1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: She had a great demeanor, she had great charisma, She 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 1: was a very fine dresser, and she was a marvelous 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: con artist. They became party to a plot to pull 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: Australia's first armored car cash heist, and there it is 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,479 Speaker 1: said that what became known as the toe Cutter Gang 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: got its name because they tortured Baldi Blair to get 7 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: him to reveal where his cash was. I'm Andrew ruled 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: his life in crimes. One of the big names in 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: crime back in the day, as we say, back in 10 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: the sixties seventies, was a fellow called Frank Baldy Blair. 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: His real name was Frank, his nickname was Baldi. All 12 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: crooks have to have nicknames. Surname was Blair, b l Air. 13 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: Baldy Blair came from Melbourne. He was one of that 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: crew of inner suburban heavyweights who came out of the 15 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 1: mean streets of Richmond, Port, Melbourne, etc. Collingwood. He ended 16 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: up on the docks or hanging around the docks, like 17 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: a lot of heavies did in those days, and in fact, 18 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: like good Melbourne crooks did. Then he became a painter 19 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: and docker. Something like three quarters of the membership of 20 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: the painters and dockers were people with extensive criminal records, 21 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: a little bit like the modern day CFMU, some would suggest, 22 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: but I'd suggest the painters and dockers were more criminal 23 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: than the CFMU and had a lot of very violent 24 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: men on its books. And one of them was Baldy Blair. 25 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: And Baldy Blair in the late sixties he and others 26 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: ran some big scams on the waterfront. And what they 27 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: used to do if they weren't stealing cargo by the 28 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: container load or whatever or by the shipload, they were 29 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: running contraband and they would be bringing in in those 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,880 Speaker 1: days a lot of hash and cannabis products from the 31 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: Golden Triangle, things like that, and selling it on what 32 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: was then the burgeoning emerging drug market. Baldi was pretty 33 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: good at this. They had some good schemes going. They 34 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: would mark a particular container I think it was with 35 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,679 Speaker 1: pornographic pictures so they knew which one was the one 36 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: with the hash in it. They would then load it 37 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: up onto a truck and take it off the docks 38 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: and unload it and sell it for lots of money. 39 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: Too much of a good thing is never a good thing. 40 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: Because the authorities worked out what they're up to, and 41 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: then other crooks worked out what they were up to. 42 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: And in the end Baldy Blair went to Sydney and 43 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: there he reinvented himself as a stick up man and 44 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 1: Melbourne crooks like him had a bit of a reputation 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: in Sydney for being uncompromising hard guys, and Baldi Blair 46 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: had with him made of his called Steve Nitty's and 47 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: Steve Nitty's alias the Bomber, was a former boxer who 48 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: used to train at Richmond at the late Great Leo 49 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: Berry's gym. I think Nittys might have had a national 50 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: title belt. He was pretty good at it, but he 51 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: gave up boxing eventually and became a gunman and heavy 52 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: and he got his nickname the Bomber because he blew 53 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: up a nightclub with a bomb or threatened to. And 54 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: these guys land in Sydney and set themselves up in 55 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: the robbery business, and it comes to pass that they 56 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: would sit around at the Oceanic Hotel in Kuji and 57 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: they'd held up with some Sydney crooks and they'd sit 58 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: around and plan jobs, and they'd received Stalin Goods and 59 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: Salem and they'd plan robberies and do them and all 60 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: the rest of the criminal stuff, and Baldy had taken up. 61 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: Soon after he went to Sydney, he went to Checkers nightclub. 62 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: I think it was called in Sydney. There was also 63 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: one in Melbourne, I think, but there was one in Sydney. 64 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: And he went there and he met a most beautiful 65 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: scallywag woman called Patricia. Now we're going to call her 66 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: Patricia Blair because they either got married or they had 67 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: a de facto relationship, but she was known later on 68 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: as Patricia Blair took his name. She was a very 69 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: beautiful woman, and she was very confident. She had a 70 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: great demeanor, she had great charisma, She was a very 71 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: fine dresser, and she was a marvelous con artist and 72 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: also very nimble. She could steal things, and she was 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: quite a high end jewel thief, among other attributes. And Baldy, 74 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: the sort of rough, tough bulldog of a man, and 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: the beautiful jewel thief became an item. And at this 76 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: point Patricia already had a little, tiny boy, a little 77 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: boy called Larry. Now Larry's batural father was not Baldy Blair. 