It is a little known fact that one immigrant Italian family ran London's
thriving vice trade unchecked from the mid-1930s for some twenty
years.
The five Messina brothers imported prostitutes from the Continent on an
industrial scale, acquiring the women British citizenship by phony
marriages. Demanding 80% of earnings, the Messina family became
fabulously wealthy, purchasing expensive properties, cars and
influence.
As this revealing and absorbing account describes, the brothers ruled
with a ruthless combination of charm, blackmail and all too credible
threats of disfigurement and death.
It took a sensational Sunday newspaper exposé to get the authorities to
act. A series of dramatic arrests and trials followed and one by one the
brothers were imprisoned and deported for crimes including immoral
earnings, attempted bribery and firearms offenses.
Such was their fortune that numerous potential beneficiaries came
forward, most recently in 2012.
The author, a much published former Metropolitan police officer, has
researched the remarkable criminal careers of the five Messina's and the
result is a riveting and shocking read.