A THIEVES' ORGANISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 69, 21 March 1919, Page 6

A THIEVES' ORGANISATION.

OPERATION'S IN FITZHOT. WAR AMONG THE GANG. There is war between the thieves in Melbourne (says the Melbourne "Age"). During the last few months thera have been several mysterious shooting cases and serious assaults in Fitzroy, to which no special significance was attached _t j tne time. But the singular reticence of ! the men concerned in these affrays, and the consequent futility of police 'investigations, have excited public wonder. For j weeks past this drama of the underworld has been going on. and the struggle has | assumed serious proportions. The climax camp quitp recently. Then, according to a most reliable authority, attempts were ■ made on the lives of two men who arc I recognised hy the other thieves and hr ! the police as the dirertors of many big robberies. Owing to the ecu liar and silent nature of the fight, and the difficulty in gaining full information, the police seem practically powerless to cope with the situation. The trouble, it is said, originated in a series of disagreements between the actual thie-es and the mon who planned several import.:', nt robberies last year. The point in dispute was the division of . the spoil. Crime as practised by the ! m.'mh<*rs 0 f thi- select circle is" conducted on a business basis. The operation- ar,. directed by a head whose word

i- law—the only law they recognise. 'I his man rules li_,. an autocrat, "it is hi" hu-iiness to think nut the jobs; to -elect the safes to he operated upon: to direct tlie robberies and burglaries from outside. It appears these "middlemen" have l.een appropriating more of the proceeds than the men who had executed the thefts considered they were entitle.! to. The argument-i wore not ponfin.fd to words. Most of the parties carried guns —and used them. Of ] at e the tiring of revolvers in Fitzroy has become n mat

t*T ..f not infrequent occurrence, but more often than not no sijmificance has been attached to these outward sijms ,-,,- ---the duel. f n a recent -hootin*. case four m.-n entered a house in Fitzroy. tired a number of shots at a man in'bed. and left the plac-*. The fact could not be ,-..- n----cealed. lieeaitse the man had to he taken to a doctor for treatment, so the authorities -rot to know of it. But exhaustive inquiries by tlie detectives and poiipp elicited no definite rlue as to the motive tor the shooting: the wounded man was obstinate]-,- uncommunicative, and a description of the assailants could not lie obtained from anybody el-e in the vicinity. Put the 'account between the parties concerned will probably t>,- settled another way. They do not want to call in the police. They have a way of their own of arran_in_ these disputes, and the police are the last peoplp in tlie world they want to have anything to do with.

Another stage in thin vendetta amon*j=t the thieves has reached, a second man havinpr been assaulted. As in the first .ase. police inquiries were useless—the real motivp for the attack was not divulged. But it was ascertained that the trouble had been accentuated by the thre.-tened vengeance of other thieves, who complained that they had been kppt out of many jo*>* through the agency of this "middleman." His transactions after several robberies, it is declared, had provpti him untrustworthy from their point of view. Tt is an accepted fact in criminal rircl.-s that if the proceeds of certain burglaries are nr.t ••placed" with this particular "middleman" the freedom of the perpptrator of the crime is often in jeopardy. As an example of the power exercised by these men, the flourishing sly-jp"og trade at Fitzroy is a striking illustration. In this locality control of the business is said to be vested in the hands of one man, and it is an unwritten law that before a new sly-grog shop is opened his approval must l>e gained. If, on the other hand, the applicant persists in opening this illicit lieer Hhop without this permission, information sonohow mysteriously finds its way to the police authorities, and it is very unusual for the shop to last any length of time. Incredible as these facts may seem to the outside public, they are matters of common knowledge to the inhabitants in these parts of Fitzroy, and also to tbe police.