SYDNEY UNDERWORLD FINANCES GANGSTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19060, 3 May 1930, Page 21 (Supplement)

SYDNEY UNDERWORLD FINANCES GANGSTERS.

Happenings during the lasr few months have disclosed the fact that Sydney’’s underworld is organised on businesslike lines, with ramifications extending into the most unlikely places (says the Sy’dney “Evening News”). The sensational vendettas carried on among its members, and the ensuing legal battles with the law, are well financed by r levies, not only' on its denizens, but also on those who frequent the half-world which hovers on the border of crime. Some of these vendettas, the dark chapters of which are periodically punctuated by death-dealing gun flashes, have shown that the coffers of the underworld are filled with an unfailing supply of cash. Almost every* time a member of the city’s crookdom finds himself faced with the law, he is well supplied with the funds necessary for bail for maintenance while awaiting trial, and for the best procurable defence. The police have every' reason to believe that in several cases arising out of gunplay, assaults, robbery, and property damage, and wherein underworld celebrities have figured the* hat has been taken around. Levying the Women. Indeed, a detective said recently that he .knew of recent instances where the women of the streets were levied to provide the wherewithal for the expenses of accused gangsters. A house-to-house canvass was made because the Consorting Art nowadays keeps the women indoors and, in the case of one particular defendant, not one woman refused to pay the ••ontribution demanded of her. It is related that one day at the conclusion of the hearing of a charge, a friend of the accused made a speedy* quest in the heart of the underworld. In less than an hour he had £4O. It is said that the wealthier folks on the fringe of the underworld, such as sly-groggers, two-up entrepreneurs, re ceivers, and the like, readily pay up when requested and that even persons :n legitimate business often contribute their quota, mostly to buy immunity rom trouble. In the underworld itself the penalty for failure to “put in” is ostracism—maybe, death.