Squizzy Gangster

Thu 4 July 2013

Squizzy Gangster

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 20:30

On the 29th of June in 1888, Joseph Leslie Theodore Taylor was born in Brighton (Victoria, Australia). The grandious name didn’t stick and at a young age, he received the nickname of Squizzy. When he was 16, he was arrested for “insulting behaviour” but the charges were dropped. At 17 he received his first conviction, for the theft of a “fly front grey melton cloth overcoat.” This was the start of a criminal career that lead to him becoming an “overlord” of the Melbourne underworld.

He was involved in robbery, illegal gambling and “sly grog”, with a reputation for foolproof schemes and an uncanny ability to avoid convictions for his crimes.

Squizzy Taylor – AustralianCrimes.com

The vendetta had its origins in a jewellery store robbery in 1918. It resulted in a haul of several thousand pounds worth of diamond rings, one third of which went to Squizzy Taylor for masterminding the job. A faction of the Taylor gang based in Fitzroy, dissatisfied with the division of loot from a series of robberies including this latest haul, reacted violently. Soon open warfare developed.
The following year Squizzy’s mistress, Dolly Grey, had her diamond rings lifted from her fingers as she lay in a drunken stupor. Not surprisingly Squizzy was furious. One Ted Whiting was marked down for death, as the culprit behind the act, but attempts on his life all failed.

This began an age of vendettas and murders. However, it was almost ten years later before someone finally got the upper hand. Squizzy Taylor was gunned down at age 43 under circumstances that have never been completely explained.

Meanwhile, on the 29th of June in 2013, these great photographs were masterminded by high profile Saturday Scene shooters: