1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: These kids have been given a few hundred bucks to 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 1: steal a car and go to ex or wire address 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,959 Speaker 1: that they're given with a tin of petrol or similar 4 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: accelerant and set fire to places. And that is a 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:18,040 Speaker 1: recipe for disaster. This is very scary stuff. This is 6 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: not you know, a couple of fourteen year olds pinching 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: grandma's holden on a Saturday night and driving it down 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: to the fish and chip shop. This is organized violence. 9 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Ruhle was his life and crimes. It's high 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: time we had a good look at the burning issue 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: of young people offending. Now, young people have always offended. 12 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:46,639 Speaker 1: You know, years ago there were bodgies and witches. Before that, 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: there were alaricans in the streets of Collingwood and Fitzroy 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 1: and in Sydney, same thing. All the way back into 15 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, we had young people who became bush rangers. 16 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: You know, Neck Kelly was arrested the first time when 17 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: he was sixteen running around with an older bushranger armed. 18 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: Robert called Harry Power. There is nothing new about young 19 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: people being violent offenders. And so when we see houses 20 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: being invaded by young people, armed and dangerous, it is 21 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,639 Speaker 1: truly shocking, and it genuinely worries us for good reason. 22 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: But it's not right to think that something like that 23 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: has never happened before. It's just a variation on a theme. 24 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 1: Having said that we have got an apparent wave of 25 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: youth crime, it might be demographics. I can recall back 26 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: in the seventies when there were gangs of skinheads and 27 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: sharpies so called, roaming around Melbourne, roaming around the big 28 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: country centers, you know, places of More Sale, Bendigo, Ballarat, 29 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: all those places. They all had mobs of skins heads 30 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: and sharpies and so on who caused trouble. They would drink, 31 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: they would fight, they would assault girls. There was a 32 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: lot of stuff happening in those days which actually died 33 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:16,119 Speaker 1: out in the decades afterwards, probably because those kids were 34 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: part of a baby boom. The kids in the seventies 35 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: were part of the post war baby boom, and so 36 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: there was a big number of them, and so you'd 37 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: see it. You know, Ringwood sharps would come in on 38 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:31,520 Speaker 1: the train, the broad Meadow sharps would come in on 39 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,080 Speaker 1: the train. There are a lot of them in a way, 40 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: of teenagers in the next generation, and so I think 41 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: it's just sheered numbers and demographics do alter it, which 42 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: is relevant to what we're doing, because now we have 43 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: a bit of a bubble in Victoria at least, and 44 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: probably in other cities where we have young people who've 45 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: come from other countries as toddlers or babies or youngsters, 46 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: and of course those who have been born here soon 47 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: after their parents got here. A lot of these people 48 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: have come from war torn countries, from the Middle East 49 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:09,520 Speaker 1: and from Africa. They've come either directly as refugees or 50 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: indirectly as people fleeing dangerous places where bad things have 51 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: happened to them. And it makes sense in a bad way. 52 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: It makes sense that the children of those war torn 53 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: generations can be more disturbed and people who take more 54 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: dangerous risks and so on and so forth than others. 55 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: You see for that reason apparent rise in the number 56 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: of violent robberies and home invasions and car thefts associated 57 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: with particular ethnic gangs. There is no doubt that if 58 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: you talk to people who work in youth justice centers 59 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: in basically the juvenile prison system. As we record this, 60 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: one of the big stories of the day is that 61 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: guards at one of Victoria's New Youth Training Prisons Cherry Creek. 62 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: Down there, Weerribee guards have been injured badly by two 63 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: violent inmates. Apparently these two inmates have attacked several guards 64 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: and put a couple of them in hospital, including a 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: female guard. Now, this is the sort of incident or 66 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,039 Speaker 1: incidents that makes people very worried. It makes people's blood boil. 67 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: It greatly upsets those whose job it is to work 68 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,720 Speaker 1: in those institutions. It rightly concerns all of us because 69 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: if the system is not well organized enough to lock 70 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: these people up so that they can't hurt others, the 71 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: system is not really fulfilling its function, it's not really 72 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: doing its job. And I think that worries a lot 73 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: of people. I certainly know someone who has worked for 74 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: many years inside that justice system, inside the youth training places. 