Former gangland boss and Krays rival Eddie Richardson has died at the age of 90.
Richardson led the ‘Torture Gang’ in Sixties London and terrorised the capital with his brother Charlie.
His sister Elaine said Eddie had died yesterday morning in the Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley, south London.
He was admitted with pneumonia a few days ago.
Elaine Richardson said: ‘We are all very sad. He had his 90th birthday in January. Eddie was a family man and he had a lot of friends, he was very loyal to his friends. We know he was 90 but we are all going to miss him.’
When asked if Richardson had remained involved in his gangland criminal activity in his old age, a source said: ‘He was such a staunch old fella that he could have been up to something but you would never have known.’
The south London-based Richardson mob feuded with the east London Kray twins more than 60 years ago.
Brothers Eddie and Charlie used a scrap metal business and fruit machine company as fronts for a criminal empire involving drug dealing, protection and extortion rackets.
Former gangland boss and Krays rival Eddie Richardson has died at the age of 90
Twin brothers and organised crime bosses Ronnie and Reggie Kray
The Kray Twins, Ronald and Reginald, seen here at home after helping police with their inquiries into a shooting at the Blind Beggar Pub
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The gang was most feared for their bodyguard ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser, who tortured anyone who crossed them following trial by kangaroo court run by the brothers.
His favoured methods of torture were rumoured to be pulling teeth out with pliers, nailing people to the floor using six-inch spikes, and electrocuting others using a crank-handled telephone.
Eddie shot down the reputation of his gangland rivals, the Kray twins, in 2015 by claiming they were ‘small timers’ who ‘weren’t in his league’.
He said at the time that the famous East End criminals lacked ‘the brains’ to ever be considered true rivals.
Richardson said he was ‘amazed’ by the interest the Krays still generate and says the pair were nothing like legends in his eyes.
Richardson said in 2015: ‘The Krays had watched too many US gangster films. They wanted to be like Al Capone but didn’t have the brains to do anything major league.’
Eddie was described by two separate Home Secretaries as ‘one of the most dangerous men in Britain’ and served a total of 46 years in jail.
His career-ending arrest came in 1990, when he was busted following a £70million drugs deal that earned him a 35-year prison sentence, eventually commuted to 13 years.
Eddie Richardson (left) and Frank Fraser, who was known torturing anyone who crossed the gang
Eddie Richardson a former member of the infamous ‘Richardson gang’, with one of his paintings at an exhibition of his work in London, Wednesday 1 October 2003
Richardson led the ‘Torture Gang’ in Sixties London and terrorised the capital with his brother Charlie
Aside from the Krays and Fraser, his associates included the Great Train Robbers, the prison reformer Lord Longford and Brian Keenan, then head of the armed council of the IRA.
In 1966, Ronnie Kray murdered Richardson gang member George Cornell – the night after a fatal gang fight between the Richardsons and another rival mob.
In July that year, on the same day that England won the World Cup, the Richardson gang were rounded up during mass police raids.
The following year, their so-called Torture Trial surrounding the actions of ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser became a national story.
Former police officer Dick Kirby examined the impact of gangsters in London during the 1950s and 60s in his book London’s Gangs at War.
He said in 2017: ‘I read the books which the Krays and their hangers-on had written; then, for comparison, I checked police reports, court & newspaper records and spoke to the police officers who were there at the time, to get at the truth.
‘What I found out about the twins were that they were self-serving, ruthless and murdering bullies.
‘The most harrowing of the stories was undoubtedly the Richardson Torture Gang, though, who used their particular talents to utterly humiliate and denigrate their victims for their own gratification.’
Charlie Richardson was sentenced to 25 years for his part in the gang after being convicted of extortion, fraud, assault and grievous bodily harm.
Eddie was jailed for ten years on top of five for a previous offence. He has spent more than 23 years in prison over two stretches.
The first spell saw him freed in 1977, but he was jailed again for 35 years in 1990 after being convicted of importing cannabis and cocaine. His final release came in 2002.
Eddie Richardson remained out of prison for the rest of his life and was living in Beckenham, south London, before his death.
It was believed that the brothers had fallen out over money and Eddie had not spoken to Charlie for a number of years before his death.
‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser died in hospital at the age of 90 in 2014.
He has spent 42 years – almost half his life – in jail for 26 offences. The former gangland leader was handed an Asbo the year before he died after flying into a rage with a fellow pensioner at his care home.
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