(tense music)
- Righto ladies and gents.
Today we have a long awaited appointment
with the good people at
Asprey of Bond Street.
(laughing)
- Asprey?
You must be joking.
(talking in foreign language)
This is the 90s mon ami.
- Have you seen the security
they have there now?
- I have seen the security yes
and it is this very security
that makes me think
Asprey is a red hot go.
- How do you mean?
- Well they think their
terribly expensive security
makes them invulnerable, and
that makes them complacent.
- So, the plan?
- Phillipe when have you
ever known me to have a plan?
(laughing)
The only plan is teamwork,
and teamwork is the only plan.
Right all you mugs gotta
do is pull the heads
until I get a tickle in my
throat and start coughing,
and me and my little key will do the rest.
- But--
- Hey, I don't wanna hear your doubts.
You're either in or you can read about it
in the paper tomorrow, okay.
- Yes King.
- You in?
- Yes King.
- Good.
Now Phillipe you'll be with me today.
- Welcome to Asprey gentlemen.
- Thank you, pleasure to be back.
The tom's in a case in the
back corner of the mezzanine.
Now Karen, you and Paul can team up today.
Colonel if you wouldn't mind terribly
being infatuated with young Fiona here.
You can buy me a drink later.
(laughing)
- Staff?
- There should be five
staff but with any luck
two will be on a lunch break.
Now Tex if you wouldn't mind going
general cover for us today.
There is a floor manager in
an office under the stairs.
If he comes out you know what to do.
Now if things get too
tight just Uncle Tommy us
and we can all scatter like pollen.
(tense music)
- Do have a lovely day ladies.
Welcome to Asprey gentlemen.
- Thank you, pleasure to be back.
- It's been such a long time.
- Do enjoy yourselves.
(breathing deeply)
- Certainly sir, what
seems to be the trouble?
- It is losing time.
Inexplicably.
One minute per hour.
Incredible I know for a
watch of this value but
that is the case.
- Well it's highly unusual
for one of our watches sir.
If you'll excuse me for one moment
I'll just bring the watchmaker down
to have a look at it sir.
- Oh and I'd like to
see the new range also.
That one is so outdated.
He really needs a new one.
- Oh I just love the suite in diamonds.
- At 50,000 pounds of course you do.
I daresay they would look splendid on you.
Would you mind awfully
amusing yourself for a while?
- [Assistant] How may I help you sir?
- I'm looking for something
very special for her.
That hits just the
right note but of course
discretion is, is extremely important.
- Of course.
- Welcome to Asprey gentlemen,
how may we help you today.
- We're just browsing thank
you, we can help ourselves.
- Very good sir.
- [Narrator] Only the most brilliant thief
would dare to help himself
at Asprey of Bond Street,
the jeweler to Her Majesty the Queen.
Was it destiny or sheer
folly that lead one man
to this moment, we shall see.
But first, we should
start at the beginning.
From 1788 Britain had
sent its best thieves
across the world to Australia.
In the 1960s, some made it home.
There were five master
thieves, the King, the Fibber,
the General, Wee Jimmy, and
the dashing Georgie Gardener.
Together with their
mob they tore up London
in broad daylight and became
known as the Kangaroo Gang.
Thieves by appointment.
- They came with a kind of flying panache.
You know, they were the
light horsemen of thieves.
- They were a breath
of fresh air actually.
Funny thing to say but they were.
- I would hate to say lovely
guys but, I mean, they were,
you would quite easily
socialize with them.
(gasping)
- [Man] They were adventurers,
they were buccaneers.
- Well they were the best.
They proved themselves to
be the best shoplifters
in the world.
- [Man] These blokes
weren't just shoplifters.
This was Ocean's 11 stuff.
- They were bad but they weren't bad.
Does that sound wrong to say?
- They would take anything
that wasn't nailed down.
They'd go to stores and take
everything in the store.
- Only they were capable of
this really high-class theft
from high-class shops.
- You know not just take one item,
maybe just 10 in one heap.
How they used to do it I don't know.
- They were thieves,
they dealt in diamonds,
they dealt in money, and they
dealt in guile and trickery.
- I mean they were thieves
but so was Robin Hood,
and people liked him.
- I mean the only people that suffered
was the insurance companies.
I mean let's face it,
that's almost legal innit.
- [Narrator] London in the
1960s was at the center of
a global revolution in
fashion, music and culture.
Australians flocked to
this swinging scene,
with artists, writers, and actors,
there came a bunch of
thieves who would become
The Kangaroo Gang.
- There's a team of Australians who are
very professional shoplifters
and they go into shops
and one of them will distract
the assistant's attention
while the second will empty
anything they get their hands on
into large cases, bags and things.
This will be passed even to a third person
and the two people come together again,
speak to the assistant, and
the assistant's suspicions
are not aroused in any way.
- [Narrator] Australian
police knew exactly who
Scotland Yard were after.
- Everybody was laughing about it.
All these shit kickers
that we'd kicked out
of Melbourne and Sydney
are gonna have a season,
made millions, and here
we are still getting
the same wages every week
and they're living in the top
hotels, dealing in diamonds
and caviar and mixing with
the gentry in England.
- They were mastering all
these little techniques.
They were taking things from Australia
that really hadn't been seen in England.
There was a sort of a confidence
they were bringing there
that we can try anything
here, 'cause it's as if
they'd forgotten how good we are.
That they've sent us out here as convicts
150 years earlier, and we're back,
and we've got a a bag of
tricks that these fellas
haven't even seen.
- They were modern day Raffles and
because they used no violence,
because they kept a low-level,
we didn't pay them the
attention that they really,
that it really merited.
And they got away with a lot
no doubt at all about that.
- I mean let's face it, all
that ever went out there
years ago was the prisons ships weren't it
and so everybody could get a
bit confused couldn't they.
- I mean when you look back in history,
England made them leave by
boat, their forefathers,
and they came back by airplane
and slaughtered Knightsbridge
and Bond Street so I would say
out of all the criminals
that I met in the past,
they was elite.
- [Narrator] At first the
English police had little idea
what was going on.
A few likely lads had turned up in 1962
and set about teaching the
local crooks a thing or two
about the art of thieving.
But within a few years The Kangaroo Gang
had become 100 strong.
A highly skilled mercenary army
working for five master takers.
- Well they were all working
below the radar mostly.
They were doing things the
English crooks weren't doing
and also, I mean, these guys
had a charisma about them.
- The bank robbers in those
days were putting trucks
through the windows, reversing
a truck into a window
and then they'd try and pick
the diamonds out of the window.
Where the Australian gangs
found out the alternative way
was to go into the shop,
make all the distractions
that they could possibly,
and relieve the jewelry
without any problem.
It was a complicated system
but it worked and worked and worked.
- Teams had specific roles in them,
almost like a football
team had specific positions
and skills that went with those positions.
- Now Karen, you and
Paul can team up today.
Colonel if you wouldn't mind
terribly being infatuated
with young Fiona here.
You can buy me a drink later.
(laughing)
- Everybody would have to be well dressed,
different clothes, different look.
If possible different accents.
- [King] Now Tex if you wouldn't
mind going general cover
for us today.
- Phew, it's getting warm in here.
- It is losing time inexplicably.
One minute per hour.
- [Man] I mean it was always
based around the taker.
He was the general.
- Um no we don't seem
to have one of those.
- [Man] Then you'd your
head pullers who would,
it was all about getting the staff
to look a certain direction
for a certain amount of time.
- He really needs a new one.
- Okay, humor my wife if you will.
- To get everybody in position
was a simple casting of your tie.
If you tugged with your right hand
you needed him pulled to the
right a little bit further.
If it was the left and so on.
Just obvious silly little
things that made a lot of sense.
- They might be blocking
where a larger guy would
essentially provide a screen,
like in football, essentially,
to allow the taker to move
unseen into the store.
- And then of course the
other signals you know.
Put your hand on your head,
rub your hand through,
everything's all right keep going.
But the minute anyone
touched their coat twice,
that was an emergency to exit
the premises immediately.
- Most of the people
involved in head pulling,
distracting, blocking and
so forth were shoplifters
back in Australia but few had
the confidence and the dash
to be a successful taker
because he was the one
that all the pressure was on.
- Then there was the idea
that you had to get everybody
into the shop, then the
taker had to do his work.
That's where, was the difficult part.
To get over the counter,
behind the counter,
into the window, or into
the back of the office.
And then it came who was
going to leave first.
Not a rush or stampede for the door,
but who would leave first.
So that was always signaled
in a variation of signals.
Mainly coughs.
So.
(coughing)
The first cough would come from the taker,
that everything's cool, that
the prize has been secured
and the first couple can leave the shop.
- Audrey.
- So if you were working with
a team six or seven handed
and they were couples and what not,
it was a matter of getting
out nice and slowly
and everybody out.
- [Narrator] For much of the 1960s,
the Australians operated
virtually undetected,
artfully stealing millions
of pounds in jewels
and luxury goods, from
London's finest retailers.
- Well Fibbs old mate,
here's to another day
in oyster's paradise.
- You betcha.
If only those blokes back
in Sydney could see us now.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] In Australia,
these villains had become
too well known.
There were so few high-end stores to rob,
and only so many police
who would take a bribe.
London offered them a
chance to start again.
New faces, on a much bigger stage.
- Well we had good liaising
with all the stores.
We gave them all the photographs.
Anything they wanted we gave them
and we cooperated with each
other and they seemed to be
fairly proficient in catching them.
Maybe that's why the reason
that they might've decided
to piss off and go over
to London to start with
where it was much bigger,
and their chances of
becoming known would take
a lot longer time.
