Books : Inside the Firm: The Untold Story of the Krays' Reign of Terror

Rating: - Insight into a sick man
I purchased this book in a second hand book store. It is a very interesting read and highly recommended for a rainy day indoors. Tony Lambrianou displays himself as a wronged man. He had a hard childhood and spent the rest of his life making other people suffer for it.
He enjoyed beating people and being violent. He really believed himself to be highly respected!!!! believing you could "earn" respect, by kicking someone in the face. He also considered himself " a good catholic" although he never went to church and did everything a "Good Catholic" should do, like murdering people, maiming, threatening and of course stealing, not to mention lying.

In my mind he was nothing but a disgusting parasite, stealing and taking by force from other people to finance his rather warped life style. A large part of his life was spent in prison at the tax payers expense.
I have no time for people who still, today, try and uphold some sort of twisted fairy story of honour among thieves. This guy, together with the Kray twins and many of his cronies were criminals and murderers who should have been locked away from society for the duration of their lives.
A good read though.

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Rating: - Not quite what it says on the tin
I think the title of the book may be rather misleading. Perhaps Mr Lambrianou had nothing to do with the inclusion of the Kray name and it was merely a marketing ploy, but anyone buying the book and thinking it will have huge segments of Kray anecdotes will be disappointed. To be fair to Tony Lambrianou, his life seemed no less colourful than the better-known twins and anyone with an interest in crime biographies could have a gander at this book to get another perspective on the hows and whys of drifting into the underworld.

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Rating: - The Krays
This is a fantastic insite in to the life of one of the krays right hand men i just couldnt put it down if you ever wanted to no what went on inside the firm this is you chance buy it its a must have

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Rating: - Tony tells his version with breathtaking honesty
Of many books I have read on the Sixties crime figures, two stand out. Freddie Foreman's book and this one from his good friend Tony.
I came to read this after reading other people give somewhat unkind references to Tony, but this book was gripping for its honesty. Nothing is glossed over, he tells his story in honest terms. Bad and good. The occasions he squeezed money from people and the times he hurt people, all are here.
At no time does Tony come across as a saint. But he does redeem his mistakes by not trying to take the reader on a sanitised, "I was wronged" tangent. Dates, events, stories, they all fit the wider picture and make this an honestly refreshing document of a memorable if hugely violent and dishonest era.