The Popcorn Gangster: Chopper 10.5


Book Description

'What if there was an author who wrote about crime and therefore relied upon death to earn a living.' Buried bodies, buried guns, buried money and buried truths. Only one man who's been on the inside tells it like it is about the Australian hit men, bikie wars and drug syndicates. While his peers suffered violent deaths, Chopper outlived them all to give the real story. This is the life of the standover man who went from ex-con to national icon. The Popcorn Gangster tells of the psychology of fear and the Calabrian contract straight from former street fighter and now bestselling author, Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read.




Leadbelly


Book Description

Jason Moran was in his blue Mitsubishi van when he was gunned down with his friend, Pasquale Bardora, in front of up to 250 people in the car park of the Cross Keys Hotel. At least five children, including Moran's twin girl and boy, aged six, and his brother's own fatherless children were in the van when the gunman fired. While murdering two men in front of hundreds of people might, at first, seem wreckless, to the killer, it made perfect sense...' From the authors that brought you Mark Bradon Read's Chopper, comes a true account of the most bloodcurdling gang violence you will ever read. For the last ten years a war has raged on once safe suburban streets that has stunned the world. The killings have been particularly callous and brutal: mothers gunned down with their babies sleeping beside them, fathers killed in front of their children and couples shot down in cold blood. This is true crime at its most bloody, surreal and terrifying.




The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies


Book Description

The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies provides extensive reviews of the Top 100 gangster films of all time, including sidebars like "Reality Check," "Hit and Miss," "I Know That Guy," "Body Count," and other fun and informative features.




Australia's Most Bizarre Crimes


Book Description

True tales of crimes so bizarre you might not believe them. The mysterious disappearance of thousands of false teeth, international travel via the postal system, doughnut delivery heists, clowns terrorising a neighbourhood, the theft of a three-storey-high replica mango, criminal clairvoyants making off with haunted cash: could crime get any weirder, and could people get any stupider? In Australia's Most Bizarre Crimes, Peter Coleman explores the archives and recent records to produce this astounding collection of criminal mishaps that will have you laughing even as you shake your head in disbelief.




One Thing Led to Another


Book Description

Never get too close to anyone, because you might have to kill them. Meet Mark "Chopper" Read. You think you know him. His books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Australia. He's been the subject of an internationally successful film. His one-man shows have toured Australia to sell-out crowds. He's the most recognisable criminal brand name in Australia. But the truth is, you don't know him at all. Toe-cutter. Blowtorch aficionado. Killer. Husband. Father. Children's author. Stand-up comedian. The real Chopper has been an enigma – until now, that is. This is the definitive Chopper story. From his strange, tortured childhood, to the formative years as a young gang member and developing criminal, to his decades in and out of prison in Victoria and Tasmania, to his friends and enemies, and his crimes and punishments, this book gives us the true stories that lie behind the Chopper myths, as well as the stories he's never revealed before.




Chopper Unchopped


Book Description

All eleven volumes of Chopper's original memoirs ... unchopped Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is Australia's most famous standover man and one of its most prolific authors. Now, for the very first time, all eleven volumes of Chopper's memoirs are together in this special collector's edition. From his criminal youth to his time in prison to his life as a reformed man, the entire journey is here. This omnibus edition contains the following complete and unabridged books: From the Inside: Chopper 1 Hits and Memories: Chopper 2 How to Shoot Friends and Influence People: Chopper 3 For the Term of His Unnatural Life: Chopper 4 Pulp Faction: Chopper 5 No Tears for a Tough Guy: Chopper 6 The Singing Defective: Chopper 7 The Sicilian Defence: Chopper 8 The Final Cut: Chopper 9 The Popcorn Gangster: Chopper 10.5 Last Man Standing: Chopper 11 Chopper is an icon in popular Australian culture and in the criminal underworld. Find out why in Chopper's own words.




Last Man Standing: Chopper 11


Book Description

'I've dug a few graves in my time. But I have never made a man dig his own grave. There's no need to go that far – it would be plain bad manners.' Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read grew up hungry for revenge. He ended up cleaning the streets as an underworld standover man and executioner. He was released from Pentridge Prison in 1991 and became a bestselling author with his autobiography Chopper: From the Inside. Chopper's adventures, however, were far from over. The smart money said that Chopper would be the first to go in any underworld war but the smart money was wrong. He vowed to outlive his enemies and write their epitaphs and he did so, predicting who would be killed long before the assassins' gunswere loaded. Only Chopper would live to tell the tale, with Last Man Standing the final instalment of his series of morbidly funny and often brutal memoirs.




How to Shoot Friends and Influence People: Chopper 3


Book Description

'Crims and screws agree on one thing: that the people who run prisons wouldn't know if a tram was up them unless you rang the bell.' How to Shoot Friends and Influence People, Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read's third book, was written behind bars as Chopper faced life in prison for a shooting he claimed he didn't commit. For this book, Chopper obtained confidential and extensive prison files relating to him under the Freedom of Information Act. These included psychological assessments, plus prison classification and discipline records. They provide a fascinating insight into how this maverick criminal dealt with the prison system over two decades. Featuring the infamous story of Tanya and Eddy, Chopper's coming-of-age yarn from his 18th birthday, plus reflections on the end of his long-term relationship and what it's like to be the most famous author-in-residence at Risdon Prison, this third volume of his memoirs contains more tales of the criminal underworld told in Chopper's unique style.




The Final Cut: Chopper 9


Book Description

'Only a drunk or a madman would survive – luckily, on that occasion, I was both.' Ex-convict, author and celebrity Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read gives readers a unique insight into Australia's sordid criminal underworld. Written in Chopper's unique style and featuring his characteristic dark humour, the ninth instalment of Chopper's memoirs tells the story of the Tassie Chainsaw Massacre and explains why drinking Crown Lagers is the key to winning a serious pub brawl. The Final Cut continues the incredible story of the self-confessed executioner, who knew receiving a phone call from an old friend meant another associate was soon to be a walking corpse.




Pulp Faction: Chopper 5


Book Description

'My publishers contacted me roughly five minutes before publication and requested one more short story, so I sat down and pondered writing a short murder mystery called "Death of a Publisher – by Slow Strangulation".' Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read is Australia's bestselling ex-convict. The standover man and self-confessed killer is Australia's only celebrity gangster and has spent most of his adult life in jail. Shot, stabbed, betrayed and minus a pair of ears; Chopper's tale of the Australian criminal underworld continues in Pulp Faction. The fifth volume of Chopper's memoirs contains a series of short stories. These shorts are raw, tough and funny, with a breathtaking ring of authenticity that could only have been written by a man who has lived these experiences. Featuring the classic stories 'Revenge of the Rabbit Kisser', 'The Shoe Shop Men' and 'Message in a Bottle', Pulp Faction will have you wondering what's true and what's not.