Cops knew of firebomb plan but didn’t show up

Police officers were warned that a Brisbane nightclub would be firebombed, but detectives tasked with guarding the venue did not show up to protect it, an inquest report has revealed.

Police officers were warned that a Brisbane nightclub would be firebombed in February 1973, but detectives tasked with guarding the venue did not show up to protect it, an inquest report has revealed.

Less than a fortnight before 15 people were tragically killed in the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub inferno, police were warned that the nearby Torinos nightclub would be burnt down on the weekend of February 24 and 25.

But according to a report tendered to the Brisbane Coroners Court, detectives tasked with watching the venue simply did not show up and the club was burnt to the ground as predicted.

The damning revelations are among dozens of pages that were redacted from a report prepared by Detective Sergeant Virginia Gray who is leading the modern-day investigation into the Whiskey Au Go Go blaze.

Police outside the destroyed Whiskey Au Go Go.

The senior police officer says she was ordered by her superior to slash 27 pages from her coronial report, including criticism of the 1973 police investigation which included claims that investigators failed to act on information implicating offenders.

The attacks on Torinos and the Whiskey nightclubs were among a series of arsons committed in that time amid allegations of an interstate extortion racket.

Det Gray said on February 22, 1973, a police intelligence officer received a “credible” report claiming well-known underworld figure Billy McCulkin had been tasked with burning down the nightclub.

“As a result of this report detectives were tasked to watch the premises however did not do so and the premises was burnt down as predicted,” Det Gray wrote in her report.

“It is unknown which officers were tasked to watch Torinos that weekend however they did not do so.

“Investigations at the time failed to identify the offenders.”

Inside the burnt out Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub.

Det Gray wrote that Billy McCulkin’s wife Barbara, who was abducted and murdered along with her daughters the following year, told a friend she “knew about what had occurred in the Torinos arson before Whiskey Au Go Go”.

A later trial of her killer heard the motive for her murder was likely to stop her from revealing what she knew about the fires.

The report also includes evidence from McCulkin’s second wife recalling a conversation with him in which he stated “it was a great fire”, referring to the Torinos blaze.

McCulkin was never charged with either arson attack.

The inquest into the Whiskey Au Go Go fire resumes in the Brisbane Coroners Court today and is expected to run for three weeks.