London Mourns Last Of The Krays

Sharp-suited pallbearers carried Reggie Kray back to his Cockney roots Wednesday as members of the criminal underworld joined ordinary mourners in their thousands to bury Britain's most famous gangster.

London's East End ground to a halt as well-wishers young and old braved icy winds to witness the end of a criminal dynasty.

In death, as in life, Kray went out in elaborate style, serenaded by Frank Sinatra's My Way and eulogized as an honest, old-fashioned crook in a world full of menace. In life, his criminal chic heralded the tabloid celebrity of "Dapper Don" John Gotti, New York's Mafia kingpin.

"Reg goes out today a gent," Richard Grayston, in charge of security for the funeral, told Reuters. "It's the end of an era. We're closing the chapter here on the whole Kray family."

Along with his identical twin Ronnie and older brother Charlie, both dead, Reggie won clout by threatening, extorting and blood-letting his way through the Swinging Sixties.

The trio's tight family ties and loose regard for the law were immortalized in a hit film The Krays, the precursor of all gangster glamour movies to come.

Criminal chic was in abundance Wednesday as black-plumed horses led a procession through Kray's old stomping ground.

Grayston said he had 400 security men in red armbands—"for all the blood spilt"—policing crowds he predicted would top 100,000.

Police expected "tens of thousands" of people to line the 12-mile route from undertaker to church to cemetery.

Leading the 16-car cortege was Kray's widow Roberta, flanked by a small army of burly men in black.

It was more film set than funeral as craggy-faced survivors swapped hand shakes and clenched fists to mark their respect.

"I'm here to say goodbye and show respect to someone from the old days," Bernie Lee, who said he had known Kray all his life, told Reuters. "Criminals today—they have no respect."

A vast wall of wreaths bearing messages such as "Free at Last" and "Legend" ringed the undertakers as Kray's plain brown coffin was raised into a glass-sided carriage fit for a king.

"Small isn't it," said Peter "Spider" Hurley, who spent time in prison with Kray in 1969-70. "He wasn't all that big."

What Kray lacked in size, he made up for with a special blend of brutality and gangster chic that made him an icon.

In the end it was cancer, not his very many enemies, that overpowered the 66-year-old weeks after he won early, compassionate release after 32 years in prison for murder.

Evangelical minister Ken Stallard said Kray repented for his sins at the end, telling mourners "that which is past is past."

"We gather at the end to say farewell to a special friend," Stallard told hundreds of mourners crammed into St Matthew's Church. "Goodnight Reg. I'll see you in the morning."

Despite their brutality, the Krays were a magnet for celebrities from actrss Judy Garland to boxer Mike Tyson.

But it was the same smooth Reggie who is credited with inventing the "cigarette punch," flooring open-jawed victims after offering a smoke. His bloodlust was legendary.

"There were two sides to him," said Hurley, whose friendship with Kray was cemented in a fight. "He was a special man. He had charisma. But he committed murderthat was the other side."

The twins were arrested for murder in 1968. Reggie had stabbed gangland figure Jack "The Hat" McVitie, while Ronnie had shot a rival who dared call him a "fat poof (homosexual)."

Ronnie died in Broadmoor prison in 1995 at age 61 of a heart attack.

By LYNDSAY GRIFFITHS