- Some of our key figures
who'd been involved
in ordinary crime, were expanding
overseas or going overseas
especially to London, and
running shoplifting gangs
and coming back, boasting about it.
And they were held in high regard.
- They came up through
the school of hard knocks
and a lot of them started
their careers as, you know,
rip-roaring round the
streets doing their best,
graduated to thieving from the wharfs,
then found that they could,
shoplifting was a more profitable
and an easier lifestyle for them.
- [Narrator] These Aussie shoplifters,
known in the underworld as hoisters,
arrived in London before the days of
closed circuit television,
electronic tags,
and vigilant in-store security.
It was a far off time
when retailers trusted their customers.
- You know the technology
certainly wasn't around
in those days so you
know you put aside CCTV.
- It was just wide open so
depending on the capacity
and the capabilities of yourself,
you picked where you wanted to work.
- But when they got to England
they were good at what they did
and they couldn't believe it
as they told me, that everything
was so available to steal.
- [Narrator] Baby Bruce Stanton
was one amongst hundreds
of Aussie thieves to make the
journey in the 60s and 70s.
Each had his own specialty and Bruce's
was picking pockets.
(gentle music)
- Third floor haberdashery,
furniture, Manchester, hobbies,
electrical appliances.
- Oh excuse me, I'm so sorry.
(tense music)
Did you say ladies shoes
were on this floor?
- Oh no love ladies shoes
are on the next floor down.
- Okay I'll wait thank you.
- Going down.
(upbeat music)
- I come from like a, what's
the best way to answer this.
And now here I from like
a, I'm in not in Sydney
I'm in London.
I'm with the best people in Knightsbridge,
I'm shopping in Harrods,
I live in Lennox Gardens,
I'm laughing, I'm top of the world.
How can I be here, I could
never believe how I'd come off
from like a, to where I
was, in a couple years.
- [Narrator] In London, Bruce
didn't join the Australians
in the Kangaroo Gang.
He took his pick-pocketing
skills to the Underground,
known amongst thieves
as King Solomon's Mines,
where he joined the English
pick-pocketing gangs.
- Here we are in Lower Regent Street,
Piccadilly tube station, and
this is really the entrance
to King Solomon's Mines.
Once you're down in the mines
you can go in many directions.
Central line, Piccadilly line,
but it is a different world down there.
♫ Hi ho it's off to work we go
- [Narrator] Bruce worked the
Underground tube lines daily
with the English pick-pocketing
gangs who are known as
the Bottle Firms.
- Well here we are in front
of the old Whiteley's store.
This was really the home away from home
for all the Australians who came here
but the main area for coming
here because of its safety.
Here we could get an
apartment quite easily,
without the right identification.
A gentleman that lives very close nearby
by the name of Mr David Barry,
he was always there to
assist the Australians
and he was always there
whenever there was a problem.
He would get them out of problems.
- [Narrator] By the mid 1960s, Dave Barry,
the guv'nor of Queensway,
was greeting dozens of
Aussie thieves, landing
each month to join the fun.
- I had a circle of
friends in this and that
lots of them Australians
and if somebody was
on their way over and had
an assumed name they'd say
so and so can I get hold of this one,
can I get hold of that one.
I'd say well give me a
number and I'll get somebody
to give you a call.
I used to get flats for 'em,
well you obviously get commission
off the agents didn't I.
(laughing)
- He knew people, he was quite
big in criminal fraternity.
Not maybe as a fully active
criminal, you know, going out,
not robberies and that but,
he was a receiver of goods.
He could place them,
he could get the money,
and it kept them away from the receiver.
- Without him it would not
have operated so smoothly,
frankly speaking.
It wasn't easy to come from
Australia, on your own,
and find your own way around.
With Dave you always
knew you had the facility
to get a bed, to get a
house, to get an apartment,
to get yourself moving.
It's a long way to come,
but the 60s and the 70s
it was quite easy here.
There was loads of people, loads of women,
the pubs were all flying,
everything was good.
It was home away from home Queensway.
- English criminals were
always going to know
which police are going to be helpful
and how to get into them
and obviously you've got
to have an introduction.
And just the same as you've
got to have an introduction
to find flats and things like that,
and introductions to
initially, which shops are,
which are going to have
security systems, which aren't.
- [Narrator] Dave Barry was
the main fence to the Aussies,
receiving and selling their plunder.
He also had crucial connections
with corrupt police,
known as the sugar bags, who for a fee,
would turn a blind eye.
- Well you used to get your
card marked say don't be here,
don't be there, it's a ready hide.
Things like that, you know,
which saved a lot of people
from going in the can.
- [Narrator] The only stipulation was
that there could be no violence.
- That's right no violence
because the sugar bags
wouldn't entertain you if
you was at the violence game.
They'd let you get away with most things
but any violence, no,
they'd put a stop to it.
- [Narrator] With a friendly
policeman or two onside
there was nothing the Aussie
hoisters wouldn't attempt.
- Here was the creme de la creme.
You had the Cartiers,
you had the Kajinskis,
you had the Mappin and Webbs,
you had the Watches of Switzerland,
you had famous Aspreys.
They were all there together.
They, at that time, were
way out of my depth.
All I could do was look in amazement
at what was in the window.
- [Narrator] But Baby
Bruce's time would come,
learning the trade from
our master thieves.
(upbeat music)
The number one taker
and King of the thieves
was Arthur Delaney.
He was the superstar and a
team of more than 100 thieves
vied to work with him.
His training ground had been
the Sydney department stores
of the 1950s.
- I'm not sure if it's gonna
be big enough for my brother.
He's a big man.
Do you have one in a slightly larger size?
- Ah I think so, I'll just
see if we've got one in stock.
Ah don't think we've got one of those.
- While you're up there
would you check to see
if that Houndstooth one
comes in a larger size.
- Sure.
- Well Delaney's Interpol
nickname was King Arthur
and he was the King of the crew.
Smooth as an oiled eel
and he was a real piece
of work Arthur Delaney.
He was a remarkable, remarkable thief.
- But Arthur had the techniques
of being a master thief
in many many ways.
He knew where to stand in
a shop when into the shop,
he knew where to slip under the counter,
he knew where to go over
the top of the counter.
He knew where the keys were,
he knew how to pick-pockets.
He, Arthur, was brilliant at everything.
- Arthur was a great
student of human behavior
and interaction and he
worked out how the English
reacted to people and the
sort of the hot points
and the way to deal with
people and he was actually
a master at it and that was
one of his great success
was just blending in or
getting people to trust him
on the basis that he had the
same mannerisms and behavior
as they did, the same customs.
So it's very useful.
- Oh Arthur thought he
was, good luck to him,
he called himself The King at one stage.
(laughing)
- [Bruce] King Arthur invented 3D.
People think that 3D would
come from Disneyland.
King Arthur invented that.
Deception, disguise, and distraction.
- Well, you know, Arthur
came to England as the Duke.
And now that he was in England,
and the place of royalty,
he wanted to be a King as well.
- He did say to me sometimes,
did you read the paper today.
Was that you?
- He'd read about Raffles,
the English burglar, you know,
the fictional English burglar who was,
who played cricket for the
gentlemen of England and
impeccable manners and
belonged to the Albany Club
and all this sort of thing.
So Arthur modeled himself
on this Raffles character.
He was the shiny, glossy,
turned out gentlemen and that's,
that was a huge advantage.
- [Bruce] Arthur was a big time operator
and that's where the
name, The King, came from.
- Yes King.
- You in?
- Yes King
- Very very sophisticated
and very very good people
working with him.
But unlike the other teams
Arthur would have mercenaries
come in and out.
He would hire people for the day for,
like it was an acting guild.
- The only plan is teamwork
and teamwork is the only plan.
- No he just used to love it,
he'd just get really excited
when he got away with something big.
Got really excited like a kid.
"I'm the best, I'm The King."
Didn't even know we were in a shop.
Didn't even know I was there.
- [Narrator] But King
Arthur was a character
of his own creation.
Not always a dashing thief,
he was once a truck driver
with a young family in
Newcastle, north of Sydney.
When Arthur landed in London in 1962,
he was one of the best
money-getters ever seen
and with the spoils came an
endless procession of women.
- He was a handsome looking bloke,
he was only a little bloke
he might've been about
an inch bigger than me
but the women loved him.
- Arthur was a womanizer,
he really loved women.
- He'd say I'm, you're
my fountain of youth
and you're my little drop of morning dew.
That's him.
He'd such a honey tongue.
- I've never seen anyone
more beautiful than you.
- There was the man Arthur, you know.
If you had, if you had two
girls well they both want Arthur
you might miss out altogether
you know what I mean.
- [Man] I mean there was a
string of women in Arthur's life
and I think they would, you know,
a lot would wait for
him in vain I'm afraid.
- [Narrator] Every King
must have his jester
so Jack William Warren, aka the Fibber,
followed his great mate Arthur to the UK.
But before meeting the King,
and becoming a jewel thief,
the Fibber worked a lot of scams.
His favorite was playing
the popular game of two-up,
with dodgy two-headed coins.
(people shouting excitedly)
- Tails it is!
(groaning)
- Come on that's four in a row,
hand the kip over to somebody
else, give us some luck.
- Oh come on fellas get me
behind me what's wrong with you.
I'm willing to put my shirt
on this next one being a head.
(shouts of disapproval)
I'm serious.
(cheering)
I'll even bet my wig if I have to.
(cheering)
What you give me for this guv'nor?
- Oh looks like a mangy Chihuahua.
I'll give you two bob.
(laughing)
- Well you're a beautiful man
but you can shove your two bob,
where the sun don't shine.
