The life, times and crimes of notorious celebrity crook Mark 'Chopper' Read
TIMELINE OF A CROOK: AUTHOR, artist, actor, crook - Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read wore many hats in his colourful career.
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AUTHOR, artist, actor, crook - Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read wore many hats in his colourful career. We revisit his brutal and criminal life.
1954: Mark Brandon Read born to Seventh Day Adventist mother and a war veteran father. He spends his early childhood in a children's home.
1975: Convicted of two counts of armed robbery. Read's infamous "Overcoat Gang" born during his subsequent prison stint. The gang wore long coats to hide weapons and was involved in a series of jailhouse bashings.
January 1978: Read enters a County Court courtroom armed with a sawn-off shotgun and points it at the sitting judge. The judge struggles with Read and others help disarm him. Read admits he planned to hold the judge hostage until inmate Jimmy Loughnan was released.
February 1978: Read cuts parts of his ears off in Pentridge's H division.
May 1978: Jailed for 14 years for malicious wounding and trying to kidnap a judge.
December 1978: Read, Loughnan and another inmate escape H Division and climbed onto a roof, where Read repeatedly hit himself with a piece of nail-studded timber.
August 1979: Stabbed in stomach at Pentridge Prison in a fight with triple-killer Greg "Bluey" Brazel. Read splits his stitches the next day doing push-ups.
April-May 1987: Shoots drug dealer Christopher Liapis in Footscray and burns down a house belonging to Nick Apostolidis. He would later write, "I burnt Nick the Greek's house down. Big deal, I love a sunburnt country."
June 1987: Read shoots dead Sammy "The Turk" Ozerkam outside Bojangles nightclub in St Kilda. He was wearing a bulletproof vest given to him by police because rival criminals had put out a hit on him. A jury finds him not guilty of manslaughter.
Chopper's infamous gun shot.
December 1989: Read jailed for at least 2 years for intentionally causing serious injury to Liapis, arson and reckless conduct.
November 1991: Released from Pentridge Prison and moves to Tasmania vowing to go straight.
December 1991: Read's first book, Chopper: From the Inside, is published. In it he claims to have been involved in many killings, torture and bashings. "I regret nothing," he writes.
May 1992: Read shoots his friend Sydney Collins in Tasmania. He drops Collins at the hospital afterwards, telling him, "You're a staunch bloke, you won't say nothing".
August 1992: Read claims during his trial that "if I wanted to shoot the p***k, he would be dead". The jury convicts him of causing grevious bodily harm to Collins.
1995: marries Mary-Ann Hodge behind bars at Risdon Prison in Tasmania. The couple's son Charlie is named after Read's long time mate 'Mad' Charlie Hegyalji, who was shot dead in melbourne's underworld war.
February 1998: Read released from prison.
March 1998: Read's drunken appearance on ABC television's McFeast Live show sparks flood of angry calls after he jokes about killing people.
May 1998: Read charged with a firearms offence after being photographed with a gun for a publicity shoot. He was acquitted.
August 2000: The film Chopper, starring Eric Bana, is released to critical acclaim.
2001: Read and Hodge divorce.
2002: Read appears in the Australian film Trojan Warrior.
January 2003: Read marries long-time friend Margaret Cassar. The couple have a son, Roy. He also releases his hip hop track Chop Chop.
July 2003: Read's first exhibition of paintings is held.
2005: Read tours Australia with former footballer and actor Mark "Jacko" Jackson.
2006: Read joins forces with disgraced former cop Roger Rogerson in comedy show The Wild Colonial Psychos.
2011: Read films local movie The Groomless Bride.
February 2012: Read banned from firing the starting pistol at his son's Little Athetics. He failed a Working with Children check.
April 2012: Read reveals he has terminal cancer.
May 2012: Read wraps filming of the movie Pinball with John Jarratt, who starred in Wolf Creek.
October 2013:
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