A Tale of Two Cities (45 page)

Brian Raymond Kane
. Melbourne standover man and suspect for the murder of Ray Bennett. Shot dead in the Quarry Hotel 26 November 1982.

Alan David Williams
. Footballer, armed robber and drug dealer. A Melbourne-based gangster connected with failed attempts to bribe and then murder New South Wales undercover detective Mick Drury. Died of natural causes mid 2001.

Christopher Dale Flannery
. School drop-out who became an underworld drop-kick. Born Melbourne 15 March 1949, the
youngest of three children. Became Australia's most notorious hit man – reputedly killed 14 people. Charged and acquitted of two contract killings, moved to Sydney and became a key figure in a major underworld war. Known as Rentakill, went missing 9 May 1985 – body never found.

Kathleen Flannery
. Blood loyal wife of Chris. She stuck with him when others wouldn't and was dragged into an underworld war as a consequence. After his death she reclaimed her life and raised her children away from the underworld.

Tom Ericksen
. Former insurance salesman who became an influential figure with connections to police and gangsters. A one-legged private detective known as ‘Hopalong Tom.' In the 1970s, Ericksen employed another shadowy character, Gianfranco Tizzoni, in his repossession business. Tizzoni was the man who later helped organise the murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay. Strongly linked to Chris Flannery and almost certainly helped set up the hit man's murder contracts. In 1988, National Crime Authority officers charged him with 195 counts of giving secret commissions (bribery) and 11 counts of making threats to kill. On 10 August that year, he was due in court to answer the charges. He died earlier that morning, a 52-year-old blind one-legged diabetic.

George David Freeman
. Colourful Sydney racing identity who protected himself by bribing police. Royal Commissioner and former New South Wales policeman Justice Donald Stewart found Freeman was linked to race fixing, SP bookmaking and illicitly protected casinos. He employed hit man Chris Flannery until the underworld and corrupt police decided to make the hit man redundant. Flannery went missing on the way to Freeman's house and has never been seen again. It wasn't crooked police but a crook chest that got George in the end. Freeman had chronic
asthma. The man who survived being shot in the head died from complications from an asthma attack in March 1990.

(Dr)
Nicholas George Paltos
. Born Kastellorizon, a small Greek island, in 1941 the youngest of ten children. Migrated to Australia with his family aged six. Completed an electroplating diploma. Won a Commonwealth Scholarship and studied medicine at the University of New South Wales while working nights as a taxi driver. Became a fashionable GP whose patients included Kerry Packer and many of Sydney's major crime figures such as George Freeman, Danny Chubb and Robert ‘Aussie Bob' Trimbole. Alleged to have provided morphine for Freeman's raging habit. Organised the importation of 5.5 tonnes of hashish resin with a street value of $40 million. Arrested as part of the Australian Federal Police Operation ‘Lavender' – sentenced to a minimum of 13 years. Struck off the medical register. Found guilty of conspiring with former detective Roger Rogerson, of perverting the course of justice for using false names to hide money in bank accounts. Released 1994. Died of natural causes 2003.

Roger Caleb Rogerson
. Born January 1941. Rose to the rank of Detective-Sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force. Received bravery awards and the Peter Mitchell Trophy for outstanding police work. Had suspicious links to underworld figures including Arthur ‘Neddy' Smith, Graham ‘Abo' Henry and Christopher Dale Flannery. Smith claimed Rogerson protected him while he committed major crimes. Rogerson was responsible for the shooting death of Warren Lanfranchi. During the inquest the coroner found he was acting in the line of duty, but a jury declined to find he had acted in self-defence. Rogerson was later commended by the police force for his bravery. However, it was alleged by Lanfranchi's partner, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, and later by Neddy Smith, that Rogerson murdered Lanfranchi
for robbing a police protected heroin dealer and for firing a gun at a policeman. Served three years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice and became a colourful after dinner speaker.

Robert ‘Aussie Bob' Trimbole
. Born 19 March 1931. Struggling businessman who discovered he could make a fortune as the front man for the Griffith mafia. Key figure in organising the murder of anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay. Connected to the Mr Asia heroin gang. Fled Australia in 1981 when tipped off he was under investigation by the Stewart Royal Commission. Escaped extradition when arrested in Ireland in 1984 and died a free man in Spain in 1987.

Donald Bruce Mackay
. Born 13 September 1933. Ran a Griffith retail store called Mackay's Furniture. Studied law and learnt Italian. Became known locally for his tough stance on drugs and his desire to expose local members of the crime group known as The Honored Society. Disappeared 17 July 1977 after having a drink at a local hotel. His body was never found.