78 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,120 Speaker 1: He was someone else. And we don't need to worry 79 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: about who that is. But Baldy became that little boy's father, 80 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: the only father he knew, and the little boy, Larry 81 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: became known as Larry Blair. And there they were, mister 82 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: and missus Blair and their son Larry, and the other 83 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: crooks used to call Larry little Lord Fauntleroy because his mother, 84 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: Patricia would dress him beautifully, mostly in stolen clothes from 85 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: high end shops that she'd rob, and he'd have silk 86 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: shirts and all the rest of it, in beautiful leather 87 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: shoes and all this good stuff. And the rough hard 88 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: arm robbers and others and burglars and stand over men 89 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: and gunman who drank with Baldy Blair at the OSHI 90 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: as they call it, the Oceanic Hotel, would laugh at 91 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: this little boy when he came along to snip dad 92 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: for five dollars to go surfing or whatever, and they 93 00:05:57,720 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: call him thortle Roy and joke with him and buy 94 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: my raspberry lemonade Da da da da dam. And little 95 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: did the little boy know, and he's he's seven eight 96 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 1: nine ten, that sort of age group. Little did he 97 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: realize that the men that his father hung around with 98 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: these friends of his father's were a very treacherous and 99 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: violent crowd. But he did sense that they weren't all 100 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: nice people. He had that child's sense of not only 101 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: of innocence, but of sensing that some people meant no good. 102 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: And he sensed that some of them were pretty bad 103 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: dudes indeed, and that he thought they had false smiles 104 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,239 Speaker 1: and so on. And he was right, as events would prove. 105 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,840 Speaker 1: And one thing led to another, and Baldy Blair and 106 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,760 Speaker 1: Steve Nittis from Melbourne his mate, and another guy called 107 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: I think Alan Jones funnily enough common name, isn't it 108 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,920 Speaker 1: Alan Jones. That's not Alan Jones the radio man, nor 109 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: is it racing. It's just Alan Jones, who was a 110 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: gunman who's now dead. They became party to a plot 111 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: to pull Australia's first armored car cash heist, a robbery 112 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: of an armored car never been done before. This is 113 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy. They got the plan for this heist 114 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: from a very clever crook called Les Woon w n 115 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: known around the underworld as Wooker Look Woon. You have 116 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: to have a nickname, and that was his and Wooker 117 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: Woon was one of these smart crooks who used to 118 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: get information inside information about money movements and all the 119 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:44,080 Speaker 1: rest of it. And he had information that a main 120 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: Nicholas armored car would go around the western suburbs on 121 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: a given day every week and would go to the 122 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,920 Speaker 1: racecourse to pick up race money from the bookies and 123 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: to go to the something bank and there's something partman, 124 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: there's something shops and pick up all cash and take 125 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: it back to the reserve bank, so on and so forth. 126 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: And it appeared that the people in the armored car 127 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: had grown complacent and lazy, and instead of varying their 128 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: root and their times, they stuck to a rigid timetable. 129 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: And it meant that creatures of habit. These fellows, three 130 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: guys in the armored car creatures of habit. Every day 131 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: they would stop their armored car full of money, jam 132 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: full of cash in a particular small park near a 133 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: bank in the suburb of Guildford in Sydney, and there 134 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: they would have their lunch. They'd pull out their sandwiches 135 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: and their thumus of tea or perhaps coffee, and maybe 136 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:47,080 Speaker 1: a drink of water, and they sangers and maybe cut 137 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,360 Speaker 1: up an apple or an orange, you know, and have 138 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: their cup of tea, and then very neat and tidy, 139 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: they'd open the door of their armored vehicle and one 140 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: of them would trapes across, or maybe two of them 141 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: would apes across to the bin in the park and 142 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: put their lunch trappers in the bin. Very tidy and 143 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: good citizens, but very stupid because you are driving a 144 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:14,120 Speaker 1: van full of cash, you've pulled up and you've opened 145 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: the door. You are asking for trouble. Well guess what happened. 