Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire

[rantan]

1 hour ago, thethrowback said:

 

That's the part I find unbelievable. For example, the Dodger and Neddy didn't bother to hide the fact they had a very close working relationship, frequently dining out together in public. Maybe Sydney-siders were like Rosemary Opitz and considered it normal to see law makers socialising with law breakers.

 

I grew up in Sydney and it was well known that these sort of gatherings were commonplace. Most people just accepted it in silence with a nod and a wink, but those who made it their mission to expose this, often came to an untimely end.

Bang, Bang! then into the harbour.

[LogicprObe]

2 hours ago, Tweaky said:

 

 

I've always worked in either the Sydney CBD or Sydney's Eastern suburbs for 45+ years, if ever there was any truth to the ''Six degrees of Separation'' theory, it applies to me.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I used to work [actually it was my first ever job] at a place that a lot of these people used to frequent regularly, that's how I got to know, or at least know about, a lot of them......As in being warned to stay way clear of Neddy Smith.....which turned out to be pretty hard when you find out he lives just around the corner from you  

 

 

The Rushcutters Bay Hotel?

[LogicprObe]

 

Here's a good rundown of how Abe got started..........

 

https://www.sydneycrimemuseum.com/crime-stories/the-1950s/

[Guest thethrowback]

2 hours ago, rantan said:

often came to an untimely end

 

I agree that is certainly a good reason to keep your mouth shut and/or turn a blind eye.

 

Unfortunately, when corruption is rife it does become the norm. As someone who grew up in Qld during the 1970s, you had to either laugh at the blatant corruption or go insane.

 

I have been racking my brain as to when I first knew about Saffron's involvement in the Ghost Train fire and I keep recalling an article titled 'Who is Abe Saffron?' by Marian Wilkinson which appeared in the National Times in May 1982. I could be wrong and if anyone remembers differently then I stand corrected.

 

@Esoterica you might be interested in some further reading:

 

Neddy: The Life and Crimes of Arthur Stanley Smith by Arthur Stanley Smith and Tom Noble

Mr Sin: The Abe Saffron Dossier by Tony Reeves

Edited March 31, 2021 by thethrowback

[Southerly]

I live on the other side of the world but the story is the same. 

 

I lived in Brighton, Sussex and in the 60s' there were 2 major acts of arson. The first was a lovely old hotel - The Bedford with a wonderful large atrium topped with a beautiful stained glass canopy. The owners were refused permission to knock it down. Lo and behold just 3 weeks later in  the winter with few guests, they got out before it burned down, replaced with a 1960s ugly tower block.

The second arson was Hove town hall, Hove is side by side with Brighton, like a continuation. The Tories (aka the Nasty party) wanted to knock down the lovely Victorian town hall - permission was refused so these scumbags waited until the Brighton Art college held their annual Ball there, this was 1963 and I was a first year student. Kenny Balls Jazz band was playing and we had a great night. After we had all left it was torched and a typical crap 1960s' concrete s~#hole was built in it's place.

For her sins (pun intended) my future wife who lived in  Somerset was sent to a convent in the next county of Devon. Decades later she went down memory lane and found that the French  order of nuns no longer existed and it had been sold to the County Council who had used it as a childrens' home. It was sold on and the new buyers wanted to demolish it but again were refused permission - that's right it burned down and in it's place houses for the wealthy were built.

 

DYK that insurance companies often employ ex/reformed arsonists to assess if a fire is accidental or deliberately set. I don't know about Oz but for a fact fires are often set in forests by scum sometimes for 'fun' but mostly for gain/greed in France and a huge fire was set in extensive woodland to the west of Athens - so more houses could be built. I think that the only way to deal with arsonists is to set them on fire publicly, conditional therapy - do that and this is what happens.  I'm sure that most will remember when a few years ago a lot of southern Asia was covered in smoke from the Indonesians setting fire to huge swathes of rain forest so they could plant even more palm oil plantations - palm oil is bad for the health.

 

Interestingly the name Luna Park brought back a memory of an expression my father used to use if I left lights on - " it's Luna Park in here". He was a Glaswegian and there was a permanent fairground on the outskirts of Glasgow with that very name as the Scottish one would have predated the one in Oz  maybe aGlaswegian had something to do with the naming.

