The BBC is in the gun for paying gangsters to appear in two documentaries. Critics say the programmes - one about Las Vegas Mafia thugs, the other about London mobster Reggie Kray - glamorise crime and compromise broadcasting ethics.
The BBC, which is so cash-strapped that it has lost the rights to several major sports events, paid £280,000 ($944,000) for the Kray documentary.
The two-hour Reggie Kray: The Last Word was made by an outside production company, Mission TV. Its executive producer is Bill Curbishley, a former associate of the Kray gang who served a 15-year sentence for armed robbery.
It features interviews with Reggie Kray on his deathbed, and members of the gang he ran with his brother, Ronnie.
BBC guidelines state that criminals should not be paid for interviews, but the BBC admitted paying "expenses" to the former criminals, and to American mobsters interviewed in the other programme, High Stakes.
Sources said payments were up to £400 a day but the BBC said it paid no interviewee more than £200.
After he was released from prison last year on compassionate grounds, the ailing Reggie Kray agreed to give an interview and asked Curbishley to arrange it.
Curbishley called in associates at Mission Television to film and sell the interview. The 67-year-old gangster talked as he lay dying of bladder cancer in hospital.
Two months after he died, Mission TV offered the programme to broadcasters and the BBC won a bidding war.
A BBC spokesman said Curbishley "did not have any editorial involvement in the programme."
"But Mr Curbishley served a prison sentence more than 30 years ago and has paid his debt to society. The fact that he has a criminal record does not and should not disqualify him from employment."
In 1963 the 22-year-old Curbishley was sentenced to 15 years for the armed robbery of a bank van. In 1970 the appeal court rejected his claims of innocence.
Labour MP Steven Pound called on the BBC to dump the programme.
"It really does show that crime does pay. The Krays' victims will be sick to the stomach that a so-called public service broadcaster is glamorising villains and criminality," said the MP for Ealing North.
Mr Pound, a Londoner, said he was disgusted by the myths that have grown around 60s East End gangs such as the Krays.
"I remember the sheer brutality of these gangs. This is not the glamorous world of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
The BBC said it had received assurances from Mission TV that no money would go to Roberta Kray, Reggie's widow, or any other members of the Kray family.
Mrs Kray, 41, is believed to have benefited from Reggie Kray's estate, which included royalties for T-shirts and books.
The BBC spokesman also denied that the programme celebrated crime. "This programme does not glamorise the Krays," he said. "It features the sad portrayal of someone who is dying and regrets a life of crime."
In the interview, however, Kray shows no remorse for the murder of Jack "the Hat" McVitie, the crime for which he spent 33 years in jail.
He also reiterates his curious view that the streets of London were safer under Kray rule, and complains of the lack of morality of criminals today.
The equally controversial High Stakes shows former members of the Mafia recounting tales of murder, bribery and violence.
They had been active in Las Vegas, fixing games, lending money and collecting gambling debts, using whatever methods were deemed necessary.
Nicky "the Crow" confessed: "I've been involved with 20 murders, maybe 25."
Another mobster boasted: "Sometimes you'd have to make guys disappear."
The BBC dismissed allegations that the interviews are at odds with a guideline that states: "When criminals or former criminals are interviewed they should not be allowed to glamorise their wrongdoing."
The spokesman said: "This is a proper current affairs documentary series on gambling and the people who control it, and it follows the BBC producers' guidelines."
The programme is a joint production between the BBC and an American company, TLC productions.
High Stakes also drew criticism for such scenes as the gambling syndicate betting on whether celebrities are likely to die in the coming year.
Their targets included journalist John Diamond, who died last month, and supermodel Kate Moss.
"You think she's going down already?" asks one member of the "Dead Pool."
"All those drugs and alcohol and the starvation," comes the reply. "It's not a good diet."
Said a BBC news producer: "It seemed to me to be sailing pretty close to the wind on taste and decency."
- INDEPENDENT
BBC 'making crime pay'
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