From the terraces
Carlton Leach grew up in east London and became a notorious face on the West Ham football terraces in the late 1970s and 1980s, running with the Inter City Firm (ICF). The ICF was one of the most organised and feared football hooligan firms in the country.
When the Thatcher-era crackdown broke the back of organised football violence, Leach moved into nightclub door work, then security, then the drug trade that came with the rave scene.
Friend of the firm
Leach was close to Tony Tucker, Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe through the early 90s. He was not in the Range Rover at Rettendon – the relationship between him and the three had cooled in the months before. After the murders, he was left to mourn three friends and try to make sense of what had happened.
The book
In 2002, Leach published his autobiography, Muscle: The Confessions of an Unlicensed Brawler. The book covered his life from the football terraces to the Essex underworld and was the source material for the 2007 film Rise of the Footsoldier.
On screen
Ricci Harnett played Leach in the original film and in Rise of the Footsoldier Part II (2015), which Harnett also directed. Leach himself served as a consultant on the original film.
Today
Leach has continued to write, speak and appear at public events. He remains one of the few central figures from the Essex Boys era still publicly speaking about what happened.