The Great Bookie Robbery

After more than 20 years, a Melbourne attorney has finally revealed the secrets to Australia`s largest robbery, the Great Bookie Robbery.

On April 21^st, 1976 a well organized gang of robbers got away with a multi-million pay day when they hit the Victoria Club, which was located on the second floor of the Queen Street building.

Phillip Dunn,  the lawyer for Norman Lee, the only person to have ever been charged over the robbery, but subsequently discharged, has finally told of the scheme the gang put into place that resulted in getting away with between $6 million and $12 million.

Mr Dunn said that Lee ``came clean`` about the 1976 robbery after he was discharged and was able to confirm the story with another person who was close to the robbery. Mr Dunn also said he could not reveal all the details earlier because of lawyer-client privilege.

Norman Lee was shot dead by police in 1992 during another multi-million dollar robbery at the Melbourne Airport.

The story that Mr Dunn now reveals is in complete contradiction with what was believed to have happened in the days immediately following the robbery. It was always thought that the bandits got away with the money in a stolen white van.

Lee explained to Mr Dunn that the money never left the building until weeks after the robbery. Three months before the robbery, the gang, which include Raymond Bennett, the mastermind, Ian Carroll, Laurence Prendergast, brothers Brian and Leslie Kane and Lee, rented an office in the same building as the Victoria Club. This office proved to be the gang`s command centre as they worked on the details of the robbery. After the bandits had stolen the money they placed it in their office which was only two floors above the scene of the crime. The stolen white van was intentionally noisy and obvious to plant the trap that it was how the money was removed from the crime scene. For weeks after the crime police went on a wild search for the stolen money. Over the following weeks the gang returned at their leisure and retrieved the money.

On the day of the robbery the bandits tampered with the elevator causing it to break down, effectively sealing off the second floor of the building. Armed with machine guns the gang burst into the settling room and with bolt cutters opened the cash boxes. One of the bandits proceeded to rip all the phones from the wall. From there it was a quick dash up the stairwell to their office to hide the money and then down to the ground floor for the get-a-way. The entire raid took less than 10 minutes.
The gang never really got to enjoy the fruits of their labour as over the ensuing years all six were killed. Bennett was discharged of the slaying of Leslie Kane. Bennett himself was gunned down the following year by Kane`s brother, Brian. Brian Kane in 1982 was shot dead in a crowded hotel. Carroll was shot to death in 1983. Prendergast went missing in 1985 and has never been found.
As no-one has been convicted over this crime; technically it is still classified as unsolved.

The Hoddle Street Massacre

For most Melburnians, 9^th August 1987 was like any other night. However, those driving on Hoddle Street, Clifton Hill, just after 9.00pm, found themselves in the middle of what would later be known as the Hoddle Street Massacre. Six people were shot dead and 19 others wounded before the night was out.

The killer was a former Australian Army officer-cadet, 19-year-old Julian Knight. Julian had been expelled from the Royal Military College months before for stabbing a sergeant at a Canberra nightclub.

Julian was said to be depressed over the end of his military career, but when he had earlier appeared at a police station to apply for a shooter's licence on his 18^th birthday, he was calm and polite. Three months later he had his licence, as well as a pump-action shotgun, a .22 rifle and an automatic M14 military-style automatic rifle, the weapons he used on his killing spree.

On the night of the attack, Julian had been drinking at a pub. After about ten pots of beer, he collected his guns and ammunition from home and positioned himself on a raised platform behind a billboard at the corner of Ramsden and Hoddle streets, Clifton Hill. From there he fired at people driving along the street.

Many people thought their cars had backfired or that a car in front had thrown up a stone and shattered their windscreen. When they realised they were being fired at, many drivers took shelter in a nearby petrol station, where staff called the police.

When police arrived, it was still very hard to see where Julian Knight was firing from, and over the next two to three hours he continued to hurt and kill people walking by. One witness said they saw a victim's body on the road, shaking as Julian Knight shot them again and again.

After a half hour police chase through the streets of Melbourne, Julian repeatedly shot at police officers, squad cars and a police helicopter. He was eventually cornered by a detective and surrendered. Julian Knight was given a life sentence and is still in prison. He is still unapologetic to the people he killed and hurt and their families.

The Samurai Sword Murders

The Samurai Sword Murders started out as a vicious brawl on the dance floor of the Salt Nightclub in South Yarra on July 8, 2002. A Supreme Court jury was told the murders happened after one of the victims’ brothers; hit one of the murderers with a bottle inside the nightclub as revenge for a brawl at Crown Casino's Odeon nightclub that happened several days earlier.

During the seven-month trial, one of the longest in Victorian history, jurors heard James Huynh, 19, was chased from the nightclub down Chapel St in South Yarra before being hacked to death with samurai swords and knives close to the Yarra River on July 8, 2002. He received multiple stab wounds and his hand was almost severed in the attack.

His two cousins Nam, 21, and Viet Huynh, 25, drowned after jumping into the river to escape their attackers, fearing they would be chopped up.

Handing down his sentence, Justice Robert Redlich described Viet Huynh and Nam Huynh jumping into the Yarra as an act of desperation. He described the murder of James Huynh as a savage, frenzied and ferocious act.

Cuong Quoc Lam , 26, of Sunshine; Hung Tu Van, 29 of Footscray; Linh Van Nguyen, 26 of Altona Meadows; Thanh Nha Nguyen, 25 of St Albans; Long Thanh Tran, 23 of Footscray; Hong Bui, 23 of St Albans; and Hoang Quang Tran, 23 of Sunshine were found guilty of murdering James Huynh.

Cuong Quoc Lam and Hung Tu Van were also found guilty of the murders of Nam and Viet Huynh.