Kate Leigh was the queen of the underworld with her sly grog empire

Kate Leigh was a feisty but revered crime matriarch who ran a sprawling empire and had a bitter rivalry with another female gang boss.

Sydney underworld queen Kate Leigh. Source: Wikipedia

Crime matriarch Kate Leigh’s various nicknames included “the snow queen”, “queen of the underworld” and “the sly grog queen”.

But the nickname that perhaps best summed up her personality and the respect she generated from admirers was simply “Mum”.

Kate Leigh is the subject of a new episode of the free In Black and White podcast on Australia’s forgotten characters, with historian Jim Haynes:

Her story appears in Haynes’ new book, Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags.

Born in Dubbo, Leigh was a feisty but often revered crime matriarch in Sydney who ran a sprawling empire of more than 20 sly grog shops.

Kate’s long-time nemesis was crime boss Tilly Devine.

Sydney vice queen Tilly Devine in 1929.

Kate Leigh.

The two vastly different women ran the razor gangs at the heart of Sydney’s razor gang wars of 1927-31.

But while Devine was a foul-mouthed Londoner with a murderous streak, Leigh’s reputation, even though she could be just as violent, was as a dinky-di Aussie girl and a big-hearted teetotaller who despised vulgar language.

“When you wanted to find out where the local sly grog operation was, you’d go into the corner shop and you’d say, ‘Do you know where Mum lives?’” Haynes says.

“That was code for Kate Leigh’s sly grog operation.

“She used to close down the street and put on parties for 300 local kids from the slums and they’d all get free presents, most of which had been stolen, but that didn’t seem to bother anyone.

Leigh with children during her annual Christmas party in Sydney, 1953.

Great Australian Rascals, Rogues and Ratbags.

Author, historian and entertainer Jim Haynes.

“She hit (her last husband) over the head with a frying pan once because he swore in the kitchen in front of some kids.”

Leigh and Devine owed much of their success to a strange quirk in the law that meant they couldn’t be prosecuted for prostitution offences because they were women.

The law makers evidently assumed no woman could possibly commit such a crime.

“The laws actually said it’s a crime for any ‘man’ to live off the earnings of prostitution,” Haynes says.

“This gave the opportunity for these two women, who were both heavily involved in the prostitution industry in Sydney, to get away with it.

“There were whole sections of the law that only applied to men.”

But it was the introduction of six o’clock closing laws after World War I that really became a godsend for Leigh’s criminal enterprise.

As men found their grog supply cut off at 6pm daily, they naturally sought out illegal alternatives, and Leigh carved out a niche catering to customers with high-end tastes.

Leigh, who received 107 criminal convictions and served 13 prison terms, lived to the impressive age of 82.

To learn more, listen to the interview in the In Black and White podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or web.

See In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper Monday to Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.