# Razor gang > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Razor_gang > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Razor_gang.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_gang > Source revision: 1276370120 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Criminal gangs from 1920's Sydney}} {{about|razor gangs in Australia|razor gangs in England|Brighton razor gangs|razor gangs in Scotland|Glasgow razor gangs}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} thumb|right|Razor gang areas of Sydney, 1927 '''Razor gangs''' were criminal gangs who dominated the [Sydney](/source/Sydney) crime scene in the 1920s. After the passage of the ''Pistol Licensing Act 1927'', the [Parliament of New South Wales](/source/Parliament_of_New_South_Wales) imposed severe penalties for carrying concealed firearms and handguns. In response, Sydney gangland figures began to use razors as their preferred weapons (particularly due to their capacity to inflict disfiguring scars).{{cite book|title=Razor: A true story of slashers, gangsters, prostitutes and sly grog|first=Larry|last=Writer|date=24 August 2018|publisher=Pan|id={{ASIN|0330363352|country=uk}} }} ==Background== The upsurge in organised crime began after the prohibition of sale of [cocaine](/source/cocaine) by chemists (under the ''Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act 1927''), the prohibition of street prostitution (under the ''Vagrancy Act 1905''), the criminalisation of off-course race track betting (under the ''Betting and Gaming Act 1906'') and the introduction of [six o'clock closing](/source/Six_o'clock_swill) for public bars (under the passage of the ''Licensing Act 1916''.Writer, 2001: xxvii Illegal drug distribution became a serious social problem due to the concentration of addicts in [Kings Cross](/source/Kings_Cross%2C_New_South_Wales), [Darlinghurst](/source/Darlinghurst) and [Woolloomooloo](/source/Woolloomooloo), estimated at five thousand. [Marijuana](/source/Marijuana), [opium](/source/opium), [morphine](/source/morphine), [heroin](/source/heroin), [paraldehyde](/source/paraldehyde) and cocaine were all heavily consumed. Cocaine was particularly remunerative for criminal entrepreneurs like [Kate Leigh](/source/Kate_Leigh) and others, due to its ephemeral "highs" and the need for recurrent supplies to users. As in Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels and Rome, Sydney sex workers were a sizeable market for the cocaine trade, which was supplied from corrupt chemists, doctors, dentists and sailors (given that [Peru](/source/Peru), [Bolivia](/source/Bolivia) and [Colombia](/source/Colombia) were all accessible through transpacific merchant shipping routes).Writer, 2001: 34–5Constable, 2002: 87–100 ==Razors as preferred criminal weapon: 1927–1930== After handguns were criminalised in New South Wales, razors became the weapon of choice amongst Sydney gangsters. Shortly after the ''Pistol Licensing Act 1927'' was passed, a visiting sailor used a [cut-throat razor](/source/cut-throat_razor) to defend himself from attackers.Writer, 2001: 46 As a result, razors became a default weapon due to its ease of purchase from barbers shops for a few pence, its ease of concealment (hidden inside a piece of [cork](/source/cork_(material))), and its use as an instrument of intimidation and threatened or actual mutilation, physical impairment or murder against one's adversaries, prey or hostile spouses. It has been estimated that there were over five hundred slashings within Sydney during the heyday of intensive razor gang criminal activity.Writer, 2001: 48 [Macquarie Street](/source/Macquarie_Street%2C_Sydney)'s [Sydney Hospital](/source/Sydney_Hospital) and [St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney](/source/St_Vincent's_Hospital%2C_Sydney) in [Darlinghurst](/source/Darlinghurst) treated many of these casualties of gangland hostilities. [Tilly Devine](/source/Tilly_Devine), known as the "Queen of Woolloomooloo" and connected to the gangs, ran a string of brothels centred around Darlinghurst and the Cross, and in particular, Palmer Street. Leigh, known as the "Queen of Surry Hills", was a [sly grog](/source/sly_grog)er and fence for stolen property.{{Cite web| title=Guide to Sydney Crime | url=https://meusepress.tripod.com/SydneyCrime.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102231723/https://meusepress.tripod.com/SydneyCrime.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-02}} Members of the New South Wales Police and several New South Wales politicians also had connections to the gangs. The two major razor gangs were associated with prominent [madam](/source/Pimp)s Leigh and Devine.{{cite web|url=http://gallery.records.nsw.gov.au/index.php/galleries/people-of-interest/tilly-devine-the-razor-gang-wars-1927-31/|title=Tilly Devine & the Razor Gang Wars, 1927-1931|website=gallery.records.nsw.gov.au}} These two gangs began open warfare in 1929, culminating in two riots. One was known as the "Battle of Blood Alley" and was waged in Eaton Avenue, [King's Cross](/source/Kings_Cross%2C_New_South_Wales). It occurred because drug distributors discovered that Phil Jeffs (1896–1945), another gang lord, was [adulterating](/source/Lacing_(drugs)) his cocaine supply with [boracic acid](/source/boracic_acid). It occurred on 7 May 1929.Writer, 2001: 92 Later that year, on 8 August, the "Battle of Kellett Street" was waged between rival gangs affiliated with Leigh and Devine, and occurred in Kellett Street, near [King's Cross](/source/Kings_Cross%2C_New_South_Wales). Considerable amounts of bootleg alcohol and cocaine were consumed beforehand, leading to thrown bottles, physical assaults, firearm exchanges and razor attacks.Writer, 2009: 112 The gang violence was curtailed in the 1930s by the ''Vagrancy Amendment Act NSW 1929''. It contained "criminal consorting" clauses that prevented known criminals from associating with one other and led to diminished gang violence. At the same time, the ''Crimes Amendment Act 1930'' was also passed, leading to six-month imprisonment terms for anyone found possessing cut-throat razors without good reason.