Methods of Torture
In July 1965 the police were informed of a horrific crime by one of the gang's victims. The victim told the tale of being severely beaten and bruised after being found guilty of disloyalty by a kangaroo court; he then had to mop up his own blood using his own underpants.
The police unearthed the sadistic methods of torture that the gang specialised in. Victims were hauled in front of Charlie, Fraser and others in a mock trial. Then the punishments were meted out, anything from beatings to more severe forms of torture: whippings, cigarette burning, teeth being pulled out with pliers (for which gang member "Mad" Frankie Fraser was especially notorious), nailing to the floor, having toes removed with bolt cutters and given electric shocks until unconsciousness. The electric shocks were inflicted by an old Army field telephone which included a hand-crank-powered generator (much like the notorious Tucker telephone). The victims had the terminals attached to their nipples and genitalia and were then placed in a bath of cold water to enhance the electrical charge. Afterwards, if victims were too badly injured, they would be sent to a doctor who had been struck off the Medical Register. This process of trial and torture was known as "taking a shirt from Charlie", because of Charlie Richardson's habit of giving each victim a clean shirt in which to return home (since the victim's original shirt was usually covered in blood). Notable characters in the gang included the notorious hit man Jimmy Moody, Roy Hall (who operated the electric generator), Albert Longman, Tommy Clark and George Cornell.
On one occasion, a collector of "pensions" (protection money from publicans and others), who was twice warned by the Richardsons after he pocketed the money and spent it at Catford dog track, was nailed to the floor of a warehouse near Tower Bridge for nearly two days, during which time gang members (for example driver Harry Beard) frequently urinated on him.
Read more about this topic: The Richardson Gang
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