British gangster Reggie Kray dies

Reggie Kray ruled London's underworld with his two brothers in the 1950s and 60s

LONDON, England (AP) -- Reggie Kray, the last survivor of a crime family that rose to the top of London's underworld in the 1950s and 1960s, has died of bladder cancer, his lawyer has said.

Kray, who was 66, died in his sleep, Mark Goldstein said, after more than three decades in prison and 35 days of freedom.

Sentenced to life in jail for murder in 1969, he was granted compassionate parole by the British government on August 26 because of his illness.

"His wife and friends were by his side" at the hotel in Norwich, eastern England, where he had lived since his release, Goldstein said.

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With his twin, Ronnie, and older brother Charlie, Reggie Kray was a Cockney legend and icon of "gangster chic" -- feted by celebrities, profiled in the media and remembered in the streets of their native east London as Robin Hood-style anti-heroes who behaved like gentlemen and loved their dear old mum.

The reality was considerably more brutal.

In 1968, Reggie killed a bungling hit man named Jack "The Hat" McVitie in a north London apartment, stabbing him so thoroughly that his liver fell out.

When rival gangster George Cornell called Ronnie Kray a "fat poof," Ronnie marched into the Blind Beggar pub and shot Cornell in the head as the jukebox played "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More."

Those acts of violence proved the twins' undoing.

In 1969, they were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 30 years.

Ronnie Kray died in 1995 in the Broadmoor institute for the criminally insane. Charlie died in April while serving a sentence for drug dealing.

Reggie Kray's first wife, Frances, committed suicide in 1967. He is survived by his second wife, Roberta. Funeral details were not immediately announced.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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