Wartime Crime

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[ BOMBS WHISTLING, PLANE ROARING ]

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Narrator: BRITAIN, WORLD WAR II --

AS NAZI BOMBS RAIN DOWN ON LONDON,

A CRIME WAVE IS TAKING PLACE ACROSS THE NATION'S CAPITAL.

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Man: A MILLION HOMES DESTROYED,

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TURNED INTO REFUGEES,

PEOPLE LIVING IN SHELTERS AND SUBWAY STATIONS --

IT CREATES THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR CRIMINALITY.

Narrator: EMERGING FROM THE CITY'S SMOLDERING ASHES

IS A RACE FOR UNPRECEDENTED CONTROL OF THE UNDERWORLD.

Man: SUDDENLY, WE HAD A CHARACTER WHO WAS RISING ABOVE

A LOT OF THE MINOR CRIMINALS IN LONDON.

THIS WAS A GUY WHO PEOPLE WERE GENUINELY SCARED OF.

Narrator: A NEW GODFATHER IS POISED TO SEIZE POWER,

AND HIS REIGN WILL CHANGE THE STREETS OF LONDON FOREVER.

CAPTIONS PAID FOR BY DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS

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Narrator: SEPTEMBER, 1939 -- GERMANY INVADES POLAND.

THE WORLD IS AT WAR.

AS HITLER'S ARMIES BEGIN THEIR RELENTLESS MARCH ACROSS EUROPE,

THEY BRING WITH THEM A NEW AND FEARSOME TACTIC OF WAR --

TERROR BOMBING OF CIVILIAN POPULATIONS.

THE PROSPECT OF THE GERMAN LUFTWAFFE

DARKENING ENGLISH SKIES

IS A MAJOR CONCERN FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

CHURCHILL HIMSELF HAD WARNED PARLIAMENT

AS EARLY AS 1934 THAT IN THE EVENT OF WAR,

THE NATION SHOULD EXPECT AN AIR ASSAULT ON LONDON

THAT WILL DRIVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE INTO THE OPEN COUNTRY,

OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL.

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Wawro: THE IDEA OF TERROR BOMBING WAS THAT

YOU WOULD RAIN HIGH-EXPLOSIVE BOMBS

OR INCENDIARIES ON ENEMY POPULATION CENTERS

AND ABSOLUTELY FREAK THE POPULATION OUT.

AND THE COMMITTEE ON IMPERIAL DEFENCE ESTIMATES 600,000 DEAD,

1.2 MILLION WOUNDED IF THE LUFTWAFFE BLITZES LONDON.

Levine: WHEN BOMBERS CAME OVER A CITY,

FIRST OF ALL, THEY COULDN'T BE STOPPED.

THEY WERE GOING TO GET THROUGH, AND WHEN THEY BOMBED,

THEY WERE GOING TO CAUSE SUCH CATACLYSMIC DAMAGE

THAT BASICALLY CIVILIZATION WOULD END.

Wawro: AKIN TO NUCLEAR WAR TODAY,

THE MISSILES WILL GET HERE BEFORE WE CAN REACT,

AND IT WILL RESULT IN UNTOLD DEVASTATION.

AND THE BRITISH ARE ABSOLUTELY,

YOU KNOW, APPALLED BY THE PROSPECT.

Trow: IF YOU HIT LONDON WHERE THEY KEEP THEIR GOVERNMENT,

THEN PEOPLE ARE GOING TO PANIC.

MORALE WOULD COLLAPSE.

THERE WOULD BE A REVOLUTION,

AND THE GOVERNMENT WOULD BE FORCED TO SURRENDER.

Narrator: BUT BRITAIN IS PREPARED FOR THE NAZI ASSAULT.

ON JULY 10th, 1940, THE RAF TAKES TO THE SKIES

TO INTERCEPT THE INVADING GERMAN AIR FORCE.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN BEGINS.

THE BRITISH FIRE COMMAND IS MUCH MORE RESILIENT

THAN THE NAZIS ANTICIPATE.

ITS ABILITY TO RECOVER DOWNED PILOTS,

ITS ABILITY TO MAINTAIN ITS PRODUCTION OF AIRCRAFT

DESPITE GERMAN BOMBING,

ITS ABILITY TO WEATHER THE ATTACKS ON ITS AIRFIELDS

AND STILL STAY IN THE FIGHT.