[Guest thethrowback]

2 hours ago, Southerly said:

Luna Park

 

It was a name used by many amusement parks. The first Luna Park opened in 1903 and was located on Coney Island in the USA.

 

There were various Luna Parks in Australia. The one in Melbourne opened in 1912 and is the oldest Luna Park still in operation. The one in Sydney opened in 1935 and despite its checkered past is still operational.

[Tweaky]

6 hours ago, LogicprObe said:

 

The Rushcutters Bay Hotel?

 

No.

I used to stay at a girlfriends place that was in a block of flats across the park from it, but I've never even been in that place, it was still Rushcutters Bay 10 pin Bowling alley back then.

 

Last time I was at Rushcutters bay was at a work mates Xmas party about 6 or 7 years ago, he had the penthouse flat in one of those tall flats on Yarranabbe Rd, fantastic unrestricted views of the harbor, but I wouldn't of wanted to live there, when the wind picked up it blew so hard it was coming through gaps in the balcony windows, must of been freezing in winter,

 

I've also avoided Kings Cross for years, I don't think I've been there since the mid 90's TBH, when it really started to became a real S hole, the drugs had destroyed it along with a lot of people I knew, which was a very sad decline from when I first started going up there around 76.

It was a far more bohemian place back then, the doormen at Tex's Tavern and the Bourbon and Beefsteak used to wear dinner suits back then, even on the breakfast shift when I used to go in and have one of their huge Ranch style breakfast plates to help soak up the alcohol I'd drunk in the hours before watching bands at the Manzil room.

 

I did end up working in Kings Cross on two separate occasions, once in the very early early 80's for only a few months, and again for a short time in the very early 90's, but I used to spend a lot of my time seeing live bands up there for those 10 years between, when they still had them.

Over the years I had gotten to know quite a lot of people that used to live and work in Kings Cross [It's partially why I know what I do about the Luna Park fire], and the funny thing is during all that time I never saw a fight or any other real unpleasant situations unfold.....although I did hear of a bloke getting bashed to death by one of the doormen of the Bourbon out in the rear lane behind it [Who I knew, and steered clear of after I heard about it], but it seems that was conveniently covered up, so few people would have known about that incident unless they worked there......a mate of mine who I knew from my teens used to run Joe's Bar at the rear of the Bourbon, which is how I learned about it.

 

IMHO the whole of Sydney changed for the worse when the live music venues started closing around Sydney at the urging of the police......what happened after that? They just became venues with DJ's playing crap repetitive music that I really didn't like, plus the owners of the venues had changed and so had the crowd, again for the worse.

That's when the Islanders starting making a big appearance on the doors of venues, it's also when the violence started big time up the cross.

 

A lot of that was due to the Mr Asia drug syndicate based in New Zealand, of whom a lot had taken up residence in and around the cross to distribute the Heroin,Budda sticks and Hash which they were sourcing from Singapore and Malaysia.

I had a mate who was about 10 years older than me from NZ with whom I shared a birthday, we used to watch the bands up at the Kings Cross venues, somehow he got partially involved with this group, which I found out with a big shock when we were having a shared birthday party put on by his wife, and this bloke turns up with a duffle bag with around 30kg of Hash in it for him to mind for them, it was one of those "Mate", are you crazy? WTF are you doing hanging around with that lot for sort of conversation I had with him, and thankfully he slowly stopped contact with them, but then managed to get into trouble all by himself, no helping some people who are naturally self destructive, our friendship had disintegrated by then anyway, plus it cost him his marriage.

 

That wasn't the only incident of people that I thought I knew reasonably well getting involved with drugs, and it's the main reason I stopped going to kings cross.

I just don't want anything to do with drugs, or the people involved with them, I've seen the damage they do, not only to individuals, but to whole suburbs, where their use is rife.

[Although it would be hypocritical of me not to admit that I have been recently smoking to odd joint now and then to help with my stage 4 cancer - they are running a trial with it for cancer relief at the Kinghorn Cancer clinic ]

 

In around 89-90 I ran into Malaysian guy I used to work with years earlier up in the cross one night , and he invited me to come and have a steak with him at a restaurant around the corner , I innocently thought sure, why not, we can catch up, only for me to find out that the sole reason for the dinner invite was to ask me if I wanted to sell heroin for the syndicate, needless to say that dinner ended abruptly when I said no.

