Books
Alice Diamond And The Forty Elephants
Britain's First Female Crime Syndicate
Milo Books Ltd, 2015
The Forty Elephants were unique in the annals of British crime. Emerging from the slums like fallen angels, these glamorous, lawless young women plundered fashion stores and jewel shops, picked their lovers from among London’s toughest gangsters and terrorised their rivals. Soon they were renowned, and feared, as the country’s first all-female crime syndicate.
They first rose to notoriety under Mary Carr, a beautiful artists’ model known as ‘Queen Thief’. But it was her successor, Alice Diamond, who led the Forties to their greatest infamy. Born the oldest of eight children in a workhouse hospital, she became the cleverest shoplifter in Britain. Newspapers described her gang as ‘notorious for their good looks, fine stature, and smart clothing’ as they travelled the country, stealing the finest silks, gems and furs, hiding their plunder in specially-made skirts and knickers and spending their ill-gotten gains in a whirlwind of mad excess.
Long before the Kray twins, London was plagued by gang warfare as vicious as anything that was to come. From the 19th century onwards, violent mobs fought pitched battles for territory and local pride. The Bethnal Green Boys hunted Hackney's Broadway Boys, Clerkenwell took on Somers Town, the Red Hands prowled Deptford and the Silver Hatchets terrorised Islington, while the police and judiciary seemed powerless to stop them.
The first-ever history of these intriguing street mobs traces them from Jonathan Wild, the archetype for Dickens' Fagin, to sprawling super-gangs like the Titanic and the Elephant Boys. It tells the bloody story of the racecourse wars, when Darby Sabini and Billy Kimber slugged it out for control of gambling pitches, and of such big hitters as George Sage, the guv'nor of Camden Town, Dodger Mullins and the McDonald brothers. Eventually these local 'firms' spawned notorious gangsters such as Jack Spot, Billy Hill and Johnny Carter, who carved out organised crime rackets across the capital.
Gangs of London is a riveting journey through the dark underbelly of one of the world's great cities.
Elephant Boys recalls the turbulent life of south London's McDonald family, taking us on a journey from the Elephant and Castle in the early 1920s, through crime-riddled Los Angeles to London's violent 1950s and mid-1960s. This account brings to life the personal history of Charles "Wag" McDonald's involvement in the Epsom Riot and in the racecourse gang warfare which led to his hasty departure for America. Incredible experiences followed: travelling to Alaska, working as a bodyguard to Charlie Chaplin and operating at the heart of the Los Angeles underworld and underbelly of Tinseltown. There are shocking insights into some of the most notorious criminals, like Billy Kimber, "Mad" Frankie Fraser and the Richardson Brothers. The author, who was himself involved in the struggle for control of London's underworld, has first-hand knowledge of many villains - past and present - and relates the stories with help from the family archives.
Contact
Brian is represented by Milo Books. Please direct all rights or media enquiries to them.