Gangland Australia : colonial criminals to the Carlton Crew / James Morton, Susanna Lobez.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morton, James, 1938-

Contributor:

Lobez, Susanna.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organized crime--Australia--History.

Organized crime.

Gangs--Australia--History.

Gangs.

Mafia--Australia--History.

Mafia.

History.

Australia.

Physical Description:

xi, 388 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Gangland Australia details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have made up the criminal and gangland scene in Australia. One of Britain's top true crime authors, James Morton, is joined by barrister-turned-legal-broadcaster Susanna Lobez in this fast-paced examination of Australian organised crime. Tracing the developments in and the shifting dynamics of Australia's criminal underworld from the early 1800s until the Melbourne gangland killings of recent years, this is compulsive reading.

Meticulously researched, Gangland Australia follows the rise and fall of Australia's talented conmen, standover men, brothel keepers, club owners, robbers, ethnic minority crime figures, bikers, drug dealers and contract killers to illustrate how small-time operations have become financially solvent criminal corporations with international links. It also examines the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have helped and hindered the growth of criminal empires. Vivid and explosive, Gangland Australia is a fascinating survey of Australian criminal activity over nearly two centuries. It should become the definitive work on the subject.

Contents:

1 Early Days 3

2 From John Wren to Squizzy Taylor 22

3 Exports 43

4 Between the Wars 54

5 The War Years 80

6 After the War Was Over 98

7 Italian and Other Connections 121

8 Some Painters and Dockers 140

9 The Seventies 155

10 Two Wars in the Eighties 189

11 Over the Wall and into the Bank 214

12 Sex from the Sixties 232

13 Drugs and Ethnic Minority Crime 250

14 Bikers 270

15 The Best that Money Can Buy 288

16 Some Bent Briefs 312

17 The New Century 324.

Notes:

Includes index.

Bibliography: pages 363-375.

ISBN:

9780522852738

0522852734

OCLC:

192041933