Bernie Silver

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Bernie Silver

| image_name =

| image_size =

| image_caption =

| birth_name = Bernard Silver

| birth_date = December 1922

| birth_place = Hackney, London, England

| death_date = {{dya|2002|1922}}

| death_place = Westminster, London, England

| cause =

| alias = King of Soho

| motive =

| charge =

| conviction = Murder

| conviction_penalty =

| conviction_status =

| occupation =

| spouse = Joyce

| parents =

| children = Gerard (Son)

}}

Bernard Silver{{cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11267443|publisher=Government of the United Kingdom|title=SILVER, Bernard and others: incitement to murder Thomas SMITHSON on 25 June 1956 in... {{pipe}} The National Archives|accessdate=8 January 2017}} (December 1922 – 2002) was an English criminal, who was a leading crime boss in the London underworld of the 1950s to 1970s. Active in prostitution, pornography and racketeering, Silver was described as "a working-class East Ender with a taste for fine restaurants and flashy clothes."Paul Willetts, Members Only: The Life and Times of Paul Raymond, Profile, 2010, p.182.

History

Silver was born in Hackney, London,{{cite web|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/england-and-wales-births-1837-2006?firstname=bernard&lastname=silver&eventyear=1923&eventyear_offset=0|publisher=search.findmypast.co.uk|title=findmypast.co.uk|accessdate=8 January 2017}} into a Jewish family to Emily V (née Saunders) and Louis Silver,{{cite book|title=Love Now, Pay Later?: Sex and Religion in the Fifties and Sixties|author=Yates, N.|date=2011|publisher=SPCK Publishing|isbn=9780281065448|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BG-pAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT96|accessdate=8 January 2017}} and had three younger brothers.{{cite web|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/england-and-wales-births-1837-2006?lastname=silver&eventyear=1923&eventyear_offset=10&mothersmaidenname=saunders|publisher=search.findmypast.co.uk|title=findmypast.co.uk|accessdate=8 January 2017}}{{better source needed|date=April 2021}}

Silver's rise to prominence began in the mid 1950s with the absorption of the remnants of the Messina Brothers prostitution operation into what came to be known as "The Syndicate",{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Donald|title=Villains' Paradise: a History of Britain's Underworld|year=2008|publisher=Pegasus Books|isbn=978-1-933648-17-0|pages=282|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JaUDhjsMdcEC&q=%22Bernie%20Silver%22%20soho&pg=PA282}} a criminal organisation headed principally by Silver and former Maltese traffic policeman "Big Frank" Mifsud who worked in olive oil importation when he first came to London.{{cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/7th-june-2003/40/from-gin-craze-to-twin-krays|work=The Spectator|title=From gin craze to twin Krays » 6 Jun 2003 » The Spectator Archive|accessdate=8 January 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141207/local/Gangster-Big-Frank-to-take-paternity-test.547143|author=Allied Newspapers Ltd|work=The Times|location=Malta|title=Gangster Big Frank to take paternity test |date=7 December 2014 |accessdate=8 January 2017}}{{cite news|last=Stewart|first=Graham|title=The red-light revelations of Gino & Co|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/graham_stewart/article2554127.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011102516/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/graham_stewart/article2554127.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 October 2008|accessdate=27 November 2010|newspaper=The Times|date=29 September 2010}} In 1956, Silver was arrested and charged with living off immoral earnings but was inexplicably let off by the judge who decided there was no case to answer. Starting off with one stripclub in Brewer Street, by the late 1960s the duo controlled 19 of the 24 stripclubs in Soho.

