Dave Courtney (Born February 17th 1959) is a former British gangster who has renounced crime and become both an author as well as a rather curious celebrity figure.


He was once referred to as the Yellow Pages of the Underworld due to his knowledge of the criminal underside of London and apparent 'association' with prominent gangsters such as the notorious twins Ronald and Reginald Kray - despite only being 9 when they were arrested. Courtney has a lengthy criminal record, and was once charged with murder but acquitted.



Apparently the picture is from a book written by Dave Courtney named The Firm

From this site -
Dave heard that Jay-Z was in the country, so, knowing that he was a big Dave Courtney fan, Dave gave him a ring. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing he finally got through to an American minder who told him that Jay-Z didn't want to speak with him. Dave surmises that this is probably because of a legal problem over the original album cover to Jay-Z's CD "The Blueprint", which appeared to be a homage to a photo of Dave holding court at the Oxford students debating society by Jocelyn Bain Hogg that appeared in the book The Firm. Dave says that during the legal wrangles the album had to be taken off the shelves and that the matter was eventually settled out of court by Jay-Z.