Chopper Read

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Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read

Chopper Read, real name Mark Brandon Read (born November 17, 1954), is a former Australian criminal and author. Convicted of many crimes including armed robbery, firearm offences, assault and kidnapping, Read spent a mere 13 months outside prison between the ages of 20 and 38, then went on to become a successful author of crime novels, selling in excess of 500,000 copies of his works. More recently, he has also found success as an artist.

In 2005, Read embarked on a tour of Australia performing a series of shows titled I'm Innocent with Mark 'Jacko' Jackson [link] and later toured Sydney in a stage show with a new co-star, former Detective Roger "The Dodger" Rogerson.

Read married Australian Taxation Office employee Mary-Ann Hodge in 1995 while imprisoned in Risdon Prison in Tasmania for the shooting of his friend Sidney Collins. The marriage produced one child, Charlie. They later divorced in 2001. On January 19, 2003, he married long-time friend Margaret Casser. They have one son, Roy Brandon.

In 2001, Read featured in an advertisement on behalf of the Pedestrian Council of Australia promoting the dangers of drunk driving. Read is seated at a kitchen table and undoes his shirt, and while pointing to the numerous scars and injuries on his body, says:

When I was in prison…I got slashed in the face…my ears cut off… a butcher’s knife here, an ice-pick here, etc., etc … If you drink and drive and you're unfortunate enough to hit somebody, you ought to pray to God that you don't go to prison.

In 2006, Read featured in another commercial speaking out against violence against women.

On March 13, 2006, Read released a rap music album titled Interview with a Madman.

Also about the same time Read allowed use of his name to Australia's heaviest alcoholic lager called "Chopper Heavy". The beer is produced in Rutherglen, Victoria, near the location of Australia's most notorious outlaw - Ned Kelly.

Read also appeared in the 2002 Australian comedy film, Trojan Warrior.

Contents

1 Early life
2 Criminal convictions

2.1 County Court abduction attempt
2.2 Shooting of Sidney Collins
2.3 Prison life

3 Bestselling author
4 Bibliography
5 Discography
6 Public commentary and political views
7 Notable quotations
8 See also
9 External links

Early life

Read grew up in the Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood, Thomastown, Fitzroy and Preston. He was made a Ward of the State by the age of 14. His criminal career began with the robbing of drug dealers.

In his mid teens, Mark was the leader of the Surrey Road gang, a street fighting gang made up of himself, Dave the Jew,Ned Clonan,Cowboy Johnny Harris and Terry the Tank. Dave the Jew is the only person he won't go into detail about in his books, and Chopper remains good friends with him to this day. While in prison he had a fellow inmate cut off his ears in order to be able to leave the prison temporarily to avoid an ambush by other inmates.

Described variously as witty, charismatic, sadistic, and frightening, Read admits to the killing of 19 people and a further 11 attempts. Many of his associates in the underworld claim that Read is prone to making up numbers to increase his own notoriety and the sales of his books. Read himself has stated on numerous occasions that he would "never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn"

Criminal convictions

At the age of 17, Read was sentenced to one month's imprisonment on assault related charges.
In 1974, at the age of 19, he was again imprisoned for one month on charges of carrying an offensive weapon.
He later received a good behaviour bond for charges of assaulting police.
In May 1975 he was convicted of robbery and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
In December 1975 he was convicted of armed robbery and received a further one-year sentence.
In 1978, at the age of 23, he was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
Five weeks later Read was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment on abduction-related charges for the attempted abduction of a County Court judge while on parole.
In 1978 Read was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for a parole breach.
In 1981, while imprisoned, he stabbed a fellow prisoner in the neck using a pair of scissors and was sentenced to a further three months' imprisonment.
In October 1989 he was convicted on two charges of being in possession of an unregistered pistol.
In November 1989 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for malicious injury and wilful damage. He was also convicted of recklessly endangering life for shooting a man in the stomach and setting fire to the house of a known drug dealer.

