Read From the Inside: Chopper 1 for Free Online Page A

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    Two more friends I have to mention are ‘Mad Micky’ and his wife Lynn. They have shown me great kindness and friendship. When I got out of jail in November, 1986, and went to Tassie to see my old Dad, Lynn took me to the Launceston casino.
    It was the first time I’d ever been into a real live legal gambling place. She showed me how to play roulette and I gave her the dough and she played for me. I was shocked to see her winning. We had a great time. I kept going back to the casino day after day — and winning a few hundred each day. I thought I must have had some magic touch, so I took my Dad with me to show him what a great roulette player I was — and blew $2000 in front of him. He stood there, shaking his head and looking at me as if I was a complete idiot. And I felt a complete idiot. That will teach me for showing off.
    Mick is a great bloke — and also a friend of Craig ‘Slim’ Minogue’s, and still keeps in touch with him today by post. A loyal chap, our Micky. He is nicknamed the ‘Man John West Rejected’ after getting arrested in Launceston for hi-jacking a truckload of frozen prawns. There was big money involved — but the comedy of being arrested over a lorry load of prawns is something he may never live down.
    Once we brought Micky over to Melbourne for a bit of nightclub life — me and Amos Atkinson and Mad Charlie and a few of the boys. We had plans to take Micky and do all the clubs. But at the first hint of bloodshed Charlie stayed at home. Charlie is more a telephone gangster — lying under his doona in his big double bed making phone calls. And Amos bailed out as well, after meeting Mad Micky. So it was me and Micky and a nut case crew of boys from the western suburbs.
    We all had guns as normal. However, when we offered Micky a nice little .32 calibre revolver for the night out he said no. Off we went — to the Chevron first, then Bojangles. Back in 1987 Bojangles was the biggest bloodhouse in Melbourne. We all knew there would be trouble on the night, but thought we wouldn’t tell Micky.
    As we expected, there was a large crew of Italian gents at Bojangles who had let it be known they would deal with me when they saw me next . . .
    A .44 magnum can be a great weapon when used to pistol whip. At first when the two teams met there was a Mexican standoff — until I got proceedings under way with a sneaky pistol whip across the head of the leader of the other crew. Guns were produced all round. I rested the magnum on the shoulder of one of our crew, another Tasmanian named Andrew, and pulled the hammer back.
    That was it. All guns out on both sides in a crowded nightclub, and everyone set to shoot each other. Poor Mick, being empty handed, felt awful. He was standing there like a Chicago gangster with his hand in his coat pocket pretending he had a gun. We backed out of the nightclub, guns in hand, with poor Micky in front, using him as a shield. He still had his hand in his coat pocket with his finger pointing out.
    The funny part was, we were told later, the other crew was worried about Mad Micky. We couldn’t see it, but his eyes were blazing and he had a crazy face on — and they all thought he had a gun in his pocket. The redheaded guy in the long overcoat and mad look on his face had them bluffed.
    Poor Micky. Invited out for a night on the town, then used as a cover to back out of a Mexican standoff in a nightclub. He didn’t have much luck that night. He picked up a great-looking blonde at the Chevron . . . only to learn ‘she’ was a drag queen. But his sense of humour didn’t leave him. ‘Bugger Melbourne’, said Micky. ‘I’m going back to Tassie’.
    When I see Mick again I suspect I will be the victim of some foul practical trick to repay me for the Bojangles debacle.

Chapter 4
    Dave the Jew
    ‘Forgiveness and funerals go hand in hand, and the only time to forgive an enemy is after you have seen him die.’ — The Jew
    I CAN’T give Dave the