Bernard Silver
(December 1922 – 2002) was an English criminal, who was a leading
crime boss in the London
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...
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,
into a Jewish family to Emily V (née Saunders) and Louis Silver,
and had three younger brothers.
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",
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.
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 Bower 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
Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the British model.
Rank insignia of chief superintendent
File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police
File:RCMP Chief Superintendent.pn ...
Bill Moody.
Silver's influence began to wane as the 1970s wore on, a decline prompted by major investigations into
police corruption
Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal pol ...
that by the end of 1972 had led to the resignation of eighty detectives.
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;
corruption trials in 1976–77 resulted in thirteen detectives—including two ex-
Commanders
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
...
, 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.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and to ten years imprisonment for conspiracy to murder, but later cleared on appeal.
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]
The film character Lew Vogel in the film ''
The Bank Job
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' is based on Bernie Silver.
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
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
with his wife Joyce and son Gerard.
He died in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
, London.
See also
*
Metropolitan Police Clubs & Vice Unit
The Clubs & Vice Unit was an Operational Command Unit of London's Metropolitan Police which provided advice and practical support to other units in the Metropolitan Police concerning the policing of nightclubs, vice and obscene publications.
Hi ...
*
Operation Countryman
Operation Countryman was an investigation into police corruption in London in the late 1970s. The operation was conducted between 1978–1982 at a total cost of £3 million and led to eight police officers being prosecuted, although none were convi ...
References
Further reading
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver, Bernie
English pornographers
English criminals
English gangsters
English Jews
1922 births
2002 deaths
20th-century British businesspeople