Chopper Read’s widow Margaret Read furious at former manager Andrew Parisi over video interview
EXCLUSIVE: THE widow of underworld figure Mark “Chopper” Read is embroiled in a bitter battle for control of her husband’s last filmed interview.
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THE widow of underworld figure Mark “Chopper” Read is embroiled in a bitter battle for control of her husband’s last filmed interview.
The unseen footage was shot in the months leading up to Chopper’s 2013 death.
Special feature: Chopper’s bizarre and brutal life
Margaret Read yesterday told the Herald Sun she had spent years trying to get the material off Chopper’s former agent, Andrew Parisi.
She claimed he was trying to sell the footage, said to show Chopper and several friends discussing a range of issues.
A number of television and film companies are believed to be keen to buy it.
“It was designed to be left for our son, Roy, and myself,” Ms Read claimed.
“If I wanted to go commercial with it, then I would have made that decision myself.”
She said she couldn’t afford to take legal action to try to get the video footage and family photographs back from Mr Parisi.
The Herald Sun outlined Ms Read’s claims to Mr Parisi. He said yesterday that he didn’t want to comment on them.
Ms Read said she felt betrayed by Mr Parisi, whom she and her husband had considered to be a friend.
“He saw Mark take his last breath,” she claimed.
“He saw me become a widow and he saw my son become a fatherless child. I have never seen all the photos and video footage he took when he was working for Mark.
“He will not give it to me, he says, because he owns the copyright. When I realised what this agent had done to me, I then started to get very angry.
“I just said to him after, like, 10 text messages saying I don’t believe what you’re doing: ‘Wait until Mark’s friends know about this’.
“Well, after that, after he received that message, he took me into court for 2½ years. But now finally I can talk.”
Chopper died of liver cancer in Melbourne on October 9, 2013, aged 58. He declared himself bankrupt in 2007.
Court documents reveal his only assets when he died were artworks valued at $15,000.
The Herald Sun revealed in July that Chopper admitted on his deathbed that he lied when he confessed to four unsolved murders during a paid interview with TV’s 60 Minutes.
keith.moor@news.com.au