YOU HAVE TO LOVE AUSTRALIA!
The two cities of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne are so similar to Chicago and New York in so many ways. Until the RICO act took care of the last of the Mafia leadership, gangsters and the mafia worked hand in hand in making sure the underworld thrived. Apart from “Teflon” John Gotti, who created a cult following for a while in the nineties, society had little time for the antics of Gotti’s breed. Gangland killings for decades were accepted, even by the police, as nature’s way of cleansing a part of society that was dominated by thugs and gangsters. We sort of knew what was going on and how many key industries in those cities were controlled by the Mafia. One thing for sure, we all were pretty happy when young District Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, used RICO to rid New York of this blight that cost the city so much in terms of money and reputation.
Compare this to Sydney Australia. Sydneysiders have another name for gangsters and thugs. They refer to them as “colorful identities”! Several days ago one of the most brutal of colorful identities was gunned down by a single shot to the head as he was entering his own driveway after spending a long day at the “office”. Once upon a time, colorful identities were involved in the poker machine business or the racetrack, where they skimmed until their hearts were content. Gaming was slowly cleaned up and the new generation quickly took control of the seedy night club/prostitute area of Kings Cross, made famous during WW 2 as the Pacific R & R capital for America GI’s. Colorful identities started taking over the strip clubs and brothels initially renting the properties from slumlords but later on managing to become their own landlords. In the battle to gain respectability as businessmen, anyone who got in their way was firstly given a nudge by their homes being firebombed. If that didn’t work, just as John Gotti behaved, the enemy was extinguished. There has been many a “Jimmy Hoffa” who literally disappeared off the face of the earth over the last forty years.
Colorful identities were very lucky between the seventies and nineties to have senior rogue police officers as “mates” and believe it or not, this association had the full blessing of the NSW government. Politicians and the police chiefs were quick to point out the colorful identities were actually informants and doing a great job at helping hold down crime! In actual fact these gangsters were able to conduct their affairs without interference and with total immunity from the law. It wasn’t until a former Scotland Yard senior officer was appointed chief of NSW police that the rogue and corrupt cops were eliminated from the force. Yes, things began to change so the colorful identities moved further up the food chain. They became “mates” of politicians well known for their ability to take bribes. The value of King’s Cross real estate rocketed in the nineties and there was a concerted effort by government to clean out the sleaze and make the area more attractive for tourists. Legitimate property developers saw enormous opportunities and realized if they were to be part of the action, they would have to feed the mouths of corrupt politicians, lobbyists and most importantly, all the colorful identities who owned real estate and businesses in the sleaze capital of Australia.
Billionaire developers suddenly were seen dining with low lives and Sydney watched on as so-called respectable members of the business fraternity mingled and partnered in all sorts of property deals with colorful identities. Enter Mike McGurk an illegal immigrant born on the wrong side of the tracks in Glasgow, who arrived on the scene less than fifteen years ago. He became the stand over man employed by the entrepreneurial elite of property developers. They even financed him into owing his own “last resort” finance company where he became renowned for his tactics to extract money from errant payers. While mingling with politicians and billionaires Mike McGurk (his real name is supposedly Michael Rushford) was under suspicion for firebombing several friends turned “enemies” homes and has also been investigated for the odd vicious assault and murder.
In America, the first government institution to take an interest in people who may make money on the wrong side of the law is the IRS. Their powers can make life a greater misery for them than any police action might. In Australia, colorful identities are proud to show off their trappings of ill-gained wealth knowing the Taxation Department and police have a long history of a reluctance to prosecute. McGurk a total thug by any calculation had never been found guilty, even being an illegal immigrant, of any wrongdoings. It took another colorful identity (at this point unknown) to make sure his once good mate, Mike, was unable any longer to impede over matters of mutual interest in his own imitable way.
From billionaire Adam Tilley (owner of one of the badly damaged firebombed homes) to former politician turned lobbyist, Graham Richardson everyone connected with Mike McGurk must be a worried man. Right now all are directly or indirectly implicated in his demise. When the dust finally settles and the truth comes out, many of the elite Sydney wealthy along with several politicians will be knocked off their perches. They will eternally regret that such a colorful identity had entered their lives. Maybe with McGurk’s death it will also close the book on colorful identities remaining a Sydneysiders’ term of endearment for gangsters and thugs!
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