(laughing)
- I'm not backing you, you bald prick.
20 on tails.
- [Man] And I'll have 50 on tails.
(shouting)
- There's about 200 on tails.
I know, I'm gonna put 200 on heads.
- Righto mate head 'em up, come on.
(shouting)
(tense music)
(cheering)
- Heads it is!
- There's something fishy going on here.
- [Fibber] Oh what do you mean?
- Give us a look at that coins.
- Oh there's nothing fishy,
I won that fair and square.
- You don't need to see nothing mate.
You bet on tails and you lost, so did I.
Now get out of here while
you're still in one piece.
(tense music)
- Yeah I'd be, I'd just be in
amongst the crowd, you know,
unobtrusive, but you're
keeping your eye on things.
If there was ever any
trouble, you know, you'd,
you'd handle it as
diplomatically as possible.
- [Narrator] Billy Longley,
aka the Texan, and the Fibber
made an unlikely pair.
The Fibber hated violence,
and Billy Longley was the most
feared gunman and enforcer
on Melbourne's bloody waterfront.
(single gunshot)
- Yeah well I was a good shot,
there's no doubt about that.
There's only one way you
learn to be a good shot
and that is by practice you know.
I don't recall missing, no I do not, no.
- Now get out of here while
you're still in one piece.
- Oh there's always one in every crowd.
(laughing)
Well now you poor mugs,
you had your chance.
Me and the Chihuahua are going home.
- Yeah go--
- Piss off.
(shouting)
- [Man] Then you had the Fibber
who had proved that he was,
he was worthy of anything.
He had a lot of confidence, lot of dash,
and he could draw people to him.
- And he'd look you right in the face
and he'd get close to you,
you know, he'd lean over
and looked you right in the eyes.
Very persuasive bloke.
- They said the Fibber, when he was home,
would walk down to the
beach and he'd been walking
and he'd be kicking sand
over people's watches and,
you know, stopping and
tossing a bit of sand over
a pair of sunglasses and marking the spot
so he could come back later on
just to have a little
collection on the beach,
just to keep himself going.
- Jack was full of laughter,
Jack was a fun guy.
Jack wanted to enjoy it, Jack
wanted everybody to be happy
and his team, again, were
very very well supervised
and lucky-go-happy type of team.
- He was, he was a very
lovely man the Fibber.
- [Bruce] He was a spender
in a very very big way.
He would go out in the restaurants,
nobody else could pick up a bill.
It would always be the Fibber
would pay for everything.
Whether they went on a trip, a holiday,
Fibber was always there to pay the bills.
He was a big, he was a big spender.
- I was with him one day and
we had safe breaking stuff
in the glove box of the
car and we were headed up
to take this safe and
the coppers drove past us
and wanted us to pull over.
Oh Jesus I'm saying to myself,
I can see five years, you know.
With what we had in the
glove box, gelignite
and things like that.
And the liar said "Leave this to me"
and he's got out the car
and ran up to the police car
and had his head in the window
and he came back and he
said "I fixed that up."
And I thought to myself
how the bloody hell
would you fix that up.
- The Fibber was really
a master of disguise too.
He used his dentures and his
wig as a real tool of trade,
you know, and he used to say
that if you pull a big job
and you got any fear that
people are chasing you
you get to the corner, whip your wig off,
pull your teeth out, you
know, look like a, you know,
you're reading a newspaper
and if you get to the corner
you're another person.
- The first night I met Fibber was at
the Rushcutter's Bay Hotel and
Fibber said to me, walk in
the laundromat next door,
he said, I've just got
to pick something up.
So we go in there and the
dryer's going round and round
and he opened the dryer
and he took out his wig
and put it on his head.
He just washed it in the
laundromat, put it in the dryer,
went back for a beer, came back,
the wig was all nice and fluffed
up from being in the dryer.
He just stuck it on his head.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] The third
great taker of the group
was Sydney born William Wee Jimmy Lloyd,
who'd been a mentor to Arthur
Delaney but, unlike The King,
Wee Jimmy preferred
maintaining a low profile.
For that, he needed a bent cop or two.
- So that's all I know Terry.
- Ah come on Jimmy.
I knew more than that when I came in here.
- No flies on you are there?
Sorry I can't be of anymore help.
Or maybe I can.
- Go on.
- How you getting home?
- Taxi, why.
- It's cold out there,
you don't have a coat.
- Yes I do.
- You'll be wanting
something warmer than that.
I got a lovely camel hair upstairs.
Fresh from DJ's.
Price tag's still on.
- How much?
- Tell you what.
Why don't you buy it from me with this.
Better still, keep the change.
(upbeat music)
- I know that he had a
lot of pull with Old Bill
all over the world, not
only in New South Wales,
but in Melbourne and other places as well.
- Australians were recognized
as the best shoplifters
in the world and the Pommie
coppers knew this you know
and they knew they could,
they could get a good living
looking after the Australian
shoplifters, you know.
Making sure everything was sweet.
- [Narrator] Wee Jimmy
was a veteran pickpocket
on the racetracks of Sydney and Melbourne,
and it was there he learned the secret
of all successful thieves.
- The ability to be able to act quickly.
Spontaneous to know
whether this was on or off
or could it really really happen.
He knew when to go and when to stop
in regards to a job.
So being agile with his fingers
and agile with his eyes,
no that was a big
important part of the fact.
- Well Jimmy's just an
audacious little bugger.
He's, had more front
than Myers and he was a,
just a cheeky audacious shoplifter.
- But he was a brilliant
organizer, he was a brilliant thief
and he was game as fuck.
- [Narrator] In England,
Wee Jimmy took his skills
to a new level.
Where once he emptied pockets,
now he emptied entire stores.
- He was wanted for a job
at Watches of Switzerland
in Knightsbridge and I think
what they basically did was
at a weekend they put a
hoarding round the shop,
they then closed it off for pedestrians
with a walkway round it,
sorry for the inconvenience et cetera.
And behind the hoarding
they took the window out
and emptied the shop.
- But he was a continuous worker.
Whether it was suits
or whether it was ties
or whether it was bottles of wine
or whether it was souvenirs
or whether it was jumping
behind the bank counter
and relieving them of their TC's,
this was just a normal routine day.
So Jimmy wasn't one of those people
who would plan a big robbery
and do nothing the next day.
No he'd do something one day
and again tomorrow morning
he'd be out with the same team,
looking for another
little bit of work yes.
- [Narrator] Our next master
taker, William Herbert Hill,
aka the General, had found
himself a regular guest
of Her Majesty's Prisons in Australia.
He had an insatiable
appetite for the finest suits
of the stolen variety.
(upbeat music)
- He was, he was a turnover man.
It was the shirts and the
sheets and the golf balls
and the fashion items and things
that he continued to hoist
consistently and he was
very very good at it.
So it wasn't as glamorous, it
didn't get him the accolades
that the, the jewel
thieves like Arthur got
or the Fibber, but he
just worked relentlessly
and so he actually matched
the money in the end.
- Oh he was well known.
Shoplifter.
That's the wrong word.
A prolific thief, that's maybe the better.
When you say shoplifter you
think of the old dear going in
and taking a bottle of milk and stuff.
There was nothing like
that, this was planned,
organized crime.
- [Man] He was a legend
shoplifter Billy Hill
and well-liked, but
again, a low profile guy
who tried his best to
stay under the radar.
- There was a picture that was
actually stolen from his flat
by one of the police that I interviewed
and there's Billy Hill.
The clock on the wall says five past nine
and there's Billy with his bowler hat,
and the rolled up
newspaper in the impeccable
Saville Row suit.
He's ready for work.
People wanted to work with the General.
He wasn't seen as in that
sort of flamboyant, you know,
extroverted way that Arthur was
but he was a very very effective thief
and he was also very good at blending in.
- He used to like to
do his own thing Bill.
He was a bit secretive but
he liked to do that anyway
but he was training his own gang.
- One policeman tells a story about
at the height of the thieving
there they're driving down
Knightsbridge and there is Billy Hill,
in the window of Harrods,
stripping a shop dummy of clothes.
And they didn't even
bother to stop they said
oh we'll get him eventually
but it was just this
how brazen it became.
- He'd have 'em out working like,
soon as the bank's open,
half past nine, ten o'clock,
he'd have 'em out.
Don't finish till three,
that's when the bank shut then, is a rule.
- [Narrator] The final
taker was George Gardener
from Melbourne who had a
long list of convictions
for larceny, robbery, and assault.
At 27, he was the youngest,
and the most reckless of the gang.
A ladies man and a bon viveur,
they didn't call him
Gorgeous Georgie for nothing.
And he was game for anything.
(tense music)
- Wow.
- Georgie Gardener, who was
a very celebrated burglar
and thief, pickpocket, you
know but Georgie did it.
- George Gardner had a lot of dash.
George was an extremely
good looking young fellow
and you might say, he was well groomed.
He took great care of his appearance.
His hair was always cut, his
clothes were always flash.
- He was a more rough and ready character,
very good looking man,
looked like Rock Hudson.
Very dashing man and a
great man with the ladies
back at home and he left kids everywhere
as many of these thieves did.
But he was accused of a couple
of murders down in Melbourne
so he got a bit too tropical,
so George Gardener goes to England.
- Yes yes we have arrived,
the party can start.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] By the mid
60s London was under seize
from violent crime.
The press carried sensational
stories of spectacular heists.
In 1963 the Great Train Robbers
had become world famous.
Meanwhile violent teams of bandits
were running amok in the streets.
They provided the perfect
distraction for the Kangaroo Gang.
- When I was first there, the English
had run inside, baseball
bats, machetes anything,
break everything in there.
