Norm Bruhn's Razorgang

For the purposes of this listing, individuals are listed in order according to their surnames; in the case of Chinese, Japanese and some other nationalities, the family name comes first and the individual will be placed according to these names, where known. Fictional characters are designated with an ‘F’.

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Norman ‘Norm’ Bruhn (1894-1927)

 

Sydney’s criminal underworld established itself relatively quietly, like a miasma oozing its way through a substrate. Once established and beginning to consolidate, all that remained was to test the limit of its power. Norman Bruhn was the catalyst that started the explosion.

Bruhn was a standover man and bludger, a thug who would rather take what others had than earn anything of his own. For awhile he ran between the camps of Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh and Phil Jeffs before deciding to take over their empires for himself. Bruhn ran with a colourful gang of villains including George Wallace, ‘Razor Jack’ Hayes, ‘Snowy’ Cutmore and a gay African-American man with platinum-dyed hair known only as ‘Nigger’. For awhile, Bruhn claimed the attentions of Nellie Cameron who, when asked why she went with him replied, “When I wake up in the morning, I like to look down on something lower than myself.” With dreams of being an Underworld kingpin dancing through his head, Bruhn launched a massive attack against his enemies.

Sadly for him, his opponents were better armed, tougher and much less fired by fanciful dreams of power. Set against the grit and muscle of enforcers like Guido Calletti, Frank Green, ‘Big Jim’ Devine and ‘Gaffney the Gunman’, Bruhn marched into a meat-grinder and was sent packing. He lived long enough to be gunned down in a gutter and died later in hospital in excruciating pain without naming his attacker.

George ‘The Midnight Raper’ Wallace (????-1948)

 

Norm Bruhn’s pack of nasty ne’er-do-wells included a motley array of eccentric types who cleared out, or were cleared out, after he was bugled to Jesus. Chief amongst them was George Wallace a former wrestler turned pickpocket whose favourite gag was to bet punters that he could guess their weight by lifting them off their feet; he invariably tried to lift their wallets while doing so. After awhile he turned his hand to burglary and standover tactics and, after he teamed up with Bruhn, earned himself the nickname ‘The Midnight Raper’ due to the treatment he offered the prostitutes who Bruhn gave him to oversee if they failed to provide expected returns after their shifts. He was also not above slashing the girls’ faces if they failed to perform as required. As a sideline to his everyday duties he traded in cocaine and was a severe addict of his own merchandise. He, along with Bruhn and his cronies, became notable figures in the ‘Cocaine Wars’ which began with Bruhn’s death and ended with Phil Jeffs in majority control of the trafficking.

Wallace was in Brisbane avoiding a court appearance when Bruhn was shot in 1927; upon his return he ran afoul of the Kelly brothers and became embroiled in a stoush and got walloped on the head with a hammer, retiring wounded from the fray. After that he succumbed to a bout of acute paranoia in the Plaza Cafe on King Street, smashing the fittings and slashing the owner with a razor before being brought down and captured by the other patrons. He was fined a relatively modest £2 and fled Sydney for good, wandering around Australia’s other capital cities in search of opportunities. Finally, he washed up in Perth, where he tried to stand over a miner outside the European Club: he was stabbed seven times with a carving knife for his pains and died fifteen days later on the 7^th of December, 1948. There were other nasty operators who acquired colourful monikers during the razor days, but few of them embraced their titles with as much relish as Wallace.

 

Bruhn’s gang included many and varied colourful characters, along with Wallace, whose idiosyncrasies and practises were good fodder for the tabloids of the day (in stark contrast to the soldiers of Devine, Leigh and Jeffs who, in principle, maintained a much lower profile). Frank ‘Razor Jack’ Hayes, the taciturn albino who let his cutthroat do his talking for him and John ‘Snowy’ Cutmore, the associate of Melbourne’s notorious ‘Squizzy’ Taylor who worked with Bruhn during his self-imposed exile in Sydney, are perhaps the best known. There was also Lancelot Macgregor Saidler, aka ‘Sailor the Slasher’, known for his brutal attitude and behaviour towards everyone on the planet with the sole exception of Chinese children, on whom he doted; and the Kelly brothers – ‘Siddy’ and Tom – who broke away from Bruhn after he ordered ‘Razor Jack’ Hayes to slash ‘Siddy’s’ throat (he survived).

These are the leading lights of Razorhurst.