Over two centuries its influence has spread across the globe. Ross Kemp: Mafia & Britain I: The British Connection, History 2024
On 18th June 1982 a corpse was found under this bridge in central London. Details made the death suspicious. The body was identified as Roberto Calvi. Up until the death of Roberto Calvi it was assumed the Mafia had no business here. ibid.
Just how far does the Mafia’s tentacles spread throughout Britian? ibid.
[Gennaro] Panzuto only stayed at the caravan park for a few months. He soon upgraded to a three-bedroomed house on the outskirts of Preston … The armed police turned up. ibid.
‘An Aberdeen businessman has been accused of being the godfather of a Mafia crime gang and a catalogue of crimes including racketeering, extortion and violence.’ ibid. TV news
Charles Darby Sabini: ‘Blood and guts and brutal street smart’ … He wasn’t strictly Mafia … and his mother was Scottish. ibid.
On 21st March 1980 a major Philadelphia Mafia boss was assassinated. The motive for this brutal killing was unclear. Would Angelo Bruno’s death change the American Mob’s relationship with gangland Britain? Ross Kemp: Mafia & Britain s1e2: US, History TV
With a link between the Mob and London casinos. How did the Mob’s operation in London work? And where did it lead? ibid.
‘They made billions of dollar on both sides of the ocean.’ ibid. Professor Nicaso
Woking, Surrey: An unlikely place for the Contrara-Caruana Mafia family to base its operation. ibid.
Francesco di Carlo, Franky ‘The Strangler’: A Mafia hitman originally suspected of the brutal and very public murder of Vatican banker Robert Calvi under Blackfriars Bridge. Iibid.
From the 1970s Britain was a vital part of the Mafia trafficking and money-laundering operation. Pushing heroin and illegal money in the United States. ibid.
[Jamie]: I’m sorry, Sebastian. I’m sorry, guys. Temple I, heist goes wrong, Sky 2019
Lee, I’ve been shot in my stomach. ibid. Jamie
Four Arrested In Depot Robbery, One Still Missing. ibid. Sky News banner
I’ve already told you, he’s [Jamie] a fucking friend of mine! ibid. Lee to Daniel
[Beth]: Eleanor, this could work. This could be the cure. Temple II, flashback
It isn’t over. Beth, it isn’t over, OK? ibid. Daniel
It’s a clinic for people who can’t, or don’t want to, go in the system. ibid. Daniel to Anna
[Anna]: Why though?
[Daniel]: Because I can’t give up. I won’t give up. ibid.
Just stay with the guy. It’s only a couple of hours. Temple III, Daniel to Lee
[Gangster]: What do you take me for? A cunt? Gangster No.1 ***** 2000 staring Paul Bettany & Malcolm McDowell & David Thewlis & Saffron Burrows & Kenneth Cranham & Jamie Foreman & Eddie Marsan et al, director Paul McGuigan
Freddie Mays. Freddie Mays. The Butcher of Mayfair. The man was a legend. He’d only done a copper in Bethnal Green and god away with it, for fuck’s sake. ibid.
What a place! A fucking palace. In he came. There he was. In those hand-made Italian leather shoes. Silk socks. The suit? Do me a favour. The man was class. A class act. Style. Im-fucking-peccable. What a man. ibid.
Lennie Taylor’s goons torching our club? Lennie Taylor, you cunt. Think you’re better than Freddie Mays? Lennie fucking Taylor? You little piece of dead meat? ibid.
Is it? Well there’s the chair. Who wants it? There it is. Come on. Who wants it? Come on, who wants it? You ain’t got the bollocks, none of ya. ibid. Freddie Mays to gang
Just another bird. Just another skinny fucking bird. ibid. Gangster’s commentary
You let a bird into your life, the next thing you know, the walls are all poof pink. ibid.
Not bad looking? I’m a prince, darling. ibid.
