The Duke, The Munster, The Frog, Chopper, Fat Tony and Squizzy among our best known nicknames of Aussie crooks
CHOPPER, Fat Tony, Squizzy, The Munster and The Frog are among a colourful and dangerous collection of Aussie crooks who’ve earned a nickname. But ever wondered how they really got them?
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THINK criminal nicknames and infamous American gangsters might immediately spring to mind — names such as Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.
When it comes to Australian criminal stocks, our most infamous crooks and their associates, too, have a colourful array of monikers and nicknames.
They are nicknames they either crafted for themselves, or were created by their running mates, the police or the media.
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True Crime Scene turns the spotlight on the best Aussie underworld nicknames and their origins. In several cases - such as the infamous “Chopper” Read, they’re not for the reasons you thought.
Dan ‘Mad Dog’ Morgan
A NSW-born bushranger, Morgan — most likely born John Fuller — ran with several names including “Dan the Breaker” but was most commonly referred to as “Mad Dog”, or simply “Mad” Dan Morgan. He was a wild renegade who has been called “the most bloodthirsty of all highway robbers”. His reputation obviously preceded him.
Appropriately for a roll-call of hard-core crims, two more Mad Dogs make this list - including Russell “Mad Dog” Cox and Antonio “Mad Dog” Loguancio.
Joseph ‘Squizzy’ Taylor
A key player in Melbourne’s earliest gangland war, Squizzy - also known as Leslie Taylor - was a violent gunman involved in many criminal enterprises.
Short in stature, he carried a large reputation for violence. He picked up his nickname as a youth.
PROFILE: How Squizzy was brought down
INSIDE STORY: Squizzy soldier was a war hero
There are a couple of theories about its origin. Some say he may have been called “Squizzy” because of an ulcerated droopy left eyelid. Others suggest it was because of the way he ran.
John ‘Snowy’ Cutmore
A rival of “Squizzy” Taylor, Cutmore was a wild and violent gangster who operated in Melbourne and Sydney during the 1920s. He had a fair complexion.
Freddie ‘The Frog’ Harrison
A feared gangster and a Painters & Dockers Union man, Harrison was a feared standover man who controlled many rackets. A gunman shot him in the head with a shotgun at South Wharf in 1953. When alive, Harrison was said to have had cold, dead eyes.
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Billy ‘The Texan’ Longley
A Melbourne Painters & Dockers Union heavyweight, Longley was a hard gunman linked to many shootings as a war for control of the powerful union raged during the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. There are varying explanations for his nickname. Some say it referred to the stetson hat he wore and the Colt handgun he carried. The main character in an American TV series called The Texan, which ran from 1958 to 1960, was a Civil War veteran named Bill Longley.
HARD MAN: The Texan was the last man standing
Jack ‘Putty Nose’ Nicholls
Nicholls was a one-time Painters & Dockers Union state secretary, who famously declared: “We catch and kill our own.” He was found dead, with a gunshot wound to his head, in 1981. One look at his face and the reason for his nickname is obvious.
Alfred ‘The Ferret’ Nelson
The Painters & Dockers Union’s unofficial welfare officer, Nelson disappeared from his home in 1971. His body was never found. It’s fair to say that, like Jack Nicholls, his facial features led to his nickname.
‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole
Trimbole was an organised crime boss and drug baron from New South Wales. A New Zealand contact of his in the “Mr Asia” syndicate is said to have given him the “Aussie Bob” label.
Mark ‘Chopper’ Read
The late Mark Brandon Read was a notorious underworld standover man who never left home without a gun down his pants.
Despite having ordered a fellow prisoner to carve his ears off, Read’s “Chopper” nickname actually harked back to a childhood cartoon in which a loyal bulldog character named Chopper protected a little mate duck named Yakky.
A SHORT HISTORY: The life and crimes of Chopper Read
Christopher ‘Mr Rent-A-Kill’ Flannery
Renowned as a hitman, Flannery moved from Melbourne to Sydney and provided protection for Sydney crime figure George Freeman. He sided with Arthur “Neddy” Smith during the Sydney gang wars. His reputation as a paid killer earned him his nickname.
Arthur ‘Neddy’ Smith
Sydney crime identity “Neddy” Smith has been linked to rape, armed robberies, drug crimes and murder. He has spent much of his adult life in prison.
Dennis ‘Mr Death’ Allen
The eldest son of crime matriarch Kath Pettingill, Allen was a psychopathic heroin baron. Police believe he could have been involved in as many as 10 murders. Where he went death followed, hence his apt nickname.
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Russell ‘Mad Dog’ Cox
Despite the nickname members of the media gave him, Cox was a cool bandit. A notorious armed robber, gunman and prison escapee, Cox was also known as “The Fox” because of his cunning nature.
Edward ‘Jockey’ Smith
A former apprentice jockey, Smith was an armed robber who, according to Mark “Chopper” Read, was “so mean he’d bite the head off a shilling”. A one-time “most wanted man”, Smith was shot dead after he pulled a gun on a policeman at Creswick in central Victoria.
Dennis ‘Greedy’ Smith
At the height of his drug-trafficking career, Smith had amassed a fortune and owned prestige cars and racehorses. He was also an alleged key player in Melbourne’s “Great Bookie Robbery”, and was linked to guns and prostitution. Smith, who loved the money and the trappings, was also known as “Fatty”, “Fat Cat” and “The Fat One”.
Raymond ‘Mr Stinky’ Edmunds
A convicted double killer and serial rapist, Edmunds scored his nickname due to victims’ descriptions of his foul body odour.
Brian ‘Mr Baldy’ Jones
A notorious Melbourne paedophile, Jones was given his horrid nickname because of his horrid habit of shaving the heads of his boy victims and dressing them as girls.