Everybody was bloody, you
know, terrified, they go away
and they'd scoop it all
up out of the cupboards
and they'd jump in the
car and away they'd go.
- Robbery was the big thing
in London at that time.
It seemed every person
in the villainous world
was going in to buying
shotguns and then just
tearing the place apart.
- [Narrator] Compare
this to the Kangaroo Gang
who literally charmed their way to riches.
- Welcome to Asprey gentlemen.
- Thank you, pleasure to be back.
- It's been such a long time.
- Do enjoy yourselves.
- [Narrator] The Fibber
was the brains behind
one of their most masterful jobs.
A tray of diamond rings disappeared
from the exclusive Bensons of Bond Street.
The plan called for a broken clock
and a big bouquet of flowers.
- I do so hope you can fix it for us.
This clock has been in the
family for um, simply ages.
- That's strange.
There appears to be several parts missing.
The counterweight for starters
and several pieces for the mechanism.
- Well he did drop the blessed thing
getting it into the car.
I said be careful.
- As always you were rushing me my dear.
Perhaps some of the parts
you're talking about
have fallen behind the seat or.
Could you describe them
to me and then I can
go and have a look for them.
- Well there's a cog--
- If you don't mind, while
you two tinker with that,
might I have a look at
some of the lovely brooches
over here?
- Yes of course.
Victoria, would you please
show madam our selection.
- Of course.
What can I help you with?
These brooches here.
- Yes dear.
- Oh, I'll be right with you in a moment.
Please feel free to browse.
- That's perfectly fine, it's my birthday
and I've set aside the entire
afternoon for shopping.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Grace
O'Connor, a formidable thief
in her own right, was a key
member of the Fibber's team.
Lady Grace, as she was
known, was the last person
security would suspect of thieving.
- She had talent, charisma,
she was very engaging.
She wore good gear.
She looked good, she knew
how to put her make up on,
her hair done and everything.
Yeah she's quite the charming person.
- What a simply darling
little shop you have here.
- Yeah mate, take your time.
My wallet could sure use a rest.
- Oh but Uncle I do
have to be on the train
back to Cambridge at 4.00 p.m.
- Plenty of time for that my little Lord.
(tense music)
- Would you show me that cog over there?
- Could I see the one
down at the very back,
at the bottom down there, thank you dear.
Yes, right down at the back of the tray.
- Jack I really do like that one there,
the one with the little jade heart.
Don't you want to please
me on my birthday?
- Well of course I do my love but
seems like every day's your birthday.
- Well it's only a few hundred pounds.
- Oh, oh.
Heaven's above what have I done.
- [Woman] Oh dear.
(coughing)
- Uncle Jack, I'm going back
to the hotel to get my luggage.
Can I meet you at the station?
I mean I just feel like
I'm running out of time.
- Oh.
- Well if you must kid
on you go.
We'll just stay here and browse.
- Can I leave the clock with you
while I go and look for
those parts in the car?
I'll be about 10 minutes.
- Very well sir.
- Audrey.
- Now may I help you sir?
- You know what, I think
it's time for a drink.
What do you think love?
- Yes let's.
- Thanks.
- [Narrator] To most police
this was just another case
of shoplifting, they were too busy chasing
violent, armed robbers,
to give it much thought.
But jobs like Bensons were
going off almost every week,
arousing the curiosity of a bobby
who was to become the
Kangaroo Gang's nemesis.
- I think the first
incident I ever went to
was Bond Street, and
there was a jewelers there
called Bensons of Bond Street
which was a very high-class jewelers.
And a team of people in there,
allegedly with Australian accents,
had managed to take a whole
tray of rings from a showcase.
- It was a great robbery
because Grace walks in
with a great big bunch of
flowers which looks lovely
and it's, everyone smiles at
the woman with nice flowers
and so forth and, but it's
also, it's serves two purposes.
It provides a block or a
smother from people who might be
looking at what they're
doing, but it also contained
a pair of bolt cutters.
- The majority of times
the bolt cutters were long
and you had to cut them arms
and make them short enough.
It made it a little bit
harder to get the lock off
but if it was a thin lock then
it would chip off easy and,
just like a pin.
- [Narrator] The gang got away
undetected in broad daylight,
right under the noses
of the shops assistants.
- It wasn't until late in the afternoon
when another customer
came through the door
that the draft caused the
door of the showcase to flap
and then they realized it was open,
otherwise they hadn't noticed it.
- Pearce goes down there and
the staff were mystified.
How had this happened?
There were these nice Australians,
oh Australians really, really
we're getting some
reports about Australians.
- Is it true, are
Australians the best con men?
- They're amongst the best yes.
- [Interviewer] Just amongst
the best, we're not out ahead.
- Not way ahead but pretty good.
- [Interviewer] Pretty good.
Why is this, why do they
make such good con men?
- Well they've got the
attributes of the con man,
in particular this real wide
open suntanned Australian face
that wins confidence.
- Yeah take your time mate.
My wallet could sure use a rest.
- So Mike starts to put it together.
It's not just random
acts of theft going on
this could be an organized ring
that is targeting the West End.
- And that really started
to prove the point
that we weren't dealing
with the average local
if you like, we were
dealing with something
a little bit more sophisticated.
You know these people were
taking property on a grand scale.
We've lost the term grand larceny
but I think that would
probably be a better term
of describing their activities
than just shoplifting.
- [Narrator] Jobs like
Bensons were a dime a dozen.
One by one the big names fell.
Cartier, Kajinskis, Graf,
not to mention the wholesale
diamond merchants of Hatton Garden.
They had the keys to the city
and they helped themselves
all over town.
The Continent offered
many more dazzling riches
and police was even more lax,
as The King lead the charge
across western Europe.
- Arthur was now thinking about Europe.
You go out into the
countryside and there would be
small villages, small towns,
which would still have
master craftsmen jewelers with
stores that were even more,
you know, open and vulnerable,
as they had been in England.
- They had a fistful of
British visitors passports.
They were cheap cardboard passports.
I would say it was quite feasible that,
with a false passport,
you could go to Geneva
on a flight in the morning from Heathrow.
You could shoplift at lunchtime
and you could be back in the afternoon.
And if their description
or information came in
that it was them, they
could produce their genuine,
original passport and say
I've never left the country.
There was nothing one
could do about it really.
- [Narrator] But even the
best thieves do some time.
So it was for The King.
He got caught in Amsterdam
with a fistful of diamonds,
and spent a year in a Dutch jail.
- He had all his, apparently all his meals
when he was in jail in Amsterdam,
they were all delivered
from a local expensive restaurant
or people would deliver him
all, he didn't eat chow food.
- Delaney had a record of something over
130, 140 criminal entries
during his lifetime,
which is pretty exceptional
for any criminal.
It shows that he did a lot of jail time.
- [Narrator] After his
enforced sojourn in Amsterdam,
Delaney returned home to Australia
to regroup and indulge his other passion.
Beautiful women.
- Arthur was back from
Amsterdam and he was big noting
all over the eastern suburbs of Sydney
about how well he'd done and
so forth and he was, you know,
cutting a swathe through
the ladies and he met,
he met Patty at the Rosebay
Hotel which was a local haunt
for his crew at the time.
- I thought he was quite dashing.
Always dressed nice and
had his nails polished.
I hadn't met anyone who had
their nails polished before.
- [Narrator] But this was
a short stopover in Sydney
for The King.
Delaney's ambition was to be remembered as
the world's greatest jewel thief,
and he promised to take
Patty along for the ride.
- He made lots of
promises to lots of people
and I guess she might not
have taken it too seriously
when he said to her, let
me get there, get set up,
and then I'll send you a
ticket and we'll be together.
And, but sure enough it turned
up, there was the air ticket.
- I had no desire to leave this country.
If it wasn't for Arthur I
don't know if I ever would,
would've, but once I did, I found it
very exciting and very impressive.
- [Narrator] And it was.
The Kangaroo Gang's weekly
haul regularly topped
100,000 pounds.
Anything not bolted down
was on the shopping list.
- And as far as the money's
concerned it was astronomical.
It was driving him mad.
- I mean when you look
back on some of the heists
that they pulled, and
translated into modern terms,
you know, it's easy to say
now they got 10,000 dollars
that day, but that's
equivalent today of over
a hundred thousand dollars,
just in an hour or so.
- And there was a table, a long table,
be 10 foot long I reckon.
There was money on it that
high, nearly right across it.
And it was all different denominations.
- It was big, everything
was put out to take.
Perfume was expensive and put out to take.
- They had a sense of humor.
For example they'd have a Christmas party,
the shoplifter's Christmas party.
- So much perfume.
- They'd be a prize for
the person that had stole
the biggest object.
- Crocodile belts, Aquascutums
these crocodile wallets.
- I'd so much once I gave a
girl two beautiful bottles
of French perfume for her 21st.
- These things were
worth four, 500 pounds.
- I look back now I think
why'd I give it to her.
- A Chester Barrie suit.
- Someone took a Volkswagen
out of a showroom.
- We got some Asprey's
handbags, crocodile handbags.
- Usually rings, necklaces.
- I know that there was
a beautiful onyx duck.
- The nice cashmere overcoats.
- A mink.
- And I got a phone call
late one evening to say
they've pinched it.
- And there was a
showcase there and it had
a gold electric iron.
- And we knew that they would go after it
and they were looking at it,
but they still managed to get it.
- Because you've looked in the window
and you've seen the size of
it, now it's in your hand.
- And the request was, could
I get it back for them.
- You're walking down the street with
what was in the window five minutes ago.
It's an extraordinary feeling.
