The Soho Don : gangland's greatest untold story

Billy Howard dominated the London underworld for 30 years.

This is the story of a South London boy from a respectable family who became the shadowy figure of the Soho, Mayfair, South London and Brighton underworlds.

He did not lead a gang and was in many aspects a loner.

The protection business drew him into a lucrative world of night-clubs and gambling, on the back of the black-market trade that had flourished during the World War II.

His reign was long, punctuated only by short stays in prison.

Unlike the Krays, he did not court publicity but on the occasions his name did hit the headlines, it was often with the tag "Laughing Boy".

A boxer in the army, a powerful street fighter and fearless with a knife, he was capable of meting out punishment to villains who stepped out of line, and instilled terror in witnesses who were prepared to speak out.

His story exposes the links between the vicious gang bosses, the police, the celebrity hothouse of Mayfair clubs, high-class prostitution and international gambling.

It portrays his slide from power and, finally, his pathetic death in 1985.