CONTENTS
Described as a career criminal, James Shepherd has a history in the underworld spanning over 50 years. Very few people have such a detailed understanding of how the violent and brutal criminal world operates and the real lives that criminals live. Born in New Zealand, James operated at the highest levels across New Zealand, Australia, England and the United States. Acknowledged by the 1983 Stewart Royal Commission as second-in-charge of the Mr Asia Drug Syndicate, he was sentenced in 1986 to 25 years imprisonment for his involvement. Over the years he has often been approached by the media for the real Mr Asia story. A private, articulate and intelligent man, James now chooses to live a quieter life in Sydney, Australia.
MR ASIA
LAST MAN STANDING
MR ASIA
LAST MAN STANDING
JAMES DIAMOND JIM SHEPHERD
First published 2010 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney
Copyright James Shepherd 2010
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Shepherd, James, 1941
Mr Asia: the last man standing: inside Australias most notorious
drug syndicate/James Shepherd.
ISBN: 978 1 4050 4020 4 (pbk.)
Shepherd, James, 1941
Drug abuse and crime Australasia
Drug traffic Australasia
363.45092
Typeset in 11.5/15.5pt Sabon by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Printed by McPhersons Printing Group
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These electronic editions published in 2010 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
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Mr Asia: Last Man Standing
James Shepherd
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
O ver the years there have been many people who have helped me survive the turbulent life I have lived. Some were family, some were people who loved me and some were friends. I would therefore like to acknowledge some of those people here.
I would like to thank my elder sister Marion, my elder brother Ron, my younger sister Faye and all my nephews and nieces for their love and support. I want you all to know that your brother and uncle is finally home from the sea.
To Glenda Hughes for your friendship and gentle persistence that was the catalyst for me eventually agreeing to write this book.
Many thanks to writer Ian David for taking the time to pass on invaluable advice and encouragement to someone trying to write a book for the very first time.
To Cec McQuillan, Tim Anderson, John OHara, Duncan McFarlane, Ray Miller and big-hearted Steve Moorehouse, my thanks for your friendship.
Over the years I have been represented by some dedicated and brilliant legal people. Among them were Bill OBrien, Peter Ash and David Patch. We may not have won our High Court appeal, David, but I appreciate the long hours you and Greg James QC spent working on my case. Those sentiments go to you as well, Peter, I will never forget all the many years you tirelessly and diligently represented me on legal matters. From Croke & Associates I would like to acknowledge all the work done on my behalf by Michael Croke, Kiki Kyriakou and Maree Carey. From Chambers, the most compassionate barrister I know, April Francis, and her brilliant colleague Steven Odgers SC. For his legal advice on this book, I would also like to thank Greg Jones SC. I am forever indebted to you all.
To my agent Rick Raftos I say many thanks to you for your encouragement, advice and integrity. You have made a difficult process easy for me.
From my publisher Pan Macmillan Australia, I would like to first thank Tom Gilliatt for believing I had a story worth publishing; and secondly, my editor Joel Naoum for helping me through the demanding task of editing this book.
And finally, this book is dedicated to Cheryl, a very special lady.
FOREWORD
W hat you dont know wont hurt you. Its on a need to know basis and you dont need to know.
As a young police officer in Wellington, New Zealand, in the 1970s, these were my usual responses to questions about crime. I was naive enough to believe the dreadful clich: What the eye doesnt see, the mind doesnt grieve.
Thirty-nine years of life experience later, I realise that this approach enables criminally focused individuals and groups to succeed. As the first major international drug ring from New Zealand and Australia, the Mr Asia syndicate took full advantage of the secret society of corrupt police officers that existed in the seventies.
As a serving police officer in December 1978,I was directly involved in the arrest of two members of the Mr Asia syndicate (Allison Dine and Wendy Shrimpton) in Wellington. Because of this involvement with the syndicate and my later work both in the media and as a criminologist, it has always been my goal to seek the truth about this organisation. Despite 30 years having passed since the arrest of Terrence Clark, the head of the syndicate, I have been amazed at the sustained and ongoing public and media interest in this criminal group.
One important lesson I learned during my time in the police and working in the media is that very seldom does the reporting of crime by the media reveal the true reality or context of crimes that have been committed. The reporter will always be influenced by their own values and the desire for ratings and the storyteller will often relate what they think the reporter wants to hear. This results in an understated or overstated and sometimes completely incorrect version of what happened.
It is not often that you come across a prominent member of the criminal world who has sufficient self-awareness and understanding to be able to analyse the motivations behind their actions, or whose self-awareness is strong enough for their recall not to be self-serving. When I first visited James Shepherd, the man acknowledged as secondin-charge of the Mr Asia syndicate, at Parklea Maximum Security Prison in 1987, I was astonished by his insight and understanding of the downstream consequences of his actions.
