The Soho Don

Smartly dressed and well spoken, Billy Howard dominated the London crime scene for 30 years, a reign punctuated only by short stays in prison. The protection business drew him into a lucrative world of nightclubs and gambling, on the back of the black-market trade that had flourished during the World War II. Unlike many of the notorious figures that have emerged from this era, he was in many ways a loner, preferring to control his own operations and eschewing the leadership of a gang. His power and influence were so great that even now, almost two decades after his death, close friends and casual acquaintances are still wary of speaking out. The Soho Don is an account of Howard's violent life, and it exposes the links between the vicious gangland bosses, the police, and the celebrity hothouses of Mayfair clubs, high-class prostitution, and international gambling. It portrays his slide from power and, finally, his death in 1984.