The Richard Hart Killing
In December of 1965 George Cornell, an associate of importance to the Richardson gang, attended a Christmas Party held at the Astor House. Cornell had known the Kray twins since childhood, and may have briefly worked with them in the late 1950s. By 1964 he was working for the Richardson gang and was a major dealer of drugs in London and a supplier of pornography. Cornell was a heavy user of several of his pharmaceuticals, and was known to be both unstable and occasionally unreliable, but his drug business made him a major earner for the Richardsons.
Because Cornell knew both Kray twins he was often a go-between between the Richardson’s and the Krays. Members of both gangs were in attendance at the Astor for the Christmas party and after some drinking and verbal confrontation Cornell called out that Ronnie Kray was a “fat poof,” poof being a term used derogatorily for a homosexual. Ronnie Kray was not present at the party, according to some accounts which claim that he learned of the insult later.
In March 1966, members of the Kray and Richardson gangs had another confrontation at a club in the London neighborhood of Catford, known as Mr. Smiths. During this confrontation a shootout occurred, with one of Ronnie Kray’s close associates, Richard Hart, being shot dead. A co-operating witness told police that the shooter responsible for Hart’s death was a Richardson associate named Frankie Fraser. Fraser was an enforcer for the Richardson’s and well known to the police.
The witness informed the police that Hart had tried to flee the club when the violence began and Fraser pursued him, shooting him dead in the club’s stairwell. Hart was shot multiple times. When the Richardson’s learned the identity of the witness (how was never established publicly) his story changed and he said that while Fraser was in the club at the time, he (the witness) couldn’t say with certainty whether Fraser had shot Hart, or even if he had been engaged in the gunfight at all. Fraser was acquitted of the murder, though he was convicted of the charge of affray.
Nobody was ever convicted of the murder of Richard Hart, although the incident led to multiple members of the Richardson gang being arrested and convicted of affray. One witness claimed to have seen Cornell kicking the dead Hart, but in the absence of corroboration and since Cornell had an alibi, he was never charged. Ronnie Kray was informed of Cornell’s possibly being at the scene of the shooting, as well as the derogatory comment he had made the preceding Christmas.