GANGLAND FEUD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 1 August 1929, Page 8

GANGLAND FEUD

“GUNMAN” GAFFNEY SHOT DEAD TRAGIC DUEL IN MAROUBRA POLICE ENCOUNTER WALL OF SILENCE ' , SYDNEY, 19th July. A simmering gang . feud of Sydney's underworld broke out into violent eruption on Wednesday night and early on Thursday morning, when in a sensational rifle and revolver duel at Maroubra, George Gaffney, a notorious gunman, was shot dead and another man named Tomlinson had his right arm shattered by a rifle bullet. Behind tlie shooting lies the story of ;v bitter rivalry between two of Sydney's worst women. For several years past the two women, who are well known to the police and the courts, have been at loggerheads over various matters, and clashes between the rival factions have been frequent. • Only during the last few months have revolvers been used, however, hv the numerous champions of the two women. One of the first steps in the war between the two gangs- occurred twelve months ago, when police paid a surprise visit to the.home of George Gaffney and found there a revolver for which Gaffney did not hold a license. lie was fined £IOO and a year’s imprisonment on that occasion, lie was liberated recently, and the feud grew in intensity. It was the opinion of Gaffney’s gang that the polico received information of his address and the fact that he had an un--licensed revolver from the rival organisation. Next step was made by Gaffney s gang, who told the police that a raid on a house at Maroubra would disclose the presence of an unlicensed revolver there. The house at Maroubra was oc- ■ cupied by one of the women loaders of the gang and her husband. ’ The police went to the house at 1 a.m. on Monday last and arrested James Devine for having an unlicensed revolver. A WAR OF VENGEANCE Later in the day at tlio Police Court, when Devine was charged and fined £SO, the rival women leaders of the two gangs met after .the case and quarrelled in the Court yard. There was a standup fight between them, and the finger of one of the women was bitten halfthrough by the other. Police stepped in and took them before the Court, where one was fined £3 and the other remanded. Both gangs declared a war of vengeance on each other, and culmination of the quarrel came on Wednesday night when Frank Green (27), a companion'of the Devines, who resided with them at Maroubra, was attacked in Bourkc street , Woolloomooloo, and shot, from behind, in the back. He 'was- left lying in the gutter for dead, hut a pedestrian,called an ambulance, and be was taken to Sydney Hospital and treated.: It was found that ho had a bullet wound in the right shoulder, which luckily had not caused serious injury. After treatment he left the hospital in company with Devine and his (Devine’s) wife. Green refused to tell the hospital authorities how he had received the wound, and refused to be admitted to the institution for observation.,-' Scouts of the rival gang were apparently watching the hospital and saw Green leave the institution unharmed, for shortly after midnight a taxi-cab drove up to the Devines’ home in Torrington road, Maroubra. and Gaffney, with a number of companions, stepped out. of it. Gaffney advanced towards the front gale of the house shouting, “Now we’ll get the — * But as lie readied the gato a voice from the front verandah sang out, “Don’t you come past that fence or you are a dead man.” Gaffney replied, “Oh, I’ve got plenty of maces with me and, •we’ll soon clean you up.” With that Gaffnev opened the front gale, but as ho did so'a shot rang out and he crumpled on to the footpath, mortally wounded. As he fell ho fired a fusillade of shots at the man on the verandah.' " Meanwhile Walter Tomlinson, one of Gaffney’s companions, tried to make a flank attack on the man on the verandah of the house. He endeavoured to clinlb over a side fence, but was ordered back by the man on the verandah. Tomlinson, however, continued to climb the fence, firing all. the time from his revolver. Another shot was fired from the verandah. jand Tomlinson was struck in the right forearm by a rifle bullet. FLIGHT AND SILENCE Seeing the tables turned on them, the rest of the gang which had come in the taxi took to* their heels, leaving their companions lying on the footpath. A passing ambulance hearing the shooting came to the scene and picked up Gaffney and Tomlinson and conveyed them to hospital, ’there it was found that Gaffnev had been shot through the lung near the heart. Little hope was held out for his recovery, and the chamber magistrate was sent for to take his dyins depositions. But, as in nearly every one of the gang feuds of Sydney, the curtain of/ • silence was drawn across the happenings. Gaffney told the magistrate to leave him alone, and added, “The less 1 see of you tlie better.” A few hours later Gaffnev died. Police went- to the house at Maroubra and arrested James Devine, a shearer, whom they charged with having murdered Gaffnev. Devine is allegr ed to have told them that lie heard that Gaffney was coming to his house to attack "Green again, and that as his own revolver had been confiscated by -the police only two days previously, he borrowed a 'military service rifle from a neighbour and prepared to defend himself.

The poli’ce theory is that Gaffney, who was Hie male leader of the gang opposed to Devine’s, determined to settle the many supposed debts of the feud and had been one of the assailants of Green earlier in the night at Woolloomooloo. Failing to carry out the designs of the gang there, they followed Devine and Green home to Maroubra, and. thinking that Devine had no weapon, decided to attack the house in force'. When ordered nob to come past the gate, Gaffney, thinking that the defenders of the house' were only binfling, decided to call (he bluff ami advanced, little expecting to be met with rifle tire. His mistake in summing up the situation cost him Jiis life and liis companion a shattered'right arm. Sounds of the shooting aroused flic whole neighbourhood. Mullets were flying in every direction, and several pierced the- roofs of several houses in the vicinity. Detectives are investigating the. whole of the circumstances of the case, but- as usual have been met with the impenetrable wall of silence which invariably enshrouds the feuds, and quarrels of the underworld.