{When I used to work with him he won $365k on lotto and lost the whole lot playing Chinese Dominoes over three or four nights at a certain well known Sydney bookmakers illegal casino up in the cross ]

 

I found out later that he was deported, but get this, I was told  that he had the audacity to ask if he paid the difference, could he fly first class ?

 

Somehow he managed to get back into Australia, as about 5 years ago, totally out of the Blue, I saw him run into a pub in Park St in the city to put a bet on the TAB, I was taken aback when I realized it was actually him, as I wasn't 100% sure at first......He saw me as he dashed out and just said hello, with a huge smug grin on his face and disappeared, and I've never seen him since...WTF went on there I have no idea.

I strongly suspect some big time corruption in Australia allowed his reentry considering his involvement with Heroin importation, that or he somehow slipped into the country on a false passport.

 

it seems a age old problem, corruption, and it will never go away unfortunately. 

 

 

[Guest thethrowback]

9 hours ago, Tweaky said:

a duffle bag with around 30kg of Hash

 

You would have a hard time convincing a jury that quantity was for personal consumption only.

 

That was an interesting read. Sorry to hear about your illness.

Edited April 1, 2021 by thethrowback

[LogicprObe]

1 hour ago, Tweaky said:

 

No.

I used to stay at a girlfriends place that was in a block of flats across the park from it, but I've never even been in that place, it was still Rushcutters Bay 10 pin Bowling alley back then.

 

 

 

 

You're thinking of The Travelodge............the bowling alley was always there in my mind.

They knocked it all over after I stopped working in the area.

I'm talking about the little pub on Bayswater Rd opposite McLachan Ave.

I don't know who owned the place in those days but it was pretty much Phil Saffron's office where he organised a lot of the day to day runnings.

[Mining Man]

4 hours ago, Tweaky said:

 

~

IMHO the whole of Sydney changed for the worse when the live music venues started closing around Sydney at the urging of the police...

~

 

Every now and then I have a memory of a gig from 20 - 35 years ago, google something, and almost always come across this article (or at least have done, since it was published 11 years ago).

 

The day the music died (smh.com.au)

[Esoterica]

19 hours ago, Tweaky said:

I wouldn't really call Annie Buckingham one of the people involved

I didn't mean to say she was. But you said you've met Abe and just being an acquaintance to any of them is interesting.

 

Pretty sure I know a bloke, who's old man was involved with Neddy.

[LogicprObe]

11 hours ago, Mining Man said:

 

Every now and then I have a memory of a gig from 20 - 35 years ago, google something, and almost always come across this article (or at least have done, since it was published 11 years ago).

 

The day the music died (smh.com.au)

 

Most venues were closed long before then because they changed the fire laws and hardly anyone could afford to comply.

[Southerly]

Sorry to hear about your illness Tweaky. When I was living in the Netherlands  and just before I decided to head back home I ran into a bunch of ASAS Nam vets one night and the stories they told me about the war and their opinion of American soldiers and how letting the South Vietnamese police 'refugees' into Oz led to the smack problem that you have today. The CIA were refused extra funds by the US congress and set up the Golden Triangle heroin route. 

 

I was living in Rotterdam the autumn/winter of 79 when the Grey Wolves/Turkish mafia realised they could make far more money importing Turkish/Afghan Red than Turkish hash and in one weekend between Rotterdam and A'dam over 20 junkies O/D because they didn't believe the Turks when they said it was 90% pure. There were young people from all over Europe and many Americans and Aussies who 'tried' smack and got junked. When the uitzendbureau work collapsed they went home with their addictions and Europe/USA and Oz  have never been the same since.

 

The thing about smack is that it takes about 3 months  for 'normal' people to become really junked and that's the danger, whereas with nicotine it only takes a week. How many went to uni as non smokers but started using ganja and or hash in joints. Most on leaving uni stopped using marijuana but had become nicotine junkies.