County Court abduction attempt

During a hearing at the County Court of Victoria Read leaped onto the judge's bench and presented a shotgun he had concealed under clothing. He was arrested and charged on abduction offences and later received a twelve year prison sentence.

Shooting of Sidney Collins

On March 13, 1993, Read was travelling in a car with criminal associate Trent Anthony and the president of a local motorcycle group, Sidney Collins. A firearm discharged in the car and passed through Collins' stomach, causing him serious injury. Read was convicted and sentenced to Governor's Pleasure (jail with no parole date) in Tasmania's Risdon Prison.

Prison life

Read spent much of his imprisonment in Melbourne's maximum security prison, HM Prison Pentridge. During his many terms of imprisonment, Read was often the ringleader of prison gangs. Of note is his reference to a lengthy prison war against Keith Faure.

Bestselling author

Mark 'Jacko' Jackson (left), Chopper Read (right) with ABC presenter Rod Henshaw

Read wrote his first book Chopper: From the Inside while incarcerated in Melbourne's Pentridge Prison. It contains tales and anecdotes of his criminal and prison exploits in 1991. Attempts were made to ban a children's book written by Read titled Hooky the Cripple.

Bibliography

Chopper: From the Inside (1991), ISBN 0646065432
Chopper 2: Hits and Memories (1992), ISBN 0646109871
Chopper 3: How to Shoot Friends & Influence People (1993), ISBN 0646154443
Chopper 4: For the Term of His Unnatural Life (1994), ISBN 0646310149
Chopper 5: Pulp Faction: Revenge of the Rabbit Kisser and Other Jailhouse Stories (1995), ISBN 0646250655
Chopper 6: No Tears for a Tough Guy (1996), ISBN 064629637X
Chopper 7: The Singing Defective (1997), ISBN 0646339230
Chopper 8: The Sicilian Defence (1998), ISBN 0958607109
Chopper 9: The Final Cut (1999), ISBN 0958607141
Chopper 10¹⁄₂: The Popcorn Gangster (2001), ISBN 0957912102
Hooky the Cripple: The Grim Tale of a Hunchback Who Triumphs (2002), ISBN 1864031654
The Adventures of Rumsley Rumsfelt (2003), ISBN 095791217X

(ref: [link])

Discography

Cover of Interview with a Madman, released March 13, 2006

Interview with a Madman (2006)

Public commentary and political views

Front cover of The Bulletin, February 24, 2004

Read has made public comment about a number of criminal cases, including the Ivan Milat backpacker murder and the Port Arthur Massacre. He has frequently appeared on radio and television talk shows to promote his books and discuss his views on many issues. For a short period of time, he also had a column in RALPH Magazine. His success in selling tales of his criminal past, and a number of recent attempts by other criminals to do likewise, has prompted widespread calls to amend the Federal Proceeds of Crime Bill (2001) — which confiscates the proceeds of drug deals and robberies — to also apply to indirect proceeds of crime, including book sales, TV appearances, and the like.

Read has described his political beliefs as "to the right of Genghis Khan". In his book Chopper 2, he lists American conservative G. Gordon Liddy, of Watergate fame, and Bruce Ruxton, a critic of Australia's immigration policies and leader of the Victorian RSL, as his political heroes. He also remarks that he makes a certain Neo-Nazi acquaintance (axe murderer Dane Sweetman) look like a "gay commie." He believes in capital punishment for child sex offenders.

Notable quotations

"I haven't shot anybody since 1992, and even then I didn't do it"
"''I am in a league alone, working in a specialised area of crime that the ordinary type of criminal only comes into contact with in his worst nightmares..."
"''To the human filth I have bashed, belted, iron barred, axed, shot, stabbed, knee capped, set on fire and driven to their graves...I regret nothing."
"Never plead guilty"
"Expect no mercy from a man who has been shown no mercy"
"I know most of you out there hate my guts, I'm not a very popular person, but you drink and you drive you're the same as me, you're a murdering maggot just the same as I am."