Alan Leek - Rat in the Ranks

Copyright Alan Leek

First published 2021

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission.

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PO Box 303, Newport, NSW 2106, Australia

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Cover design and typesetting: Think Productions

For Judith and Hugo

Bookies, police, pimps, perjury and thugs ...

... and the man who stood above it all

ALAN LEEK

Bookies, police, pimps, perjury and thugs ...

... and the man who stood above it all

ALAN LEEK

Once again I need to thank my friends who have endured my discourses as I worked my way through this work - interrupting normal conversation with a thought that had been nagging at me. While not quite buttonholing my victims it often caused subjects at hand to trail away - with participants thinking here he goes again.

To my wife, Judith, who has had to endure more than most, my love and heartfelt thanks.

Peter Lister, my stalwart, who proofread for me with instructions not to worry too much about the commas, which are always a mystery to me. I remain in awe of Timothy Dexter, whose 1805 edition included a page of commas for the reader to insert where they thought fit.

To Ken Moroney AO APM, former NSW commissioner of police, I am grateful for his support, interest and friendship.

The staff at State Records Office of New South Wales exceed all expectations with their friendly advice, assistance and knowledge and all this at a time when personal interaction has been most difficult due to social distancing required to combat a pandemic that will one day become a footnote to the history of our time. They are the most engaging of institutional assistants who take the clumsiest of enquiries in their stride, treating them as the most important they have heard thus far. Archivists, Jennifer Sloggett and Bonnie Wildie have been exceedingly helpful with my foolish last minute inquiries. I dont know where I would be without them and their office.

I am indebted to my posse of octogenarians, the late detective superintendent Jim Foster, who provided me my only personal insight into Mendelsso Miller. Retired detective inspector Jack Hilder whose recall of people and events of earlier days still amazes me. Senior public servant, unsworn police officer, lawyer and author, Brian Inman whose recall is also something to behold. His anecdote about The Gorilla was a gem. Also for his assistance in providing a colourful word picture of a time that predates my own experience.

To the folk at Big Sky Publishing, particularly, Sharon Evans, Denny Neave and Diane Evans, I thank them for their trust in me and the easy working relationship that has developed between us. They have achieved wonderful things for my work.

Defining the Australian character has been a challenge faced by many authors over time. Invariably such definitions have included observations of humour, pathos, courage and determination, and, notably, being prepared to have a go and take a chance. All of this mixed with a liberal dose of larrikinism.

Add to that the inevitable Aussie love of sport - all sport and none more so than horse and dog racing. In the past these sporting activities were regarded as a great Australian pastime and somewhat harmless fun, and gambling on their outcome was regarded as a victimless crime. The ability to turn a blind eye to the illegality of the activity was perceived to be part of the fun.

Never at any other time in our past have there been so many forms of gambling on sport as today We can place a bet at the race track, online, on our mobile phone and we can gamble on local, inter and intrastate and national events at any time. Indeed, we can gamble on international lottery pools with the ultimate dream of winning the big one. But, what is the true price and the true cost of our gambling fascination and what has led us to the point where as Aussies some would bet on the anecdotal two flies crawling up a wall.

In his latest book Rat in the Ranks, author Alan Leek seeks not so much to answer the questions posed about the great Australian fascination with gambling on sporting outcomes, rather, he seeks to have us look back over our historic shoulder to reflect on where it is that we have come from in our slavish following of the sport of kings. This reflection is not a glamorous one and it starkly reminds us of the reality of some aspects of our not too distant past where there were established links between victimless crimes like SP betting and organised crime.

Emerging like Damon Runyans fictional drama Guys and Dolls, there emerges the factual and frank account of Sydney in the second quarter of the last century albeit by his reflection on the life and career choices of an honest police officer, Constable Mendelsso Bartholdy Miller. Millers world is a convergence of honest cops and some not so honest, colourful racing identities, the seedy aspects of starting price or SP book-making, allegations of corrupt conduct, conflicts of interest, investigations, cover-ups and the inevitable questions of who can we blame for all of this?

Doubtless, the Depression years of 1929 - 1933, brought with them financial loss on a worldwide scale. Those losses were corporate and they were individual and any opportunity to regain some small aspect of fortunes lost was not to be missed and it provided entertainment. Enter, the gambling entrepreneur, affectionately known as the SP bookie. In a Runyanesque way, regarded by some, if not most, as a modern-day Robin Hood where he robbed from the rich (perceived to be the Government) and gave (sometimes) to the poor - the punter. Altruistic or not, SP betting was illegal and policing it was the unattractive duty of the NSW Police Force.