 

If governments really worked in the interests of the majority, nicotine in all it's forms would have been made a class A drug a long time ago but there's too much money involved and more so with smack. My old home town of Brighton is the smack capital of England and it all  started in the Netherlands in 79. I lost too many friends, none of which were no hopers, indeed all were professional types who didn't listen when I warned them. I came home for Christmas in 79 and visited a friend who was a computer consultant "it's cool man we only use it at the weekend" my reply was "pretty soon Mick your weekend will begin bright and early and I do mean bright and early on Monday morning. He went on to become a smack dealer, spent time in prison and destroyed the lives of so many. It's like cancer which spreads fast. the only way to get rid of cancer is to kill every last cell. Put a smack dealer in prison and dozens of junkies will walk out at the end of their sentence - so it goes.

[Tweaky]

6 hours ago, Esoterica said:

I didn't mean to say she was. But you said you've met Abe and just being an acquaintance to any of them is interesting.

 

Pretty sure I know a bloke, who's old man was involved with Neddy.

 

Anybody mad enough to get involved with Neddy Smith or his right hand man, Graham "Abo" Henry would themselves be somebody to steer clear of IMHO.

Their local pub was the Iron Duke hotel on the corner of Botany Rd and Mac Evoy st Waterloo, which I used to live across the road from and never entered.

 

Actually I never drank at any of the pubs in the Waterloo area or any of the pubs around Redfern station, as I probably would have been hounded by the Consorting Squad who I used to see go in and out of venues around the cross. [Collecting their pay off's ]

 

The now disbanded consorting squad was probably the most corrupt squad in the NSW police force at the time.

 

It used to be headed by a bloke whose surname was Rosco.[ I can't remember what his rank was ]

 

I had a very two very close calls with Rosco.

The first one was at the Manzil room in Kings Cross, and I didn't know exactly who he was at the time, but I used to play Backgammon at the tables near the entrance and see him regularly enter the place and have a quick look around, then he would quickly dash into the office on his way out and exit the office putting something in the inside pocket of his jacket.

 

One night I was pretty drunk and he walked in and was standing around the bar area, he was wearing this absolutely hideous tie that was very wide at the bottom, if that wasn't bad enough it was one of those painted ties with ducks flying across a swamp.

When I saw this tie I just couldn't help myself and cracked up laughing, and pointed it out to another bloke who was also at the bar buying a drink, and said something to him like "did your wife pick that out for you" ?, which I don't think he heard, but we both got a death stare from Rosco as he could see that we were laughing at him.

It was then the barman whispered to me to shut the F up and told me who he was.....I was like, Oh No, what have I done, I've just marked myself out.

 

The second time I ran into him was one afternoon at the Bourbon and Beefsteak, which when I think back, probably turned the tables on the previous incident, and he became more wary of me.

 

I had been called up for jury duty, and had been selected to sit on the jury.

The trial had lasted two and a half weeks, and was a conspiracy case involving the Mafia transporting 2 tons of marijuana from WA to Sydney.

They bought in a Tea chest sized cardboard box full of dope into the jury room to show us the evidence, which was probably the most exciting thing that had ever happened for some of the jury panel, judging by their reaction, there were some really boring people on the jury.

 

[I discovered that it was Mafia involvement one day mid way through the trial after we were dismissed for the day, on leaving the court and walking towards Martin Place, I saw a few of the accused sitting down talking with some known Mafia people, who seemed to be giving them instructions on what to do and say in court ]

 

It was obvious during the trial [At least to me] that some sort of deal had been done with the police to lower the charges to a single charge of conspiracy, rather than a huge list of other charges that they could of got done for.....Rosco didn't appear at the trail by the way.

 

The police pretty much all "Verbal'd" their evidence, obviously to cast doubt in the juries minds, but it was so obvious what had happened [Boy, were these guys DUMB ] that they were guilty....actually we felt sorry for one poor bloke that he was used as a "Patsy" in this whole thing, that we gave a not guilty verdict for him.

 

Much relieved that the trial was finally over, a few of the less boring of us decided to go for a drink, I suggested the Bourbon, so we head to there.

 

We had been there for about half and hour, and to my surprise, two of the police officers that gave evidence in the trial walked in a stood at the bar near the entrance and ordered a beer.

The other jury memebers didn't notice that, and the officers hadn't noticed us either at that stage.

Another 15 minutes went by, and who should walk in and go directly to the to the two police...Rosco.

It's then I had a Oh No, not him thought run through my mind, and then mentioned it to the other jury members who he was, and they all suddenly went quite, which drew attention to us, as we were making a bit of noise previously.