What a comedy. What a skirmish. Look at his suit now. Tatters. The bird’s fucked. But Freddie’s still twitching. Nice to know. He tries to get up. Falls back. Hopeless. Tries again. Go on, son. No! He pulls himself along the pavement, trail of blood like a bleeding slug. Come on, Freddie! Two more yards. ibid.
I’ve got a machete on the back seat, a chopper on the passenger, and this old Beretta tucked in me trousers. And I’m fucking happy. ibid.
I’m superman. King-fucking-Kong. ibid.
‘99. Freddie Mays is back. Lock up your daughters. ibid.
What have you got that I haven’t got? ibid.
[Leans over balcony] Bitch. [Punches glass screen] One day I’ll catch up with you. You want a war? I’ll give you a fucking war one arm tied behind me back. I’ll shoot you. Blow you to kingdom come. They’ll need a dustpan and brush to scrape you off the walls. Make mincemeat out of you. Pie and mash. Puddles of blood. I’ll leave you lying there. Garrotte the lot of you. Calling me a cunt. Calling me a cunt. Calling me a cunt. You cunt. I’ll fucking kick ya. I’ll kick fuck out of to you. I’ll kick to fuck you! Fuck you! Rip your face off. I’ll fucking, I’ll fucking burn you … [on roof] Freddie Mays. Freddie Mays. I don’t need you, Freddie. Who am I? I’m superman! King fucking Kong! I can pick you up and throw you a million miles. I’m Number One. Number fucking One. I’m Number One. Number fucking One. Number One. Number One. Number One. Number One. Number One. Number One. Number one. One. One. One. One. Number fucking One. I’m number one – fuck you! – Number One. [jumps off roof]. ibid.
[news]: This was the glittering prize. The De Beers Millennium Star, a flawless stone of 203 carats. The Diamond Heist: Chapter 1: Robbers, Netflix 2025
[news]: Armed and masked robbers used a van equipped with a steel spike to ram a Securicor van early today. ibid.
Ray told me the target they were going for was the Millennium Star. ibid.
Ray told me if we can pull if we could pull it off, it was going to be the biggest heist of all time. ibid.
We had a team. Now we need to get to work. ibid.
But what this gang of criminals didn’t know is that we were following them. ibid. rozzer
[rozzer]: In July later that year Aylesford got hit. Myself and my two deputies went down to Kent and we spoke with the investigators. The Diamond Heist: Chapter 2: Cops
We need to catch them in the act. ibid.
Nobody goes to the Dome twice. ibid.
The reality was they’d done two robberies, both with multimillion-pound payoffs. They’d been unsuccessful and they were looking for their third big job. And this fitted that. But this was not their usual load that they went after.
I never thought that Wenham was the brains behind the idea. But we became convinced that Tong Farm was the key to identify the gang leader and the main perpetrators involved. ibid.
So the game plan was to let them do the robbery. ibid.
They were absolutely appalled that I knew about it. ibid. journalist
On the 6th November the JCB was taken all the way up to South-East London where it was placed in a coal yard that was within visual sight of the Dome. The boat is then brought up and taken to the far side of the river. So we knew the job was on for the next day. ibid. rozzer
[rozzer]: But there’s always something that can go wrong. The Diamond Heist: Chapter 3: Cops & Robbers
If this went wrong, it would be a disaster for the Flying Squad. ibid. reporter
The next thing we hear is that the JCB is on the move. ibid. rozzer
Despite all the planning the gang were simply outsmarted by police. ibid. news
The United Kingdom spawned its own hard men still to this day regarded as good-natured villains. The Swinging Sixties in Britain was darkened by death and extortion from the Kray Twins to the Great Train Robbery. Lords of the Mafia with Robert Stack XII: Western Europe
After an initial slowness to act, authorities suddenly moved in the mid-1960s to deport both Dino Cellini and George Raft. ibid.
The Krays controlled half the crime in London while the Richardson gang mastered the rest. ibid.