STAFFY OWNER

Has anybody else read this book? It's about a Liverpool gangster by the name of Stephen French, it seems like a work of almost total fiction. Some of the situations he is in are a joke: he uses a karate kick to destroy a security screen in a bank as he is robbing it, he drops 40 foot over a bridge to escape a following copper, he gazelles (his word not mine) over a 7 foot wall to escape from following gangsters after he's nicked there stash of drugs and once they realise it's him the instantly back down. Oh and by the way he lets you know that he's a world class athlete every dozen or so pages. He openly admits he always wanted to get in Curtis Warren's gang but Warren never allowed him in - i wonder why.

Can anybody from up that part of the country shine any light on the guy?

If you haven't bought it save your money and don't bother, if it's in your local library get it out for a laugh if you like fiction lol.

charlie luciano

iTrader: (3)

Haven't read the book but saw some docu on the tv about the fella, now lives in a house with motion sensors and bbc installed all around the place,

looks to me to be edgey when he moves around, hardly surprising if you made a living out of stealing from other villans, its not long before you are going to upset someone who has shall we say 'a lout of clout' when it becomes being an under world figure,

he now does community work trying to get up and coming youngsters out of the life of crime, that is good work and a lot of ex hoodlums take this path

But I hear what you are saying these stories always seem glorified and hyped up

Luciano

STAFFY OWNER

Yeah Luciano, i think i saw that programme. Was it one of the Danny Dyer or Donal MacIntyre programs? When i watched the program i hadn't read the book so didn't realise what a bullshitter he comes across as. As you say if you tread on too many toes and those toes belong to someone with bigger feet than you you are quite likely to get stamped on and when the proper criminals stamp (as opposed to plastic gangsters) it's usually permanent.

Kop2381

Trust me pretty much everything he says he has done he HAS. But i think the book was ghost written etc. But he was one bad fucker back in the day i saw him a couple of months ago booming through town in his bentley

wirralphil

He has to live on the Wirral now in a place called Bidston, you can see Liverpool from where he lives. I do agree his book is far fetched but so are alot of these "Real Gangster" books.

He also got arrested in Birkenhead the beginning of the year for having an offensive weapon in a car he was in.

I personally think he's related to BM08 as he is a proper plonker.

STAFFY OWNER

If you're reading this Mr French sir, i never really doubted you it was all just a big misunderstanding lol.

wirralphil

You;d like him in real life.

He has Staffies at home for protection

STAFFY OWNER

For anyone that is a fan of true crime books i can highly recommend this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brutal-Untol...9034872&sr=1-1

It is about a mobster from Boston USA and it makes moth other gangster books read like fairytales and the way the guy comes across as he recalls his experiences you can tell that what he is saying is straight up. He holds nothing back but at the same time doesn't try to glorify what he did.
For anyone looking for a good book to take on holiday, Brutal is the one.

STAFFY OWNER

Staffies won't protect him, he'd be better off with a couple of Jack Russells.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Saw a clip of that Danny Dyer programme on youtube. Guy came across as an egomaniac who thought he was really sharp, but was actually properly stupid.

wirralphil

Excellent Analisis.

CRABBY

wasnt he on the ross kemp on gangs programme as well?

S1MATT

Was an okay read. It was just one of them where once he'd turrned 10, nobody or no situation got the better of him which just makes you disbelive (sp) it! What other books you read, suggest?

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

funnily enough, i just posted a thread about a book i read last week on holiday called "escobar" about the infamous pablo escobar, drug baron of columbia

what a book!!, if you aint read it, do it! its written by his brother
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Escobar-Insi...9038992&sr=8-1

OldDan

What about all these Benard O'Mahoney books?

The first one I read was great, now they are all just regurgitated.

danneth

paul ferris > all imo

Kieron

Danny Dyers worlds hardest men as it was on fiver last night and I watched it as there was fuck all else on. Not much liked in Liverpool now by all accounts and someone shot at him a couple of weeks prior to filming.

He campains to fight gun crime.

mrjenrst

A proper nutcase, he scalped some cunt who bullied him at school!

STAFFY OWNER

Books that i have recently read and can recommend (not all true crime but all fact based):

Brown Bread Fred by Freddie Foreman.
Fight to the death : Viv Graham and Lee Duffy - too hard to live, too young to die by Stephen Richards.
Picking up the brass by Eddy Nugent (very funny book about the experiences of a young lad who joins the army - if you've been in the army particularly the paras you will relate to it).
Finding Shannon : The Inside Story by Richard Edwards (reporters reporting experiences during and after the time Shannon Matthews was missing).
The Iceman : The Rise and Fall of a Crime Lord by Russell Findlay (about a big time Scottish drug smuggler/dealer).
Crack House by Harry Keeble (about a copper tasked with shutting down crack dens in Inner London).
Screwed : The Truth about life as a Prison Officer by Ronnie Thompson.
The Gangster's Wife : An Empire Built on Cards by David Leslie (about Tam Mcgraw - The Licensee, from his wifes point of view).
Slave Girl by Sarah Forsyth (about a girl who is duped into working as a sex slave in a prostitutes window in Amsterdam's red light district).
Brutal by Kevin Weeks (an excellent account of the day to day life of a mobster in South Boston USA).

I have read other similar books but these are the most recent ones that i would definitely recommend.

rst deany

Fight to the death : Viv Graham and Lee Duffy - too hard to live, too young to die by Stephen Richards

is a good book i no afew of lees old friends and they say its all true.

STAFFY OWNER

Just read a bit more. Here's a driving related bit from it that will make you laugh, he claims to have driven from Walthamstow in London to Liverpool Oxford Street maternity hospital in 2 hours and 16 minutes. On the AA route planner Walthamstow to Liverpool is about 215 miles with an expected journey time of 3 hours and 48 minutes. His average speed would have to be about 96mph.
By the way he also has "spider senses" (?) lol.

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

It's do-able depending on the time of day. I got from my house (20 miles south of Bath) to Elvington and averaged 90mph in an Evo FQsomething-or-other press car. I left at about 4.30am, and got to Elvington about two hours earlier than I'd planned !!

STAFFY OWNER

Maybe do-able but very unlikely. Everything he does seems exaggerated that's what makes me dubious about this latest tale.

Gary F

iTrader: (1)

Why don't you go to Liverpool and take it up with him if your that bothered?
I'm sure he'll be over the moon that you think he's full of shit

XRT_si

iTrader: (2)

I was asking for good gangster reads for my holiday and ended up with Tookie Williams autobiography which I thought was gash.


Brutal sounds good though, have to give it a read.

STAFFY OWNER

It doesn't bother me that much mate, i'm just highlighting the fact that if anyone was thinking of buying this book because they are into "true crime" books they might be a bit disappointed because i think that the word "true" is where this book falls down. I'm sure he's had a colourful life but he just seems to glorify everything he's done and he's done it bigger and better than anyone else could ever do.

Anyway, he's made a lot more money than i will ever see and it seems he's now living a straight life so good luck to the fella.