IT'S THE STUFF of legend. As former hardmen sit in smoky snooker halls and late night lock-ins across Tyneside, the talk may turn to the good old days, when fights were fought with fists and nobody cheeked their elders.
As the misty haze of nostalgia and Newcastle Broon descends, someone may mention the Krays, and their visits to Newcastle. Young jumpy-jacks in their company will perk up, for here's a name that, after almost four decades, can still inspire awe.
"Is it true," they'll ask, "that the Twins tried to muscle in on the gambling scene in the Toon? That they were met at the Central Station by a West End crew, given a good kicking and put back on the train, tied up in mail bags?"
It was all a long, long time ago, the wide-eyed young radgies will be told. Names can't be named - of course - but yes, that's about right. That's what they reckon happened.
UPSTAIRS AT THE Tyneside Irish Centre last month, over two-hundred people gathered to hear the facts from someone who should know.
Local author Steve Wraith befriended the Twins in their twilight years and invited a special guest to help him launch his new book, 'The Krays: The Geordie Connection'.
Eric Mason was an 'associate" of the Twins (gang member, to you and me) although at seventy-two, it was difficult to imagine that he was once every bit as scary as some members of the audience.
A veritable A-list of the city's doormen, duckers and divers and at least one convicted murderer sat in respectful silence.
Getting pictures of the crowd could have been tricky, but our photographer used up a whole film. "They were all up for it - now they've got an alibi for the night," she said.
The author, publisher and Eric Mason gave a short talk about the book and then invited questions from the crowd. Predictably, they were asked what the Twins were really like, how Steve had got to meet them, and if he thought they should have spent most of their lives behind bars.
Nobody asked what really happened when the Kray Twins came to Tyneside.
THE ANSWER to that is in Steve's fascinating book, co-written by Stuart Wheatman.
Steve became interested in the Krays when, as a ten-year old, he saw them on television attending their mothers' funeral.
He began writing to them - Reggie in various prisons, Ronnie in Broadmoor Hospital for the criminally insane - until he was invited to visit.
They agreed to let him produce and sell t-shirts with their faces on, and began referring to the fledgling business partner as their 'Geordie Connection'.
His book is unique among the rake of publications about the cult of the Twins, being the only one to deal with their final years behind bars. But he does detail their two visits to Tyneside.
First of all, if you go to Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow or any major UK city, you'll hear a version of the Central Station story. Names are never named, of course. In fact the Krays were welcomed in Newcastle.
When they first arrived in early 1964, Newcastle was a very different place to the city we know now. Clubbing it in those days meant a night of cabaret at the Birdcage, the Piccadilly or the 69 Club. La Dolce Vita, on Low Friar Street (next to what's now Planet Earth) was the height of sophistication, booking acts such as Tom Jones and Ella Fitzgerald for a week at a time.
The Twins were 'looking after' an American singer called Billy Daniels, who was to perform at the 'Dolcey'. They stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed the hospitality of various nightclub owners, while an assortment of local criminals paid homage.
Steve describes an intriguing sub-plot to the second visit, which is best read in his own words. It involves the Twins and Angus Sibbett, who was murdered in January 1967. One man who met them then was Dennis Stafford, who was convicted of the murder on the shakiest of evidence, and served twelve years.
He was one of Steve's guests of honour, at the Tyneside Irish Centre.
This second visit involved only Ronnie Kray, who was accompanied by the ex-world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.
Again, Newcastle provided a warm welcome. A retired policeman recently provided an amusing insight into the times, in The Journal.
He'd stopped a Rolls Royce that had jumped some traffic lights on Grey Street, in the early hours of the morning. It was being driven by Ronnie Kray, with Joe Louis sitting in the back.
Ronnie wound down his window and handed the officer a fiver "for the widows and orphans", before driving off.
Steve's book also recalls his friendship with Charlie Kray, the Twins' elder brother. He was a frequent visitor to Tyneside until fairly recently, and Steve would often take him to Julies nightclub, on the Quayside.
The funniest anecdote in the book involves Chris Donald, from Viz. The comic ran a spoof story about Kevin, 'The Third Kray Twin'. Reg asked Steve to introduce him to the bloke behind 'Fizz'. He'd assumed Chris must be a supporter of the Twins, and had hoped he might help finance a book he was working on.
THE KRAYS: The Geordie Connection is largely autobiographical, also dealing with Steve's life as a doorman in Newcastle. Although it dispels many myths about the Kray Twins, it will not disappoint those who take an interest in the underworld.
He shifted quite a few copies at the Tyneside Irish Centre, many of which he was asked to sign and date. £6.99 isn't much to pay for proof of one's whereabouts on the evening of October 22nd, 2002.
