King Squealer: A True Story by Maurice O'Mahoney with Dan
WoodingHow this book was written by a veteran author, broadcaster
and journalist, with his subject seated beside him with a .44 Magnum in his
pocket
For Immediate Release
From Gonzo Multi Media
For more
information, please contact
Jonathan Downs at
jon@eclipse.co.uk
LONDON, UK (ANS) -- It isn't often
that a writer gets to co-author a book seated next to an infamous British armed
robber who would turn up at his home each week carrying a .44 Magnum in his
pocket.
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Dan Wooding handcuffed
to Maurice O;Mahoney and Rick
Wakeman
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But this is what happened to
veteran author, broadcaster and journalist, Dan Wooding, 72, when he worked with
Maurice O'Mahoney on
King Squealer: A True
Story, which has just been updated with many previously not seen
photographs and published by Gonzo Multi Media in London, UK.
O'Mahoney was an infamous armed robber in London who became one of several
British criminals in the 1970s who did the unthinkable - he "grassed" on his
former criminal colleagues and joined the select group called "Supergrasses" who
cooperated with the Metropolitan Police in the British capital.
"Because there was a contract out on his life, O'Mahoney always carried a .44
Magnum revolver for protection and also had a hammer in his car," explained
Wooding. "It was quite an experience to have him arrive at my home each week
with his Magnum tucked away in his pocket, and then proceed to tell me his
extraordinary story.
"Fortunately," Wooding, the author of 45 books, added, "he was happy with
what I was I wrote, so I was not in any danger, at least from him."
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Book
cover
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Born in London, O'Mahoney was a
criminal from the age of ten, and was personally involved in almost every type
of crime known to man. Once he was caught by the police, he then shocked
London's underworld by turning Queen's Evidence and informing on more than two
hundred criminals who had been involved in crimes totaling more than two million
pounds.
When the news came out that he was turning in so many villains, a £20,000
(about $32,000 USD) underworld 'contract' was issued on O'Mahoney, who once led
one of London's most vicious gangs. He served part of his sentence in a London
police station where, amazingly, he was allowed to have a TV, a record player,
lots of alcohol in his cell as well conjectural visits from his partner. His
son, Maurice O'Mahoney Jr., was actually conceived in that police cell.
"Once he was released, O'Mahoney was given armed police protection, and as I
mentioned before, to stay alive, he armed himself with a .44 Magnum and carried
a hammer in his car," said Wooding, who wrote the original book while working as
a senior reporter with the
Sunday People
newspaper in London.
"He became a master of disguise, regularly changing his appearance --
sometimes bearded, other times clean shaven -- and he never kept the same car
for long in case the number plate was discovered. He lived in constant fear that
he would be tracked down and brutally killed."
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O'Mahoney living it up
at Chiswick Police Station
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King
Squealer: A True Story, is a unique book - a rare insight into the mind
of a dangerous criminal- and also gives details of his extraordinary
relationship with the Metropolitan Police. O'Mahoney faced a minimum of 20
years, but was sentenced eventually to 5 years and spent some of incarceration
in a cell at Chiswick Police Station, where he partied his way on brandy and
beer with his girlfriend, while he came up with the names of his former crime
colleagues and then appeared in court to inform on them.
O'Mahoney's story was among those told in the BBC 2 TV program
Supergrass, broadcast on March 7th, 2007, in
which Dan Wooding appeared and shared about his most unusual time in writing
this book with the man who he knew as "Mo".
Wooding shared on the BBC program that he almost lost his life after the
first edition of the book came out.
"One night, I was in a Fleet Street bar called 'The Stab in the Back' when a
Scotsman came in and asked one of the journalists to point me out," said
Wooding. "Not realizing the danger I was in, he did so, and the man came over me
with an angry look on his face, and told me that he had a huge knife in his car
parked close by, and if I didn't reveal where O'Mahoney was, he would 'slit my
throat from ear to ear'.
