45 Facts About Lenny McPherson

Leonard Arthur McPherson was born on Balmain, New South Wales 19 May 1921; died Cessnock, New South Wales, 28 August 1996 and was one of the most notorious and powerful Australian career criminals of the late 20th century.

Lenny McPherson is believed to have controlled most of Sydney's organised crime activity for several decades, alongside his contemporary Abe Saffron and associate, bookmaker George Freeman.

Universally feared by adversaries and often referred to as Sydney's "Mr Big" of organised crime, Lenny McPherson built up an extensive network of criminal activities that included robbery, theft and extortion rackets, illegal gambling, "sly-grog shops", prostitution and drug dealing, and his influence is believed to have extended to South East Asia and the United States.

Lenny McPherson's well-earned reputation for extreme brutality is exemplified by an incident recounted in Tony Reeves' 2005 biography.

Lenny McPherson had been estranged from his mother for many years, but on her 70th birthday, he unexpectedly turned up at her flat, carrying a live rabbit.

Lenny McPherson demanded to know why he had not been invited to her birthday party, and when she admitted that it was because of his criminal activities, the furious McPherson tore the rabbit's head off, threw the still-twitching body at her feet and stormed off.

Lenny McPherson was featured as a character in the Australian crime drama series Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities and Underbelly: The Golden Mile, in which he was played by actor John McNeill.

Lenny McPherson was born in the inner-Sydney suburb of Balmain in 1921, the tenth child of metalworker, William Lenny McPherson, and his wife, Nellie.

Lenny McPherson had some schooling at Birchgrove Primary School, but did not go on to secondary school.

In 1940 Lenny McPherson married 16-old Dawn Joy Allan at Rozelle.

In June 1946 Lenny McPherson was briefly transferred to a low-security prison farm at Glen Innes in northern NSW, but six weeks later he was transferred to the maximum security Grafton Gaol because of his "unsatisfactory" behaviour.

Lenny McPherson's wife appealed for him to be transferred back to Sydney to serve out his term at Long Bay.

Lenny McPherson was paroled on 24 December 1946, having served only 10 months of his 18-month sentence.

Lenny McPherson began drinking heavily and soon fell into a pattern of alcohol-fuelled verbal and physical abuse against his long-suffering wife Joy.

One contemporary recalled that the young McPherson was widely known at the time as "Lenny The Pig" and "Lenny the Squealer".

Lenny McPherson made a trip to the United States in August 1951, using a forged passport and travelling under his brother's name; Tony Reeves states that it was on this visit that McPherson made his first contacts with members of the Chicago Outfit.

Lenny McPherson was less fortunate with his next offence: in late 1953 he and an accomplice were arrested while trying to break into an office in central Sydney; in November he was found guilty of breaking and entering with intent to steal and being in possession of housebreaking implements and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Lenny McPherson's term was marked by a number of notable incidents: he was disciplined for attempting to pass a clandestine letter out of the gaol, he was charged with having contraband in his possession, and in mid-1955, while still serving his burglary sentence, he was found guilty on three charges of possessing an unlicensed pistol and sentenced to 12 months on each charge, to be served concurrently with his other term.

Lenny McPherson needed legitimate employment to satisfy his parole conditions, and it was at this time that he established his infamous "motel".

Lenny McPherson gained pre-eminence in the tough Sydney underworld through the systematic intimidation and assassination of criminal rivals, and by cultivating relationships with corrupt police officers such as Detective Inspector Ray "Gunner" Kelly and the notorious Detective Seargent Fred Krahe.

Lenny McPherson argues that the case was "fixed" by corrupt police and prison guards, who conspired with McPherson and enabled him to avoid prosecution.

Lenny McPherson had good reason to fear that he would not be allowed out on bail, so during the hours he spent on remand at Long Bay, he allegedly dictated a letter, and then used his influence with a corrupt prison officer known as "The Major" to have it smuggled out of prison and delivered to a trusted associate, Christopher George Campbell.

The hearing opened on 21 September 1959, but by this time the two "gigs" referred to in Lenny McPherson's letter had left the country.

The charges against Lenny McPherson were quietly dropped some time later, in part because Unwin refused to cooperate with police.

In May 1962 Lenny McPherson was arrested by two junior detectives for consorting with known criminals, a charge which carried a potential sentence of six months in prison.

On 9 July 1963 Lenny McPherson married for the second time to Marlene Carrol Gilligan, 22.

That evening, Lenny McPherson allegedly slipped away from his own wedding reception at Balmain and carried out the brutal murder of a rival criminal, Robert James "Pretty Boy" Walker, at Randwick, in Sydney's east.

Smith alerted Lenny McPherson, who told his new bride that he had urgent business, and the two men left the reception.

However the investigation was led by Ray Kelly, who pointed the finger of suspicion away from Lenny McPherson and directed it at Raymond 'Ducky' O'Connor, another prominent Sydney criminal and a longstanding enemy of Lenny McPherson's.

Only days after the conclusion of the inquest into Walker's murder, Lenny McPherson allegedly executed another rival.

Lenny McPherson had reportedly clashed with standover man and greyhound trainer Charles Bourke over the provision of 'protection' for a new illegal baccarat club in the city, and Bourke had begun to encroach on the protection rackets Lenny McPherson was running on illegal gaming houses in the Newtown area.

Ray Kelly assured him that there was no doubt that Lenny McPherson was the killer, and that Kelly had ensured that Lenny McPherson would not fall under suspicion.

The next rival eliminated by Lenny McPherson was murderer, safecracker and standover man Robert Lawrence "Jacky" Steele, whose shooting and subsequent death became one of the most celebrated criminal cases of the period.

The edition sold out in three days and a delighted Steele reportedly bought 20 copies, making great play of the fact that Lenny McPherson was not at No 1 on the list of top criminals.

Lenny McPherson explained that had obtained Neville's address from a friend's son, who was at university with Neville.

Lenny McPherson claimed that he had come to assure himself that the Oz team were not part of a rival gang, and to insist that he was not a "fizz".

The leaked document revealed that Steele had named those he believed had carried out the shooting, and that Steele had privately told police that he was sure that McPherson was behind the shooting, and that it had been ordered because of Lenny's fury over the Oz article.

Lenny McPherson continued his rise to power through the late 1960s, masterminding the bloody and highly publicized Sydney "gang wars" of the period, during which he allegedly coordinated the systematic murder of several key rivals.

Lenny McPherson is believed to have facilitated the establishment of close contact between key Australian organised crime figures and members of the Chicago Outfit, during the late 1960s.

On that occasion, Lenny McPherson took Testa and Giordano on a hunting excursion, on which a subsequent feature film Dirty Deeds was loosely based.

Lenny McPherson is thought to have been a significant figure in the development of the illegal heroin trade in South-East Asia in the early 1970s.

Lenny McPherson was one of the witnesses called before the commission, which ran from 1973 to 1974.

Lenny McPherson was eventually arrested, tried and jailed in the 1990s after ordering the bashing of a business rival.

Lenny McPherson died of a heart attack in Cessnock Gaol on 28 August 1996, aged 75.

Lenny McPherson was buried on 3 September 1996 at the Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde, Sydney.