146 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: Baldy Steve Nittis and l Jones robbed them and it 147 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: was the first armored car robbery in Australia, and it 148 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 1: was a great success because the robbers all wore mirrored sunglasses. 149 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: Then of great novelty mirrored hats. They had these hats 150 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: with sort of little shiny things on them, which meant 151 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: that anybody looking at them would see reflections of themselves, 152 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: which is disconcerting. And they also wore and I love 153 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 1: this detail, this is wonderful. They wore full length Butcher's aprons, 154 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 1: the Butcher's uniform of the long stripey. Remember the navy 155 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: and white stripes that Butcher's used to wear. That's what 156 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: they had on, and it meant that all of them 157 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,040 Speaker 1: looks yimla. They looked a little bit odd, but the 158 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: same as each other, and very difficult to distinguish from 159 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: each other. You know, in general terms, you co'd say, oh, 160 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: you know, one was a bit bigger than the others 161 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: or something, but not much. No colors of eyes, no 162 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: obvious features. They robbed the armored van of five hundred 163 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: and eighty eight odd thousand dollars. Now, in nineteen seventy, 164 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, that was a lot of money. In 165 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,680 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, I was getting fifty cents a week pocket money, 166 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,360 Speaker 1: and fifty cents a week pocket money was like getting 167 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: twenty five dollars a week now, I reckon because for 168 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: fifty cents, you could make yourself sick on fish and 169 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: chips for ten cents and they still have forty cents 170 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: left over. You know, that would keep you going for 171 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: all the other days of the week. So five hundred 172 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:53,400 Speaker 1: and eighty thousand dollars was probably the price of fifty 173 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 1: eight houses in country towns around Australia or forty odd 174 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: suburban houses around Australia. Good ones, really good ones. Back 175 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: in the sixties there used to be a raffle held 176 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: to raise money to build the Opera House in Sydney. 177 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: The Sydney Opera House raffle was a big deal, a lottery, 178 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: it was called, and the house that was the prize 179 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: in that was advertised back in the pre decimal currency 180 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: days as something like five pounds, you know, ten thousand dollars. 181 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,720 Speaker 1: So that does give you an idea of the huge 182 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: amount of money that these guys got, and in our 183 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: currency today it'd be worth about ten million, they say, 184 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: a lot of dough. Now, half the money was to 185 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: go to wook A Wound, the mastermind who'd planned it 186 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: from Afar, and some of that, I think some of 187 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: that half went to senior painters and dockers in Melbourne 188 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: who were inclined to sort of clip the ticket of 189 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,839 Speaker 1: big robberies done by their members that you had to 190 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 1: kick some back up the line to the bosses. But 191 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,679 Speaker 1: the other half pretty went to the three guys who 192 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: got it. So they took off with about one hundred 193 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: thousand dollars each, a lot of dope. And Larry Blair 194 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:13,880 Speaker 1: can recall his father coming home, coming home, turning up 195 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: in a brand new v eight Valiant car. He said, 196 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: the color of a fresh turd is the way that 197 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: Larry described it, and blowing the horn, turning the radio 198 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: full belt and saying party time, Party time. Were all 199 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,319 Speaker 1: going to dinner because he just pulled this massive robbery. 200 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: And so they all friends and family piled into the 201 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: Valiant and they went around to the best Chinese joint 202 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: in Sydney and they had a massive feed, and then 203 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,200 Speaker 1: they had massive amounts of booze, and then they had 204 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:50,160 Speaker 1: more food and more booze until they all passed out. 205 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 1: It was just a really big party, which was probably 206 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: not a great way to not draw attention to yourself. 