{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2007/1970942.htm|title=The history of gangs and gang violence in Australia|date=8 July 2007|work=RearVision|publisher=ABC Radio National|accessdate=16 July 2010|location=Australia}}{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_in_time/Transcripts/s485143.htm|title=Razor Gang Feuds – Tilly Devine vs Kate Leigh|website=[Australian Broadcasting Corporation](/source/Australian_Broadcasting_Corporation) |publisher=}}Writer, 2009: 127–128 In 1935, newly appointed Sydney Police Commissioner MacKay summoned the feuding Devine and Leigh to his office. While he would not vigorously enforce anti-bootleg and anti-prostitution laws, he announced that the new police powers granted to his constabulary would be used against both women and their criminal enterprises unless there was immediate mitigation of gang violence and cocaine distribution.Writer, 2009: 205 They did so, which left the New South Wales State Police able to concentrate their attention on the illicit cocaine trade in 1938/39. Following intensive policing of overseas supply routes, the cocaine trade finally began to ebb.Writer, 2009: 213 With the onset of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), gang figures enlisted and went to fight in the European and Pacific theatres of that conflict. Even the arrival of US service personnel did not reinvigorate the Leigh and Devine criminal empires, which now faced competition. With these events, the "razor gang" era drew to a close. ==Political metaphor== The term "razor gang" is used in Australian political discourse to refer to a group – often a committee – tasked with finding ways to cut government spending. It was first widely applied to the [Fraser government](/source/Fraser_government)'s Review of Commonwealth Functions Committee, which was established in 1980 as a subcommittee of [federal cabinet](/source/Cabinet_of_Australia).{{cite web|url=http://www.oup.com.au/dictionaries/wotm/razor_gang|title=OUP:The making of Australian English|publisher=}}{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=John|date=Autumn 1982|title=You Don't Kneed to Know: A Look at the Razor Gang Cuts|journal=The Australian Quarterly|volume=54|issue=1|pages=43–50|doi=10.2307/20635153 |jstor=20635153}} It had three members – Industry and Commerce Minister [Phillip Lynch](/source/Phillip_Lynch) (chairman), Treasurer [John Howard](/source/John_Howard), and Finance Minister [Margaret Guilfoyle](/source/Margaret_Guilfoyle). The committee's report, handed down in May 1981, found 350 government functions that it believed could be eliminated, reduced, or transferred to other levels of government. This was to produce savings of $500 million.{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/0515/051544.html|newspaper=[Christian Science Monitor](/source/Christian_Science_Monitor)|title=Australian states react angrily to cost cutting|date=15 May 1981|author=David Solomon|access-date=18 November 2018}} Other notable "razor gangs" have been established by the [Rudd government](/source/Rudd_government_(2007%E2%80%9310)) (a group of about ten [Department Finance](/source/Department_of_Finance_(Australia)) officers) and the [Abbott government](/source/Abbott_government) (the Commission of Audit, comprising five commissioners appointed from outside the government).{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/pm-resurrects-budget-razor-gang-report-20081222-733l.html|title=PM resurrects budget razor gang: report|newspaper=[The Sydney Morning Herald](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald)|date=22 December 2008|access-date=18 November 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/commission-of-audit--who-what-why-and-where-20140501-zr2af.html|title=Commission of Audit - who, what, why and where|newspaper=[The Sydney Morning Herald](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald)|date=1 May 2014|access-date=18 November 2018}} ==In popular culture== *''[Underbelly: Razor](/source/Underbelly%3A_Razor)'' (21 August 2011 to 6 November 2011) is a 13-part TV dramatization of the razor gang era in Sydney. *''[Peaky Blinders](/source/Peaky_Blinders_(TV_series))'' season 5 (2019) dramatizes interactions between the Billy Boys and the Peaky Blinders, in [Depression-era](/source/Great_Depression) Europe.{{cite news|title=The Real-Life Story Behind the Billy Boys on 'Peaky Blinders'|work=Men'sHealth|author=Adebowale, Temi |date=October 13, 2019|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/the-real-life-story-behind-the-billy-boys-on-peaky-blinders/ar-AAIIrIj}} ==See also== * [Crime in Sydney](/source/Crime_in_Sydney) * [Glasgow razor gangs](/source/Glasgow_razor_gangs) * [History of Sydney](/source/History_of_Sydney) ==References== {{reflist|35em}} Category:Political metaphors Category:Organised crime groups in Australia Category:1920s in Sydney --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Razor gang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_gang) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor_gang?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.