Billy Hill (gangster)

William "Billy" Charles Hill (13 December 1911 – 1 January 1984) was an English criminal, linked to smuggling, protection rackets, and extreme violence. He was one of the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in London from the 1920s through to the 1960s. He project managed cash robberies and, in a clever scam, defrauded London's High Society of millions at the card tables of John Aspinall's Clermont Club.

Hill was born in Fitzrovia, Central London to Frances Mary A H (née Sparling) and Frederick Joseph Hill, who married in 1888. Growing up in an established criminal family, Hill committed his first stabbing at age fourteen. He began as a house burglar in the late 1920s and then specialized in "smash-and-grab" raids targeting furriers and jewellers in the 1930s.

During World War II, Hill moved into the black market, specializing in foods and petrol. He also supplied forged documents for deserting servicemen and was involved in West End protection rackets with fellow gangster Jack Spot. In the late 1940s, he was charged with burgling a warehouse and fled to South Africa. Following an arrest there for assault, he was extradited back to Britain, where he was convicted for the warehouse robbery and served time in prison. This was his last jail term. After his release he met Gypsy Riley, better known as "Gyp Hill", who became his common-law wife.

In 1952, he planned the Eastcastle St. postal van robbery netting £287,000 (2010: £6,440,000), and in 1954 he organised a £40,000 bullion heist. No one was ever convicted for these robberies. He also ran smuggling operations from Morocco during this period.

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