207 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: To be buying a brand new vut car and then 208 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,400 Speaker 1: spending a fortune on a meal and a drink up 209 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: for all your friends and family, it sort of would 210 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,960 Speaker 1: stand out a bit, and indeed it did attract attention 211 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: from various people. And I think some of those people 212 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: might have been corrupt police who in Sydney were particularly 213 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,000 Speaker 1: keen on knowing who had robbed anything, because they considered 214 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: that they should always get a share of anything that 215 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 1: had been robbed. In Sydney in those days, the homicide 216 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: Squad would organize the murders, the breaking squad would organize 217 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: the big breakings. I'm going to take a share of 218 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: any big breakings, and the robbery squad would want a 219 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: share of any armed robberies. And so it would be 220 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: obvious that the bent Coppers of Sydney would be very 221 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: keen to get their finger in the pie and get 222 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: some of this doe. Now, if these hard headed Melbourne 223 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: crooks weren't handing money over to their hosts in Sydney, 224 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,360 Speaker 1: things could turn nasty. And the bent Coppers in Sydney, 225 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: notably a fellow called Freddie kray H. He was a 226 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: detective sergeant. He was a very scary man. He killed people, 227 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: he stood over people. He would do anything, and he 228 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: supposedly had a secondhand shop of his own where stolen 229 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: goods were sold, and he did contract killings. He did 230 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 1: whatever it took. It is said. It is alleged that 231 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: he and a couple of Sydney crooks said, what about 232 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: these guys getting this big score? We want some of 233 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: it or all of it or whatever, And so they 234 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: were putting their hand out looking for money. Well, Baldy 235 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: Blair and his two mates did a runner and Baldi 236 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: Blair said to Patricia, the beautiful jewel thief wife and 237 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: little Larry on the road, let's go, and they lit out. 238 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 1: They first of all dropped Larry's little sister. By this 239 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: stage Larry had a baby sister called Kelly. They dropped 240 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: Kelly with some friends and they had a labrador dog 241 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: which they took around and dropped off at Jack Sparrow's house. 242 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: Would you believe in Sydney in those days there was 243 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: a colorful racing identity called Jack Sparrow, and Jack Sparrow 244 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: not the one in Pirates of the Caribbean. This is 245 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: the real Jack Sparrow, who did have a bit of 246 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: pirate in him. But that's where the labrador was dropped 247 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: off and the family of three, although I think they 248 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: got the baby back on the way somewhere. They might 249 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: have got little baby Kelly from a friend and picked 250 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: her up again. So in the end they're in the 251 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:49,359 Speaker 1: Valiant and they're heading it to the outback. So Baldy Patricia, 252 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,440 Speaker 1: Larry who's about eleven by this ten or eleven, and 253 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: his little baby sister Kelly, and they go to Cooper Peedy, 254 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: Cooper Petty, the Opel Fields right out in the boondocks 255 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: roughly where New South Wales hits the South Australian border 256 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: and all that sort of stuff right out with all 257 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: the states meet in the corner country. I think it's 258 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: out there somewhere, and there is a lot of interesting 259 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: people at Kuoper Petty. In those days. I think people 260 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: who were on the run from other places would go 261 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: to Kuber Peaty and there were a lot of underground 262 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: houses there, you know, literally houses dug into the earth 263 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: because people have been mining there for decades. And they 264 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: hid out at kuber Peaty and they should have stayed 265 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:37,120 Speaker 1: there for longer, and then they should have gone somewhere 266 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: else and stayed there longer and let everything cool right off. 267 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: But crooks are risk takers. They want to spend their money, 268 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: They want a big note. They don't want to be 269 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: away from the big centers of Sydney and Melbourne because 270 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: that's you know, that's the center of the world to them. 271 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,000 Speaker 1: And foolishly Baldy Blairs every week going back and they 272 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: went back to Sydney. Long story short. Baldy Blair, cocky, confident, 273 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 1: tough little man that he was. He went back to 274 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: the Oceanic Hotel to where his drinking mates were and 275 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: you know, shouted everybody a drink and we're all happy 276 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: families again. And he thinks that all the heaters died 277 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: down and no one's going to clip him for money. 278 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 1: And he was wrong, because you know what they did. 279 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: They said, oh, Bali, Baldie mate, come over and look 280 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: in this van. You know, Harry's got a van here 281 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: full of hot gear, hot this or hot that, stolen stuff. 