- It weighed almost a kilo.
It was a nice bit of gold that was.
- No, no drug could be like that.
- In those days Harrods
had a zoo on the top floor
and apparently some guy
wanted a chimpanzee,
wasn't prepared to pay the price,
and they took in a baby
carriage, diverted the staff,
wrapped the thing in baby
clothes and wheeled it out.
- Yeah good that, good, no
that is really a classic story
which gets twisted from time to time.
But I can say with a lie detector
that it wasn't a chimpanzee
it was actually a cat
and he was a Margay cat
and I had to get the cat
because I owed a bookmaker
big money, about a monkey.
500 pounds, not a monkey from the zoo,
and it wasn't that
difficult to get him because
there was hardly any security
and the cat looked very lonely
and that was another reason why I thought
you should come home with us, you know.
He needed a mother or something.
- [Narrator] Jewelry,
high-class luxury goods,
the odd exotic creature.
They were taking tens
of thousands of pounds
almost every day.
Hundreds of thousands in today's money.
So after a hard day's graft,
the villains would unwind
in Europe's top nightspots,
where they mingled with high society.
- With Arthur it was just continuous,
just every night of the
week, every night of the week
we were at a nightclub or
an expensive restaurant.
- Arthur was a great celebration man.
In fact they all were.
I mean they were living for the moment.
They would steal all
day, drink and gamble,
womanize all night.
So they would be in the
Colony Club or the Mount Club.
Victoria Sporting Club.
The Mayfair Club, all these
glittering names which were
extremely exclusive, you
couldn't get in there
if you were just a punter
from the suburbs, you know,
you had to know somebody or
be accepted by the owner.
So they would be in there
and Arthur would be playing
Baccarat losing all his
money and, you know,
shouting the bar drinks
and all this sort of stuff
and big noting himself
and they had a great time,
let's face it.
(laughing)
- Well Fibbs old mate,
here's to another day
in oyster's paradise.
- You betcha.
If only those blokes back
in Sydney could see us now.
- Here honey take your pick.
Any one you want.
- Really?
Any one I want.
- Sure Patty, I wanna know how big
you like your diamonds sweetheart,
so I know what to get you next time.
- I've never seen anything more beautiful.
- I've never seen anyone
more beautiful than you.
This goes perfectly.
- Aah, excuse me while I chunder.
You're a beautiful man Arthur
but jeez you can lay it on.
You'll have Sue getting ideas next.
- Well?
- Okay then my love, close your eyes.
In a manner, we're as good as married.
(laughing)
Barry you can be the next man.
- Sure Dad.
(laughing)
- You never change do you Delaney.
- What is it with your big brother Cecil?
Did you get all the
love from Mummy did you?
- You gonna get us all nicked,
in a mug lair like this,
you know that don't you.
- Oh come on Jimmy ease up would you.
Try telling him that!
(laughing)
- Yes yes we have arrived,
the party can start.
- Normy my good man, make with the DP.
- What's DP Georgie?
- Dom Perignon you idiot.
- Oh sorry Georgie, course
course, good as gold.
- Oh g'day girls.
- Well bless me if it isn't
Gorgeous Georgie Gardener.
What's up my son?
And what have you got for me this week?
- Well Davie that depends
on what you're paying.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] Despite all the success,
a bitter rivalry between
The King and Wee Jimmy
was becoming a public spectacle.
- Wee Jimmy would regard
Arthur as a big noter
and a loudmouth.
- You're gonna get us all nicked,
in a mug lair like this
you know that don't you.
- You know you're gonna
bring us down one day Arthur
but at the same time there
was a lot of, you know,
competitive spirit between them you know.
Like whatever you can
do, I can do much better.
So I think there was a lot
of ribbing between them.
A lot of trying to show off their wealth,
show off their achievements.
- They'd grown up in Sydney together,
they knew quite a bit
together, and they'd split up
and gone two different ways.
So it was like Chelsea and
West Ham, they'd split up
and they didn't
particularly like each other
but they played the same game.
- Him and Jimmy used to have
terrible little rows, oh.
They used to start shouting
at each in a bar about
who's done the best bit
of business and everything
in front of all sorts of
people, which is not very,
you know, not very sensible.
Of course you never know
who could be around.
- [Narrator] It wasn't loose
lips and petty jealousy
that would bring the
golden run to a close.
Gorgeous Georgie Gardener
pushed their luck too far
with a series of bold raids on banks.
He took distraction to a whole new level
as he targeted the
foreign exchange counters
where security was virtually non-existent.
- Banks had just a desk
they never had all this
built-up front and this and
that and there wasn't a camera
anywhere there wasn't nothing, you know.
I mean they had virtually an open goal,
they could do what they liked.
- It was one thing working in
small jewelers on Bond Street
and so forth, to then moving
to big banking chambers
which were full of people
and lots of angles.
They had to create much
higher level distractions
to pull their jobs off.
- [Narrator] The Kangaroo Gang employed
the fundamental principle
of all magicians.
To conceal the smaller
move there must first be
a bigger move.
But Georgie Gardener and
his team turned it into
a royal command performance.
- Next please.
- G'day mate how are you?
- Fine, thank you and you.
_ Yeah great thanks for asking.
Just in from Australia.
Look I need a little
help with exchange rates
and you look like an expert.
- I'll do my best.
- Yeah great well we're
going across to the Continent
from here and I need
to know what currencies
are gonna work best for me.
- Well there are some
restrictions on what you can take
in an out of England.
Where abouts are you going?
- Oh well everywhere I can.
Here let's take a look at this map.
So first we're going across to Rome.
Now they've got the
Drachma there haven't they?
- No Italy is the Lira,
the Drachma is Greece.
- Oh.
Oh so they have yeah right, so
I'm gonna need a few of them.
How many of those do you
reckon I'm gonna need?
(retching)
- Security!
Security!
Well hurry man this fellow's
having an epileptic fit.
- [Narrator] George Gardener
should be remembered
as one of England's most
successful bank robbers.
He was never caught and he
never carried a firearm.
Distraction was his weapon of choice.
For that he relied on
his long-time partner,
Normy Seddon, and a cast
of supporting players.
- And Georgie Gardener, his
right-hand man was Norm,
that's for sure.
They were always together,
they went together,
they worked together, I don't
think they slept together
but they were very very close.
- So they needed to
get, position the teller
in a certain way at the front
of the, in the teller's booth,
push them to one side away
from their cash drawer
which a guy like Normy
Seddon was very good at.
He would come up with
some inquiry and draw them
to the side with a foreign exchange chart
or some other thing, detailed information.
- Here, let's take a look at this map.
- And this is the way they played it.
And sometimes they used six
people as diversionary tactics.
- And all the head pullers
had to be in the right place
and everyone had to do their work.
But taking TC's was a little bit different
than taking something at
the main cashier's till.
The TC's were always at
the back or at the side.
In those days they did not
have the grilles going up
in the wall.
- When George was confident that
everyone's heads were pulled
he'd pull out his extendable car aerial,
with a hook on the end of
it, he'd simply reach over,
grab the rubber bands
around the Traveler's Checks
or the foreign exchange,
and ping them back.
And he would clean out the whole drawer
while this was going on.
He had expert timing,
was incredibly quick.
- [Narrator] George
Gardener's head pullers
were the best in the business.
They could adapt to any circumstance
with just the right distraction.
They were occasions where
a fight might work best,
for creating the time
and space for Gardener
to claim his prize.
- Get out of my pocket you bloody thief.
- I beg your pardon!
How dare you accuse me of such a thing.
- Well that's my 10 pound
note in your hand chum.
Hand it over.
- That is an outrageous assertion.
- I'll give you an outrageous assertion.
- Oh will you just--
- I will just indeed.
- [Narrator] But for the biggest occasions
Gardener would call for a
lady known as Ma Barker.
- So I'm gonna need a few of them.
- Phew oh it's so hot in here.
- Em I hadn't noticed.
- No love it's a bloody
scorcher I'm just burning up.
- It's not that hot.
- Oh these bloody clothes.
- What do you think you're doing?
- Get your hands off me you dirty codger.
That's better, now I
just feel like dancing.
- It was a 
bank on the
corner of Knightsbridge.
Right there, right in
the middle of everything.
You know what I mean.
Well she just stripped off.
See how they're all gazing.
I think it was he slipped behind
the counter and, you know,
nicked a couple of
trays of cashier's money
while they're watching this
bird doing her gypsy dance.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] Georgie Gardener's bank jobs
were rip-roaring successes
and the cash came flooding in.
- And this was so successful
it was incredible.
I mean there was one
time when they did it,
there was actually a
policeman in the queue
waiting to cash his wages,
and he didn't see it either.
- The criminal intelligence
suggests that there was
well in excess of a million pound,
probably a couple of million
pound that had been taken
in this way.
So it was becoming very
apparent that they were taking
more out of the system
than our armed robbers.
- [Narrator] Now the police
were really interested
in the Aussies.
Robbing banks set off alarm
bells at the highest levels
of English society.
- They weren't taking
on banks in the sense of
going over the counter and
shooting up the ceiling.
What they were doing was
stealing Traveler's Checks,
forging them, and robbing banks that way.
And that was regarded as just not on.
- Once you take out Lloyds
Bank, or Barclays or,
you're starting to get into
the real English ruling class
who have connections in the Parliament,
who have connections at the
highest level in the force
and this started to filter
down through force command
that it's time to put these
cheeky Aussies out of business
because they're beginning to hurt us.
- [Narrator] As outrage spread
over the colonial crime wave
Scotland Yard swung into action.
A small, under resourced
criminal intelligence squad, C11,
began to compile a
special dossier known as
the Australian Index.
