Ask anyone old enough to remember the Kray twins and you’ll hear a blend of menace and affection — East End folk heroes who also ran a protection racket. Ronnie Kray, born in Hoxton in 1933, built the Firm into the most feared gang in London before dying in 1995, aged 61, after 26 years inside (The Independent (British national newspaper)). This article sorts the verified record — his conviction, his years in Broadmoor, and the controversy over what happened to his body after death — from the rumors that still cling to the Kray name.
Born: 24 October 1933 ·
Died: 17 March 1995 (aged 61) ·
Twin brother: Reggie Kray ·
Criminal organization: The Firm ·
Prison sentence: Life imprisonment (1969)
Quick snapshot
- Ronnie Kray was born on 24 October 1933 in Hoxton, London, the twin brother of Reggie Kray (London Museum (London’s city history museum)).
- In 1966 he shot George Cornell at the Blind Beggar; in 1969 he was convicted of murder (London Museum (London’s city history museum)).
- He died in 1995 after a heart attack (London Museum (London’s city history museum)).
- The exact net worth of the Krays at the height of their power.
- Whether Ronnie fathered any illegitimate children.
- Where any hidden Kray money remains.
- 1950s–1960s: the Krays rise to prominence in London’s underworld (BBC News (the UK’s public broadcaster)).
- 1960: the twins open the gambling club Esmeralda’s Barn in Knightsbridge (BBC News (the UK’s public broadcaster)).
- 1979: Ronnie is certified insane and transferred to Broadmoor Hospital (The Anachronist (academic history journal)).
- Ronnie’s grave at Brookwood Cemetery and Reggie’s at Chingford Mount are open to visitors.
- The brain-removal dispute remains the most contested chapter of his afterlife.
- No hidden Kray money has ever surfaced.
Seven facts, one pattern: the numbers that get repeated most often — 1933, 1969, 1995 — are exactly the ones worth checking.
| Field | Record |
|---|---|
| Full name | Ronald Joseph Kray |
| Born | 24 October 1933, Hoxton, London |
| Died | 17 March 1995, Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne |
| Occupation | Gangster, nightclub owner |
| Brothers | Reggie Kray (twin), Charlie Kray (elder) |
| Spouse | None (never married) |
| Children | None confirmed |
Personal Life: Marriage and Children
The twins’ personal lives are where biography shades into gossip. The documented facts are thinner than the legend, and the family tree has more dead ends than branches.
Did Ronnie Kray get married?
- No legal marriage is recorded for Ronnie Kray.
- No children from any relationship have ever been confirmed.
- The “wife” figure in later press reports, Kate Kray, appears in the record mainly through the brain-removal case.
Ronnie, by most accounts, was the twin least interested in a conventional home life. His public story was written through the Firm, the nightclubs, and the murder trial. The documented marital record belongs to Reggie.
Kate Kray’s role in the story is narrower than the rumors suggest. By 1997, when the brain-removal case reached court, press reports described her as Ronnie’s widow — a label that has stuck, even though no marriage certificate has ever surfaced.
Did Ronnie and Reggie Kray have a child?
- Ronnie: no confirmed children, despite recurring rumors.
- Reggie: married Frances Shea in 1965 and, decades later, Roberta Jones (Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia)).
- Reggie: no confirmed children with either wife.
Frances Shea died in 1967, two years after the wedding. Biographies occasionally name a son of Reggie’s, Francis, but the claim has been disputed.
The implication: if you’re tracing Kray descendants, you hit a documented wall. The absence of heirs is exactly why so many claims about hidden inheritances keep circulating.
The Death of Ronnie Kray
Ronnie’s death is a matter of record; his afterlife is not.
How old were the Krays when they died?
- Ronnie Kray died on 17 March 1995, aged 61 (Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia)).
- Reggie Kray died in 2000, three years after Ronnie’s twin.
Ronnie had been in Broadmoor since 1979, after being certified insane. On the day of his death, he suffered a heart attack at the hospital and was taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, where he died. Reggie, who had been in prison since 1969, died in 2000 at 66.
The date itself is settled in most reference works; the age is not the controversy. The controversy is what happened after death.
The brain was never the mystery; the silence was. Charlie Kray’s testimony turned a coroner’s procedure into a family scandal because the family found out through a court case, not a phone call.