282 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:35,679 Speaker 1: And of course this is what these guys used to do. 283 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: We'k in week out they'd be buying and selling hot gear. 284 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: And then went over to the van and they opened 285 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: up the door for him to look at the hot 286 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: gear and then they grabbed him and throw him in it, 287 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: and somebody put a gun in his ear and they 288 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,959 Speaker 1: took him away. And we can't really say where, but 289 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: it will have been a warehouse or an empty premises 290 00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:00,200 Speaker 1: of factory, probably around the Botany area out near the 291 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: airport Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney. And there it is said 292 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: that what became known as the toe Cutter Gang got 293 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: its name because they tortured Baldy Blair with bolt cutters 294 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: and with a blow torch to get him to reveal 295 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: where his cash was where the cash robbery cash was. 296 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: The name the toe Cutter Gang was coined over that 297 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: specific incident and the fact that they also did it 298 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,879 Speaker 1: to his two mates to is too. Mates in the robbery, 299 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: that is Steve Nitti's and Alan Jones, who actually survived 300 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: and got away. They probably were able to give some 301 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: information or some money to the toe Cutters, but for 302 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 1: whatever reason, that didn't happen with Baldi Blair. Perhaps he 303 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 1: was too tough for his own good and wouldn't divulge, 304 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: or perhaps they injured him too seriously before he divulged. 305 00:18:57,680 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 1: But the long and the short of it is that 306 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,680 Speaker 1: he died of his injuries or they killed him. And 307 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: the story that Larry, as an adult twenty thirty years later, 308 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: was able to put together was that his body was 309 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 1: probably dissolved in a vat of acid and then they 310 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: buried his remains underneath the extension to the I think 311 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: north South runway of the airport was then being built 312 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy, So they took whatever was left of 313 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: poor old Baldi and they tipped it out in a 314 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: trench or whatever where they were building the north South runway, 315 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: and that was the end of Baldy Blair, So that 316 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: left he very shattered, Patricia, his wife, and a very 317 00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: anxious son, Larry, who realized, of course that Baldy, who 318 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,120 Speaker 1: you know, Larry says, was a bully and a rogue 319 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: and a womanizer, and you know, a lot of bad things. 320 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: He wasn't of father of the year, but he was 321 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,680 Speaker 1: the only father this kid had, and in his own way, 322 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: he sort of loved him. And they were scared that 323 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:17,520 Speaker 1: the bad guys would come for them, and I think 324 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: they were right to be scared. Patricia had a very 325 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:27,439 Speaker 1: acute sense of self preservation, and she was intuitive and 326 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: intelligent when she could read the play very well, and 327 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: she said, right, we're going. As soon as she heard 328 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: that Bully had disappeared, she grabs her son, She drops 329 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,119 Speaker 1: a daughter, the little girl, off at other friends, and 330 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: they go and get on an aeroplane to fly to Melbourne. 331 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 1: And they're at the airport at Sydney in an ansett plane. 332 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 1: It taxies out from the terminal to get to the 333 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,479 Speaker 1: actual strip to take off, and Patricia looks over her 334 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:03,520 Speaker 1: shoulder and sees a red guy called Billy Maloney. Billy 335 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,240 Speaker 1: Maloney was one of the guys from the Oceanic Hotel 336 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: who used to be a drinking partner, drinking buddy of ballies. 337 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,800 Speaker 1: And she knows that Billy Maloney is one of the 338 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: treacherous bastards who has been one of the toe cutters. 339 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: And she thinks, and she's probably right, that he's following 340 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 1: them to Melbourne because she's trying to go into smoke, 341 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,919 Speaker 1: she's trying to vanish, and there's this guy four seats 342 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 1: behind them. She bolts straight down to the cockpit. She 343 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,119 Speaker 1: bangs on the cockpit door. She gets the captain of 344 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: the plane to stop the plane and speak to her. 345 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: And because of her vehemence, her articulate nature, possibly because 346 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: of her beauty, because that doesn't do any harm, she 347 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,720 Speaker 1: was able to persuade the captain that the flight should 348 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: not take off until he'd called the police radio for 349 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: the police to come. That they wheeled the steps back 350 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: out to the plane, opened the door of the plane 351 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: and escorted she and her son off the plane, leaving 352 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: the red haired passenger on it. So this is how 353 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,520 Speaker 1: she avoided the bad guy on the plane following her 354 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,399 Speaker 1: to Melbourne. The police come and escort them off the plane. 