Ronnie Biggs handwritten letter (1995)

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In 1995, famous British fugitive Ronnie Biggs writes an incredible letter from Rio de Janeiro.

• Handwritten letter from Ronnie Biggs to Garry King.
• One page.
• In English.
• 21 cm x 29.5 cm.
• Rio de Janeiro, October 9, 1995.
• Excellent condition.
• Unique piece.

Dear G. King,

Thank you for your letter,
and also thanks for the newspapers.
Most newspapers depress me, but I like
to do the crosswords!

The reason I joined Train Robbery
was the desire to get my hands on
a lot of money ! I imagined that
could solve all my financial problems
and conquer the good life, but things
They didn't go exactly as planned!

Anyway, good luck with your project
and always remember that Crime
It doesn't (and never!) pays off!

With best regards,
Ronnie Biggs. Rio, 1995.

Ronnie Biggs (1929 - 2013) is a famous English criminal who participated, in 1963, in the "coup of the century" or "Great Train Robbery", the audacious attack on an English mail train carrying 125 bags of money worth a total of 2 .6 million pounds at the time, the equivalent of around 150 million reais today. Most of the band members were arrested, and Biggs was sentenced to 30 years in prison and only some of the money was found.

After 15 months in detention, he managed to escape from prison using a ladder made of ropes. He fled to Paris, where he underwent plastic surgery to change his face and acquire a new identity. Later, in 1970, he moved to Australia, but was recognized by a journalist and left Australia for Brazil, leaving his wife and two children behind.

Almost without money in Rio de Janeiro, without a work visa and forced to go to the police twice a week, Ronnie Biggs began selling his story to interviews and tourists. Taking advantage of Brazilian laws, which prohibited the extradition to England of a foreign father of a Brazilian child, for 40 years Biggs led, without embarrassment, a public life in Brazil. In addition, he made several visits to England, under a false identity, to film a documentary about the Great Train Robbery. Ronnie Biggs lived in Santa Teresa, a bohemian neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, in a pool house overlooking the city, where he organized numerous parties.

Biggs' personality was very controversial: some admired his audacity for the robbery, the prison escape and the 36 years on the run, defying the authorities and living free in Brazil. Others detested his thuggish attitude mocking the law and remembered that Jack Mills, the train driver, who had been beaten with an iron bar, never fully recovered and died of leukemia seven years later.

Despite being a letter written by a fugitive hiding in Brazil, Biggs' Story and the particularly relevant content of this letter - in the form of a confession - make it a unique collection piece and, perhaps, an educational act? In fact, Ronnie Biggs explains why he participated in the robbery - "to get his hands on a lot of money and solve his financial problems" - but he also clearly shows regret saying to G. King: "always remember that crime doesn't pay (and will never pay off)".

The letter is in excellent condition, with beautiful writing and the association Ronnie Biggs x Garry King adds value to the document. Garry King, the recipient of this letter, is a renowned British collector of manuscript documents who knew Biggs personally. Additional interesting element, the address that Ronnie Biggs wrote, even though he was a fugitive, in the top right corner of the letter, in Santa Teresa where he lived until 2001, when he decided to return to England, where he was arrested and ended his life.