The lads weren't hard to find,
as they congregated in pubs
almost every day.
- Hello, and who might you be?
- Jim want to come and
take a look and see if
you can identify this new
fella talking to Jimmy Lloyd?
Come take a look.
- Which one's Lloyd again?
- Slightly balding.
He's standing at the front
talking to the bald guy.
Right in front of you.
- Righto.
Seen that face before.
There's pictures on the table.
- Any luck?
- I think it's Jimmy
Lloyd's brother Cecil.
- Twins aren't they?
- The Aussies say yeah, they pose as twins
but they actually aren't.
- Well they look like twins.
- No Cecil's a couple of years younger,
but they swap identities
to avoid detection.
Cripes they go to some trouble.
Jimmy's got a pile of aliases.
William Ritchie, Thomas
Lee, Peter William Lloyd,
James Edward Wilson,
Harry Lee, Arthur Jessop,
William Edward Lloyd, Peter Lloyd.
- Wow.
- It also says here the
way to tell 'em apart
is that Jimmy's got half
is index finger missing
on his right hand.
- Doesn't seem to hinder him thieving.
Take a look at this.
- Do you mind.
In broad daylight.
- Glasses Barry had a pub at Paddington
and that was a place that
they all seemed to go
and meet and greet, so that we
were able to go, sit outside,
and collect a few photographs.
We would then get their
Australian record come over
with their fingerprints so that a
criminal record office
file was opened immediately
and therefore we were using the names
that they had in Australia,
not the ones they gave us
when they were first arrested in London.
- But once there was some
sort of organization as to
who was doing what where,
and starting to make an index
and a list, then the days
of the Kangaroos were,
if not numbered, it was
becoming prudent to leave
and find other fields.
- [Narrator] In December 1967
the first Australian Index was published.
And intelligence began to flood in
from police across the United Kingdom.
Every station, it seemed, had a story of
the Aussies' exploits.
- I think the first Police Gazette,
maybe there was 75 or even more
photographs and descriptions
of the Australian team as we knew then.
This of course escalated
for the simple reason
there was numerous
phone calls coming back,
what about this one, what about that one,
you haven't got this one.
- After the publication
of the Australian Index
in the Police Gazette,
and the follow up work,
life became much more
hard for the Aussies.
They were suddenly recognized.
- Yeah well the writing
was definitely on the wall
and it was a shock.
And the amount of prison
that was handed out
was also a shock so a lot
of people did scarper.
It was only really the masters that stayed
and plodded through so
really it weeded out
the good from the bad,
the boys from the men.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] By the end of
1969, Baby Bruce had graduated
from picking pockets in
the London Underground
to jewel heists on the Continent.
But one of his best thefts
was strictly personal.
He stole Arthur's girl.
- I was fascinated by Patty Burridge.
She was, in fact, quite an attractive lady
and she was connected with
The King and that gave me
a little bit of inspiration to,
it give me two inspirations.
One that she was attractive,
one that she was associated with The King,
so it was my name to nick
something off him for a change
and I don't think that went
down well over the years either
perhaps he always had a little
bit of a grudge for that.
But then again Patty left
me and broke my heart
and run off with another
fella so, there you are.
- [Narrator] Broken-hearted
Bruce then left London
for Amsterdam, to take on
the biggest jewel caper
of his life.
- Well it was estimated that
it was half a million dollars
worth of diamonds that were removed.
The snow came down and unfortunately,
the first time in history,
Amsterdam was frozen
with two meters of snow
and nobody could move.
Five o'clock in the afternoon
of course the alarm went off
and it circulated around
that there were foreigners
in the shop that day
and the three of us
were nicked and charged.
- [Narrator] The party ended
abruptly for Baby Bruce
and his two accomplices,
inside a grim police station
in Amsterdam's Red Light District.
- It was interrogation
police station so the,
two gentlemen came in,
dressed up as Gestapos
with their leather coats on
and, in the middle of winter,
as they would and their
caps and everything.
One of them spoke to me and asked me
where the diamonds were.
"We would like to know
where are the jewelry?"
And I said, I don't know
vere are the jewelry.
Ah, that was it so it was easy, you know,
we were gonna piss out of this.
That's how you just get rid
of 'em, just tell 'em nothing.
Then he walked along
to Liz and he asked her
the same question, "Where is the jewelry?"
But before Liz could answer,
he grabbed her violently
by the hair, pulled her up off the seat
that we were sitting on
and with his right fist
he hit her so hard he
smashed her nose there,
brought it into his knee
and put her teeth up
through her gum here.
She fell on the floor unconscious
and then he kicked the shit out
of her underneath the bench.
We had a horrible experience
which turned me off
the jewel theft for life.
- [Narrator] Back in England
C11, and the Australian Index
was making life too hot
for the Kangaroo Gang.
Mike Pearce had brought
down the Gardener Gang.
Normy Seddon was captured
and sent to prison.
And Gardener ran back to
Australia, never to return.
The Fibber took his bag
of tricks to South Africa
in search of diamonds.
However this venture ended
in a Johannesburg jail cell.
- He convinced the inmates that he was
Lionel Rose's boxing trainer.
He was, Lionel Rose was a world
champion Australian fighter
and so he had the whole jail in training
to be contenders for a world title.
You could be a champion.
Which meant he then got a very good cell,
he had man servants waiting
on him hand and foot
and then ultimately finished
up being in charge of
the prison radio.
- [Narrator] At the same
time Wee Jimmy Lloyd
had also been captured in Switzerland
during a jewel heist.
To Wee Jimmy, time in jail
was an occupational hazard.
- His philosophy was that
as soon as he was arrested,
he considered that he was serving time
and he would do it in
solitary confinement,
basically 'cause he
didn't want to speak to
the other idiots.
- [Narrator] While Wee Jimmy
languished in a Swiss jail,
Arthur was back in Sydney where he met
the true love of his life,
Alexis, a gorgeous blonde
with her own history, including,
a jealous ex-boyfriend.
- 
Skinny Fred'll rue the day he threatened
Arthur The King Delaney.
- That wasn't a threat.
Can't you let it go.
- I can't stand the way he leers at you.
- He's not even a memory any more.
- He seems to think he still owns you.
(coughing)
- Christ love, you really
wanna get into a fight?
Look at you, you couldn't
knock a pea off a chop.
- Well neither could he.
- [Alexis] Then what's the point?
(breathing deeply)
- My dear, it's called honor.
- Oh.
- I shall return anon, victorious.
- Yeah just make sure you return.
- You can watch me at
the window if you like.
- Men.
(car accelerating loudly)
Speaking of idiots.
(tense music)
Arthur, the back seat.
Arthur!
- Hey darling, up in a minute.
- Arthur gun!
Arthur!
(repeated gunshots)
Arthur!
(screaming)
- He was very lucky he
wasn't killed outright.
It struck him in the
back, down on his spine,
instantly paralyzing
him from the waist down.
He thought it was all over.
- Fucking gutless.
(groaning in pain)
- Arthur, Arthur you all right.
- I told you he was too
scared to fight The King.
(laughing)
Oh Jesus.
- [Narrator] It was suspected
that Alexis' ex-boyfriend,
Skinny Fred Mackinnon, had
brought a well-known assassin
with him that night to
kill Arthur, but for once,
his aim was off.
Only one bullet found its mark.
- The bullet remained in his
back for the rest of his life.
It was pressing on a nerve.
Doctors believed that
he would get some use
of his legs back but he wasn't,
it was far from certain.
So this was a substantial
obstacle for a traveling crook,
as you can imagine.
But he determined that he
was going to walk again.
- [Narrator] And he did,
defying the odds one more time.
(upbeat music)
In early 1972, with short
jail stints behind them,
some of the Australians
were back in London.
But word soon reached the
criminal intelligence branch
C11 Squad, that the Aussies
were back in business.
- I had a phone call one
day from Len Mountford
who was the Chief Security
Officer of American Express.
Len wanted to know why
nothing was being done
by the Yard in particular,
about the Aussies who were
running rampant throughout London.
- [Narrator] Wee Jimmy and
his gang were back in business
in a big way.
David Woodland began investigating
the Lloyds' activities.
They were prime suspects
in a series of bank thefts.
American Express would've,
alone had been hit for
well over 150,000 pounds,
which in those days was
quite a bit of money but they'd also hit
the other credit card companies
and it was coming close to
half a million or even more.
- [Narrator] And it wasn't just banks
that Wee Jimmy was after.
He knew the second coming
of the Kangaroo Gang
would not last long.
It was time to go flat out.
- I was speaking to one
guy and he said he'd been
driving past Harrods and
he looked in the window
and there's the two
Lloyds, brown coats on,
Harrods badges, taking minks
off the models in the window,
over their arms, and away and
chased down the road by this.
Yeah I mean they were so blatant
and as people used to say,
they'd more front than Brighton.
- These guys made a point
of going to the pubs
and places like that where
they knew they'd meet
CID officers, and they'd
get friendly with them.
I mean they were very sociable fellas,
they were good company they
could tell a good yarn.
And they'd get invited to
police dos, boxing matches
and things like that.
- [Narrator] The fact that the
Australians had some police
on their payroll, made
Woodland even more determined
to bring them to justice.
He secretly assigned Jimmy
Smith to gather intelligence.
- He said, "We're gonna hit the Aussies
"like they've never been hit before."
He said, but they have got minders.
He said you know that,
they're being looked after.
He said they carry money.
When they go out doing their business,
they'll maybe carry a
grand in their pocket,
to pay off police.
So Dave Woodlands is like,
this has got to be kept
strictly, I'll tell you where
it is, what's happening.