355 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: The plane takes off and goes to Melbourne. Meanwhile, they're 356 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: in Sydney with the police and the police said, what 357 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: are we going to do with you? Well, you've got 358 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: to take her somewhere safe. So the police dropped them 359 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: off at a dodgy old motel which I think was 360 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: in Couljiebay Road, but it doesn't really matter. It's a 361 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: dodgy old motel on the edge of Sydney somewhere. And 362 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: that night he can remember this is Larry telling this 363 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: story because Larry's now written a book, which is why 364 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: we're interested. Larry tells the story that that night he 365 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: and his mother are in this motel room and they're 366 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: very awake, and they're very nervous, and they fold down 367 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: this dodgy old joint had these fold down beds that 368 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: were really squeaky and horrible, and they fold it down 369 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: and they get on the bed and they're lying there 370 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: wondering what's going to happen next, and how they're going 371 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: to get to Melbourne and all that, when they hear something. 372 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: They hear in the corridor one of the little trolleys 373 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,479 Speaker 1: that the maids used to bring the sheets and the 374 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: meals and the whatever, all the stuff around the shampoo. 375 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: They hear this squeaking wheels of this trolley. They'd squeak 376 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: along and then stop. Then they'd hear a voice, a 377 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,919 Speaker 1: knock on the door, and then a voice. Then it'd 378 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: move on to the next door, and so on. And 379 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: Patricia realizes it's after midnight and this will not be 380 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: a legitimate trolley run. It's too late, she said, quick 381 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,159 Speaker 1: she grabs the boy, Larry. She shoves him out the window. 382 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,600 Speaker 1: They're up a couple of flights, a couple of stories. 383 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: Climb down, climb down. They both get out the window 384 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 1: and they climb down the downpipe. They're guttering the downpipe 385 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: and they're hoping that the rusty old downpipe won't break. 386 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 1: And they get to the ground. They jump over the 387 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: fence next door into the next door block. And the 388 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: next door block is I think it was undeveloped, might 389 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: have been a building site or something, and it had 390 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: some scrub on it and some lantana bushes, which is rubbishy, 391 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: noxious weed. And they hide in the lantana bush. And 392 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 1: as soon as they get over that fence. Now a 393 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,600 Speaker 1: minute after vacating the room via the window, they hear 394 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: this crash from upstairs, whoever it was, having knocked on 395 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,679 Speaker 1: their door and no answer, has kicked their door in, 396 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: broken their door in, and they realized they'd missed. They'd 397 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,080 Speaker 1: got away by that much, but they're terrified, so they 398 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: hide all night in the Lantana bushes, not moving a 399 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:01,640 Speaker 1: muscle in case somebody's looking for them. Dawn just starts 400 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:06,600 Speaker 1: to break. At whatever five point thirty six. Dawn starts 401 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 1: to break and they creep out to the street and 402 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 1: they see empty taxi. She sticks her hand up, pushes 403 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: the son Larry into the caxi, jumps in behind him 404 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: and says, quick, take us to the city bus station, 405 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: the big interstate bus station. Doesn't matter where it was, 406 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,360 Speaker 1: but I think it was down a five dock or somewhere. 407 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: And they go to the bus station and they get 408 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: the first bus to Melbourne, and so by that night, 409 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: after a very very grueling twenty four hours, they're in Melbourne, 410 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: and then they take a train down to Frankston and 411 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: there they meet a couple they call Uncle Elfie and 412 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: Auntie Joan, who are not actually their blood relatives. I 413 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: think they were probably friends or relatives of Baldy Blares, 414 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: but these were the people that looked after them while 415 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: they were hiding in Melbourne, and he writes something like 416 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: Franklin was a great place to hide because no one 417 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,800 Speaker 1: wanted to go there, which is unkind. But the Artie 418 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,240 Speaker 1: Joan and Uncle elf Uncle Elfy put up a tall 419 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: