Hit 'Em Hard: Jack Spot, King of the Underworld

Wensley Clarkson

HarperCollinsEntertainment, 2003 - Biography & Autobiography - 290 pages

A biography of Jack Spot, king of the 1950s London underworld who inspired both the Krays and the Richardsons. Spot was known as one of the most powerful criminals in Britain - amassing incredible wealth, and being associated with a string of women, throughout his 30-year career. From taking to the streets of London in the 1930s and associating with the pantheon of criminals who led the 1960s organizations, Jack Spot's tale is a gripping cocktail of dastardly crimes and glamourous associations. He was looked up to by some of Britain's most notorious faces - such as the Krays and the Richardsons who saw him as a mentor and genius in the craft of crime.

About the author

Wensley Clarkson, a British tabloid writer, is the author of more than two dozen true-crime novels and quickie celebrity biographies. In his tell-all book, Death at Every Stop: The True Story of Alleged Gay Serial Killer Andrew Cunanan, Clarkson takes the reader into the mind of the playboy who murdered Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace. Some of Clarkson's other true-crime novels include Whatever Mother Says, the shocking true story of a woman who was arrested in 1993 for the torture murders of her two daughters. Doctors of Death is the chilling true tales of psychopathic physicians; and An Eye for An Eye is the story of a woman out for revenge after the murder of her daughter, which was turned into a feature film starring Sally Fields. Clarkson's unauthorized biographies include exposes on Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Quentin Tarantino.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Hit 'Em Hard: Jack Spot, King of the Underworld
• Author: Wensley Clarkson
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: HarperCollinsEntertainment, 2003
• ISBN: 0007124414, 9780007124411
• Length: 290 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Criminals & Outlaws; Biography & Autobiography / General; Social Science / Criminology; Social Science / Sociology / General; True Crime / General; True Crime / Organized Crime