In the 1960s Charlie Richardson's manor was a profitable empire stretching from South London scrapyards and West End drinking clubs to mining in South Africa. Then, on the brink of the most lucrative deal of his career, Richardson was arrested. After a trial where the press labelled him the torture gang boss, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. This autobiography begins with his humble childhood and start in crime - stealing, escape form reform school, discharge from the army, his brushes with the Mafia and the Kray Twins and about the years when he was known as the hardest man in London.