Predictably it was not long before the vacuum this left was being filled. With McArthur retired and Read moved on, who was to sort out the new gangland threat.

Step forward Detective Chief Superintendent Bert Wickstead. Having cut his teeth on young desperadoes and neo-Nazis in North London and solved London's biggest post war bank robbery, Wickstead was well qualified to head up the Yard's Serious Crime Squad.

First to fall were the Dixon brothers, followed by the Tibbs family. As his fame spread he took on the West End Maltese Syndicate specialising in prostitution and extortion. When he broke up the Norma Levy call ring, two cabinet peers had to resign.

Inevitably Wickstead's career was dogged by unproved allegations of malpractice but, as this riveting 'insider' account conclusively proves, he more than earned his sobriquet 'The Gangbuster'.