THREAT TO KILL
SYDNEY GANGSTERS
DEMAND FOR £IO,OOO
NOTE TO BUSINESSMAN (9 a.m.) SYDNEY, June 30. A note demanding £IO,OOO, with a threat to kill him and his family if the money is- not paid, has been received by a well-known Sydney businessman, Mr. W. J. Smith. The note stated that, unless prompt payment was made; Mr. Smith and his family would be dealt with in a similar manner to the Sydney solicitor, Mr. Joseph Morgan Houston, who was shot dead on March 2(i. II was suggested that Mr. Houston was shot because he failed to accede to a request for money by the gang. The police regard the Houston killing as one of Sydney’s most coldblooded crimes.
Mr. Smith, managing director of Australian Consolidated Industries, has had a colourful business career. He was responsible for a series of glass company mergers out of which has grown a concern employing more than 7000 people. Tlie police arc investigating.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21753, 30 June 1945, Page 6
Word Count
158THREAT TO KILL Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21753, 30 June 1945, Page 6
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