AFTER 2 MONTHS OF THIS, HITLER, BECOMING DESPERATE,

WANTING TO HAVE A VICTORY OVER THE BRITISH

SO THAT HE CAN TURN HIS ATTENTION TO THE SOVIET UNION,

THEN DECIDES TO SHIFT TO A BOMBING CAMPAIGN, THE BLITZ.

Narrator: BY SEPTEMBER, 1940,

DESPITE THE EARLY SUCCESS IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN,

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S WORST FEARS

ARE ON THE VERGE OF BEING REALIZED.

REICH MARSHAL HERMANN GOERING ORDERS THE LUFTWAFFE

TO BOMB ENGLISH CITIES.

THE BLITZ BEGINS.

Wawro: THE IDEA OF THE BLITZ IS THAT HE'S GOING TO TAKE OUT

KEY INDUSTRIES, KEY FACILITIES, KEY PORTS,

AND HE'S GOING TO SPREAD TERROR.

Levine: FROM THE FIRST ATTACK ON LONDON,

THE 7th OF SEPTEMBER, 1940,

THERE WERE 57 CONSECUTIVE NIGHT ATTACKS ON THEM --

EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

FOR THE BRITISH PEOPLE, THE PEOPLE UNDERNEATH THE BOMBS,

THIS WAS SUDDENLY SOMETHING NEW.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN HAD TAKEN PLACE IN THE AIR

ABOVE THEIR HEADS IN SOUTHERN ENGLAND.

THEY HAD SEEN IT, BUT NOW, SUDDENLY,

THEY WERE BEING TARGETED.

SOME PEOPLE WOULD BE SHELTERING IN ANDERSON SHELTERS,

WHICH WERE LITTLE, PERSONAL SHELTERS

YOU HAD IN YOUR BACK GARDEN

WHERE JUST YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WOULD BE IN IT.

SOME PEOPLE WERE SHELTERING IN THE LONDON UNDERGROUND.

INTERESTINGLY, THE GOVERNMENT DIDN'T REALLY

WANT PEOPLE TO SHELTER IN THE UNDERGROUND.

THEY TRIED TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF THE UNDERGROUND AT FIRST.

IT SOUNDS EXTRAORDINARY NOW, BUT GENUINELY, THEY WERE WORRIED

THAT A SORT OF UNDERGROUND TROGLODYTE COMMUNITIES

OF ANTISOCIAL PEOPLE

AND ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR WOULD DEVELOP.

Narrator: FEARING CHAOS ON THE STREETS OF LONDON,

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT EXECUTES ITS PLAN

FOR THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.

ALONGSIDE THE BLACKOUT,

AN ORDER THAT ALL LIGHTS BE EXTINGUISHED AFTER NIGHTFALL.

IT INTRODUCES A SERIES OF STRICT REGULATIONS

DESIGNED TO MAINTAIN SOCIAL ORDER

IN THE FACE OF UNREMITTING BOMBING.

A WHOLE LOT OF DEFENSE REGULATIONS

WERE BROUGHT IN, COVERING THINGS LIKE THE BLACKOUT,

COVERING THINGS LIKE PEOPLE'S BEHAVIOR,

WHERE THEY COULD AND COULD NOT GO.

DEFEATISM BECAME ILLEGAL.

PEOPLE WHO MOANED ABOUT THE WAR RAN THE RISK OF BEING REPORTED

AND EVEN IMPRISONED.

SO IT BECAME VERY MUCH A POLICE STATE, OF ALL THE IRONIES.

WE WERE FIGHTING A POLICE STATE, NAZI, GERMANY,

AND YET, TO AN EXTENT, WE HAD TO CREATE ONE.

SOME PEOPLE WERE ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED OF WHAT WAS GOING ON.

PEOPLE WHO WERE AFFECTED PERSONALLY,

PEOPLE WHO WHERE BOMBED OUT THEMSELVES OR PEOPLE

WHO KNEW PEOPLE WHO WERE HURT OBVIOUSLY HAD A HORRIFYING TIME.

FOR OTHERS, AND, YOU KNOW, THIS MAY SEEM A LITTLE SURPRISING,

THE BLITZ WAS A VERY LIBERATING TIME.

*

Narrator: AND THE FIRST TO FEEL LIBERATED BY THE BLITZ

ARE LONDON'S CRIMINALS.

AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR, A GENERAL AMNESTY

EMPTIES THE PRISONS,

PUTTING SOME OF THE CITY'S TOUGHEST GANGSTERS

BACK ON THE STREETS.

AMONG THEM IS BILLY HILL, 28 YEARS OLD

AND ALREADY A NOTORIOUS THIEF.

