The book of
Criminal Quotations

JP Bean – “There were books of quotations by politicians, sportsmen, writers, actors and all the rest – but there had never been a collection of quotations by criminals. I thought that was bit strange, since the dark deeds of villainy  provide entertainment and vicarious excitement for millions of people in films, books and on television.

There were plenty to go at – British and American… Ronnie Kray’s response to being  charged with murder - “I presume that your presumptions are precisely incorrect and your sarcastic insinuations are too obnoxious to be appreciated.”  …Bill Goldsby, killer of 13 men in Texas, asked on the scaffold if he had anything to say – “I came here to die, not give a speech.”

Headline published Verbals in 1995, straight into paperback. A revised version was published in 2003 by Artnik as The Book of Criminal Quotations, with a new foreword by John McVicar, the former Public Enemy Number One himself. 

IBSN: 1-903906-30-X

John McVicar with JP Bean at the book launch, 2003, Bulgarian Embassy, London

A review by Razor Smith from Inside Time, 2003