Tony Argent was born in 1967 in London’s East End and became one of London’s gangsters known for his violent tendencies and criminal activities. Argent’s life escalated from the petty crimes of his youth to serious violent assaults that peaked with murder.

Argent has spent a significant amount of his life behind bars after being caught for several altercations but largely due to the murder of Paul Edmonds in 1998. Prison has been the cause of his continued downfall before aiding him with his recent transformation to become reformed.

After his last stint in prison for murder, Argent has come out of prison seeking redemption and is aiming to help young people in similar situations to what he faced to find a different path.

Early life
Argent was born in East London in an area called Silvertown which was near East India Dock and was a poor area.

He grew up with both parents two brothers and a sister. His family worked hard but they had little to show for it. Argent’s parents despite living in an impoverished area rife with crime, had good morals and discouraged their children from getting involved in crime. Argent fondly remembers how his parents would make sure they had a good Christmas

Criminal career

Much of Argent’s criminal career is unknown apart from what he has discussed openly himself or being convicted of in court. He is however known in the 1990s as a notorious and mercilessly violent figure being described as highly dangerous as noted by Mr Justice Kenneth Parker on the London criminal scene.

The height of Argent’s criminal career was in 1998. He was in a dark place and very much out of control in this period of his life. On 1 November 1998, Argent got into an altercation with some other men which included Paul Edmonds outside a pub in Plaistow. Both Argent and Edmonds knew each other and although they weren’t enemies they both had criminal records. The full details of the motive have never come to light. For Paul Edmonds’ murder, Argent was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years at the Old Bailey when he was aged 32.

Argent served 22 years in prison mainly in category A prisons until he was released in 2019. The murder conviction was a turning point in Argent’s life as it was during his time at Grendon Prison that he started to reflect on his life and actions.[1] He actively engaged with the prison programmes for rehabilitation which included courses to understand his behaviour, therapy and empathy-building exercises. He was then able to acknowledge that he was grappling with mental health problems and was disillusioned by the criminal lifestyle which had contributed to his anger and violence.

Redemption, Advocacy and Outreach

Tony Argent and James English

After leaving prison Argent released YouTube videos on Liquid Bullet Productionz and did a revealing interview with James English on his life with the hope that by sharing his experiences and insights on his criminal life and in particular knife crime can help others.

Argent stated that he understands that he has a reputation and people respect him for the wrong reasons and he wants to turn that around so others understand what he went through and are discouraged from following in his footsteps.

Legacy
Argent is currently on a journey to build himself a new legacy that can overshadow his original one. As a reformed criminal he is striving to create a voice for redemption and rehabilitation as well as trying to deter young people from going down the wrong path into a life of crime. His work on his YouTube videos and face-to-face in the community is what Argent wants to be remembered for and is proud of.