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Nicola Vincenzio "Nicky" Crane (May 21, 1958 – 1993) was a notorious British far-right racist skinhead and street activist, with multiple convictions for criminal violence, who came out as gay towards the end of his life.

Born in Kent, Crane joined the British Movement (BM) in the late 1970s, and by 1980, had become its Kent organiser. In 1980, he was convicted of unlawfully fighting and making an affray in an attack on a black family at a bus stop by Liverpool Street station; he was given a suspended sentence.

In 1981, he appeared as the iconic skinhead on the cover photograph of the Oi! album Strength Thru Oi!. The same year, he was convicted again, this time in connection with an organised BM attack on a group of black youths arriving on a train at Woolwich Arsenal railway station in 1980, and jailed for 4 years.

Released in 1984, Crane soon began providing security for the white power band Skrewdriver, and remained associated with the band and its leader, Ian Stuart Donaldson, for the rest of the decade. In 1987, he was instrumental in setting up the neo-Nazi network Blood & Honour with Donaldson.

During this time, Crane was leading a double-life as an active homosexual. In July 1992, Crane admitted his homosexuality on the Channel 4 programme Out. He was immediately disowned by his Nazi associates, especially Ian Stuart Donaldson whom in his own words said that he felt "betrayed". This caused surprise in some quarters, as Crane had openly been a steward on the London Gay Pride march in 1986. ^[1]

At various times, Crane had worked as a binman, bicycle courier and a doorman at an S&M club. He also appeared in the Psychic TV Unclean video ^[2] and in amateur gay porn films while still a Nazi-activist.

Crane died from an AIDS-related illness in 1993.

1. ↑  Searchlight, September 1986
2. ↑  Sounds, 22nd September 1984

• The Strange Case of Nicola Vincenzio Crane