I Am Not A Gangster

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Bobby Cummines is not a gangster. If you ask, he'll tell you he was simply a businessman and it just so happened his business was that of a hitman, armed robber and fixer. This is the gripping true story of how one man ruled his north London manor with an iron fist -- or more to the point a sawn-off shotgun called Kennedy. Speaking in an exclusive interview with France Football, AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic talked about his legacy, the Ballon D’Or and more. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, they, they have collected the trophies. What do they have that you don’t?

When I was little, I did not feel Swedish (his father is Bosnian, his mother is Croatian). Because they made me feel like I was different. I was treated differently, judged differently, looked at differently… That is why I did not feel 100% Swedish. I was made to feel that. But if they had me feel like one of theirs, I would have looked at myself as 100% Swedish. But today, I say it, I am 100% Swedish. When I was young, I thought about it differently, but now, older, I have experience, I am 100% Swedish. I represent new Sweden. It is the world now. In France, it is the same. No. I was young, stupid. I did things to survive. I needed a bike to get here and there. I put myself up to stealing to manage my situation. When my favourite bike was stolen, I no longer stopped stealing those from others. But it was because I could not afford mine. It was a question of survival. Even though it was not something positive… you do these sort of things to be able to move forward, no? But these people are poorly brought up, ignorant and think that they can still live in the old world. My wife is 100% Swedish. So my children have a contrast, but they are also 100% Swedish. It is wonderful. It is the world now. A world of open-mindedness. You speak a lot about this story in your autobiography. Do you feel like it was a turning point in your career? That in some way, it forced you to leave the side of the victim to enter the camp of the victors? I want to stay… Everyone wants to win a trophy that says that you are the best player in the world. Deep inside me, I feel that I am the best player in the world. It would be prestigious to win it but it is the voters who decided. You, the people who vote, you know why I have not won it (laughs)!I am proud of what I have done. I come from a place where everyone judged me, said to me that it was not possible. People would speak about me: “Yes, he is not good enough.”And I am still here, standing, at 39, comfortable in my boots. And I am proud. No. I do have some vulnerability. I have emotions, weak points, things that hurt me. I am not Hulk. I am not Superman. You see me on the pitch always confident, off of it as well, but I have some vulnerability. I have my weaknesses, my emotions. That is natural. FOR THE RECORD: Due to an editing error in Wednesday’s Q & A with Tupac Shakur, The Times incorrectly characterized the rapper’s conviction stemming from a 1993 incident. Shakur and an associate were accused--not convicted--of holding a female fan down while a third man sexually assaulted her. Shakur was convicted on two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree for offensive touching without consent.

Six days after his release from a New York prison, Tupac Shakur is holed up in the control booth of a dimly lit Tarzana recording studio.

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I Am Not A Gangster is an explosive account of life in the criminal underworld by one of Britain’s most dangerous men, but above all it’s a remarkable tale of redemption with the biggest turnaround in gangland history. Read more Details I said that people try to be perfect and some create a persona. I said to be yourself is to be perfect within yourself. Like when you asked me if I made mistakes. Of course I make mistakes, but anyone who thinks that they are perfect, they, they think that they do not mistakes. But it is part of the world right now! People want to be perfect. They want to build an image, like: “Wow!”In the end, they will all be caught up by reality. We will know who they really are. Look at Tiger Woods. He was supposed to be the most perfect man on the earth… Be yourself, don’t try to play yourself and be someone who you are not. Otherwise, in the end, you will pay. If you want to do it, you do it. Don’t do it because someone has told you it is good or that it will help or make you perfect. That is simply manipulation. I do not want to be involved in manipulation. What you see on my social media, that is real life. One person. Not two. Eventually Bobby was sentenced to 12 years in Britain's most notorious prisons, along with the Krays, Charlie Richardson and the Yorkshire Ripper. Inside, he was introduced to the Open University and on his release he soon got down to business again. Only this time his efforts saw him go from custody of Her Majesty's Prison Service to meeting with the Queen herself...

