Mark 'Chopper' Read spun a good yarn, but he was still a criminal

WRITING funny books didn't turn a criminal like Chopper Read into a good guy, says former detective Charlie Bezzina.

Chopper Read coming in for chat and pic to promote his new blues album.

I was a career cop. Chopper Read was a career criminal.

So it follows that I haven't read his books.

I hear he spins a good yarn.

But a good story and not the truth is what sells books.

I guess we'll never know just how much of what Chopper claimed he did was true.

But there's no disputing his criminal record.

You can never lose sight of the fact that he was a criminal and spent 23 years behind bars.

He's been revered and people forget his violent past.

Mark "Chopper" Read wasted much of his life in jail. Picture: Supplied

In Pentridge Prison he was a feared individual.

He stormed the County Court with a firearm and tried to kidnap a judge.

Anyone who could do that, and inflict the sort of injury he did on himself in cutting off his ears is a dangerous person.

How genuine his stories were we'll never know, but reputation is important to criminals.

Unlike most crooks, Chopper was smart.

He was smart enough to steer clear of bikies and the underworld war.

And was smart enough to know that at some point he needed to wake up to himself and change his life.

Pity it took him 23 years or so to wake up to himself.

He spent the best part of his life jail.

Chopper has now passed away at quite a young age, so much of his life wasted.

It should be said that he did set himself on the right path in his latter years, and that's commendable.

Why he redeemed himself - possibly because he'd lost that element of fear he once had over other criminals - I don't know.

He was a wit, always with the one-liners. And he went on to achieve things like having paintings exhibited and touring the country on stage.

Had he done some of that in the early days, who knows what Chopper could have made of himself.