Grandaddy of crime is dead
By GEOFF WILKINSON
27jan03
THE Fibber has told his last tall tale.
The notorious old-school criminal Patrick William "Jack" Warren died last
week in Queensland, aged 79.
Warren, better known as "The Fibber" or "The Liar", was an associate of the
Kangaroo Gang - a team of spectacularly successful shoplifters who
plundered stores in England and Europe in the 1970s.
He was later linked with the Grandfather Mob, a team of mature-age
criminals who operated on the east coast of Australia during the '90s.
Warren's first arrest, in 1938, was for riding on the footboard of a tram.
His last - in 1994, at the age of 70 - was for his involvement with what
was then Australia's biggest cannabis seizure.
The haul, reportedly worth $100 million, was seized when police and Customs
officers intercepted a trawler near Hervey Bay, 150km north of Brisbane, in
a dawn raid.
Warren was finally found guilty in 1998 of conspiracy to import drugs,
after two mistrials.
He was sentenced to four years' jail with a minimum of only one year after
a judge took account of his age and ill health.
Police believed Warren also organised a $1.2 million cannabis shipment that
arrived in Australia in late 1986.
His history included offences in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland,
Germany, France and England.
The Kangaroo Gang, which included Ray Chuck and several other career
criminals linked to Melbourne's Great Bookie Robbery, preyed on high-class
jewellers and fashion houses in the UK and Europe.
They often used attractive women decoys to distract staff during daring
daylight raids.
Several members of the gang were believed to be part of the Grandfather
Mob, who used similar tactics in raids on courier vans in Australia during
the late '90s.
Warren first came to the notice of police in NSW at the age of 15.
They said he later specialised in shoplifting and fraud before becoming
involved in the drug trade.
He was arrested dozens of times in Melbourne in the 1940s and '50s for
playing two-up.
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