The names of infamous crooks such as the Richardsons, Frankie Fraser and the Krays are all indelibly linked with the London gangland scene of the '50s and '60s. One man who stayed under the radar, however, was 'Scouse' Norman Johnson, whose fearless approach to any problem that came his way earned him the respect of his criminal contemporaries. In this amazing autobiography, Johnson documents the many twists and turns that his life has taken, including his foray into London's gangland in the early '50s, after spending his formative years in Liverpool; his acceptance into the fold of one of the top New York Mafia crime families upon relocating there in the '70s; and his intense affair with an Omani princess in the early '80s, possibly the only time that the heavily protected sanctuary of a Middle Eastern royal has been infiltrated by a Westerner. Arguably the most unusual gangster story ever told, Black Eyes and Blue Blood combines the violence and humour of the archetypal true-crime book with an exotic romantic twist. It also offers a fascinating insight into the underworld on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond over the four decades that Johnson ducked and dived, along the way mixing with some of the worldis best-known gangsters, sportsmen and showbiz personalities, including Rocky Graziano, Jake LaMotta, Frank Sinatra and Tom Jones.
Black Eyes and Blue Blood : The Amazing Life and Times of Gangster 'Scouse' Norman Johnson