During the heyday of the Syndicate (1967–1972), most of the Metropolitan Police Obscene Publications Squad were in its pay, including the squad's head, Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Moody.{{cite news|last=Muir|first=Andrew|title=Jimmy and Rusty: It was a small event at Southwark and it ended in small jail sentences. But Jimmy Humphreys in better days (right) was a Caesar of Soho, and his wife Rusty, an empress of vice. When they come out, how will they supplement their pensions?|newspaper=The Independent|accessdate=28 November 2010|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jimmy-and-rusty-it-was-a-small-event-at-southwark-and-it-ended-in-small-jail-sentences-but-jimmy-humphreys-in-better-days-right-was-a-caesar-of-soho-and-his-wife-rusty-an-empress-of-vice-when-they-come-out-how-will-they-supplement-their-pensions-report-andrew-weir-1411438.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005013827/http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jimmy-and-rusty-it-was-a-small-event-at-southwark-and-it-ended-in-small-jail-sentences-but-jimmy-humphreys-in-better-days-right-was-a-caesar-of-soho-and-his-wife-rusty-an-empress-of-vice-when-they-come-out-how-will-they-supplement-their-pensions-report-andrew-weir-1411438.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 October 2010|date=4 July 1994}}

Silver's influence began to wane as the 1970s wore on, a decline prompted by major investigations into police corruption that by the end of 1972 had led to the resignation of eighty detectives.{{cite journal|last=Fennel|first=Phil|title=Book Review: The Fall of Scotland Yard|journal=Crime, Law and Social Change|year=1978|volume=2|issue=3|pages=359–367|doi=10.1007/BF02741901|s2cid=198512705}} The discovery of a detailed ledger of the Syndicate's police payoffs during a raid on the home of Silver's associate Jimmy Humphreys led to the dismissal or forced retirement of hundreds of Metropolitan Police officers;{{cite journal|last=Jenkins |first=P |author2=G. Potter |title=Organized Crime in London: A Comparative Perspective |journal=Corruption and Reform |year=1986 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=165–187 |url=http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/orgcrim/potter.htm |accessdate=28 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526224919/http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/orgcrim/potter.htm |archivedate=26 May 2011 }} corruption trials in 1976–77 resulted in thirteen detectives—including two ex-Commanders, the highest-ranking British police officers ever to be convicted of corruption—being sentenced to a total of 90 years in prison.

In 1973, Silver was again arrested and charged with living off immoral earnings for renting out a room above one of their stripclubs to dancers who also worked as prostitutes. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison, with Mifsud going on the run before getting caught in Switzerland and deported back to England. However, Mifsud appealed and got his sentenced quashed and he then returned to his native Malta.

Silver was convicted on 8 July 1975 of the 25 June 1956 murder of Tommy "Scarface" Smithson.{{cite web|url=https://app.justis.com/case/r-v-bernard-silver/overview/c3GJn3GJmYWca|publisher=app.justis.com|title=JustisOne|accessdate=8 January 2017}} He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and to ten years imprisonment for conspiracy to murder, but later cleared on appeal.{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Cdr Bert Wickstead|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1327680/Cdr-Bert-Wickstead.html|accessdate=28 November 2010|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=24 March 2001}} Smithson was a former boxer and navy merchant stoker who had been attempting to control prostitution in Soho.https://books.google.com/books?id=JaUDhjsMdcEC&lpg=PA282&ots=9VTn6wDFhq&dq=%22Bernie%20Silver%22%20soho&pg=PA282#v=onepage&q=silver&f=false{{Dead link|date=January 2017}}

Silver's later activities and death in 2002 remain unreported. However, he was a director of "JOEL Limited" from 1992 and re-located from London to Home Farm in Newton, Rugby with his wife Joyce and son Gerard.{{cite web|url=https://www.nexok.co.uk/company/02278274/joel-limited/directors-secretaries|author=Nexok Limited|publisher=nexok.co.uk|title=JOEL Limited – Registration number 02278274 – Nexok|date=8 January 2017|accessdate=8 January 2017}} He died in Westminster, London.{{cite web|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/england-and-wales-deaths-1837-2007?firstname=bernard&lastname=silver&eventyear=2002&eventyear_offset=2&yearofbirth=1923&yearofbirth_offset=1|publisher=search.findmypast.co.uk|title=findmypast.co.uk|accessdate=8 January 2017}}

In popular culture

The film character Lew Vogel in the 2008 film The Bank Job is based on Silver. Vogel is played by David Suchet.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Bernie Silver

History

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading