From the Archives, 1983: Australian organised crime out of control

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From the Archives, 1983: Australian organised crime out of control

By David Wilson and Jill Baker

First published in The Age on May 17, 1983

Crime Out Of Control

Main racketeers identified: Costigan lawyer

Costigan Royal Commission investigators say they can now identify many of the organisations controlling crime in Australia.

Frank Costigan and Douglas Meagher from the Costigan Commission.

Frank Costigan and Douglas Meagher from the Costigan Commission.Credit: The Age Archives

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Mr. Douglas Meagher, QC, says at least three of the crime syndicates in Australia measure their annual cash flow in tens of millions of dollars. Organised crime is out of control, he says.

The bigger organisations are involved in many types of crime ranging from SP bookmaking and pornography to prostitution and drugs, he says.

The commission has found that Hong Kong has become the financial centre for a “very large” number of Australian criminal organisations.

Close relations have also been found to exist between some Australian criminals and the families of some people “high in the Filipino Government.”

Mr. Meagher says several of the organisations use the same “enforcement arm” to discipline the staff of crime syndicates and to deal with their enemies.

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Computers have become a mighty tool in fighting crime.

Computers have become a mighty tool in fighting crime. Credit: The Age Archives

Mr. Meagher says that although corruption of the police and other law enforcement agencies has not reached epidemic proportions, organized crime has achieves some success. The syndicates took every opportunity to promote corruption and it was only a matter of time before attempts were made to corrupt senior judges.

Mr. Meagher’s comments are contained in a 213-page report on organized crime in Australia which was released last night. It concludes: “At present organized crime is unchecked, is out of control. In the taxation area, it has now been assaulted. In other areas, the assault, if at all, is a mere flea bite. Its control in Australia is one of the challenges of the decade.”

The report was prepared for this week’s meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Congress in Perth.

It was written by Mr. Meagher but compiled with the help of researchers based with the Costigan Commission in Melbourne. The inquiry is investigating the activities of the Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union.

Mr Meagher says he has deliberately omitted names and varied the circumstances of some specific activities outlined in the report. “The place for them to be identified publicly is in the criminal courts,” he said.

He says: “I am not yet in a position where I could identify by name all of the criminal organisations operating in Australia – I doubt if one man will ever be in that position. While I could identify many, I am not in a position where I could exhaustively catalogue every type of criminal activity conducted by each of those name. I could name a lot of them.”

In his report Mr. Meagher says:

  • Organised theft has become such big business that syndicates are now moving into the wholesaling, distribution and ever retailing of stolen goods. Australian criminals specialising in shoplifting travel overseas to operate in European cities.
  • Senior banking officials have been corrupted by organised crime to set up dummy accounts, to defraud banks, and to disperse money overseas without approval from the Reserve Bank.
  • A highly organised credit card theft racket exists. Cards have been stolen in Australia and then sent through South-East Asian countries. They are used there to buy goods or to operate traveler’s cheques fraud.
  • A major crime organisation dominates the pornography and prostitution industries in Australia.
  • Considerable quantities of child pornography are produced in Australia. Children, mostly State wards, have been drugged before being filmed in sexual acts with animals.
  • Australian girls are being duped to join prostitution markets in Asia and the Pacific. Girls also come here from those areas to serve as prostitutes.
  • One or two unions are involved in racketeering, including extortion from employers. The proceeds usually go to union organisers.
  • There have been suggestions that attempts have been made to "fix" football matches, not necessarily to "fix" the result but the actual winning margins.
  • One or two horse races are rigged somewhere in Australia on every racing day by organisers of national SP bookmaking operations.
  • Telecom employees have been corrupted to install batteries of telephones to service SP book-making operations.
  • Gaming squads had also been corrupted and have helped to protect SP bookmakers.
  • TAB accounts have been used to launder money from organised crime because the TAB keeps records of transactions for only three months.
  • The introduction of TABs and licensed betting shops has probably not diminished the size of SP bookmaking operations.

Mr. Meagher says that the rate of apprehending those involved in organised crime is dropping and that the successful prosecution rate of those caught is also falling.

"The criminal organisation must view this trend with delight. The recruitment of criminals to carry out its schemes is never difficult: but with lessening effectiveness of law enforcement, it becomes easier," he says.

"What is more, the success rate of the criminal schemes, especially those carefully planned and executed, rises to a high level. Thus the profits become more certain, schemes more daring, and wealth more easily won. There is every incentive for the extension of its business, and the growth of its appetite."

Mr. Meagher says Australia's court procedures are not designed to cope with the organised assault of crime on the law. He says organised crime treats the courts with contempt and ruthlessly exploits their weaknesses.

He argues that Australia needs a National Crimes Commission, changes to the law and the up-grading of police forces.

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