You try and go out to something else
and if you get the pictures,
don't put them in any index.
And I was to take them
home, and keep them at home
so nobody would know what we're doing.
And this went on for over a year.
- I put telephone intercepts
on two of the leading guys
who were the Lloyd brothers,
Jimmy and Cecil Lloyd.
Well what we were trying to do was
build up a picture of them
to get as much background
information as we can
as to their whereabouts, their contacts,
what they were doing.
- There was a clique of
fairly senior officers
who were involved in
some forms of corruption
and David Woodland found that
he suspected his commander
David Dilley was actually
tipping off Wee Jimmy
about the operation they
were placing on him.
- Yeah righto.
David, you won't believe it.
Tap on Jimmy Lloyd's phone's been blown.
- What?
- Been sold out.
- That's impossible.
We've kept this completely under wraps.
- Take a butchers hook at this.
(phone ringing)
- [Man] Hello?
- Cecil, it's Jimmy.
- Hello mate, what's doing?
- Nothing I'm gonna tell you
about on the dog and bone.
- Why's that Jim?
- Do I have to spell it out you numbskull.
We're being tinkered, Old
Bill, listening to every word.
- How do you know?
- I just know all right.
I don't wanna talk about it.
I'll see you tonight at
the usual place all right.
- All right Jimmy good as gold,
see you at the dentist then.
- Jesus Cecil you are an imbecile.
- Unbelievable, there's
a rat in the ranks.
- Or crooked telephone operator outside.
Either way, taps are
coming off 'em tomorrow.
Guv'nor's had enough.
- Damn.
We're so close.
- Shame.
Put a lot of work into these two.
(gentle music)
- Do me a favor Wilf.
- Uh uh.
- Keep the taps going
for another fortnight.
- Guv'nor--
- Doesn't have to know.
- It's on your head.
If he finds out you'll catch it.
- Leave him to me.
You know why they call him the Kipper.
- Yeah yeah.
- [Both] Two faced and no backbone.
- [Narrator] The intelligence
from the wiretaps dried up
and Woodland believed that David Dilley,
aka the Kipper, was the reason Wee Jimmy
seemed to be one step ahead.
But Woodland kept DC Smith
snapping pictures of the Lloyds
and their cronies at one
of Dave Barry's pubs.
- [Man] He'd be in his little Morris Minor
in the back of the van there
and he'd shoot them from,
you know, maybe 30, 40 meters away.
- They used to go there a Sunday morning,
round about 11 o'clock
and I'd be parked up from
half past eight, eight
o'clock in the morning.
Got a good position and sit there
and there was nothing
better than a summer's day,
and they sat on the window
sill and then they would
pass the beers around,
banging away with a,
with a 400 mil lens.
Next one would sit down at the window.
It was if they were saying
here I am Jim, get some over.
I eventually ended up, I think,
it was something like 120 to 130 Aussies
that were in the team at various times.
- [Narrator] Despite the
growing brief of evidence,
David Woodland was ordered by his boss,
Commander David Dilley,
to cease operations
on Wee Jimmy's gang,
including the telephone taps.
- There was no information
forthcoming from that tap,
and pretty soon Woodland's
commander comes and says
why are you wasting
time on the Australians,
get rid of that phone tap
and do as you're told.
- That's it, I have to admit
defeat on the Lloyd brothers.
- You're pulling my leg.
- No why.
- You haven't read the transcripts
from this morning have you?
- No.
I just got in.
- It's on.
This is the big one.
- Oh yeah.
Like you said.
- Yeah.
Remember our uncle in Manchester?
- Yeah sure Jimmy.
- Well we're all gonna go
down and see him tomorrow.
We're all on the 8.15 a.m.
out of Euston, all right.
- Righto, I'll see you bright and early.
- Euston Station.
Try not to sleep in this time all right.
- Gotcha.
- Ah Mr Lloyd, I think we've got you.
- I was fully aware of the
fact that Jimmy's surname
was Lloyd so that could
be Lloyds Bank Manchester.
It was worth a punt.
- [Narrator] Keeping his
commander out of the loop,
Woodland assembled a
team of over 100 officers
to meet the Lloyds' train in Manchester,
and to track them through
the city's banking district.
It was a big risk.
If things went wrong his boss David Dilley
would have his head on a plate.
- The whole job just
went off so beautifully.
The train rolled into Manchester
Piccadilly railway station.
- I was sitting basically
face to face with them
and that was a very strange thing because
I had looked at them close
up through long lenses,
but there they were in
real life and there was
the two Lloyds, Wee Jimmy, the other ones,
having a laugh.
They were going for a day out as far as
everybody in the train knew.
Some Aussie guys just
going out for a laugh.
- They went into all the banks,
they had Traveler's Checks
from Barclays Bank.
They went to the Automobile
Association and they had off
blank international driver's licenses.
- We were all on a high.
There's no two ways about it
I mean this is a year's work.
Keeping it away from people,
keeping it away from them.
And some very lonely nights,
long nights and long days.
But done it.
- [Narrator] Five Australians
were arrested in Manchester.
The next day, back in London,
Woodland's team swooped again
picking up another six suspects.
- I think about 11 people
were arrested altogether
with Traveler's Checks
and false passports.
- This, on this critical piece
of intuitive police work,
one of the biggest busts in the entire
Kangaroo Gang history, you know, was made.
- [Narrator] Somehow the
prize catch, Wee Jimmy,
slipped through the net.
- Unfortunately Jimmy was
quite an elusive character.
He didn't come in on at
that first haul, he got away
and he was nicked later in Belgium.
- [Narrator] Extradited to
London Wee Jimmy discovered
that only DC Smith
could place him on the
train to Manchester.
Before the trial, a Flying
Squad officer approached Smith
with a bribe, asking him
to say he wasn't sure
if it was Wee Jimmy, or his
brother Cecil, on the train.
- And just all you've got to
say, they're identical twins.
So he said now, there's a
nice drink in it for you.
He said, there's three
grand been laid aside.
Now we're going back to early 70s,
my mortgage was four and a half grand.
Three grand was a lot of
money in anybody's books.
- [Narrator] Despite
the size of the bribe,
Jimmy Smith could not be
bought, and stood firm
on the day of the trial.
- They are identical.
I said but the man on the
train I can positively identify
because he had the top of
his index finger missing
and stand up.
So Wee Jimmy stands up.
Hold your hands up.
Judge.
I see nine and a half.
Thank you DC Smith.
He wasn't impressed.
He got three years.
- [Narrator] Woodland and Smith
brought down the Australians
much to the dismay of
corrupt police bosses.
So despite the success,
both found themselves
back in uniform, walking
the beat, soon after.
- So Jim and I that were
sort of instrumental
in nicking the Australian
team suddenly found ourselves
wearing top hats, and it
didn't go down too well
to be quite honest with you.
So that was that.
- Having done all these
things and been involved
in major crime investigations,
I'm walking round Romford one
night with a sergeant who says
"Look at these cars, they're
all parked outside the cinema,
"they shouldn't be there."
A Sunday night.
"Put tickets on them."
I didn't, and that was the final crunch.
So I put my papers in
and then I went out
doing investigation work.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] The days of the
Kangaroo Gang were numbered.
Billy Hill was in one jail
after another in the 1970s.
He spent 1978 in the notorious
Sante Prison in Paris.
At the same time, The King was languishing
in a jail in Madrid.
He and Alexis were caught
trying to flee the city
after a big heist.
- [Arthur Voiceover] Dearest Jean.
I few lines to thank you for
your letters which we received.
It was beautiful of you to think of us.
Under the circumstances
we're both in happy spirits
and doing it the best way possible.
Alexis is in the next door building to me
and I'm allowed two visits
weekly, Tuesday and Friday.
She has a nice suntan, as in where she is
she can sun bake in the nude.
Though I can't see her, pity.
- [Billy Voiceover] Dave,
we're in a spot of bother
Archie and myself.
Sent Peter a letter, has he contacted you.
All our clothes are at the Nord Hotel.
Do you know anyone who can collect them
and deliver them to the nick?
- [Arthur Voiceover] There
is nothing we're in need of,
only freedom.
Oh it's Alexis' birthday
on the 18th of September.
It would be nice if you
could send her some flowers
through Interflora, I
know she'd like that.
- [Billy Voiceover] Peter has
money of mine and Archie's.
Just ring him and see
if you can sort it out.
Charged with theft, four
croc bags, six watches
and 10 croc belts.
- [Arthur Voiceover] Hope
you picked plenty of winners.
Once again, thanks for writing.
Love and kisses, Alexis and King.
- [Billy Voiceover] Send me a telegram
so I sure know you go the letter.
Cheers, Billy.
- [Narrator] The letters
from jail show how far
the Kangaroo Gang had fallen.
The master thieves of the
1960s were now spending
more time in prison than stealing jewels.
- The hoist was over.
Everything had caught up.
The Yard had dismantled
the operations as such
and Old Bill were not corrupt anymore,
you couldn't do anything
which was a downside of it.
Police informers were
running all over the place
it was easy to identify
people so you had to stop.
- [Narrator] By the 1980s the
Kangaroo Gang was no more.
Only The King remained,
to attempt the big jobs,
still believing he was invincible.
Then cancer struck.
- It looks like it's over for
the The King at this moment.
You think well he's
bedraggled, he's had cancer,
he's been shot, he's been
in every jail across Europe.
- [Narrator] The King wanted
to go out with a bang,
and what better way than
to take on the jeweler
appointed to Her Majesty the Queen.
- Asprey was founded in
1781 and the name Asprey
is synonymous with
unique, luxurious product.