fence around the house, and I used to patrol the 420 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:20,359 Speaker 1: tall fence with his old shotgun. And they gave Larry 421 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 1: a different name. He call himself Barry, Barry Brown or whatever, 422 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: and he went off to the local state school under 423 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,639 Speaker 1: the false name. Meanwhile, Patricia hung around home and didn't 424 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: go out much because she was fairly striking to look at, 425 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: and it's better if she didn't get around. And they 426 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: hid out there for some time now. I don't know 427 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: if it was weeks or months, because Larry's memory he's 428 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: not that accurate. But they stayed here a fair while 429 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,640 Speaker 1: until they I think they wore out there welcome naturally, 430 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,920 Speaker 1: and be thought it might be safe to go back 431 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,239 Speaker 1: to Sydney, and that things that cooled down. They might 432 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,399 Speaker 1: have heard that this guy's in jail, or that blokes 433 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,200 Speaker 1: when shit or so and so has gone to England. 434 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 1: That the toe cutter gang had sort of dispersed a bit, 435 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 1: and so Larry and his beloved mother, Patricia, the jewelfliff lady, 436 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: who was his not only his mother, but his best 437 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,560 Speaker 1: friend and his great companion and his mentor. They meant 438 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:22,199 Speaker 1: everything to each other. They went back to Sydney to 439 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: their little house that they had up there, and Patricia 440 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: embarked on a career of jewel thefts with a gang 441 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,639 Speaker 1: of like minded folk that netted them some worldwide headlines. 442 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,480 Speaker 1: One of them in nineteen eighty ten, years after the 443 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: big robbery that had caused all their troubles, she and 444 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: two companions knocked off the I think it's called the 445 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: gold Conondador. It's a famous massive diamond that was mine 446 00:27:57,119 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: three hundred years ago in India. It was something like 447 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 1: one hundred thirty carrot. It was extremely rare. It was 448 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,159 Speaker 1: really clean, clear diamond with just a sort of an 449 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: orange tinge. Extremely rare. It was priceless, and it was 450 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 1: exhibited as an exhibit at this exhibition in Sydney. It 451 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: had armed guards that had all this stuff and they 452 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:22,160 Speaker 1: managed to steal it in front of a room full 453 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,400 Speaker 1: of people. They created some diversion and said they were 454 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,919 Speaker 1: there to repair the cabinet that it was in They 455 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,080 Speaker 1: must have worn the right sort of clothes. And they 456 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:34,640 Speaker 1: conned everybody they're there to repair the cabinet or fix 457 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 1: the cabinet door or whatever. And they opened the cabinet 458 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: door and Patricia, this is Larry's mum, because of her deafness, 459 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: she was able to slide in, slip in a glass 460 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: copy of this great diamond and steal the real one. 461 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: And as far as anyone knows, that real one, that's 462 00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty, that's forty four years ago. That diamond is 463 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: still out there. Somebody somewhere in the world will have 464 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,880 Speaker 1: paid a lot of money for the pleasure of illicitly 465 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 1: owning that stolen diamond, because it never came home as 466 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: far as anyone knows. And that is the origin story 467 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: of Larry Blair. Now, Larry Blair, anybody out there thinks 468 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: that name is familiar, They're probably right it is. Larry 469 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: Blair became one of Australia's greatest names in surfing. He 470 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: was one of the first wave of big time surfers 471 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: who came through in seventies. He made his name during 472 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,440 Speaker 1: the seventies, particularly the late seventies, and he was a 473 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: contemporary of the biggest names in the game, and he 474 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: was a star of the Sydney Surf Beaches along with 475 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: a few other guys, and he ended up going to 476 00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:01,479 Speaker 1: Hawaii to sort of polish up his technique and it 477 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,479 Speaker 1: was there that he won two i think two World 478 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 1: Masters titles. So Larry Blair he went from being the 479 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: son of the great armored car robber who was a 480 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 1: victim of the toe Cutter gang, the son of the 481 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: great jewel thief and beautiful gangsters mole for one of 482 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: a better word, to becoming a world champion surfer. He 483 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: also became an actor, a sort of a small time actor. 