Deadline: Hardened criminal a model Covid patient
He’s a heavy organised crime figure with a rap sheet that runs from kidnapping to gun crimes — but he draws the line at endangering others with Covid.
Police & Courts
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Melbourne’s top crime writers Andrew Rule and Mark Buttler with their weekly dose of scallywag scuttlebutt.
OUTLAW TOES SUTTON LINE
Reports emerged last week of a Covid-infected family in Melbourne’s west leaving their property willy-nilly in defiance of a stay-at-home order.
But not all locals share their disregard for the safety of others, such as a heavy organised crime figure who is also infected but obeying chief health officer regulations to the letter.
Our man, who knows a thing or two about lockdown, has breached most of the Crimes Act in a distinguished career that ranges from firearms offences to kidnappings and drug trafficking.
Some say he’s also thrown in a murder or two.
But he clearly draws the line at endangering others with Covid and is regarded by health authorities as one of the white hats in his street.
JAIL ON $750 A WEEK?
Correctional officers share juicy titbits of jailhouse gossip with each other.
One of the latest items of interest is a whisper that low-security inmates at more than one prison have allegedly been applying to Centrelink for the Covid supplement payment of $750.
Word is that the payments have been approved, presumably without Centrelink’s full knowledge that they are guests at Her Majesty’s various one-star hotels.
If it’s true, of course, you would add this to the long line of stories about prisoner ingenuity that suggests that while many of them are terminally stupid, some would make a good living on the outside if only they applied themselves.
FOUR LEGGED LOTTERY (CONTINUED)
Last week’s item about an alleged “ring-in” in the swamplands of South Australian harness racing seems to have stirred up a reaction.
Deadline cannot claim responsibility for this. The hypervigilant internet pundit “Peter Profit”, alias Archie Butterfly, has a cult following in racing circles because he attracts solid information, gossip, scandal and outrageous rumours that terrify media lawyers.
We merely note that since Peter Profit’s airing of detailed allegations about the strange events at Globe Derby trotting track on September 4, the stewards have leapt into action.
They are now holding a full-blown inquiry about the fact that the average conveyance Lets Get Shorty ran under the name of a much slicker stablemate, Jake Sportswriter, in race 5 that night. Ring-in or “mistake”?
In the event, Lets Get Shorty (as Jake Sportswriter) was used to run the hot favourite into the ground, setting up an easy win for a third stablemate, which paid about $5.
Even more interesting to old-fashioned folk who prefer racing to be run honestly and competently is the fact that the real Jake Sportswriter was apparently all set to race under Lets Get Shorty’s name in race 7, another quaddie leg. And would have won it at a long price except that the truth leaked and he was scratched minutes before the race.
The point? Nailing down two legs of the quadrella is worth a fortune to the sort of punters who can bet on Australian races in exotic overseas locations.
An embarrassed Harness Racing SA has stood both horses down for 28 days, called for betting records to be examined and has referred the investigation to police under the Act governing corrupt betting.
As for Peter Profit’s uninhibited coverage in his Four Legged Lottery column, he now suggests that the brother of a junior steward is being targeted to keep the steward quiet. Could that possibly be true?
WAX WORK JERK
On the subject of Covid, it is causing some friction in the surfing community.
A photo emerged on the popular Swellnet wave-forecasting site last week of a car which had been defaced near what looks like an Otway Coast break.
“5k radius. F--- off,” a message on the windscreen read, without the three dots.
It was written with surf wax on the driver’s side, meaning the driver would have had a devil of a job getting it off.
As people posting on the website pointed out, it was a pretty pea-hearted act levelled against someone who may or may not have lived in the area and was too busy in the surf to argue the toss.
Last year, locals at Gunnamatta, on the Mornington Peninsula, tried to frighten off visitors with schoolboy-style signage on the foreshore warning Melbourne’s “Covid dogs” to stay away. And a similar sign appeared one night in the main street of peaceful Pt Lonsdale, where the population has grown remarkably over the last year.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
A criminal who has made a fair fuss about his mistreatment in Victorian prisons is giving an interstate corrections system a try.
This fellow, who loves an ill-gotten dollar, has a long tale of woe about life behind bars here which he had hoped could prove a good “earn”.
But he probably has other things to worry about now, such as cooling his heels in the clink after being charged with murder in another jurisdiction.
Let’s hope the staff are filling his hottie (as in water bottle) and fluffing his pillows at night.
HARD MAN FOR HIRE
Melbourne fight legend Sam Greco seems to have become a go-to man for producers needing a menacing presence.
Deadline noticed karate king Greco again playing the tough-guy part in a face-off with Alexander Bertrand’s character in Channel 7’s Australian Gangster on Monday.
Greco was all snarls as he confronted Bertrand’s character, the late Sydney underworld figure Pasquale Barbaro, in the big-budget production.
It was the latest in a number of similar roles for Greco, who, it must be noted, seems to bring some authenticity to such parts.
He appeared in several incarnations of the hit Underbelly franchise.
In one, Greco made a brief but notable appearance as nightclub bouncer Bruno Bolotzi in a tense confrontation with tracksuit-loving Sunshine hothead Dino Dibra, played by Daniel Amalm.
Greco has for decades been a big name in the city’s fight scene.
He won the 1994 Karate World Cup and fought in top-level kick-boxing and MMA.
ACTING ON IMPULSE
It’s amazing what people will do while allowing themselves to be filmed.
Rumour has it that a gangland figure is prominent in some extremely racy home video currently in circulation.
Footage is said to involve multiple co-stars and a deodorant can.
Accused killer driver offers ‘profound heartfelt sympathy’ to victim’s family
The man who was allegedly behind the wheel of a car when it hit and killed a pedestrian in Kooyong early Sunday morning has offered his condolences to the victim’s family.
Man found with gunshot wound on CBD street
A man was found with a gunshot wound near the intersection of Spencer and Lonsdale streets early Monday in the latest violent attack in Melbourne’s CBD.