The drawing is of a cowboy and could very easily have been made by a proud child in school.
But the crayon depiction was in fact drawn by gangster Reggie Kray – after he and his brother Ronnie had been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
This drawing is part of three related lots to Kray twins that will be auctioned by an unidentified seller in the latter half of the evening.
The cowboy image is expected to sell for between £1,000-1,500 at Chiswick Auctions in West London.
Ronnie’s oil painting of the Crucifixion scene, which Ronnie created while behind bars is also part of the sale. It could fetch £3,500.
The third lot includes a letter that Francis Bacon, a famous artist and painter, sent to Ronnie after he sent him a drawing in his cell. It is expected to sell for between £4,000 and £6,000.
In September 1989, Bacon wrote to Kray and thanked him for drawing. He said that it was good to hear that he was doing well, but that he’d been sick for some time.
He was 82 when he died three years later.
In 2015, Bacon’s long-time friend Michael Peppiatt revealed that the painter had told him how both Kray twins repeatedly sent him ‘very odd’ drawings from behind bars – even though they had earlier ordered the theft of some of his works from his London studio.
This drawing shows a cowboy, which is something that could have easily been drawn by proud schoolchildren. But the crayon depiction was in fact drawn by gangster Reggie Kray – after he and his brother Ronnie had been sentenced to life in prison for murder. An anonymous collector is selling three items related to the Kray twins today.
Ronnie’s oil painting of the Crucifixion Scene, which Ronnie created while also behind bars is included with the sale. It could fetch £3,500
Ronnie and Reggie are well-known for their involvement in murder, armed theft, and assault, and also running protection rackets.
Nightclub owners were mixed with prominent entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Barbara Windsor.
After being arrested for their crimes in 1968, they were convicted of them and sentenced to a life sentence a year later.
Following their convictions they were transferred to separate prisons. Reggie Kray’s cowboy drawing of Reggie Kray was created while he was at HMP Wayland in Norfolk.
The head paper bears Reggie’s photo and a quote that reads, “Life isn’t a rehearsal. Make the most of your life.”
Following his time in Maidstone Prison in Kent, Reggie was transferred to the new location in 1997. Reggie died in 2000 aged 66.
Kray twins are among London’s most notorious gangsters from the East End.
The third lot is a letter that Francis Bacon, a famous artist and painter, sent to Ronnie after he had drawn a picture from his cell. It is expected to sell for between £4,000 and £6,000
Bacon’s friend Michael Peppiatt, a longtime acquaintance of the artist, revealed to him that the painter told him about how his Kray twins had repeatedly sent him “very strange” drawings from behind bars.
Ronnie did not paint the Crucifixion scene in the original painting. He was released from ordinary prisons in the first ten years of his sentence.
He was a Category A prisoner, and after suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, he was finally certified insane. He was 61 when he died.
Michael Peppiatt, Bacon’s friend, told Bacon that he was the object of unwanted attention from the Krays since meeting them in 1950s.
“I owned many rooms so I agreed to it, and then I didn’t see the end.” He seemed always to be there’, he stated.
Ronnie and Reggie are well-known for their involvement in murder, armed theft, arson and running protection rackets.
Nightclub owners were mixed with prominent entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Barbara Windsor.
Bacon was reportedly forced to sell his paintings in an auction a few years later after one of Krays’ associates stole them from his studio.
He said this to me after the prison sentence was handed down. “They sent me these paintings from there. These paintings are very strange, they always show soft landscapes and little cottages.
Bacon writes to Ronnie, thanking him for his letter. Glad to hear that you’re doing well. I would love to be able to say that about myself, as I’ve been sick for a while.
Ronnie Kray (left), celebrating the joy of Frances Shae’s brother Reggie Kray, after their union that lasted just eight weeks.
Who were the Kray twins and why?
Twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray were jailed for life in 1969 for a regime of violent organised crime in London’s East End.
The brothers, who were later described as having a ‘love-hate’ relationship and an ‘almost telepathic bond’, were involved in a series of protection rackets, armed robberies, arson, and murders.
The Kray twins were initially sent to separate prisons to carry out their life sentences, but their mother Violet’s campaign for them to be reunited saw them transferred to the same one.
Confidential prison records claim the twins were dubbed ‘The Godfathers’ during their time at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight – where they were both worshipped and feared by other inmates.
Ronnie, 61, died after a heart attack at Broadmoor Hospital in 1995. His brother Reggie, 66, passed away five years later due to bladder cancer.
Their elder brother Charlie played a part in The Firm’s operations. He received a 10-year sentence and was released in 1975 after serving seven, but was sentenced again in 1997 for conspiracy to smuggle £39million worth of cocaine into the country in an undercover drugs sting. He passed away shortly afterwards in 2000 from heart complications.
Reggie and Ronnie Kray, twins from London were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1969 after they participated in a violent organized crime regime in London’s East End. Pictured: The twins with their mother outside their Bethnal Green home in East London in 1965