Mark Dapin - Public Enemies: Russell Mad Dog Cox, Ray Denning and the Golden Age of Armed Robbery

The Golden Age of Armed Robbery may have died between the security screen and the ceiling of the St Leonards branch of the Advance Bank in 1991, but it reeled around headless for almost a decade. Veterans Bernie Matthews and John Killick still had some heists to pull off and Norman Lee, the last surviving Bookie Robber, was shot dead by police as he attempted to rob the Ansett freight office at Tullamarine Airport in July 1992. But the great majority of hold-ups in the 1990s were the work of hapless, hopeless junkies waving syringes, sticks or knives. The number of offences kept on rising until about Christmas 2000, when the heroin drought cleaned up the streets faster than any Dirty Harry or Rotten Roger.

The banks installed armed guards, security screens and CCTV, then stopped handling large amounts of cash when most people turned to credit cards. Branches disappeared as quickly as they had once multiplied. These days, its hard to even find a bank to rob. Companies began to pay wages and salaries by direct bank transfer, and the big payroll loads disappeared from the armoured vans.

Professional criminals got out of the game. Its almost unheard of for anyone to hold up a business with a gun in Australia. The pistol would be worth more than the takings. Today, organised crime is just another word for the drugs trade. The heavies and the smarties all smuggle and dealor stand over or protect smugglers and dealers.

The clever, charismatic, wounded outlaws of the 1970s and 1980s have all but disappeared. Jails have become dumping grounds for addicts and the mentally ill or overcrowded holding centres for Indigenous despair. The supermax units are filling with Islamists, who are recruiting from the drug gangs to form bonds in captivity that might survive long after their sentences have been served. And the bad old days may really seem like a golden age, once they all get out

Mt. Penang Training School for Boys. Among its alumni were bankrobbers Ray Denning and Bernie Matthews. The boys used to joke that the boomerang over the gate meant they would always come back. Source: New South Wales government.

Westbrook Farm Home for Boys: a little piece of hell in south-east Queensland that helped forge the man who became Russell Cox. Source: Queensland Government / Queensland Newspapers.

Pentridge Prison, once home to Russell Cox and Steve Sellersand Chopper Read, who made up stories about them. Source: News Ltd / Newspix.

Former armed robber and raconteur extraordinaire Bernie Matthews in 1988, the year he helped Ray Denning find Russell Coxan act he would live to regret. Source: Steve Christo, Fairfax Media.

The urbane armed robber John Killick, Australias first decimal-currency bandit. Courtesy of John Killick.

The view upwards from the trac yards in Grafton, where rebellious prisoners were stripped and bashed senseless. Courtesy of Bernie Matthews.

The Circle at Parramatta Gaol, where Ray Denning copped his first flogging. Source: Fairfax Media.

The Control Room at Katingal, the escape-proof jail from which Russell Cox escaped. And then broke back in. Source: Fairfax Media.

A cell in the OBS (Observation Unit) at Long Bay. Former OBS residents include Russell Cox, Ray Denning and Bernie Matthews. Courtesy of Bernie Matthews.

Machine guns on the table at the Victorian Club, site of the Great Bookie Robbery of 1976. Russell Cox was in jail during the robbery but is believed to have had a stake in the heist. Source: Fairfax Media.

Roger Mad Dog Rogerson of the NSW Armed Hold-Up Squad: dashingly brave, unrestrainedly corrupt. Source: News Ltd / Newspix.

Robyn Lawson: Ray Dennings first and last girlfriend. Source: Greg Newington / Newspix.

Kim Pascoe, a former girlfriend of Ray Denning who went to the bush to coax him out when he wasnt there. Source: Fairfax Media.

Ray Denning, captured in 1977, with NSW Police officers John Bopper Mooney (left) and former Australian Rugby League representative Brian Chicka Moore. Source: Fairfax Media.

Ray Dennings one-time best mate Brett Collins, protesting on a roof at Long Bay jail. Source: Fairfax Media.

Ray Denning on the run taunted police by leaving his prints on the door of the Sydney CIB headquarters in 1980. Constable Ian Waterson of the Fingerprint Bureau frowned at them while wearing a jumper. Source: Fairfax Media.

Linda Jobson, the mother of Ray Dennings son. Source: Fairfax Media.

Ray Denning: ID in his real name, for once.