Inside the Firm - The Untold Story of The Krays' Reign of Terror by Tony Lambrianou Page B

rang up Eric Mason, who said, ‘Come over right away.’
    Eric was living in Lytham St Annes, just outside Blackpool, in a road where singing and variety stars used to rent houses while they were doing the summer season in the seaside theatres. He was staying with the Clarke Brothers, who were tap dancers appearing at the Queen’s Theatre, Blackpool. We arrived at the house to find that our neighbours were Dave Clark, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Bachelors and Stan Stanwick, who went on to appear in Coronation Street .
    Peter Metcalfe flew up from London to join us. A bloke who had to do things in style, he was always immaculately dressed. At about five feet ten he was a tubby fella, clean-shaven with neatly trimmed mousy hair and Italian-type features. Peter was into karate.
    The other member of our team, Davy Clare, was in Manchester on the run from the twins. There was a rumour going around at the time that he had been asked to take some action in London against George Cornell, who was becoming increasingly troublesome, but hadn’t done so. It was also said that before he went into hiding Davy Clare went to see his bank manager, handed him a letter and said: ‘If anything happens to me, you’re to give this to Scotland Yard.’ Chris and I later found Davy in Manchester accidentally, when we bumped into his girl in a casino one night. We went round to where he was living. He must have seen us coming because he had his head in a gas oven and he was saying, ‘I know it’s all over, you’ve come to get me.’
    Chris said, ‘Don’t be stupid. Get up. If I was you, I’d go and see the twins and straighten it up with them.’
    But at the time we arrived in Blackpool we had no idea where Davy Clare had gone, and we were anticipating nothing more than a couple of nights out with Eric Mason. He was a stocky chap, Eric, with fair hair cut in a similar style to Reggie Kray’s. He was known as a hard man, he had a great knowledge of boxing, and he knew everyone who was worth knowing in our circles, but what he wanted more than anything in his life was stardom.
    He introduced Peter, Chris and me to the Clarke Brothers and invited us to see their show the next night. We went on from there to a nightclub called the Embassy, where we were given the best table. Sitting with us were the Clarke Brothers, the Bachelors, a singer called Twinkle and Bill Heaney, the owner of the club. They gave us the full treatment, and even put the spotlight on us. It hadn’t taken long to get around that we were East End gangsters up from London courtesy of the Krays, which was totally untrue. But Eric was trading on the twins’ name, just as he had in London, and was having a good life, thanks to them.
    I saw an opportunity, so a couple of nights later I approached this Bill Heaney and asked him to lend me a couple of grand. I said, ‘We need it until our expenses come up.’ It’s a way of asking for protection money without using the threat.
    We had no trouble. He said, ‘You want it now?’ He put two grand in cash in a bag and slipped it on to my lap.
    Not long afterwards, he called me into the foyer and introduced me to a very pretty woman he was obviously having an affair with. He pulled out a .22 pistol and asked, ‘What do you think of that, Tony?’
    I said, ‘What are you trying to do – impress me, Bill?’ I took it off him, put it in my pocket and told Chris. It was Heaney’s little test. He then realised we were into it 100 per cent.
    It reached the stage when we were going there every night, and every night we were at his throat for more money – a grand here, £1,500 there. Chris, Eric, Peter and I used to cut it up between us. Dominic Pye, the doorman, all dressed up in his gold braid uniform and top hat, used to salute us when we walked in. We had to straighten a few things out, though, like the time the head waiter, Jimmy, handed me a bill. I said, ‘Don’t embarrass us,’ and he never troubled us with the bill