Rodney ‘The Duke’ Collins
This Melbourne killer has been known by many names — “Cherokee”, Rod Earle, “The Fox” and “The Duke”. Some must see him as criminal royalty.
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Pavel ‘Mad Max’ Marinof
Marinof, who had changed his name to Max Clark, was a Bulgarian immigrant who shot and wounded four Victorian police officers during a night of carnage in 1985, and shot and wounded two more officers a year later before he was shot dead. After his initial rampage, the media dubbed him “Mad Max”.
SUBURBAN PSYCHO: Mad Marinof’s wild rampage
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Brenden ‘The Postcard Bandit’ Abbott
One of Australia’s most prolific bank bandits, and a handy prison escapee as well, Abbott was given his nickname after police found snapshots of him after he escaped from Fremantle jail in 1989. That led to stories that, in an effort to taunt police, he sent investigators postcards of his travels while on the run.
Christopher ‘Badness’ Binse
A Victorian bandit and gunman with a joker’s streak, Binse robbed banks and money guards and has fired nearly as many gunshots as he has jibes towards police. In his early days, as a cocky criminal, Binse taunted armed robbery squad detectives with Christmas cards signed “Badness”.
Craig ‘Fatty’ Minogue
A serial armed robber, police bomber and jail killer, Minogue was a big lad during his criminal days. Hence the nickname “Fatty”. During his time in jail, however, he has dropped the kilos, leading to an imaginative new nickname: “Slim”.
Robert ‘Dolly’ Dunn
A serial child molester, former schoolteacher Dunn was extradited back to Australia from Honduras and jailed in New South Wales. He died behind bars in 2009. Dunn abused boys between the ages of seven and fifteen, often videotaping his crimes. His playful nickname was strangely at odds with the ugly paedophile he was.
Antonio ‘Mad Dog’ Loguancio
A notorious sadistic rapist who committed other violent crimes as well, Loguancio was once described as the most dangerous man in Victoria.
A judge called him remorseless. Others who knew of the details of his crimes called him “Mad Dog”. He died during a tense suburban siege last year.
Judy ‘Big Mama’ Moran
Mother of deadly drug dealing half brothers Jason and Mark Moran, Judy was found guilty of orchestrating and playing a key role in the murder of her brother in law Des “Tuppence” Moran. The bloke who shot Des for her, a former bikie president named Geoff Armour, liked to refer to her as “Big Mama”.
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Geoffrey ‘Nuts’ Armour
A former Rebels bikie president, Armour shot Des Moran seven times inside the Ascot Pasta & Deli Cafe in 2009 at the behest of Judy Moran. We don’t think he scored his nickname because he prefers nuts as a snack.
Graham ‘The Munster’ Kinniburgh
A career criminal from the old school, Kinniburgh was a calming influence on Melbourne’s underworld — until his affiliation with the Moran clan led to his murder. An affable character, by all accounts, it was Kinniburgh’s burly stature (when compared to the TV series character Herman Munster) that led to his nickname.
Carl ‘The Premier’ Williams
His hatred of the Moran family led to Melbourne’s latest gangland war. An unlikely drug kingpin and underworld boss who ordered several murders, he liked to refer to himself as “The Premier” while suffering delusions of grandeur at the height of his reign. He was murdered in jail in 2010.
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Andrew ‘Benji’ Veniamin
An underworld hitman who changed allegiances during the gangland war, Veniamin was a kamikaze gunman who did a lot of trigger work for Williams. Benji was one of Veniamin’s aliases. A court case heard the late Veniamin had several nicknames including “Benji”, “Tricky”, “Piccolino” and “The Little Bloke”.
Nik ‘The Russian’ Radev
A former Bulgarian who migrated to Australia, Radev became a feared Melbourne criminal and a deadly player in Melbourne’s gangland war — until he himself became a victim. Some people say he liked to be known as “The Russian”, while others say he ran with the nickname “The Bulgarian”.
Matthew ‘The General’ Johnson
A violent career criminal who murdered Carl Williams in their secure jail unit, Johnson called himself ‘The General’ because he headed a jail gang known as the Prisoners of War.
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Peter ‘Pugsley’ Dupas
One of Australia’s most notorious sex killers, the depraved Dupas was called “Pugsley” and teased about his weight at school. The Pugsley reference most likely refers to the character of the overweight son in the TV show The Addams Family.
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Antonios ‘Fat Tony’ Mokbel
Arguably Australia’s most infamous commercial drug trafficker, Mokbel was a close associate of Carl Williams during Melbourne’s gangland war. It has been reported the “Fat Tony” nickname linked well with the character of the same name from The Simpsons cartoon. A fugitive drug lord finally returned From Greece to Australia and jailed in Melbourne, Mokbel is said to be looking after himself - and his weight - a lot better since he suffered a heart scare while serving his sentence.
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Mr Cruel
This mystery man terrorised Melbourne’s affluent suburbs in the late 1980s and early 1990s, abducting two young girls from their homes and holding them for days.
In April 1991, he abducted schoolgirl Karmein Chan from her Templestowe home. Her body, with three gunshot wounds to the head, was found dumped a year later. A newspaper sub-editor gave this monster his nickname.
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Abe ‘Mr Sin’ Saffron
The late Abraham Saffron, a nightclub owner and property developer on paper, was a reputed crime boss involved in a range of illegal rackets including gambling, prostitution, bribery, drug dealing and extortion.
His business hub was Kings Cross, hence his nickname. Saffron, convicted for tax evasion, denied all allegations.
Lenny ‘Mr Big’ McPherson
The late McPherson has been described as one of the most notorious and powerful criminals of the late 20th century. A fearsome character, he is alleged to have controlled a major slice of Sydney’s organised crime rackets along with Abe Saffron.
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