Mark 'Chopper' Read was no Ned Kelly
- From: News Limited Network
- October 10, 2013
A SON, husband and father is dead and his family deserve sympathy. But let's put Chopper to rest without pretending he was a 20th Century Ned Kelly.
The story about Mark Read, the career criminal who turned his life around, is also a story about a bloke who bullshitted for decades in the most gruesome terms before finally admitting he made most of it up.
While he might have given birth to a whole genre of Australian crime writing, it's hard to tell if it was Chopper himself who was popular, or the silly "Fast Forward" version of Chopper or Eric Bana's career-launching dramatic version of Chopper.
Regardless of whether his murder victims numbered 19 (the bullshit version) or 4 (more likely) there was nothing noble about Read's life of crime.
Even though it turned out to be a fantasy, why would claiming to have removed the fingernails and toes of ones rivals with a pair of pliers make a man worthy of respect?
The most powerful thing Read contributed to his own legacy was his admission he regretted all the stupid things he did.
His manager Andrew Parisi said: "This is how he would wish to be remembered, as someone who spun a great yarn and made many people laugh."
"At the time of his death, we ask that people reflect on how Mark was able to overcome his past and, after more than 23 years in prison, find a way to re-enter 'normal' society. It is as a husband, father and friend that Mark will be missed most deeply."
Fair enough, but he also made his living glamourising thuggery and violence.
He was no folk hero.
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