75 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: He in fact, as a person who used to work 76 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: for this company once, and when he left here many 77 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,720 Speaker 1: years ago, he went into the youth training centers and 78 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: he says that they are shocking places full of very 79 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: violent young men, and that there's sort of a gang 80 00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: mentality in those places. So you've got on one side, 81 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: you've got the African kids, and on other side, you've 82 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: got Islanders and somewhere else, you've got the Middle Eastern kids, 83 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: and then you've got the sort of Ossie skips and 84 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: Aboriginal kids. So you've got at least four approximate groups 85 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: of gangs, all hating each other and fighting each other 86 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: and all the rest of it, and even worse, attacking 87 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,719 Speaker 1: in some cases the adults who were there to look 88 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: after them and to watch them and guard them. Where's 89 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: all this heading. Well, we currently have what has been 90 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: called a crisis where young people are being put back 91 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: on the street rather than being sent youth training places 92 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: that possibly are over full or the judiciary is not 93 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: keen to send people there because they see it really 94 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: as just a training ground for criminality. Which is an 95 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: interesting point. But we have a situation where teenagers, violent teenagers, thieves, robbers, 96 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:27,479 Speaker 1: bash artists are getting back on the streets dozens and 97 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: dozens of times they've been bailed out, so they get arrested, 98 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 1: they get picked up, they get bail and they go 99 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: and reoffend. Now, in our paper there of Son, we 100 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: have run examples of people who have offended in the 101 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: hundreds of times, hundreds of times, and apparently it would 102 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: appear very rarely behind bars and mostly are on the 103 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: street with bail, and that is a situation that is 104 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: apparently escalating and is upsetting a lot of people. One 105 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: aspect of this, and it's gone largely unnoticed, I think, 106 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: is that these sort of kids who are violent, they 107 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: have very poor perceptions of consequences for their actions. They 108 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: are the perfect people to be exploited by older, more 109 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: cunning criminals, and the older, more cunning criminals pay them 110 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:35,679 Speaker 1: relatively small amounts of money to do crimes on their behalf, 111 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: to steal the cars, or to go and hold up 112 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: businesses or whatever it might be. And so we have 113 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 1: a situation where in this year we've had a series 114 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: of bombings and arsenal attacks which police know have been 115 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: committed by underage people, by people under the age of 116 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: seventeen fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. People in this age group have 117 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: been sent out, undoubtedly by older criminals who are getting 118 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,120 Speaker 1: their orders in some cases from the Middle East from 119 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: master criminals elsewhere. These kids have been given a few 120 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 1: hundred bucks to steal a car and go to ex 121 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 1: or wire address that they're given with a tin of 122 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: petrol or similar accelerant and set fire to places, and 123 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: that is a recipe for disaster because fires where petrol 124 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: is used can easily become like bomb sites. Petrol can explode, 125 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,560 Speaker 1: it can spray people and burn them. It can cause 126 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: massive fire bombs. If it gets into a place that's 127 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: got say leaking gas or something like that, the gas 128 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: can then ignite and you've got a terrible situation where 129 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: innocent people could be blown up and burnt because of 130 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: the actions of lunatic teenagers being pushed into the front 131 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:02,960 Speaker 1: line by evil criminals. Now this year we've had a 132 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,200 Speaker 1: series of things. One was at the Furlong Club out 133 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: in Thornbury. Now, people were still cleaning up late at 134 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,679 Speaker 1: night after a function at the Furlong Club. This is 135 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: after midnight one night when the fire bomb exploded. Only 136 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: dumb luck stopped those workers from being incinerated. And that's 137 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 1: a tragedy that would have turned two or three young 138 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: teenage torches into murderers. But if they knew that, the 139 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: kids that had the petrol bombs and the cigarette lighters 140 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: and the getaway car, the stolen car, they didn't really care. 141 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: They're young, they're dumb, and they do stuff for kicks 142 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,960 Speaker 1: and for a few hundred bucks before dawn that morning. 