484 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: So Larry Blair left crime behind, never really wanted to 485 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: know about it. Seeing what had happened to his parents 486 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: and to their friends, and seeing the treachery, the brutality, 487 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: the highs and lows, it meant that he never really 488 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: wanted to have anything to do with crime or with gambling, 489 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: but instead he became a professional surfer. He, of course, 490 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: you know, gradually faded from view and he ended up 491 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,640 Speaker 1: living in Southeast Asia, I think in Balley he married, 492 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,120 Speaker 1: or in Indonesia at least where there are a lot 493 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: of big waves, and he married a local woman up there, 494 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: and I think he ended up running a restaurant and 495 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 1: became quite a competent chef. He loved cooking and being 496 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: a chef. These days, I think he's back in Australia, 497 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,719 Speaker 1: up on northern beaches of New South Wales maybe or 498 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 1: somewhere like that, or southern Queensland, and he's leading a 499 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,640 Speaker 1: quiet life. But in the last year or two he's 500 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: produced this book. It's called The Outside. It's written with 501 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:41,400 Speaker 1: his surfing friend Jeremy Goring. Jeremy Goring obviously is a 502 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,960 Speaker 1: smart guy who understands writing and publishing and all that stuff. 503 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: He probably wasn't as good as surfer as Larry, but 504 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: I'm thinking he's probably a better writer than Larry. Hard 505 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: to tell, but the book, it's not literature, but it's 506 00:31:55,720 --> 00:32:02,840 Speaker 1: a very interesting insight into the Australian underworld of the sixties, 507 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: seventies and eighties from a particular perspective. It's from the 508 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: viewpoint of a child caught up in it, who doesn't 509 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: want to be in it, who's caught up in it, 510 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:19,959 Speaker 1: who's fearful, who loves his mother dearly, who is angry 511 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: and upset and scared because his father vanished in dreadful circumstances, 512 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: and who for years lived in fear that the bad 513 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:33,240 Speaker 1: guys that killed his father would catch up with him somehow. 514 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 1: And after he got to grow into an adult, he 515 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: turned over. At the age of sixteen or whatever, he 516 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 1: sort of turned it into a man. He then started 517 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: to look forward. It's been ale as he's looking over 518 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: his shoulder. But then when he got to be a 519 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: young man, he started to look forward and thought, I'd 520 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: like to catch up with those guys. I want to 521 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,040 Speaker 1: see Billy Maloney and put it on him. You know, 522 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: the red hair guy that I reckon was the one 523 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: that really did the damage to Dad, was a two faced, 524 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:06,479 Speaker 1: treacherous varment. I want to catch up with him. And 525 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 1: one day he walked into a beer garden in Sydney, 526 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,120 Speaker 1: and there he was there all these years later. He 527 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: saw this man with red hair sitting there nursing a 528 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: beer and he thought, that's him. What'll I do? And 529 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: what he did was he thought, that'll do. I'll just 530 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: leave it. It's not worth worrying about. Look at him. 531 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: He's pathetic. There's nothing to be gained one way or another. 532 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: I'm not going to talk to him, I'm not going 533 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: to glass him, I'm not gonna hit him with a 534 00:33:38,160 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: beer jug. I'm just going to walk out. And that's 535 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: what he did. And he turned on his heel and 536 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: he walked away from that whole scene, and he left 537 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: fantasies of revenge behind and he became a very peaceful, 538 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: nature loving fellow who tried to put all that traumatic 539 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 1: stuff behind him. But you can tell that the book 540 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: is probably the product of a very wounded psyche. That 541 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: this guy has been full of fear as a kid, 542 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: and hatred and all those things and love that the 543 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:19,800 Speaker 1: book is his attempt to try and come to terms 544 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 1: with a very dangerous past. The book is called The Outside. 545 00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,359 Speaker 1: It's by Larry Blair and Jeremy Goring. It's published by 546 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,240 Speaker 1: Penguin Books. And we'll have a link in the description 547 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:35,800 Speaker 1: where you can find out more. 548 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald 549 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 2: Sun production for True Crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. 550 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 2: For my columns, features and more, go to herold'sun dot 551 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:55,759 Speaker 2: com dot au, forward slash Andrew Rule one word For 552 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 2: advertising inquiries. 553 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: Go to news podcasts sold at news dot com, dot 554 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,240 Speaker 1: a you that is all one word news. 555 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 2: Podcast's sold and if you want further information about this episode, 556 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 2: links are in the description.