R.I.P. Dave Courtney

[Drago]

London hard man, ex gangster, supposed inspiration for Lock stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Dave Courtney is brown bread, treacle.

Reports suggest it was by his own hand, which is a terribly sad way for any human to end up.

 

[iancity]

Rancid did a song about him
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6OvKYbUlGY

 

[raleighnut]

Well I for one won't shed a tear.

 

[PeteXXX]

Never heard of him until now.
I saw the name and wondered if it was someone off Strictly Come Dancing or summat.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'd never heard of him but ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67191667 says "In his final Facebook post Mr Courtney could be seen watching Charlton Athletic lose 4-0 to Reading"

In fact Charlton won 4-0 against Reading.

 

[Dirk]

Shot three times and smothered with a pillow.
Police reckon it's suicide......

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Who? Never heard of him before, RIP.

 

[Dogtrousers]

"Claimed to be an associate of the Kray twins". He was 64, so born in '59 ish. That would mean he was about 9 when Krays went to prison.

 

[cougie uk]

"Claimed to be an associate of the Kray twins". He was 64, so born in '59 ish. That would mean he was about 9 when Krays went to prison.

I thought he was a bit young but didn't do the sums. Makes you wonder what else he's exaggerated.

 

[Drago]

Not defending him, but one must ask did he exaggerate? He never publicly stated the nature of any association with the Krays or when/where he met them, if he ever did at all.

The media seems to be responsible for attributing a lot of quotes to him without going as far as putting them in speech marks. Courtney said this, Courtney said that, but never a direct quote, never a reference from the person to whom he was speaking.

I suspect his crime in that regard is to simply keep schtum and let the media build the myth on his behalf, which did his notoriety and income no harm at all.

 

[fossyant]

Why would one RIP a 'seemingly' Bad Egg ?

 

[markemark]

Why would one RIP a 'seemingly' Bad Egg ?

Because we like to nobolise criminality from the past. I believe it is based on the notion that they behaved within very well defined rules and limited to very specific demographics. Today people fear the randomness of criminality and violence. We feel anyone can be a target so live in constant fear. The myth is that in the good old days everything was safe and the krays etc kept a very well defined order that could be relied upon. That is was only other gangsters who were the targets and that the rest of the population weren’t affected or even benefited from the order the criminals created.

 

[Chris S]

Because we like to nobolise criminality from the past. I believe it is based on the notion that they behaved within very well defined rules and limited to very specific demographics. Today people fear the randomness of criminality and violence. We feel anyone can be a target so live in constant fear. The myth is that in the good old days everything was safe and the krays etc kept a very well defined order that could be relied upon. That is was only other gangsters who were the targets and that the rest of the population weren’t affected or even benefited from the order the criminals created.

The Krays used to extort money from shopkeepers and other legitimate businesses.

 

[Chris S]

I'd never heard of him but ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67191667 says "In his final Facebook post Mr Courtney could be seen watching Charlton Athletic lose 4-0 to Reading"

In fact Charlton won 4-0 against Reading.

Perhaps he wouldn't have shot himself if he had got the scores right?

 

[markemark]

The Krays used to extort money from shopkeepers and other legitimate businesses.

They did all sorts of horrid stuff, but the perception was that they were honourably criminals, gentlemen. It's a myth. Hence the fondness compared to the perception of criminality now.