You come to Asprey to buy something
that you can't find anywhere else.
- He could've gone after anybody
but he went after the best,
most prestigious shop,
probably in the world.
- [Narrator] But this wasn't the 1960s.
It was the 1990s.
And Asprey had all the latest security
including CCTV.
- There is a use to it because one,
it can show a whole lot of things,
one it provides an audit trail
if in fact you can see the person.
Two, it will give a
situation of a deterrency
to the people 'cause they'll think,
my image could be caught on camera.
Three I think, importantly,
it can show you how
your staff are operating
at the time as well.
So that could provide real
basis for training to your staff
to say look this theft's occurred,
this is why it's occurred.
See where you were in
the store at the time.
If you'd been a bit more active,
if you'd been on the floor,
maybe this wouldn't have happened.
- And still he's got a plan
that he's gonna hit Asprey
no matter what.
- [Narrator] So on the 22nd of June 1990,
The King made his
appointment with destiny.
- Oh I just love the suite and diamonds.
- At 50,000 pounds of course you do.
I daresay they would look splendid on you.
Would you mind awfully
amusing yourself for a while?
- [Assistant] How may I help you sir?
- I'm looking for something
very special for her,
that hits just the right note,
but of course discretion is,
is extremely important.
- Of course.
- Welcome to Asprey gentlemen.
How may we help you today?
- We're just browsing thank you.
We can help ourselves.
- Very good sir.
- Hey buddy, can you give us
a hand over here for a minute?
- If you'll excuse me sir.
- I was wondering if you could
help my wife spend my money.
(laughing)
(tense music)
- Indeed sir.
- It's our anniversary.
- Nice work from Tex eh.
- He's still the best in the business.
And now to work my King.
(tense music)
- [Woman] Get a new one
honey, that one's ugly.
- I could possibly go to 30,000 pounds
but I'd rather not if I can
help it if you know what I mean.
- [Assistant] Of course sir.
- Phew, it's getting warm in here.
(coughing)
You know what honey, I
think we might buy you
a nice fur coat instead.
Thanks for your help fella.
- Very good sir.
- Thanks.
- Shall we get it my dear.
- No I don't think so.
I want the pink diamonds we saw yesterday.
- Oh I'm so sorry.
Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- I don't even think I would
even bother to pay for repair.
I'm very disappointed but
thank you for your time.
- Thank you for coming
to Asprey gentlemen.
I trust you have a wonderful day.
- Thank you we already have.
Phillipe.
They 
say the world has
changed since we were young
but I'd say the more things change,
the more they stay the same.
(laughing)
- [Reporter] It's thought
jewelry worth up to
two million pounds has
been stolen from Aspreys,
the exclusive West End store.
Police say a gang of
thieves stole the valuables
from the New Bond Street
store on June the 22nd
but details have only just emerged.
It's believed four men and
a woman posed as customers
and one of them opened a display case
while sale assistants were distracted.
- Here's Asprey's, this is impregnable.
They didn't even know about it until
two or three hours later.
Now they're not only in the West End,
they're not only in Bond Street,
they're from their front
door to West End Central,
is exactly 186 yards.
Who would have the audacity
to sneak underneath
the police radar, underneath
all the snotty nosed security
who would catch anybody doing anything.
They caught nobody.
And that's where The King
put the, he really was
the jewel in the top of the
crown by getting Asprey's.
- The time of the Kangaroo
Gang had passed so there he was
taking on the most
fabulous jeweler in London,
appointed to the Queen, the
Kangaroo Gang rides again
for one more time.
So it really was an ego
job not about the money.
- [Narrator] Asprey has
officially confirmed
for the first time what happened.
Staff member Steve Eaves was in the store
when The King struck.
- A very skilled team had come in
and diverted the attention of the staff.
- Oh and I'd like to
see the new range also.
That one is so outdated,
he really needs a new one.
- Okay, humor my wife if you will.
- They were, if I can remember correctly,
about five different jewelry
desks and at two lots of,
shall I call them the
villains, kept the staff busy
by asking to see various items.
- I'm prepared to go to 30,000
pounds but I'd rather not
if I can help it.
You know what I mean.
- Of course sir.
- Leaving two men to help
themselves to the merchandise.
- How they done that in 1990
still unknown to myself,
it's a complete mystery
because, life had moved on,
the generations had changed,
all the latest technology
had came in, all the security
devices that had came in.
- We still don't know how
they got into the showcases
because there was no obvious damage.
- They'd managed to get the key,
they'd made an impression of the key
in a piece of damp soap, went
off and had a copy of the key
made by a dodgy locksmith
and went back with that key.
- The King had slipped in to
a time when it was almost,
it was over.
How, and where he found
those people to work with,
I think he might've gone to Hollywood
and got a team of actors
and told them they were in
a movie script or something.
(coughing)
- You know what honey,
I think we might buy you
a nice fur coast instead.
Thanks for you help fella.
- Very good sir.
- On that day I can remember
I was in the manager's office
when the head of the jewelry
department came down and said
"Steven you must come up
to the jewelry department."
He was in a very shocked condition.
There were three empty showcases
and three of our best suites had vanished.
- That would've comprised
of necklaces, earrings,
some rings and so forth,
three entire suites.
And this was rumored to be
worth about 1.8 million pounds.
- I mean everybody knew.
He didn't keep it a secret Arthur.
Don't think he ever
stopped talking about it.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] And so after Asprey,
the legend of Arthur Delaney,
the king of thieves, was secure.
He had turned back the clock to the 1960s.
Those fabulous almost mythical
days when the Aussies tore up
London by day and by night.
- Well Fibbs old mate,
here's to another day
in oyster's paradise.
- You betcha.
If only those blokes back
in Sydney could see us now.
- [Narrator] He would never
recapture that moment again.
Two years later in 1992 he was
in Bangkok by a hotel pool.
- He's got the company of a
lovely young Thai girl with him
and certain acts were being performed and
I think a man of his age,
it was probably a bit too much excitement
because unfortunately he
suffered a major coronary,
during this act, and just expired,
was brown bread as they say,
toast as others might say.
- [Narrator] There was no
money left to get him home.
Arthur's share of the
Asprey loot was long gone.
- His friends have to whip
around to actually get
his body brought back from Thailand.
Comes in a plane box,
arrives at Sydney airport.
Some of the police are tipped off
that The King is returning.
They come to the airport
and they get the box open
to make sure that he's in fact dead
because he disappeared
for 12 years mind you.
They haven't heard of him for 12 years,
even though he's been coming
in and out of Australia at will.
So they go, yep, sure
enough, that's The King.
Welcome home Arthur.
- [Narrator] Meanwhile the
Fibber had turned his hand
to drugs, making a fortune
importing marijuana
into Australia from South East Asia.
- He was convicted in, I think it was 94,
of a 15 ton importation,
and if you wanna talk about the judiciary
treating you lightly, I
think for importing 15 tons
he got a four year jail sentence
and only served two years,
pleading that he's an old man, frail
and needed to be out of jail.
So even in the judiciary
he's able to present
this lovable character picture
and in jail he presented
as a wonderful prisoner and
was released after two years.
- [Narrator] When he came out of prison,
the Fibber could be still be found
spinning his double
headers at the two-up ring
every ANZAC Day.
He made one last trip to England
before he died of cancer in 2002.
- He came back here to tell us that
he wouldn't be about next year.
You know he knew it was
on him so he came back
to have a drink with us all.
So a pal of mine does
all the supplies there
so I got him put in a penthouse.
(laughing)
- [Narrator] Georgie Gardener
was chased back to Australia
in the early 70s and invested in
a small pest control company.
He died from throat cancer in 2010.
- He was involved in, I
still believe in some jobs
here and there, but he was very low-key.
I mean he couldn't move around Australia
because he was still wanted in Victoria
on warrants from the 50s.
He was suspected of a couple of murders
that were still open so he had to keep
a fairly lower profile.
- [Narrator] Wee Jimmy
Lloyd returned to Australia
and his old trade of
pick-pocketing in race courses.
Working right up to his death in 2006.
- He'd saved his money,
he'd kept his first shilling prisoner
till the end, you know.
He had all the money that
he'd stolen over in England
and he set about educating his children
and his children today, as I understand,
are involved in professions,
they're very respectable,
no one's gone into crime.
- [Narrator] The General, Billy
Hill, was in and out of jail
for the rest of his life.
Many thought he was flat broke
when he died in the 1980s,
but Scotland Yard picked
up a transfer of more than
200,000 pounds, to a
colleague in Australia.
Meanwhile Baby Bruce turned his intellect
to earning an honest living in business,
and has stayed out of trouble ever since.
- Bruce was smart, very smart,
he was smarter than most
of them I'll tell you that.
He knew what he was doing Bruce.
And he went into good business,
straight businesses, you know.
That's where he did his best deals.
- I would tell nobody in the younger days
to try the same things what we tried.
It's not good and it's ruthless
and you'll wind up in jail
and it's not a nice place.
- [Narrator] At 85, Dave
Barry is still the guv'nor
of Queensway, wheeling and
dealing just like he did
back in the old days of the Kangaroo Gang.
- I wouldn't nominate any of 'em--
(mobile phone ringing)
Oh for fuck's sake.
I see how many do you want?
Anyway I'm at, what you call it,
I'm at the dentist, I'm
having my teeth taken out
so you'll have to ring me back.
- [Narrator] The Kangaroo
Gang are passing into history,
but the great memories remain.
- Bloody good friends, real good friends.
You know we formed relationships
and those that are still
alive are lasting still.
Which is nice, innit.
Nothing wrong with that.
(laughing)
(upbeat music)
