Organised Crime - page 6

Earlier we met Redfern-based Frank Hakim, the first major Lebanese criminal in Sydney, and younger men such as Louis Bayeh and Danny Karam. They were followed by other groups of criminals of Lebanese descent, many of whom, in contrast to their predecessors, preferred to remain in the part of Sydney where… Keep Reading

In the 1990s Sydney’s heroin centre moved from Kings Cross to the suburb of Cabramatta with its large Vietnamese population. For about a decade the suburb also became the city’s murder centre as very young, first-generation immigrant gangsters went to war. The results were shocking and yet they were transient:… Keep Reading

Police believe about a dozen Chinese importers have provided most of Sydney’s heroin from the 1980s until now, generally accounting for over 80 per cent of the total supply. This makes sense because of the presence in Australia and Asia of the triad criminal organisations, which are extremely efficient and… Keep Reading

The so-called Mr Asia syndicate existed from 1976 to 1979 and was the first major heroin importer and distributor in Australia. Until that time there had been little demand for heroin, and indeed most serious criminals, like the rest of society, regarded heroin dealers with contempt. But as demand ballooned,… Keep Reading

The Nugan Hand merchant bank operated from 1973 to 1980 and has been selected as a rare example of systematic money laundering about which there is public knowledge. The bank was definitely involved in laundering (for a 22 per cent fee), tax fraud, and stealing from investors, and has been… Keep Reading

All around the world, first and second generation immigrants often form a higher proportion of criminals than of the general population. One reason is that energetic and ambitious men who have difficulty obtaining legitimate opportunities turn to illegal ones. We have already seen with Robert Trimbole an example of how… Keep Reading

The mafia is a general term used to describe organised crime gangs of predominantly Italian ancestry around the world. The mafia came to Australia with the Italian cane cutters who arrived in Queensland in the 1920s, and grew as the Italian population swelled with post-war migration. Its activities were largely… Keep Reading

Riley has been selected as an example of police officers who broke the law while still in the force, and then left the job to become major criminals. His most notorious predecessor was John Wesley Egan, who started smuggling heroin into America in 1966 while still working for the NSW… Keep Reading

There were two Michael Moylans, father and son. We are interested in the son as a representative of how some organised criminals of the 1960s, with a background mainly in illegal gambling, moved into the even more lucrative but much less certain world of illegal drugs in the 1970s. This… Keep Reading

Freeman was best known as the state’s most successful SP (illegal) bookmaker, but his interests and influence were far more extensive. He was close friends with crime bosses Lennie McPherson and Stanley Smith, and with them played a leading role in organised crime in Sydney for some 20 years before… Keep Reading