BONDED BY BLOOD Murder and Intrigue in the Essex Ganglands

Softcover. Blood-soaked corpses and the faces of 3 teenagers poisoned by Ecstasy are the images that flash through the author's mind when he closes his eyes and recalls his past. He was a key member of the Essex Boys firm - one of the most violent criminal gangs in Britain. In December 1995, its three leaders were executed as they sat in their Range Rover down a deserted farm track. For many, this meant that the horror of the gang's brutal reign was over. For Jack Whomes and Michael Steele, the nightmare had just begun. Convicted of the murders on the word of a supergrass, these two men had spent a decade in prison for crimes they say they did not commit. In February 2006, Whomes and Steele had their appeals against conviction dismissed. Friends and family vowed to fight on, but the author has decided to lay the events of the past to rest. In this book, he goes back to exorcise his ghosts. Divided by greed, bonded by the blood of their victims, the Essex Boys' rise to the top of the criminal underworld was as dramatic as their final fall. Illus. in colour. 271pp. trade size softcover. As New.