This sudden change form a group making some noise to going deathly quiet as soon as Rosco walked in, obviously caught Rosco's attention.

I watched him go to turn around to see who we were, and I pretended to drop something under the table to avoid him seeing me.

He obviously said something two the other two officers, and they all turned around this time and to see who we were, and they looked surprised seeing who we were and must of told Rosco.

Well that made him do a double take, and he look towards our table again, this time he recognized me, and I saw his eyes suddenly widen and he must of suddenly said to the others lets get out of here, and they all left, leaving their half drunk beers on the bar.

 

Boy was I relieved, but the whole incident killed the mood and we all left shortly after.

[Guest thethrowback]

If you can supply several more chapters @Tweaky there should be enough for a good book. I do enjoy reading your recollections.

 

54 minutes ago, Southerly said:

ASAS Nam vets one night and the stories they told me about the war and their opinion of American soldiers and how letting the South Vietnamese police 'refugees' into Oz led to the smack problem that you have today.

 

That's ironic because the heroin trade in Australia blossomed as result of our government agreeing to a request in July 1967 to allow American servicemen serving in Vietnam to spend their R & R in Sydney.

 

Kings Cross was a popular destination for these servicemen and a lot of money was made supplying them with drugs, sex and entertainment. The drugs came from South East Asia through crime syndicates in collaboration with members of the Nugan Hand Bank and the C.I.A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nugan_Hand_Bank

 

From what I know, criminal gangs in the Vietnamese community started to get involved with the heroin trade in the late 1980s.

Edited April 1, 2021 by thethrowback

[andyr]

WOW  @Tweaky ... what can I say???

 

Andy

 

[Tweaky]

38 minutes ago, thethrowback said:

If you can supply several more chapters @Tweaky there should be enough for a good book. I do enjoy reading your recollections.

 

 

That's ironic because the heroin trade in Australia blossomed as result of our government agreeing to a request in July 1967 to allow American servicemen serving in Vietnam to spend their R & R in Sydney.

 

Kings Cross was a popular destination for these servicemen and a lot of money was made supplying them with drugs, sex and entertainment. The drugs came from South East Asia through crime syndicates in collaboration with members of the Nugan Hand Bank and the C.I.A. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nugan_Hand_Bank

 

From what I know, criminal gangs in the Vietnamese community started to get involved with the heroin trade in the late 1980s.

 

If this thread keeps going, and if I can add to the topics broached, there probably would be a books worth of material.

I don't really have much else to do for entertainment since the cancer hit me, as I'm sort of house bound due to two tumors on my hip that make it hard to get out and about, apart from that I'm doing OK.

 

Here is a bit of a run down on me, and my history, and probably my philosophy on life......sorry in advance, I'm bored, plus I've run out of Pernod

 

Posting it this thread has been therapeutic for me, and TBH I've been wondering what else I could reveal, but I need to be careful, as a lot of what I know, if not from personal experience, has been told to me under confidence, and could possibly have legal repercussions, sort of, but not exactly like the Lawyer X situation in Melbourne, although I myself, am not in the legal profession.

But over the years, incredible as it might seem [It's incredible to me in retrospect] have gotten to know and meet US presidents, Australian prime ministers, state premiers, attorney generals, judges, and a lot of barristers/ QC's

I suppose it's my ability to feel comfortable, and to be able to talk at a almost equal level, with a vast range of people that has allowed me to be introduced to a lot of people way outside my social standing.

They are all just other humans after all.

Even the crooks.

 

My father was a career soldier, and I had been around the world 3 times before I was 10, went to around 15 different schools buy the time I finally left school, and consequently found the other kids my age and above quite boring, and un world-wise [ I got put 2 years ahead at my last school before I left, but still found it boring, and sort of ended up your classic under achiever as a result ]

I've always been interested in people, and how they interact with each other, which probably comes from having to fit in quickly when finding myself in a new school, and occasionally  country, every few years.

 

I was at one stage slated to go to the Duke of York military school in Devon [Boarding], which would have put me as the same year as prince Andrew went there, and then probably onto Sandhurst if my father had his way, but I took one look at the list of classes, especially the sports ones, and took it upon myself to sneakily dispose of the enrollment application before my parents could send it off for processing, which after searching for it, gave up as we soon moved again.