Why was Ronnie Kray’s brain removed?
- The Independent reported in 1997 that Ronnie’s brain was removed after his death and taken to a laboratory in Oxford (The Independent (British national newspaper)).
- Charlie Kray’s court testimony, reported by the same paper, said the removal happened without initially informing Kate Kray.
- The organ was later returned in a casket and reburied.
The removal was not needed to establish cause of death — the heart attack had done that. According to the 1997 testimony, the brain was kept for research, and the family learned about it while the case was already in court.
For researchers, the episode is a textbook case of post-mortem consent failures. For the family, it turned grief into a legal fight that lasted long after Ronnie was buried.
The implication: the medical-ethics debate around Ronnie’s autopsy remains unresolved.
Funerals and Burial
The funerals turned private grief into public spectacle — and left a paper trail for visitors.
Did Reggie go to Ronnie’s funeral?
- Reggie Kray attended Ronnie’s funeral, escorted by guards (Wikipedia (the online encyclopedia)).
- The funeral was held in 1995, soon after Ronnie’s death.
Reggie was still serving his life sentence, so the escort was custody, not ceremony. Even so, his presence at the graveside became one of the defining images of the Kray story. Five years later, Reggie was dead himself.
Are Reggie and Frances buried together?
- Reggie and his first wife Frances Shea share a grave at Chingford Mount Cemetery.
- Frances died in 1967, two years after the wedding.
Frances’s death was the tragedy that shadowed Reggie’s life. The shared grave at Chingford Mount is the closest thing the twins’ story has to a private ending — even though the cemetery is open to the public.
Can you visit the Kray twins grave?
- Ronnie is buried at Brookwood Cemetery.
- Reggie is buried at Chingford Mount Cemetery with Frances Shea.
Both cemeteries are open to visitors, and neither grave requires special access. The practical note: normal visiting hours and cemetery conditions apply.
The trade-off: the graves made the twins permanent tourist fixtures, which is exactly what the family never wanted — but it also preserved the story in public view.
The Kray Family: Brother and Survivors
The Kray name was a family enterprise in the most literal sense. The brothers shared a trade, a reputation, and eventually a sentence.
Who was Ronnie and Reggie Kray’s brother?
- The twins had one older brother, Charlie Kray.
- Their parents were Charles Kray and Violet Lee; the family lived at 178 Vallance Road in Bethnal Green.
- Charlie was a professional boxer before his conviction in a later drug-trafficking case.
Charlie was two things at once: the older sibling who stood by the twins, and the one who paid for the name. He was convicted in the drug-trafficking case and died in 2000, the same year as Reggie.
What this means: the surname carried risk long after the twins went to prison. Charlie’s later conviction showed that being a Kray was not something you could simply retire from.
Are any of the Krays family still alive?
- As of 2025, no direct descendants of the twins are publicly known to be alive.
- Some extended family members survived them.
The direct line stops with Reggie’s death in 2000. Because no children or grandchildren have a documented claim, the inheritance rumors continue to circulate without any claimant to ground them.
How many wives did Reggie Kray have?
- Two: Frances Shea (1965–1967) and Roberta Jones (1989–2000).
Frances’s death in 1967 left Reggie a widower in his early thirties. The second marriage, to Roberta Jones, came while he was still in prison. Neither marriage produced a confirmed child.
The pattern: the absence of documented heirs directly fuels the fortune myths that persist.
The Kray Fortune
The fortune question follows the same pattern as the family tree: the visible assets were accounted for, and everything else became rumor.
What happened to all the Krays’ money?
- The state confiscated the Krays’ assets after the 1969 convictions.
- Seized assets included properties, luxury cars, and proceeds from racketeering.
- Some cash was rumored to be hidden and never recovered.
The visible empire did not survive the trial. Properties and cars were seized, legal fees consumed much of what remained, and the rumor of buried cash became part of the folklore. No credible record of a hidden fortune has ever emerged.
Gangster wealth is mostly cash, and cash leaves no paper trail. The state recovered what appeared on paper; the rest became a blank space for legend to fill.
Why this matters: the fortune question is unsolvable, and that is precisely why it keeps selling books.
Ethnicity and Heritage
The heritage question is the one part of the Kray story where the twins themselves chose the label.
Were the Kray twins gypsy?
