Sept 15th 2006-Lateline Abc One of Australia’s most powerful and colourful figures in organised crime history has passed away this week,ending a career that had spanned since world war 2. Abe”mr sin”Saffron the old school “boss of the cross” in the infamous Kings Cross district of Sydney. Saffron made an untold fortune from his businesses which included running sly-grog or speakeasy operations during the war,providing liquor in his after hours clubs in the area. Soon Saffron woned and ran a large patch of the Kings Cross area,making him the area’s most powerful figure and undisputed “boss of the cross”. Saffron ran a very large number of restaurants,brothels and pubs in the area,turning over a multi million dollar operation. He was alleged to have been involved in running operations that included prostitution,gambling,sly grog sales,drug trafficking,arson and extortion. He was also involved in large scale police corruption,paying off dozens of police as protection and to turn a blind eye to all of his illegal operations. Saffron was also known to have not only bribed but blackmailed and extorted many Australian politicians,many of whom visited Abe’s speakeasy’s and brothels in which Saffron would get secret photos and evidence from their wild encounters at his brothels and other establishments. Saffron,who was later jailed over tax evasion,was also a suspect in the high profile campaighner Juanita Neilson who was taking on the Kings Cross building developers. Saffron’s …
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