All the sports were basically based on beating the **** out of each other, wrestling, boxing, fencing, rugby union etc, I thought I'm not going to be stuck overseas and having to deal with that crap, especially after seeing the effect it had on my older brother, who found himself stuck in that position, and is still effected by it psychologically to this day.

 

Classic victim of the English Boarding School system.

 

My brother is a great sports person, he got scouted to play for Tottenham Hotspurs, but my father refuse to allow him to go, saying there is no money in Football son....good call Dad, NOT!

My brother never forgave him for that.

 

We were stationed in Singapore at one time, and it's there that my much older sister met here future husband, who was a Major in military intelligence, ended up a colonel, and then a complete A hole as a arms salesman when he left the army......... I have good reason to believe he was in charge of the troops in Derry, that fired on the civilians on Bloody Sunday...but that goes into a whole other range of things I know about, and TBH would rather not talk about, in case anybody is thinking of asking.

 

The thing is, when my sister got married to this prick, he had asked my father to look after his papers while they were away on their honeymoon.

Me being the ever inquisitive kid, found them.

Among the papers were military intelligence training manuals, and I absolutely loved reading them [Secretly], and devoured the information they contained.

I was never a comic reading or fantasy novel kid, I'd rather pick up a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica or PEARS cyclopaedia, and read that in bed, far more interesting....well until I found these manuals.

 

When I look back, it seems that unconsciously at least, I've always used the information in those manuals to either gather information, or making myself invisible enough to be able to find out about things......remaining a to be assumed as somewhat inconsequential, or a person of no threat, but still find a common ground to hold a conversation is the key.

Also how to handle yourself when in a uncomfortable situation.

It's all about observation..... which ran into a several volumes of the training manuals, but noticing things others haven't is something that I found comes naturally to me for some reason.

Mannerisms in particular, they give a lot away about a person

 

I suppose it's my inquisitive nature, and my genuine interest in people in general, and the reasons in why they do the things that they do [My all time biggest interest], is why I've been able to mingle between a vast array of people, from gangsters to presidents......yes I have met a US president, Bush senior when he visited Australia.

 

I had to be vetted by both ASIO and the US secret service to meet him, which I didn't know I was going to do in the first place........that was funny in itself, as you are not told about it happening, but I noticed being followed at the time, as the agents stuck out like dogs balls, they were so out of place with everybody around the places I frequented, namely the Manzil room at Kings cross.

 

Bush had a handshake like Mr Burns from the Simpsons, and was a pasty white as well.

 

A bit of a upgrade though, however disappointing, from Abe saffron I think you'd agree

 

Sorry if you found this read boring, I'll post again with something more relevant to what we have been talking about previously....I'm sure I can remember another one for you.

So many to choose from

 

 

[Guest thethrowback]

Another interesting instalment, thanks @Tweaky.

 

This discussion has prompted me to do some research and I am amazed how many times the Bourbon & Beefsteak gets a mention.

 

https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/beefsteak-bourbon/ states:

 

"The Bourbon & Beefsteak opened in 1967 and was operated by Bernie Houghton, a Texan who had served in the US Military and had shady connections both to organised crime figures and the CIA."

 

The dots start to connect.

 

I also read this in a Wikipedia article: "By 1905, there were many laws in place which prohibited the import and use of smoking grade opium; however, by the 1930s, Australia had the developed world's highest per capita rate of heroin consumption."

 

If that is correct, then it seems Australia had a taste for smack 30 years before the Yanks arrived.

Edited April 1, 2021 by thethrowback

[Tweaky]

58 minutes ago, thethrowback said:

Another interesting instalment, thanks @Tweaky.

 

This discussion has prompted me to do some research and I am amazed how many times the Bourbon & Beefsteak gets a mention.

 

https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/beefsteak-bourbon/ states:

 

"The Bourbon & Beefsteak opened in 1967 and was operated by Bernie Houghton, a Texan who had served in the US Military and had shady connections both to organised crime figures and the CIA."

 

The dots start to connect.

 

 

 

Bernie Houghton was a pretty nice guy actually, despite what one might read about him.

 

As for being a CIA operative......I'm not so sure about that, he had a very close American friend that also lived in Australia that IMHO might of been considered closer to the mark.