- The twins were of Romani descent on their mother’s side.
- Their father, Charles Kray, was of Irish descent.
- The twins identified with the gypsy heritage from the maternal line.
In the East End, the gypsy identity carried real weight. For two men building an empire on family loyalty, the maternal Romani heritage was a genuine background and, at the same time, a useful public story.
The heritage was one of the few elements of the Kray image that was not invented. It also gave the media a ready-made frame: the gypsy twins as folk characters, rather than the violent racketeers the courts described.
The tension: real identity and marketable story are hard to separate in the Kray legacy — and that ambiguity is part of why they remain fascinating.
Key Dates in Ronnie Kray’s Life
Eight dates, one pattern: each turning point moved Ronnie deeper into the system — from Hoxton to Broadmoor to Brookwood.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 24 Oct 1933 | Ronnie Kray born in Hoxton, London, alongside twin Reggie. |
| 1950s–1960s | The twins run protection rackets and rise through the East End underworld. |
| 1960 | The twins move to the West End and open Esmeralda’s Barn in Knightsbridge. |
| 1966 | Ronnie shoots George Cornell at the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel. |
| 1969 | Ronnie and Reggie are convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. |
| 1979 | Ronnie is certified insane and transferred to Broadmoor Hospital. |
| 17 Mar 1995 | Ronnie dies after a heart attack. |
| 1997 | Charlie Kray’s testimony makes the brain removal public. |
The pattern: from 1969 onward, every date on this list belongs to the state, not to Ronnie.
Confirmed Facts and Open Questions
Confirmed facts
- Ronnie Kray was born on 24 October 1933 and died in 1995 after a heart attack.
- He was convicted of murder in 1969 and remained in custody until his death.
- His brain was removed during the autopsy; the organ was later returned to the family and reburied.
- Reggie Kray married Frances Shea and later Roberta Jones.
What’s unclear
- The exact net worth of the Krays at the height of their power.
- Whether Ronnie fathered any children outside marriage.
- Where any hidden Kray money remains.
- Precisely when the family learned that Ronnie’s brain had been removed.
The contrast between confirmed and unclear underscores how much of the Kray narrative remains open to speculation.
The Record, in Their Words
“Ronnie Kray’s brain was removed after his death and taken to a laboratory in Oxford.”
— The Independent (British national newspaper), 1997 report
“Ronnie Kray was certified insane and transferred to Broadmoor Hospital in 1979.”
“The Krays operated protection rackets in the East End during the 1950s.”
These three accounts — from a newspaper, an academic journal, and a public broadcaster — converge on the core facts of the Kray story.
Summary
The documented Ronnie Kray is less romantic and more damning than the films suggest: a man who spent 26 years in custody, whose brain became a scandal his family had to fight to resolve, and whose estate left nothing to heirs he never had. For biographers, true-crime readers, and anyone researching East End history, the choice is clear: trust the court records, the autopsy reporting, and the 1997 testimony over the folklore — or you will keep repeating the myth the twins themselves cultivated.
Frequently asked questions
What was Ronnie Kray’s nickname?
Press accounts and biographies most often refer to Ronnie Kray as “The Colonel”; his twin Reggie was sometimes called “The Major.”
How long were the Kray twins in prison?
Ronnie was in custody from 1969 until his death in 1995 — 26 years. Reggie remained in custody until 2000, roughly 31 years.
What movies have been made about the Kray twins?
The two best-known films are The Krays (1990), starring Gary and Martin Kemp, and Legend (2015), with Tom Hardy playing both twins.
Did Ronnie Kray have any mental health issues?
Yes. Ronnie Kray was certified insane and transferred to Broadmoor Hospital in 1979, where he remained until his death in 1995.
How did the Kray twins get caught?
The decisive event was the murder of George Cornell in 1966. Ronnie was convicted in 1969, and both twins were sentenced to life imprisonment.
What is the legacy of the Kray twins?
A double-edged one. The East End remembers them as colorful characters, while the courts remembered them as killers. Films, books, and visitor-frequented graves keep the legend alive.
These answers distill the most common public curiosities about the Kray twins’ lives and crimes.
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Jonathan Ellery is Editor-in-Chief and Responsible Publisher at Press Hive, overseeing editorial standards, publication decisions and the corrections process.