143 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: The night that the Furlong Club was burnt, they set fire. 144 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: The same crew the police believe set fire to another 145 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: venue at top ms Town, which is just a few 146 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: kilometers away. There were three other fire bombings at suburban 147 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:13,880 Speaker 1: venues in the same hectic two weeks in February this year. Now, 148 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: the El Nutherira venue in mill Park was hit twice 149 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: in six days. The security camera footage that the police 150 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: retrieved from that shows young thugs armed with military style weapons. 151 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: Can you believe this? They've got like military weapons, dragging 152 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: a security guard from his car and holding him down 153 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 1: at gunpoint while they burned the place. Now, this is 154 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: very scary stuff. This is not you know, a couple 155 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: of fourteen year olds pinching grandma's holden on a Saturday 156 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:48,199 Speaker 1: night and driving it down to the fish and chip shop. 157 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: This is organized violence of the type that we associate 158 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: with the Middle East and with you know, Soweto. It's 159 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: very ugly, very dangerous, very bad. In these cases, arsonist 160 00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: as young as fourteine were speeding around suburban Melbourne in 161 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: stolen cars. They're carrying petrol bombs and weapons. They paid 162 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: very little to do this, but that doesn't lessen the 163 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: consequences and the possible consequences of their actions. We all 164 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: know that young people, particularly young males, have lousy impulse control, 165 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: very poor grasp of potential consequences of their actions, from 166 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: the sports field to the battlefield to the street. Too 167 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: often it's teenagers who take the biggest risks. It's a 168 00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: well known fact throughout history. In fact, the history of 169 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:49,360 Speaker 1: crime is full of examples. I mentioned Ned Kelly before. 170 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: Ned Kelly running around with Harry Power as a teenager, 171 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: his first arrest comes. He's virtually Harry Power's apprentice until 172 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,959 Speaker 1: Power gets arrested. Kelly ends up taking over and becoming 173 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: an adult bushranger arm Rubber himself. Another example from popular 174 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,040 Speaker 1: culture is Billy the Kid, where there's a new series 175 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: on television called Billy the Kid. It's highly stylized, highly dramatized. 176 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: It's not a faithful historical reenactment of anything particular, but 177 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 1: it is based loosely on a real person who did exist, 178 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: and that person was a kid. His name was Henry McCarty, 179 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: also known as William Bonnie. He stabbed a man in 180 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: a bar at twelve years old, he spent his teenage 181 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: years stealing and gambling. He committed his first murder at seventeen, 182 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 1: before his own predictably violent death at twenty two. Now, 183 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: Billy the Kid has been immortalized in film and song 184 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: and become part of popular culture, you know, knocking on 185 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 1: Heaven's door, etc. Not everybody gets Bob Dylan singing songs 186 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: about them, but that sort of behavior, stabbing someone at twelve, 187 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: living dangerously, murdering people before you're old enough to vote, 188 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: that is exactly the template that a lot of kids 189 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:19,480 Speaker 1: in Melbourne, in Victoria and in Australia are following, and 190 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: it seems to be a growing phenomenon. Currently, there seems 191 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: to be a cohort of people, for whatever reason, who 192 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: are inciting each other to do this and are being 193 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: incited by others to do this sort of stuff. Billy 194 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: the Kid, Billy McCarty is just one of the countless 195 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: young offenders who went knocking on Heaven's door, and for 196 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: what for easy money, for the sick pleasure of hurting 197 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: fellow humans, for the empty applause and shallow admiration of fools, 198 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: unfair weather friends. True. I just read that because that 199 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 1: is a paragraph I wrote in a story, worry about 200 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: this very subject. But there's no doubt that a lot 201 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: of kids do this stuff for kicks. They might get 202 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: paid by somebody, they might steal something that they can sell, 203 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: but deep down they're doing it for thrills kicks. One 204 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: of the most addictive drugs of all is adrenaline. So 205 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: such his life for the young and the reckless while 206 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: it lasts. But if they don't end up deadl like 207 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: Billy and ned Kelly and a lot more, they end 208 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: up buried in concrete and steel cells, serving huge sentences, 209 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: like the older criminals who were sucked in and spat 210 00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: out by the underworld wars. If these kids don't pull 211 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 1: up in time, jail or death is the most likely 212 