RIP Chopper Read

[AllAboutCams]

Chopper Read, crime figure and author, dead from liver cancer aged 58

LINK


THERE are reports this afternoon that Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is dead.
The notorious criminal and author, whose life story was turned into the eponymous film "Chopper" in 2000, was 58.

Read was discharged from Royal Melbourne Hospital earlier this week after receiving treatment for liver cancer.

He was diagnosed with liver cancer in April last year and he also has cirrhosis. He said his illness started after contracting hepatitis C while in prison.

Read spent more than 23 years in jail up until 1998 for crimes including armed robbery, assault and kidnapping.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

Strange (anti)-hero...

When he was still young, Read was already an accomplished street fighter and the leader of the Surrey Road gang. He began his criminal career by robbing drug dealers, based in massage parlours in the Prahran area.

He later graduated to kidnapping and torturing members of the criminal underworld, often using a blowtorch or bolt cutters to remove the toes of his victims as an incentive for them to produce enough money so that Read would leave them alive.

Mustn't have been a very good criminal considering he was repeatedly busted and spent most of his time in jail:

Read spent only 13 months outside prison between the ages of 20 and 38, having been convicted of crimes including armed robbery, firearm offences, assault, arson, impersonating a police officer and kidnapping

WTF? He had both of his ears cut off?!?:

Read had a fellow inmate cut both of his (Read's) ears off in order to be able to leave H division temporarily. While in his early biographies Read claimed this was to avoid an ambush by other inmates, by being transferred to the mental health wing, his later works state that he did so to "win a bet".

Read claimed to be involved in the killing of 19 people and the attempted murder of 11 others. In an April 2013 interview with the New York Times, Read said ?Look, honestly, I haven?t killed that many people, probably about four or seven, depending on how you look at it.?

ADG

[AllAboutCams]

Year the guys mental but the films good

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

ADG

[AdultKing]

66 Gold Street, Collingwood will never be the same again.

He drank (albeit not alcohol recently) at one of my local pubs (the Leinster Arms). Toward the end he looked really lean and sick like Steve Jobs did in his later years, only with many more tattoos and less ears.

For a bloke who spent most of his life in prison he was no dummy. Extremely intelligent, witty and feared by most of the Melbourne underworld.

Carringbush (as Collingwood is known for anyone who has read Frank Hardy's "Power without Glory") loses yet another of it's colourful figures.

[Vapid - BANNED FOR LIFE]

I recollect that individual.

[nexcom28]

Chopper is a great movie.

[Mediamix]

Never saw the movie, but i'm going to buy it right now. I want to watch it today.

[AllAboutCams]

66 Gold Street, Collingwood will never be the same again.

He drank (albeit not alcohol recently) at one of my local pubs (the Leinster Arms). Toward the end he looked really lean and sick like Steve Jobs did in his later years, only with many more tattoos and less ears.

For a bloke who spent most of his life in prison he was no dummy. Extremely intelligent, witty and feared by most of the Melbourne underworld.

Carringbush (as Collingwood is known for anyone who has read Frank Hardy's "Power without Glory") loses yet another of it's colourful figures.

Last i heard he was in Tas.

[Nurgle]

sad news indeed.. what a great Australian he was hehe

[MrMaxwell]

That guy was great. The comedy video portrayals are hilarious- and I do NOT laugh.. But when the guy said "This guys name is Stefan. HARDEN THE FUCK UP STEFAN", I can't stop myself.

[winter_]

chopper was also depicted in a serious light dressed in brown leather jackets and stern speech. the guy must have got to a point in his life, when he was younger, and thought, i have come too far to turn back now and if i turn back i will be a dead man, and that is something that can be hard to grasp the reality.

[AdultKing]

Last i heard he was in Tas.

No. He lived in Collingwood, he was transferred several days ago from home to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he died.

As far as I know he left Tasmania when his marriage to a woman down there broke down.

[Jel]

'colourful'?

Like Kim Dotcom is 'colourful' I presume

[Grapesoda]

'colourful'?

Like Kim Dotcom is 'colourful' I presume

Read spent only 13 months outside prison between the ages of 20 and 38

[John-ACWM]

I know the movie starring Eric Bana, guess I'll give it a try.

[alex.missyouth]

Let the man RIP.

[Evil Chris]

Cut his ears off to win a bet. #smh

[Shap]

That guy was great. The comedy video portrayals are hilarious- and I do NOT laugh.. But when the guy said "This guys name is Stefan. HARDEN THE FUCK UP STEFAN", I can't stop myself.

The guy who died isn't the guy in the skit. I agree the guy in the skit is awesome

[rogueteens]

Who else at least once considered mugging drug dealers for a living?

[Paul]

Who else at least once considered mugging drug dealers for a living?

[Sly]

66 Gold Street, Collingwood will never be the same again.

He drank (albeit not alcohol recently) at one of my local pubs (the Leinster Arms). Toward the end he looked really lean and sick like Steve Jobs did in his later years, only with many more tattoos and less ears.

For a bloke who spent most of his life in prison he was no dummy. Extremely intelligent, witty and feared by most of the Melbourne underworld.

Carringbush (as Collingwood is known for anyone who has read Frank Hardy's "Power without Glory") loses yet another of it's colourful figures.

Feared because he was smart/good or crazy?

I don't know, just seems to me that you can't be too sharp if you try kidnapping a judge? Emphasis on "try."