DOMINIC
The Milky Bar Kid is strong and tough … and only the best is good enough. Yep … that just about sums up Dominic.
Dominic is a big, strong man even if his nickname is The Milky Bar Kid. He’s no nerdy geek with glasses. Dominic is a boxer, a heavyweight, a no-messing weight, a knock-out weight.
Normally, I wouldn’t include a boxer in my book, although they are all tough guys and disciplined. Boxing is a sport. Mind you, I think boxing and skulduggery have always gone hand in hand to a certain extent … in certain circles. Many of the villains I’ve known or been involved with have been involved with boxing to some degree. It’s a way of releasing aggression, and many villains are aggressive. To be honest, many of them love a tear-up and better in the ring than in the street. And if you’re going to box, then you want to do it well.
Dominic does it well … he is a hard bastard.
BACKGROUND
I was born in Bethnal Green. I was brought up in Essex, like in Woodford. It was just a normal upbringing, you know what I mean; we didn’t have much, but it was normal. I can’t say it was bad – I’ve got a brother and, we had our mum and dad who looked after us.
I suppose I was a bit of an animal from the beginning – I mean, I got expelled from junior school. But once I went to senior school it was different. I was a little fish in a big pond, then. I left school at 15, worked as a car-sprayer, got good money, really good money, then I got fed up with working. So I started doing the doors at 18 and then I worked all over the place. I worked at The Astoria, The Venue, Dingwalls … The thing was, even at 18, I was always game. Even though I had curly hair and glasses – they used to call me The Milky Bar Kid – I was always game. I wouldn’t take shit off anyone. I worked with a gang of lorry drivers and once they saw me in a pair of shorts and they said, ‘Look, it’s Milky!’ I didn’t have bandy legs but I was very white and the name stuck. But it’s actually served me well – it’s a comical name people remember. It’s done well for me in boxing, too, because kids coming into the game now all like to call themselves Killer or Terminator. I laugh my head off when I’m fighting because they hear that comical name but I’m a born fighter; fighters aren’t made they’re born. I think I’ve wanted to fight since I was born.
I suppose I started seriously when I was 20 or 21, but I was always rucking before that. I was involved in street fighting before that but, basically, I’m a boxer – and a very good boxer at that. If I could combine everything I’ve got and if I could listen to my trainer – and he’s known me for 12 years now – he says if I can just listen, I’ll beat anyone. I enjoy fighting – I always have and always will.
IS PRISON A DETERRENT?
Yes and no, I suppose. You go inside these days and you come out with more knowledge and more connections than you ever had before. Then again, some people go in and come out different people than they ever were before. I do think that going into prison kills your soul – I’d never want to go away if I could help it. I’ve always wanted to be a free bird.
The life I’ve got at the moment is very good – I work hard. Don’t get me wrong, because there’s the boxing, but the other work I do, like the debt-collecting, it’s a hard game because you’re always walking in everyone else’s shit. It isn’t like saying to someone, ‘Give me the fucking money’ – it’s hard. Like me and this other fella, we went to this big Turkish drinking den and there’s only us two there and there must have been 20 geezers there – I don’t carry anything with me because I don’t need anything.
Once inside, they took us to the cellar and we talked and they’re all there with cues and everything, and you think you just don’t need the aggro, but you’ve got to do it anyway. Without going into too much detail, we walked out with the dough.
But there really are days when you wake up and think, I don’t want to go to work today. I really don’t want to do that today. But you’ve got to – that’s where you get your money. We’re not horrible people. We’d much rather sit down and work it out.
We’re doing a debt at the moment – an old fella – you can’t get blood out of a stone. But he still owes money. It’s very frustrating, but first you talk. You know when someone’s having you on and when someone’s telling the truth. It’s easy – they owe the money, we want it back.
Sometimes, it’s not only the money, it’s the principle that matters. We have a 98 per cent success rate – we haven’t had to touch anyone really.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?
For nonces, yes, definitely. If I had kids and someone hurt them, I’d hunt them down and I’d do bird for it. Someone fucks about with your kids, you’d do them, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t even think about it.
WHAT DETERRED YOU FROM A LIFE OF CRIME?
Looking at other people – and what’s happened to them as a result.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN STABBED/SHOT?
I got a little nick once – that was the first night I worked at the Astoria. I’ve been threatened a few times but I think if they threaten you they aren’t going to do it. But the life we lead, you’ve got to expect it, haven’t you?
SCARIEST MOMENT?
Upsetting my mum I think. My mum’s an outlaw – I’d rather fight Tyson any day!
SADDEST MOMENT?
Women make for the saddest moments. Most men say they’re as hard as nails, but when it comes to women – I wear my heart on my sleeve which, I suppose, makes me the person I am but it also means I’ve been hurt by women.
WHAT RATTLES YOUR CAGE?
Rudeness. I do like manners in people. If you’re on the door and people don’t say, ‘Thank you’, that gives me the fucking hump, that does. If you open the door for someone these days, you try and be nice to them, you say, ‘Hello’ and ‘How are you?’ and they think you’re mad! All I want is to be happy – I suppose I am a happy-go-lucky person. You expect a thank you. When you don’t get one, that aggravates me.
HAVE YOU EVER REALLY LOVED ANYONE?
Yes. I loved and she done me like a kipper – and that really hurt. So for the last four years or so it’s been hard for people to employ me because they know I’ll take it as far as it can go. Why not? I’m on my own, I’m a single man. I have nothing to lose.
WHAT FRIGHTENS YOU?
Spiders.
DESCRIBE A HARD BASTARD
Someone who is willing to stand up for what he believes in. Some people out there are physically hard but not mentally – as soon as you get into their nuts, they’re in trouble. A hard bastard will do anything for what he believes in – his family, his friends. My loyalty is to my friends; I’d do anything for my friends and they know that.
NAME A HARD BASTARD
One Mr Dark. I don’t hero-worship him but he’s as close to family as I’m going to get and the toughest man I’ve ever met.
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS?
Hopefully not in prison – hopefully settled with a wife and kids, people I can trust. Because there’s one thing I know – there’s too many dogs out there. There seems to be so little trust out there nowadays.
ANY REGRETS?
No. Whatever I’ve done I’d stand up for every day of the week. Some things I’ve done wrong and I think, I’ve been a bit lucky there. But then, the important things, the ones that matter, if I’ve done wrong I’ve always held my hands up to it. So no regrets.