WHILE A NATION GRIPPED WITH FEAR PREPARES FOR GERMAN BOMBS,

HILL SEES AN OPPORTUNITY.

BILLY HILL CAME FROM A CRIMINAL FAMILY.

THERE ARE SUCH FAMILIES IN BRITAIN

AS THERE ARE IN ANY COUNTRY.

HIS FATHER WAS A THIEF.

HIS MOTHER WAS A FENCE -- A RECEIVER OF STOLEN GOODS.

HIS SISTER MAGGIE WAS THE BEST OF THEM ALL.

SHE WAS KNOWN AS THE QUEEN OF THE BABY ELEPHANTS.

IT WAS WHOLLY WOMEN'S SHOPLIFTING GANG,

CLEARED OUT STORE AFTER STORE UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRYSIDE.

AND HE'D BEEN BROUGHT UP WITH THE GREAT CRIMINALS OF THE DAY,

FOR EXAMPLE EDDIE GUERIN, A HIGH-CLASS, IN HIS TIME,

ROBBER WHO ESCAPED FROM DEVIL'S ISLAND

AND IS SAID TO HAVE EATEN HIS COMPANIONS TO SURVIVE.

HE WAS A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY.

SO WAS ALICE DIAMOND, WHO WAS ANOTHER OF THE FORTY THIEVES.

Narrator: BORN WILLIAM CHARLES HILL ON DECEMBER 13th, 1911,

BILLY GROWS UP AS PART OF A LARGE FAMILY

OF IRISH IMMIGRANTS IN THE SEVEN DIALS AREA

OF LONDON'S WEST END.

A CRIMINAL SLUM REALLY. IT WAS A SERIES RABBIT WARRENS

WITH VERY POOR LIVING CONDITIONS.

Trow: NOW, BILLY WAS ONE OF 21 KIDS.

THEY WEREN'T ALL BENT, BUT HE WAS.

HE CARRIED ON HIS PARENTAL TRADITION.

Clarkson: ALL AROUND HIM WAS POVERTY,

AND OF COURSE, POVERTY BRED CRIME,

AND IN ORDER TO SURVIVE, YOU HAD TO COMMIT CRIMES,

EVEN IF YOU WERE 10 YEARS OLD.

Trow: HE WAS A GROCERY DELIVERY BOY FROM THE AGE OF 9,

AND HE CARRIED OUT VARIOUS PETTY THEFTS FROM THAT AGE TOO,

SO HE BECAME A SMALL-TIME CROOK.

DURING HIS TEENS, BILLY HILL WAS IN

AND OUT OF JUVENILE DETENTION CENTERS

FOR A VARIETY OF MINOR CRIMES.

IN THOSE JUVENILE DETENTION CENTERS,

HE MET OTHER KIDS WHO WERE PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS,

WHO WERE ALREADY STEEPED IN CRIME,

AND REALLY, THAT WAS HIS EDUCATION.

Narrator: A NATURAL LEADER, BY THE 1930s,

HILL HAS ESTABLISHED HIS OWN GANG

IN THE NORTH LONDON BOROUGH OF CAMDEN.

THE GANG'S CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES DRAW THEM INTO TURF WARS

WITH OTHER LOCAL OUTFITS, AND AS THEY EMERGE VICTORIOUS,

HILL BECOMES FEARED AS A COLD AND VIOLENT ADVERSARY.

THESE GUYS WERE PRETTY ADEPT AT BURGLARIES,

ROBBING BANK EMPLOYEES,

BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING EXTRA CHILLING

ABOUT BILLY HILL AND HIS GANG

BECAUSE HILL USED TO LEAVE A "V" MARK

ON THE FACE OF A LOT OF HIS VICTIMS.

HE WOULD DO THIS WITH WHAT'S KNOWN AS A SHIV,

WHICH IS A VERY NARROW, SHARP KNIFE.

BUT HE WAS CAREFUL NOT TO MURDER ANYBODY.

HE USED TO SAY, "MURDER IS A MUG'S GAME,"

AND HE ALWAYS USED TO SLASH DOWN WITH HIS RAZOR RATHER THAN UP.

UP RUNS THE RISK OF CUTTING AN ARTERY.

DOWN DOES NOT.

Clarkson: HE LATER CALLED IT GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS.

WHAT HE MEANT WAS, HE COULD SCARE HIS ENEMIES

AS WELL AS SCARING HIS VICTIMS.

Narrator: AS A DARING THIEF,

HILL PIONEERS A SERIES OF TECHNIQUES