A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun: The Autobiography of a Career Criminal : Smith, Noel Razor by null

A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun: The Autobiography of a Career Criminal : Smith, Noel Razor Reviews

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  Colin64

  This is not the sort of book I normally read, preferring crime fiction, but I was captivated by Noel’s story from the first page aided by the fact I was born in Croydon so recognised many pubs and banks mentioned! Noel’s story is violent and brutal but he was clearly the victim of police and prison abuse, particularly when he was still only a child. One wonders if he would have become the hardened criminal of later years if the system had not been so ruthless in its dealing with him as a young man: writing him off as being below average intelligence and someone who would spend his life within the criminal justice system. After a suicide attempt, a Catholic priest taught Noel to read and from there he trained himself to write. Some of the scenes from his incarceration are incredible and reminded me of Henri Charriere’s classic story Papillion whilst the bank robberies and violence are narrated with a vivid and lucid style which left me thinking that had Noel been shown opportunities rather than cell doors, he may well have become a prolific crime writer rather than a criminal.
• 
  scourge

  A good read but suffers from the same flaws of similar books.1 Smith, Reggie Kray, the Richardsons all claimed to hate bullies which is richly comic given that they hold guns to the heads of innocent people.They are, of course, the epitome of the bully but fail to acknowledge it.2 Smith maintains that blaggers are the cream of criminals and hold some exalted position moral than muggers, rapists etc. That is absurd of course.Bank robbers are no better than the thug who coshes an old lady for her pension.Neither care about other people. All criminals have opted to live by the law of the jungle.Morality is largely based on a quid pro quo we agree not to behave like animals in pursuit of selfish pleasures on the understanding that others do the same. Interestingly, most criminals have a heightened sense of justice when they are on the receiving end of injustice. Hence , Smith says he hates the [police because they fitted him up ie he was the victim of an injustice but he was already happy to dish out his own form of injustice.The sub plot for most of these type of books is that, somehow, the criminal behaviour can be explained and, thus, excused.
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  Janie U

  Razor Smith is a career criminal, having been involved since he was a small boy. His intelligence though comes across throughout his writing and there is an overwhelming sense of a wasted life (although that isn't how he sees it, of course). He is neither ashamed nor proud of his life and tells his story as it is but he does have the tendancy to glamourise parts of his story he also tells the grime as it is too!Not unusually for a product of the criminal justice system he is very critical of its working and constantly complains about its effect on him. There is no doubt that he makes some very good points but some ideas for solutions might have added to the value of this memoire.His style of writing is straightforward, he tells his story well and gives convincing descriptions about his emotions throughout his career. The book is a valiant attempt to make the reader understand his motivation but it's never completely works. He knows that what he is doing is wrong and he knows the effect on his family but doesn't seem to be able to value anyone's views higher than his own sens of self worth.Lots that he says against the system is very valid the incentive system in prison is dependent on the will of officers and the recent changes to drug testing has meant prisoners addicted to heroin than ever before.Overall, the book is a great insight. It gives a side to a world that many people do not know about. I came away with a sense of despair, knowing there is little that society can throw at people with this mindset.
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  A D Stranik

  Having left South West London twenty five years ago I have, like most of us, wondered what the kids I grew up with are doing now. Up until around `81' I would go back to visit every couple of weeks and the conversation would invariably turn to "Who's in jail?" "Who just got out?" Eventually the question would become "Who's dead?" "Who's alive?"I remember one of my best friends Noel showing me a paper clipping from the South London Press reporting on his failed stick up of an off license in Balham. By 1980 that was the way the wind was blowing. As kids we were always involved in some life threatening escapade or another, but it was for kicks and only occasionally criminal. But by the time half my friends were in remand centres or borstals I knew I was well out of it.So although it came as a massive surprise, it really shouldn't have, when I recently discovered that the aforementioned Noel is now better known as Razor Smith and is currently serving life for armed robbery.Smith has shot, slashed and robbed his way into gangland legend. Before his life sentence he was the frightener in a gang of four known as the `Laughing Bank Robbers' who carried out a string of bank raids around South London, he has fifty eight criminal convictions to his name and has now chosen to write his autobiography "A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun."Described by G.Q magazine as "One of the most powerful and intelligent crime memoirs we've ever read" and "extraordinary" by the Guardian, I just thought it plain surreal to be standing in the middle of Waterstones seeing my name included in the `lavishly blood splattered' memoirs of a major career criminal. Names, places, incidents, half forgotten friends and enemies and even my brother all contextualised in the pre teen remembrances of a kid I took my first and only pinch with. (For messing around on a railway track ironically) And although Smith is no killer and I'm certainly no choirboy I felt like Pat O'Briens's priest from the movie `Angels With Dirty Faces' reading about the gangster exploits of his boyhood chum Rocky Sullivan played by James Cagney. In fact we were all Cagney fanatics in those days, endlessly acting out scenes from White Heat or Public Enemy on the roof tops of Streatham High Road.The book goes on to outline various `tear ups' between all those old sub cultures of the late 70's such as the Rockabilly's, Skinheads, Punks, Smoothies and Teds which culminated in, perhaps, some of the most notorious pre gun gang wars such as `The Battle of Morden,' `The White Swan Massacre,' and the seemingly fortnightly riots at the Chickaboom Club in Carlshalton. But by the time most of these incidents took place I was lost in music and Razor had gone the way of the gun.As I say, we all wonder about what happened to the kids we grew up with. I just never thought I'd find out in such a spectacular fashion.Noel `Razor' Smith is currently residing in HMP Grendon.
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  Dr Dave. H

  The anecdotal account maps the development from childhood to adult criminality. The pattern is one that is not untypical of habitual offenders and though many criminologists tend to ignore this type of source, it is nevertheless informative than is appreciated.Its an easy read with plenty of examples of how criminality develops and evolves over time.