My Brush with Mark 'Chopper' Read - A True Story

I was chatting with a group of pals last night when the topic of criminals came up and I told them about my brief encounter with an infamous criminal by the name of Mark 'Chopper' Read.

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Chopper Read

Mark 'Chopper' Read (17 November 1954 – 9 October 2013) is a convicted Australian criminal who was well known in the underworld in Australia. Between the ages of 20 and 38, Chopper spent only 13 months outside of prison for a variety of crimes. During this time he had an inmate chop his ears off so he could leave a heavily guarded prison section for a period of time to avoid being attacked by other inmates.

He spent 6 years in jail from 1992 for grievous bodily harm after shooting an associate in the chest in his car. Chopper claimed to be involved in the killing of 19 people and the attempted murder of 11 others. In an April 2013 interview with the New York Times, he said

"Look, honestly, I haven't killed that many people, probably about four or seven, depending on how you look at it."

Chopper contracted Hepatitis C during his time in prison and needed a liver transplant later in his life. He eventually succumbed to liver cancer in 2013 after a very eventful life.

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The time I met Chopper Read

I was living in Hobart, Tasmania at the time in 2000 attending University and was a young 20 year old student who liked a drink. I had a close friend who worked behind the bar at the 'Gentlemens Club' strip club in Hobart at the time and I would go in there at quiet times and she would give me very cheap drinks.

One of these afternoons I went in to have a few bourbons and chat with her when I noticed her talking it up with and older guy further down the bar. She introduced this guy to me and it happened to be the infamous 'Chopper' Read. I tried not to look at his ears but he noticed and just brushed it off and I presume he got the looks all the time. We then got to chatting about a few things, mostly about how I knew my friend who worked behind the bar. Apparently he too frequented the bar at quiet times for a drink and loved to chat her up. As a young guy I was pretty intimidated by Chopper as I had heard about his exploits and didn't know where to start in conversation but he was a pretty down to earth typical Aussie bogan who just wanted to have a beer and a laugh.

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I left the bar that afternoon having met one of Australia's most infamous criminals and I look back and am thankful that I did. It was definitely an life experience I will never forget.

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Thanks to @ryivhnn and @bearone for the fantastic footers :)