The only good thing about a dose of the lurgy is a spot of reading catching up, although this spot wasn't nearly as productive as I would normally like (okay so the lurgy was a bit more dramatic than I'd normally like as well)... but this is one of the books that I picked up at the recent Crime & Justice Festival, so I took the opportunity to finish it off.
From the Blurb:
Few names in Australian criminal history are as evocative as the Painters and Dockers. They were a trade union gone bad. From their outset, early in the twentieth century, they attracted more than their fair share of nefarious waterfront characters, and by the 1960s, 70s and 80s leading elements of the union had become a heavy criminal fraternity of some of the most violent and dangerous men in Australia. Standover, robbery, smuggling, gambling, prostitution and drugs were the daily trade of the Painters and Dockers, and turf wars and old scores were often settled with the lethal blast of a sawn-off shotgun.
Few names in Australian criminal history are as redolent as the Painters and Dockers. They were a union gone to the bad. From their outset in the early years of the 20th Century, they attracted more than their fair share of shady waterfront characters, and by the 1960s, '70s and '80s they had become a fully fledged criminal fraternity of some of the most violent and dangerous men in Australia. Standover, smuggling, gambling, prostitution and drugs were the daily trade of the Painters and Dockers, whilst arguments and old scores were more often than not settled with the lethal blast of a sawn-off shotgun.
From famous criminals of the past such as Squizzy Tailor, through the recent gangland wars in Melbourne, the story of the Painters and Dockers touches almost every part of our violent and bloody underworld history. Their members and associates are a rollcall of some of Australia's most brutal and violent offenders: Brian and Les Kane, Ray Bennett, Billy Longley and the Moran family among many others. Written by James Morton, author of the bestselling Gangland Australia (MUP 2008) and Russell Robinson, Shotgun and Standover brilliantly tells the story of the Painters and Dockers in a definitive work of true crime.