The Killing Of George Cornell
What happened was, they came from visiting Jimmy Andrews in hospital, who got shot in the leg. His daughter married Tony Adams, the Arsenal defender. They called in at the Blind Beggar for a drink on their way back to South London. George was originally from the East End. By now he lived in South London, only because he married a girl called Olive Hutton. She was a top shoplifter Olive. He married her and came to live over the Elephant off of London road.
But he could really have a fight George. I mean really!!. He first boxed on the cobbles. And Ronnie and Reggie were wary, no two ways about it. Not frightened, not someone they'd want to row with. And they liked him and all cos he grew up with them before he moved over the Elephant.
Rumour has it that he called Ronnie a big fat poof. Not true, not true at all. Caus at that stage over thirty years ago, the word poof or homosexuality was non-existent. And nobody dreamt a gangster was one I'm not knocking them, don't get me wrong, If that's a guy's way of life then that's his business. But nobody dreamt!! If anyone had said to me Ronnie was a poof, I would have chinned em. Because that would have been an insult at that time.
Ronnie and Reggie had already been to see me and Eddie Richardson caus we had a great coup at London Airport. We had the car parks sewn up there.
We went to Liverpool one time, we flew up there for a boxing match, stayed a few days and came back. When we went to the car park and they gave us the ticket , it was like an arm and a leg. We said "You've got a good fiddle going on there". They protested very strongly so we kidnapped a couple of them and took them to our offices at Atlantic Machines in Tottenham Court road. And in the basement we had cellars done up as cells and I said to them "which one do you want to die in? the one on the left or the one on the right hand side, what about you?" They said "we'll tell you everything". We earnt a fortune I'm happy to say.
We had soldiers that we had to pay, to look after and that and when Reggie and Ronnie came to see us caus they'd heard about it, they wanted in.
But we had to look after our own. So we said sorry, as much as we'd like to It can't be done, there wasn't enough for all.
So in the Stork club they asked Georgie Cornell and he said, "look you've already been told by Frankie Fraser, it's just not possible, it can't be done." And they kept on. George said "Fuck you" and he really coated Ronnie, but he didn't call him a big fat poof. He was saying "look, if you had a coup like that, Frank and Eddie wouldn't come to you and try to muscle in" and that was more or less it. They shook hands on it.
But Ronnie hadn't forgotten it.
When we was all nicked (us from south London) and he went into the Blind Beggar, he saw the opportunity, give him his credit, Ronnie, he didn't lark about. Went in, when George see him he said "Look whose here" in a piss taking sort of way really. Ronnie had already ordered a drink. He pulled the gun out and shot him three times.
Now Albie Woods was very good, he took all the glasses out and got rid of them so there would be no fingerprints or anything like that.
Five months later they arrested Ronnie and Reggie for it. They put them on identification parade. Because they couldn't get enough people that looked like Ronnie and Reggie they stuck some plain-clothes policemen in. So when Albie Woods came along the line to identify them, when he reached two plain clothes cops he said "You were there and you" They said "no we weren't we're police" Ronnie and Reggie walked out of the police station laughing.
Jack The Hat McVitie
The house where Jack the Hat died, 97 Evering road, down in the basement, blonde Carol's flat, that's where it happened. It was at a night-club and it was getting near closing time and Chris and Tony Lambrianou said "Would you like to go to a party Jack at Blonde Carol's?" and he said "yes, lovely". In them days the pubs didn't stay open all hours so it was normal to go back to someone's house for a drink.
By now, 1967, Jack the Hat was a dog. He would be insulting to the women, who've done him no harm in any way. He was calling Ron and Reg's mum, Violet, filthy names.
He asked for it, I've got to be honest (I was in prison at the time). And then they were waiting for him when he went there. When he came in Reg put a gun to his head...It didn't go off!..so Reg stabbed him to death. His body has never been found, for the simple reason it made very good incinerating material. If you find bits of dust, that's all you'll find of Jack. That's the way it was. His wife and son had left him and I think that really knocked him bandy. He wasn't the man he was in October 1959.