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: prospect when they get to be adult offenders. They're being 213 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 1: treated too leniently at this level. Some would say they've 214 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: been let go on the streets. They've been shown that 215 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: they can offend and offend an offend and rarely be 216 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: locked up for it, and until it's too late, because 217 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: when they get to twenty twenty one, twenty two, whatever, 218 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: and they do a serious crime, suddenly they'll be in 219 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: front of a judge and jury who say there's no 220 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: more chances for you, Sonny Jim. You are going in 221 00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: the big house for a long time, and that is 222 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: when they'll realize they've wrecked their life. An example of 223 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,880 Speaker 1: how those sort of kids can turn into adult criminals 224 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: is this. We can't name names here because what happened 225 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: in children's courts can never be revealed. But in twenty thirteen, 226 00:15:48,040 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: three teenagers well known to police embarked on a series 227 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: of terrifying robberies on pokey venues across Melbourne. The jam's 228 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: sawn off, shot and a pistol in the faces of 229 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: terrified customers and staff, and then they'd grabbed the money 230 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: because they're pretty well informed about where the money was, 231 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: and then they'd run outside jumping a stolen cart waiting 232 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: with a getaway driver and they head off at terrible 233 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: high speeds up to one hundred and eighty kilometers an hour. 234 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: Very dangerous process, but they got away with a series 235 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: of these robberies, pretty big robberies on pretty big venues 236 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: and until they were caught by the Armed Crime Squad, 237 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: which ran an operation called Operation Dark Knight that was 238 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: in late in twenty thirteen October and November the Operation 239 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: Dark Knight targeted five particular robberies of gaming venues, four 240 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:54,480 Speaker 1: in the Western suburbs and one was in Mulgrave. There 241 00:16:54,520 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: were four in just thirty three days. Significantly, the guns 242 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: and the getaway car were provided by an older, experienced 243 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,679 Speaker 1: Middle Eastern organized crime figure who we can't name at 244 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: this point, who told his teenage underlings which targets to 245 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:22,360 Speaker 1: hit and when during that month of madness. That series 246 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: netted the mastermind a lot of stolen cash for a 247 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: minimum of risk to himself. But of course the kids, 248 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: the teenagers did get caught. They did get banged up, 249 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: but not for long, not for the sort of sentences 250 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: they would have got if they were a few years older, 251 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:46,480 Speaker 1: and it set them firmly on the way to becoming 252 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: seasoned career criminals themselves. The experience of being caught and 253 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: locked up briefly for less than a year, I think 254 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: didn't have the necessary effect. To read the police reports 255 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: from Operation Dark Knight, and I quote the armed robberies 256 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,320 Speaker 1: in question targeted lucrative venues reasonably expected to be holding 257 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: large sums of cash. It could also be reasonably expected 258 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,320 Speaker 1: these venues would contain large numbers of patrons and staff, 259 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: particularly the elderly. The commission of these armed robberies involved 260 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: a high level of planning and preparation. It entailed the 261 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: sourcing of a stolen motor vehicle, stolen registration plates, and 262 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: a stolen firearm shotgun. Most clothing worn by the offenders 263 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: was either destroyed or disposed of. Although police were unable 264 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: to identify any particular safe house, it became evident that 265 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: offenders were utilizing a secure location to store the stolen 266 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: motor vehicle, firearms, and stolen cash. That is code for 267 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: this was being run by older crooks and highly organized. 268 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 1: The victims were mostly elderly and were quote ordered down 269 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: on the ground by masked men with a shotgun pointed 270 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: directly in their faces. Many of those victims have suffered 271 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: severe psychological distress and trauma as a result. Many report 272 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: that these offenses have impacted on the way they now 273 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: lived their lives, forcing them to stay at home. In 274 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: other words, listeners, The robbers were not some Alarican kids 275 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 1: lair rising on a Saturday night. They were taking part 276 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:37,919 Speaker 1: in clinically planned, traumatizing, potentially fatal crimes, and yet it 277 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: seemed to frustrate a police that when are arrested and 278 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: charged with the most serious crimes short of homicide and rape. 279 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: You know, these sort of vicious arm robberies. They're the 280 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 1: crimes that fall just below homicide and rape. The