Public Enemies: Ray Denning, Russell 'Mad Dog' Cox and the Golden Age of Armed Robbery

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Interior and binding are still excellent. Right tail corners now protected with book tape.

In Australia of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, armed robbers were at the top of the criminal food chain. Their dash and violence were celebrated, and men like Russell 'Mad Dog' Cox and Ray Denning were household names long before Underbelly established Melbourne's gangland thugs as celebrities.

Cox and Denning were once Australian Public Enemies Number One and Two. Both were handsome, charismatic bandits who refused to bow to authority. Both were classified as 'intractable' in prison, and both escaped. Cox was the only man to escape from Katingal, Australia's only 'escape-proof' jail. Soon after he broke out, he tried to break in again and rescue his mates.

Their story is one of violence and crime. Still, it is also about the unimaginable horrors that young boys faced when condemned to 'institutions' in the 1960s, and the terrible conditions in Australian jails in the 70s and 80s. These were the hells where a whole generation of armed robbers was forged.

Mark Dapin brings his brilliant research skills and distinctive, powerful narrative style to a book that explores the lives of these infamous yet respected public enemies and the criminal world they inhabited. From armed robberies, shootings, and bashings to prison floggings and jailbreaks, this is the gritty, page-turning reality behind the headlines. (back cover)