch respectively.  

Encouraged by their proud maternal grandfather, the two brothers Ron and Reggie showed great promise as boxers. By the time they were old enough to turn professional, they had never lost a fight.

Even at a young age, the Kray twins were renowned in London for their gang’s violence, narrowly escaping imprisonment on a number of occasions. But it was a refusal to complete National Service that first saw them behind bars.

Ronald Kray lived with undiagnosed schizophrenia for most of his life. When the twins were eventually sentenced in 1964, Ronnie served his sentence at the secure mental health facility Broadmoor Hospital.

It’s unclear how the Krays came to be proprietors of the Knightsbridge bar Esmeralda's Barn but the club increased the brothers’ influence in the west end. The legalisation of gambling in 1960 made them a visible presence, rubbing shoulders with international celebrities—including Frank Sinatra!

The Krays’ gang went by the name The Firm. As their reputation grew, another famous crime family—the Mafia—approached them to help them in their plan to turn London into the gambling capital of Europe with many casino sites.

Met with universal witness silence, it was a conference at Scotland Yard that decided upon the arrest of the Kray twins. Inspector Leonard ‘Nipper’ Read led the murder squad that eventually saw the two sentenced to 30 years without parole—the longest sentence ever passed at the Old Bailey. 

Browse films about the Kray twins on Amazon

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.