The 45

With the great train robbers, the Richardsons and the Krays banged up for life, the face of crime changed forever forcing decent honest hard working criminals to take up arms in order to get the job done. The scene changed as well. The Brighton riots had all but killed off the original Mod scene, with most of the lads we knew moving on to a new scene, LSD, long hair, beards and potchouli, paisley shirts and bell bottoms, but The 45 crowd remained staunch Mods with an appetite for Italian scooters, sharp tailoring, soul music and speed. The owner, Ronnie Hardman, was a vicious slicked back Saville Row gangster. If he ever called you over to shake hands, then you'd shake hands. If he smiled at you, then you smiled back. If he told you to 'fuck off', you'd fuck off or else.

This book follows the life of Eastend gangster Ronnie Hardman and the people around him in gangland London, where life was dangerous as gangs fought over the revenues left open when the Krays and Richardsons were no longer around to rule their kingdom.