offenders 281 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:58,280 Speaker 1: were treated like school kids caught shoplifting. That's how it 282 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: seemed to some of the police. In the end. As 283 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,159 Speaker 1: I said before, two of these young offenders walked from 284 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: court on a basis they'd already done two hundred and 285 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: thirty five days on remand by the time they offered 286 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: guilty please. Police were angered by this, not surprisingly, and 287 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 1: one a police officer wrote these words. One could argue 288 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: that the element of punishment has not been achieved. It 289 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,120 Speaker 1: could be argued that neither child has been held accountable 290 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: for their actions. Fast forward to twenty twenty four, that's 291 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: eleven years later. The PostScript to Operation Dark Knight is 292 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: that two of those three teenage criminals have gone on 293 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: to become quite serious players in what we now call 294 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: the Tobacco War. Unlike long deck criminals from history, these 295 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,199 Speaker 1: now frightening young adults can't be named because of the 296 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: tough rules governing under age court proceedings in the recent past. 297 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,679 Speaker 1: But Anyone familiar with the rise of Middle Eastern crime 298 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 1: in Australia will know their surnames, and you would have 299 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: to have been under a rock not to realize that 300 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: Middle Eastern crime has taken off in the last decade. 301 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:20,919 Speaker 1: One of this pair is now a feared and wealthy 302 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: gangland figure implicated in high level drug trafficking and crimes 303 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: of violence. Detectives have noted during previous interactions his eagerness 304 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: to learn everything he can about their tactics and their 305 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,439 Speaker 1: methods of investigation. The other one of this pair is 306 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: a suspected drug dealer, a money launderer who has in 307 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:49,000 Speaker 1: the past made gaudy displays of his unexplained wealth on 308 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: social medium and so on. That was until his enemies 309 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:58,199 Speaker 1: put a big price on his increasingly isolated head and 310 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,199 Speaker 1: he was forced to move out of the aseratis and 311 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 1: into the shadows. Meanwhile, the crime convey a belt which 312 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,119 Speaker 1: produced these two grinds on throwing up fresh pawns for 313 00:22:09,200 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: older crooks to exploit the way they were every week 314 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,399 Speaker 1: in Victoria. It's young offenders who've rushed to the front 315 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: line in the war over Melbourne's elicit tobacco industry, burning 316 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:25,080 Speaker 1: smoke shops or carrying out ram raids to steal goods 317 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 1: that their masters, their criminal masters will then on sell. 318 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: These are the guys that are the fagans of crime, 319 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:40,639 Speaker 1: and we probably need Fagan laws to specifically target older 320 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: crooks who use younger crooks to do their bidding and 321 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: basically just teaching them what to do so that they're 322 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: creating a whole raft of new criminals. The price of 323 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: this sort of crime apprenticeship is that it sets them 324 00:22:55,680 --> 00:23:01,120 Speaker 1: on the long wrong road, often for life. When they're young, 325 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: these useful idiots are paid, often only a few hundred 326 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: dollars to blow up businesses and miskilling or injuring innocent people. 327 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: Of course, it's not only these arsonal attacks. In the 328 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: tobacco wars, there have been cases of teens drawn into 329 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 1: attempted hits and doing terrifying drive by shootings that overwhelmingly 330 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:29,719 Speaker 1: in danger innocent lives. Quite a lot of people in Melbourne, Sydney, 331 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:34,439 Speaker 1: but especially Sydney have been hurt by indiscriminate shooting with 332 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: semi automatic weapons. Meanwhile, their criminal bosses know that if 333 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: the kids are court it's odds on that they'll get bail. 334 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: Automatically because of their tender years, which makes prison only 335 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,360 Speaker 1: a remote possibility for many of them, until the day 336 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: comes when they turn eighteen and find themselves a long 337 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 1: way from the bleeding hearts and the revolver doors down 338 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: at the children's Court. It's only then that it will 339 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:10,200 Speaker 1: be too late to dodge the consequences of their wasted youth. 340 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,960 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Life and Crimes is a Sunday Herald 341 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:19,919 Speaker 1: Sun production for true crime Australia. Our producer is Johnty Burton. 342 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,639 Speaker 1: For my columns, features and more, go to Heroldsun dot 343 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: com dot au, forward slash andrew rule one word. For 344 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: advertising inquiries, go to news podcasts sold at news dot 345 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: com dot au. That is all one word news podcasts 346 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: sold And if you want further information about this episode, 347 00:24:45,760 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: links are in the description. Can you go a