Leslie Payne

Leslie Payne
Born	c. 1927 Paddington, London
Died	/
Occupation	Businessman, conman
Allegiance	The Firm
Origin	Paddington
Status	Deceased

Leslie James Payne was a con-man who worked for the Krays. He acted at the twins business manager and Payne, during the 1960s, encouraging them to broaden their empire into the club world and persuading them to buy casinos, clubs, and pubs.

History

Early Life

Born in Paddington, London, in 1927, Payne came from a diverse background: his mother was from an impoverished family, his father from a well-to-do one, and the latter had originally trained as a solicitor before deafness curtailed his legal career and he was forced into more menial work by his disability. Payne had served as an Infantry Sergeant during the war and had seen incredible hardship and violence at the battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, and thus he would never be too intimidated by the more aggressive elements within the underworld. During his army days, he became adept at making money through illicit means, and, after being demobbed in 1947, he took this skill into the outside world. With his broad-shouldered good looks and his confident and well-spoken manner, he had the deportment of an Old Etonian and was able to speak in a language that professional people understood. He was essentially a businessman, and often a good one at that; but he had chosen to exercise his talents in the criminal subculture, abetted by his partner, a cunning accountant named Frederick Gore, whom Payne described as “a comedian, an innocent.”

The Krays

David Thewlis portraying Payne in Legend.

Payne first met the Krays indirectly through his car-dealership business in Stratford: on one particular occasion in 1959, a business arrangement with another dealership had gone wrong, with the owners claiming that Payne owed them money. When Payne refused to pay them, they mentioned that they had ‘influential friends’ by way of a veiled threat, which initially cut no ice with Payne. Those ‘influential friends’ turned out to be the twins. When Payne faced the music and met them, he was able to bend them to his way of thinking and they even took his side against the other dealership, who they felt had been using their reputation in vain. Perhaps because of his keen intelligence and appearance of breeding, the Krays took a liking to Payne and would visit him often, probably aware that he could be a useful ally. They were also very willing to defend him: one day, he had a minor altercation with Bobby Ramsey, the old Kray associate who worked for him part-time at the dealership. The relationship between the Krays and Ramsey had soured since the 1956 Terry Martin assault case, and, having heard through the grapevine about the small spat, the twins came over with members of the Firm to sort things out. When Ramsey challenged either of them to a ‘straightener’ (a straightforward, stand-up fight that would be forgotten about once honour had been satisfied), Ronnie replied, “Straight up fight? We haven’t come here for that. We’ve come here to hurt you.” They then beat Ramsey up.

Reggie found him useful whereas Ron was skeptical of his presence in the firm. The Krays paid Jack McVitie to kill him when it was suspected that he was going to inform the police of their criminal activities. McVitie failed to do this, instead, spending the money on drink and pills and bragging about it. This led then lead to his murder.