Underworld
Live on the wrong side of the law with Britain’s gangsters, Peaky Blinders, godfathers, robbers, informers, kingpins, vice lords and career criminals
***The Sunday Times Bestseller ***
With stories of murder, theft, fraud and treachery, The Underworld is a deep-dive into the history of professional and organised crime in Britain. From the racetrack gangs and the smash-and-grab merchants, through the Soho vice bosses and the Kray twins, to the Great Train Robbers, the Hatton Garden burglars and the new wave of international hit-men and drug and sex traffickers, Duncan Campbell exposes the dark underbelly of Britain.
A unique perspective – told by the criminals themselves and the detective who pursued them – this is a definitive history from the very beginning to the present day.
Duncan Campbell has been writing about crime for nearly half a century. He was the crime correspondent of the Guardian and chairman of the Crime Reporters’ Association. He has written extensively on the subject of crime for various publications, including Guardian, Observer, Esquire, New Statesman, London Review of Books, Radio Times and Oldie.
He has written four other books on crime: That Was Business, This Is Personal; A Stranger and Afraid; If It Bleeds and We’ll All Be Murdered in Our Beds! The Shocking History of Crime Reporting in Britain.
Duncan was the first presenter of BBC Radio Five Live’s Crime Desk and the winner of the Bar Council newspaper journalist of the year award. He has appeared in numerous documentaries about crime and was the consultant on the 2018 film about the Hatton Garden burglary, which was partly based on an article he wrote about the case for the Guardian.