Jack McVite

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Jack "The Hat" McVite [Jack McVitie] was a London criminal, most notably as an enforcer and hitman for the Kray Twins criminal organization known as The Firm. His nickname is supposedly attributed to his habit for wearing fancy hats to hide his baldness.

A known drug dealer by the 1960s, McVitie had been an associate of the Kray twins for some time, and although he never actually belonged to the Firm, he was regularly employed by the twins to commit various crimes for them. Ronnie Kray had paid McVitie in advance to kill ex-friend Leslie Payne, whom he believed was going to inform the police of his antics, but McVitie never carried out the execution. Instead, his infamous drink and drug addictions caused him to simply keep the money, and to begin threatening several bar owners who were under the protection of the Krays.

1 Death
2 Justice
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Death

On October 29th 1967, Jack was invited to a party on Evering Road in Hackney with some of his underworld associates and their families. What he didn't know was that the twins had arrived at the party first, and had spent an hour clearing away guests. When McVitie walked in, Reggie put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. However the gun jammed. This caused Ronnie Kray to lose his temper, and a brief but violent scuffle ensued. Encouraged by his more violent twin, Reggie threw down the gun and turned on McVitie with a knife, stabbing him multiple times in the face, chest and stomach.

[edit] Justice

The Krays were finally arrested by the same Scotland Yard officials who had been trailing their exploits for years, and along with other members of their gang, including Charlie Kray, they appeared at the Old Bailey in 1969. Charlie received seven years for various offences, whilst his brothers received life sentences of 30 years at minimum.

Despite the obvious restriction on their freedom, prison seemed to do more to encourage the myth and legend surrounding the Krays. Both wrote best-selling books about their lives and, in 1990, a full-length film was made chronicling the brothers' exploits and the famous murder of Jack The Hat himself, in which he was portrayed by Tom Bell. He was also portrayed by Marius Swift in the 2000 film Charlie.