The Secret Gangster: Gangland Canning Town

Some men make headlines. Others make sure they never do.For decades, his name was kept out of the papers, off the charge sheets, and away from the stories people thought they knew. He moved through East London’s underworld quietly, close enough to hear the deals being made, the threats being whispered, and the lies being dressed up as truth.Now, for the first time, the doors are opened.The Secret Gangster is a raw, uncompromising journey through the hidden side of London crime — from the old East End streets and the estates of Canning Town to the smoke-filled clubs, backroom deals and blood-soaked corners of Soho.This is not a glamour story.It is a book about poverty, loyalty, fear, money, reputation and survival. About boys who grew up too fast, men who mistook violence for power, and a world where one wrong word in the wrong pub could follow you all the way to the grave.Inside these pages are the firms, the faces, the murders, the betrayals and the old codes that governed a generation of London villains. Some became legends. Some became ghosts. Some were written about by people who never knew them. Others were deliberately forgotten.Until now.Co-authored with a well-known face from Canning Town, The Secret Gangster goes behind the myths and into the reality: the streets, the deals, the Soho murders, the Essex Boys case, and the names the authors believe belong at the centre of one of Britain’s most notorious gangland mysteries.This is the story that was almost published twice — and buried twice.Not because it lacked truth.Because it had too much of it.Sixteen years later, with time, distance and a few ghosts finally out of the way, the story can be told.Some names have been changed. Some have not.The innocent have nothing to fear.The guilty already know who they are. Read more