One of the family : the Englishman and the Mafia

John Pearson's "The Profession of Violence" created the myth of the Kray twins and remains a classic of "True Crime", the best book ever written on East London villians and a book that started a mini publishing industry.

Pearson knows the London crime scene as well as anyone, which is why he was surprised while attending Ronnie Kray's funeral to see a man to whom all the other villians deferred, but whom he didn't recognise.

Investigation revealed that this man, the Englishman, never mentioned in any of the previous books on villiany because everyone was scared to mention his name was as legendary a figure on the streets of New York as on the streets of London.

When the Englishman learned that someone was asking about him, he introduced himself to Pearson, who persuaded him to write his story - a story even more extraordinary than that of the Krays. Because the Englishman is the only man of non-Italian blood to be admitted to the heart of the Mafia.

He became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York families and his adventure included gun battles fighting shoulder to shoulder with John Gotti, capo du tutti capi. Here the Englishman tells the story that no-one else dared to tell.