And look how Shakespeare busts it up with Macbeth. He creates a tale about this king’s wife who convinces a happy man to chase after her and kill her husband so he can take over the country. After he commits the murder, the dude starts having delusions just like in a Scarface song. I mean the king’s wife just screws this guy’s whole life up for nothing. Now that’s what I call a b----. I said that we are not politicians. Politics divides people. Football, in my world, unites people. Big difference. Because I have had the chance to meet and get to know people that I would never have known if I did not play football. I have met people from all four corners of the world. We unite people. Politicians divide. If I wanted to be a politician, I would do politics. We should only do what we’re good at. Sports and politics are two different categories. If you are intelligent, you understand. A: If the shoe fits wear it, that’s what I say. What if all the guys started complaining when women call them dogs? In real life, just like in Macbeth, all women are not just pure and true. Just because I write some songs about bad women, though, that doesn’t mean I hate women. I’ve written songs that show great love and respect for women too. Songs that talk about strong, upstanding women and their pain. There are still people who speak about old France. Oh! We are in 2021! The world is filled with mixtures, different contrasts. And it is not because you are like that that you cannot feel 100% French or 100% Swedish. But when I was young, that, you cannot understand that. You are in a phase where you learn and you collect information to have the weapons to understand. You suffer a bit. But there are consequences for all that. Mentally, when you are treated differently, because you are different in their eyes, it is hard. It is like kids who bully others at school. People would say: “Don’t worry, it will pass.” They do not know that there are psychological consequences for years later. The person who is bullied can become mentally unstable and then have trauma. I always say that it is easier to take a big hit because that hurts for 5 minutes. When you are bullied, the consequences can exist for the rest of their life. Eventually Bobby was sentenced to 12 years in Britain’s most notorious prisons, along with the Krays, Charlie Richardson and the Yorkshire Ripper. Inside, he was introduced to the Open University and on his release he soon got down to business again. Only this time his efforts saw him go from custody of Her Majesty’s Prison Service to meeting with the Queen herself...

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I am not a gangster," I spat. "I'm a businessman trying to make a hard-earned crust. Understood?" I didn't give him time to reply. I took the barrel out of his mouth and smashed him in the face with the butt. His lip split, but he wasn't a dead man. He seemed to appreciate that his life had been spared. He spluttered his thanks: "Ok, you’re not a gangster. You are not a gangster." Always. The most important thing is how you start them and how you finish them, these stories. But if you achieve something, we will remember you. One of the best letters I got came from [actor] Tony Danza. I’ve never even met the guy, but he wrote me to say he liked my album and to keep my head up and to just come out stronger. I can’t tell you how great that made me feel.

If you are talking about intrinsic qualities, I have nothing less than them. If you look at the trophies, yes, but I have not won the Champions’ League… But I don’t know how you calculate these things. I am not obsessed by that. Because when you do good things collectively, the individual stuff follows. An individual cannot be good, if the team is not good.Nothing. I would simply tell him to have more patience. That the hard work will pay off. I worked hard but I did not have a lot of patience. I wanted it all to come very fast. “Zlatan, have patience. Keep working and believe in yourself.” Bobbing his head and grinning, the 24-year-old rapper turns up the volume on a funky duet called “2 of America’s Most Wanted,” which he just finished with label mate Snoop Doggy Dogg (a.k.a. Calvin Broadus, whose murder trial is set to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court). Ah, but that, that relates to what I do no the pitch. I want to say, people speak a lot, but if you are not good on the pitch, you are not an icon. For me, you are a clown. But, guys, do you really take me for a gangster? (laughs) You have an image of me… I am not a gangster. If I am nearly 2 metres tall and still strong, it is because I train and I work, it is not because I work out on Venice Beach and that I am “muscle guy” all day. I was born like this, my parents are big, that is who I am. I try to adapt my game to my span and age. I am not as fast as I was when I was 25 or 30, I do the best to help my team. But I am not a hard man or whatever. The thing that bothers me is that it seems like all the sensitive stuff I write just goes unnoticed . . . the media doesn’t get who I am at all. Or maybe they just can’t accept it. It doesn’t fit into those negative stories they like to write. I’m the kind of guy who is moved by a song like Don McLean’s “Vincent,” that one about Van Gogh. The lyric on that song is so touching. That’s how I want to make my songs feel. Take “Dear Mama”--I aimed that one straight for my homies’ heartstrings.