Fraser - The Morans

Contents

PREFACE

In my previous life I was a lawyer who worked my guts out for over twenty-eight years. I worked hard but I also played hard too hard and bought myself a raging cocaine habit. I took everything I had and threw it away with both hands. To pay for some of these sins I hit the nick for five years.

During my life, both as a defence lawyer and an inmate enjoying Her Majestys hospitality, I met many characters: scary, funny, inspiring, disgusting and some plain mad. It has made for an interesting existence as I never knew what might happen next.

The stories in this volume are true stories of cases I dealt with a great swathe of humanity that I experienced up close and personal. Some of these cases taught me things about people, about life. Alas, I wasnt dealing with the best or kindest of people but mostly a rogues gallery of societys dregs. Still, as a lawyer we take what we are dished up.

LEWIS

Cast your mind back and picture a Saturday afternoon in any inner Melbourne pub in the 1960s and 70s. Sitting in one of the smoky corners would be the local SP bookie, servicing the drinkers at the bar and the odd punter who would wander in throughout the day. This all disappeared in the 1980s when the state government did a deal to ensure that all betting be done through the TAB, in return for which the government got a very healthy slice of their revenue cake. This also meant that the government no longer permitted SP bookies to trade and introduced stringent fines following a conviction for SP-ing, so over the following few years the SPs were essentially exterminated.

Lewis Moran grew up as a pickpocket and later became an SP bookmaker. If one looks at the Underbelly TV casting of Lewis, it couldnt be further from the truth. The only thing right about it is that Lewis had similar straight dark hair to the actor who played him. In Underbelly Lewis is somebody a bit off the pace and not particularly smart. Both of those assessments couldnt be further from the truth. I should know because I enjoyed a close relationship with Lewis from our introduction in the mid to late 70s until his death at the hand of a hired assassin on 31 March 2004.

I first met Lewis, when he was known as Lewis the Lout, with his brother, Desmond Tuppence Moran. Called Tuppence, not because he was as big as tuppence but because he was tuppence short of a quid, or a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic, or so everybody said. Tuppence was quiet and took his time while thinking about something before answering, but this doesnt necessarily mean he was stupid.

I met the two of them at the behest of Phil Dunn QC. It seems they were on the lookout for a new solicitor after their previous mouthpiece had police problems of his own. Apparently, during the height of the national forged ten-dollar note rort, the solicitor was the victim of a fire in his safe. Nothing else in the office was touched but the entire contents of his safe were destroyed. Forensics, not being what it is today, found no result after investigating the safes remains, but the coppers reckoned the safe was full of forged ten dollar notes. Naturally, such an allegation was strenuously denied and the matter went no further. The Moran boys didnt like the attention all this publicity drew to the legal firm and, by implication, them. Both Lewis and Tuppy liked to stay under the radar.

My relationship with Lewis grew organically over the many years we knew each other. When we first met I had the distinct impression I was being sized up for a potentially long professional relationship. We met at the Flower Drum restaurant in Little Bourke Street and we chatted for some time. At that stage I was not yet thirty and Lewis would have been about the same age. The boys were clearly on their way up in the world and Lewis wanted to ensure that his life ran as smoothly as possible. His number one rule to the day he died was to keep a low profile for himself and whatever he was up to. Do not draw attention to yourself ever.

This first meeting was to see if they liked me. Little did I know that that first lunch would be the start of a personal and professional relationship that would last until his death. I think the strength of that friendship came about through mutual acceptance and respect. Lewis was not an effusive person, in fact he was the opposite; no high fives for him, he loathed public displays of what he considered to be false and insincere friendship. In fact we often didnt shake hands when we met. His view was that if youre mates you dont have to show it to the world; the other person was the only one that mattered. When we talked Lewis spoke well there was no shouting, not much swearing and he gave careful consideration to each point he would make.

Being a young man in a hurry, I jumped at the chance to act for these blokes and a couple of days later Lewis made an appointment to come to the office. I was on my way.

Lewis had first started making his name as a pickpocket. Pickpockets are almost a thing of the past now and, it would appear, with the advent of the credit card people no longer carry as much cash around on them. In those days though pickpockets were everywhere and Lewis had been taught by the prince of pickpockets, Mickey Mutch. Mickey was infamous as one of Australias best pickpockets, and his favourite place to work was the Collins Street tram. His fame grew after one of his arrests when his conviction was contested all the way to the Court of Criminal Appeal. In fact, the case is even reported in the 1928 Victorian Law Reports where the question of law was: Can you loiter with intent to commit a felony on a tram?

Mickey told a story not long before he died of working the Collins Street tram. The golden rule as a pickpocket is always to approach your victim from behind, though Ive no idea how they can remove a wallet out of somebodys coat pocket from behind without the victim knowing. In any case, Mickey lifted the wallet and after taking it the victim turned around. He didnt realise his wallet had been taken and to Mickeys dismay he noticed his mark was a Supreme Court judge. Not only that, the tram was fast approaching William Street where the judge would alight. In a great panic Mickey quickly bumped into the judge on purpose and put the wallet back. He knew that if he fronted at court on a pickpocketing charge, which was almost a racing certainty, he would receive little sympathy.

Years before Mickey Mutch retired hed made a lot of money as a member of the famous Kangaroo Gang, travelling back and forth to Europe. Incidentally, Mickey referred one of his best mates to me, another old bloke and gang member by the name of Laurie Quick, who was the cash register man quick by name, quick by nature. These blokes were fascinating old crooks who delighted in reminiscing to an eager young lawyer who hung on to their every word. No doubt there was a fair bit of embellishment for my benefit. These blokes were the last of the real old school. The advent of the drug industry changed everything. Very few if any crooks now live by the codes of these old blokes, where today anything goes.

Pickpockets are, and always remain, addicted to large crowds, and even in retirement Mickey was unable to pass up opportunities if they presented themselves. One day, driving past a big house auction in Brighton he couldnt help himself and stopped the car, left his wife in the Mercedes and wandered off into the crowd. Mickey was always dapper, wore a suit and blended in perfectly. He merrily relieved a number of people of their wallets as he wandered among them. Unfortunately for Mickey, though, in the crowd was policeman Ian (Tiny) Baker, who knew him over many years. Baker observed Mickey hightail it back to his car, whereupon wallet after wallet started flying out the window after the cash had been removed. Tiny then approached the car and tried to grab the car keys from the ignition to stop Mickey going anywhere. Mickey got such a fright he started the car, put it into gear and wound the window up driving off with Tiny Baker still holding onto the steering wheel. After a short distance, the car stopped and poor old Mickey was once again charged with pickpocketing.