 

This friend [Shortish Blond guy who wore specs - reminded me of the singer Paul Williams ] used to drive a Blue Cadillac, which was a beast and hard to maneuver around the tight streets of Sydney

I remember Bernie having a NTSC Video recorder at the Bourbon hooked up to the TV's near Joe's bar at the rear of the place, and that this friend used to bring in tapes of the American Football games incredibly quickly after they were played, and they both used to sit there and watch them.

 

Bernie not only owned the Bourbon & Beefstake, he owned Tex's Tavern as well, which was down the road from the Bourbon.

Both establishments became well known places for  both Australian and US soldiers on R&R in Australia to frequent during the Vietnam war.

It was in part that those soldiers used to pin their regalia and foreign money on the walls of those establishments, that gave them a certain charm.

 

Many a US Vet upon visiting Australia again years later have visited the Bourbon to reminisce , if not add to the wall.....sadly that all went after Bernie died and the place got remodeled.

 

Contrary to popular belief, it was actually US servicemen that has found themselves hooked on Heroin whilst serving in Vietnam that started bringing it into Australia.

 

It was easy for them to do at the time, as checks on military planes coming into Australia weren't looking for drugs, they were looking more for armaments making it into the country and sold on to crime syndicates.

 

Easy money with little chance of being caught.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Tweaky

[Guest thethrowback]

On 02/04/2021 at 4:27 AM, Tweaky said:

Bernie Houghton was a pretty nice guy

 

I don't doubt it but I'm guessing his business model involved more than just serving drinks and hot meals to US servicemen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Houghton

 

Good to hear your perspective on the subject.

Edited April 5, 2021 by thethrowback

[Tweaky]

On 02/04/2021 at 2:30 PM, thethrowback said:

 

I don't doubt it but I'm guessing his business model involved more than just serving drinks and hot meals to US servicemen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Houghton

 

Good to hear your perspective on the subject.

 

TBH I don't have first hand knowledge of CIA involvement, nor have I ever really had any interest in that shady world of double dealing, far too complicated to make hide or hair of IMHO unless you are employed by ASIO or the like, and directly involved in doing just that......but then the CIA and ASIO are on the same side apparently.

I'm guessing there must of been some sort of impunity going on at the time, certainly during the Vietnam war at least.

 

I only know about the guy in the Blue Cadillac because I saw my mate who worked at the Bourbon getting into the passenger seat of it as I walked by one day, I asked what's doing, and he said the ice machine at the Bourbon had gone south and they were off to get some bags of ice.

It's only in conversation much much later, after the story broke about the CIA involvement, that his theory on who the actual CIA agent might of been.

If I was still in contact with this mate I'd ask him more about it, but he got a Green Card and moved to the USA 30+ years ago and I lost touch.

 

There were a few strange goings on back then, sort of like the emigration program to Australia during the 60's called "The Big Brother Movement", in which young British men were enticed to come out to Australia.

A abnormally large percentage of them found themselves conscripted to go fight in Vietnam.......Why that happened I have no idea, since officially the UK had no involvement in the Vietnam war

There was a journalistic investigation on that at least 10 if not 20 years ago, but I can't remember if it ever found out who was behind it [Must of been either the UK or Australian governments, or both in cahoots] or the investigation ever going anywhere, it all sort of fizzled out.

[Guest thethrowback]

16 minutes ago, Tweaky said:

get some bags of ice

 

I assume it was the type that keeps your drinks cold!

 

16 minutes ago, Tweaky said:

The Big Brother Movement

 

I'd never heard of the Big Brother Movement but it has a website: https://www.bbm.asn.au/big-brother-movement/

Edited April 6, 2021 by thethrowback

[Guest thethrowback]

The program "Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire" could prompt a new inquest:

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/nsw-premier-considers-luna-park-ghost-train-fire-inquest/100056548

[Tweaky]

GOOD, or maybe not, on a emotional sense for the families involved.

 

I read about that as well, but I doubt anything other than a new Coroners inquest will come about from it though.

 

Too much corruption carrying on [ Politicy  ] to the current day.....on both major party sides.

 

The major players have now moved into a more legitimate [Not properly regulated ] way of making money.........Insurance........All the dodgy players from the banking industry switched to this as well....the BONUS chasers.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Tweaky

[Guest thethrowback]

I see Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire got a mention on Media Watch tonight: https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/abc/13520188