Paul Delianis
. Former head of the Victorian armed robbery and homicide squads. Involved in the investigations into the Great Bookie Robbery, the murders of Leslie Herbert Kane, Roger Wilson, Isabel and Douglas Wilson, Bob Trimbole and the Mr Asia Gang. The first policeman to grasp the significance of the Terry Clark drug syndicate and to realise it had infiltrated key law enforcement agencies in Australia. Retired in 1987 as Deputy Commissioner.

John Carl Mengler
. Former head of the Victorian Homicide Squad. Chief Investigator Stewart Royal Commission and later National Crime Authority. Helped crack the Donald Mackay case after New South Wales police failed to do so. Involved in the investigations into Trimbole, the Mr Asia Gang and the murders of Isabel and Douglas Wilson. Described by the
Sydney Morning
Herald
as ‘possibly the greatest detective of his generation.' Retired as Deputy Commissioner Victoria 1990.

Peter Lamb
. Spent three years with a wool-classing firm before joining the Commonwealth Police in 1961. Heavily connected to Operation Lavender and many of his investigations uncovered the corrupt links between New South Wales police and Sydney gangsters. Had three postings overseas as an Australian Federal Police liaison officer where he learnt the latest international organised crime investigation tactics. Promoted to Assistant Commissioner Federal Police, Director of Operations with Independent Commission Against Corruption in New South Wales and General Manager of the National Crime Authority.

Frederick Joseph Parrington
. Honest New South Wales policeman who doggedly investigated the murder of Donald Mackay. Unfortunately he was barking up the wrong tree. Concealed evidence from Victorian police in the hope of convicting the killers in New South Wales.

Brian Francis Murphy
. Colourful Victorian detective with contacts on both sides of the fence. Deeply religious, a gregarious teetotaller with Irish charm and a persuasive manner. Charged and acquitted of manslaughter after a prisoner in his custody, Neil Stanley Collingburn, received fatal injuries in an interview room. Joined the Victoria Police 1954. Retired 1987.

Albert Jaime Grassby
. Born Albert Grass Brisbane 12 July 1926. Immigration Minister in the Whitlam Government and colourful front man for multi-culturalism. But it was the political connection for the Griffith Honored Society that helped fund his election campaigns. Charged in 1980 with criminal defamation over asking state politician, Michael Maher, to read in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly a letter claiming Mackay's widow Barbara and her family solicitor were responsible for the murder.
Cleared of the charges in 1992. Died April 2005, his reputation deservedly in tatters.

Terrence John Clark
. Born 1944. Small time New Zealand crook who became a big time international drug dealer. Made millions importing heroin into New Zealand, Australia and Britain. Ordered the murders of drug couriers Isabel and Douglas Wilson after he was told they were informing to police. Convicted of killing long-time drug associate Marty Johnstone, whose handless body was found in Eccleston Delph, a flooded quarry in the north of England. Died in prison 1983. Death listed as non-suspicious but there were suspicions he was killed by IRA inmates who suspected he was an informer.

Karen Soich
. New Zealand lawyer who embarked on an affair with Terry Clark. Later regained control of her life and is now a successful entertainment lawyer in New Zealand.

Isabel and Douglas Wilson
. Key couriers for the Mr Asia drug syndicate. Their bodies were found buried on the back beach at Rye, May 1979. The Wilsons were killed on the orders of the Mr Asia drug syndicate boss, Terrence John Clark, after corrupt police told him the couple were talking to Queensland detectives.

Gianfranco Tizzoni
. Migrated to Australia 1955 and later naturalised. Became a private investigator and worked with notorious underworld figure Tom Ericksen as a debt collector. From 1971 became the Melbourne distributor of cannabis for the Griffith cell of the Mafia and distributed about 200 kilograms a week. Helped set up the murders of Donald Mackay and drug couriers Isabel and Douglas Wilson. Became a police informer code named ‘Songbird' and died Italy July 1988 aged 53.

James Frederick Bazley
. Known as Mr Cool. Career gunman and key member of the Painters and Dockers Union. Police allege he
completed the contract killings of Donald Mackay and drug couriers Isabel and Douglas Wilson. Expected to die in jail but was released from prison in 2000 aged 75.

Russell Cox
. Born Melville Schnitzerling Brisbane 15 September 1949. Became known as Cox the Fox because of his cool head and ability to plan armed robberies. Escaped from the maximum security Kattingal section of Long Bay Jail 3 November 1977 and spent 11 years on the run. Released from prison 2004 and returned to Queensland a reformed character. Remains a suspect for the murder of Brian Kane.

Thomas Christopher Domican
. Born Ireland 1943. A London nightclub bouncer who migrated to Australia in 1968. A fearsome fitness fanatic with links to the New South Wales division of the Australian Labor Party. Has always rejected claims he was connected to the underworld. Charged with a series of offences, including murder and attempted murder in Sydney. Beat the lot.

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