1972 -1976 Part III – The Making of a Legend

Note 36: The Kangaroo Gang was a group of Australians who committed jewellery ‘lifts’ (shoplifting) in the 1960s and early 1970s throughout the UK and Europe.

Note 37: Reggie Kray was sent to Parkhurst in 1969 after being convicted of the brutal murder of villain Jack “The Hat” McVitie.

Note 38: Ray Chuck was imprisoned at HMP Parkhurst in 1972. Reggie Kray was also an inmate at the time. The Kray brothers were notorious figures in the London underworld.

Note 39: The actual identity of the Architect is still unknown today. Some journalists believe it to have been Stanley Ernest James, a known friend and associate of Normie Lee. In fact, his wife was charged and acquitted along with Normie of possession of money from the Victoria Club. The author doubts this assertion. Stan, born in 1946, would have been too young to have the experience to plan the large scale robberies accredited to the Architect, as far back as 1970. Stan James died in 2024. The author leans towards the Scotland Yard theory that he was an Englishman living in Australia. His description in the story of being 57 and looking like Charles Bronson was their suspect.

Note 40: Melville Peter Schnitzerling, better known as Russell Cox, shot a guard during a failed escape from Long Bay Gaol on August 8, 1975, using a smuggled .25 Beretta pistol.

Note 41: While dock workers do need to know the full 11-character container number (4 letters and 6 or 7 numbers) for identification and tracking, they don't typically say the whole thing out loud. Instead, they often refer to containers by the owner prefix (first 3 letters) and the last few digits of the serial number, e.g. OCLU-101563 becomes OCL-563.

Note 42: It was alleged during the Costigan Royal Commission that Ian Carroll frequently smuggled firearms into Australia from the United States using the containers from his car parts import business.