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Coming up this week, the final double episode of 2019 and this is a cracking tale to round out the year. This week, I will take you through Sydney’s Razor Wars.
The Sydney Australia crime scene of the 1920s was pure helter-skelter. Drugs. Prostitution. Immense and unapologetic violence. In response, the New South Wales government introduced a raft of legislative measures that it thought would tame Sydney: prohibition of drugs, prohibition of street prostitution, the closing of all pubs at six pm every night, and the criminalization of handguns.
The government’s measures did nothing to stem the tide of illegal activity: if anything it emboldened Sydney’s criminals who – in true contrarian Australian fashion – doubled down. We’re gonna do the drugs. We’ll move our prostitutes off the streets and into brothels. We’ll set up speak-easies, or sly grogs, as they’re called in Australia. And if you’re gonna take our guns, we’ll use razors against our enemies.
Sydney’s criminal fraternity took what was already an out of control scene, and turned it up to 11: triggering the now famous, Razor Wars.
The Risktory Podcast is created, written and produced by Jacinthe A Galpin.
Soundtrack (sourced from www.freemusicarchive.org) Podington Bear - Elephants on Parade Alan Spiljak – Clouds Alan Spiljak – Forgotten Alan Spiljak – Light Blue Alan Spiljak – Empty Days Alan Spiljak – Stars Above Alan Spiljak – Not the End Alan Spiljak - Sun
Bibliography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_gang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilly_Devine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Leigh https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/magazine/galleries/tilly-devine-and-the-razor-gang-wars http://www.sydneycrimemuseum.com/crime-stories/1920s-the-razor-wars/ http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/11/sydneys-razor-gang-wars-1925-to-1935.html https://aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi276 https://razorhurst.com.au (Documentary) Tough Nuts: Australia’s Hardest Criminals (Tilly Devine) |