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The BBC film crew with
an original copy of
King Squealer
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"Trying to remain calm, I told him that
I had no idea where he lived as he would never tell me and, for several very
scary minutes, I kept talking (and silently praying) and finally, he fortunately
accepted my explanation and then, to my amazement, opened up his wallet, brought
out a ten pound note and told me to 'buy some drinks with it.' With that he was
off into the night and I was able to live to see another day."
Rock keyboard legend, Rick Wakeman, provided a foreword to the book in which
he said, "There have always been certain 'careers' that have fascinated the
public, newspapers, and the media in general. Such include musicians, actors,
sportsmen, police, and not surprisingly, the people who give the police their
employment: The criminal.
"For the man in the street, all these careers have one thing in common: they
are seemingly beyond both his reach and, in many cases, understanding and as
such, his only association can be through the media of newspapers or television.
"The police, however, will always require the services of the grass, the
squealer, the snitch, (call him what you will), in order to assist in their
investigations and arrests; and amazingly, this is the area that seldom gets
written about."
Wakeman added, "A very close and long standing friend of mine, a jolly
Birmingham chap, by the name of Dan Wooding, who has since 1982 has lived in
Southern California, 'Collared' the King of the Squealers and somehow got him to
'spill the beans'......all of them!
"I also met and knew 'the King Squealer' well, but his story remained a
secret until Dan Wooding managed to persuade him to 'talk'.
"His story covers almost every emotion. Sad, serious and sometimes
hysterically funny -- you cannot help but be fascinated by the extraordinary
life of Maurice O'Mahoney - the King Squealer."
On the night before Wooding and his family moved to the United States back in
1982, both O'Mahoney and Wakeman turned up at his home to wish him and his
family well. It was the last time that Wooding saw O'Mahoney, but has kept in
regular touch with Rick Wakeman.
Since the first edition came out in the UK, Wooding has discovered that
O'Mahoney died on September, 27, 2003, at the age of 54, from a massive heart
attack in a small village in Northumberland.
However, while working on the revised edition of the book, Wooding managed to
track down his son, Maurice O'Mahoney Jr., who provided a fascinating
afterthought for the book.
In it, he wrote: "It may seem rather strange, but I am fortunate that my
father turned into a Supergrass, as I would not be here today if he had not done
so. You see, I am the result of one of the conjugal visits to Chiswick Police
Station by my mother. I am not sure if too many people can say they started out
in life in a police station.
"I am told that, after I was born, my father used to baby sit me in the
cells, although I don't remember any of this. He told me later that he had many
bottles of wines and spirits hidden in the cells and that 'there is probably a
stash still there that hasn't been discovered by the police'".
He ended by saying, "I miss him dearly. He was my mentor, best friend -- and
my dad!"
The revised book, which is the fourth that Wooding has brought out this year,
was designed by Jonathan Downes, who according to Wooding, "did a brilliant job
in capturing the spirit of this most amazing story that will answer many
questions about that momentous era in British criminal history."
Wooding has made it clear that this is a book for those interested in the
British crime scene and is "quite different" to his mainly Christian-themed
books that he is mainly known for.
To order a copy of the book, please go to
http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Squealer-Story-Dan-Wooding/dp/1908728353/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381092683&sr=1-2&keywords=King+Squealer
Dan Wooding has released two other books in the UK this year with Gonzo Multi
Media. They are
Caped Crusader: Rick Wakeman in
the 1970s, (foreword by Elton John) --
http://www.amazon.com/CAPED-CRUSADER-Rick-Wakeman-1970s/dp/1908728302 --
and
Terry Dene: Britain's First Rock & Roll
Rebel, (foreword by Marty Wilde) --
http://www.amazon.com/TERRY-DENE-Britains-first-rebel/dp/1908728329
Note: Dan Wooding says that Maurice O'Mahoney's son, has agreed to do some
Merrell Fankhauser
