Saffron Exploited Greed, Says Son

The Age

Monday July 28, 2008

Kate McClymont

PREMIERS and police commissioners were among those who received thousands of dollars a week from the late crime boss Abe Saffron, his son, Alan, has confirmed in a soon-to-be released book on his father.

The Liberal premier Bob Askin was not only on Saffron's payroll but was also the recipient of payments via horse races that were fixed as "a courtesy to premier Askin".

Despite Saffron's lifelong denial about involvement in criminal activity, in his book Gentle Satan: My Father, Abe Saffron, Saffron's only son, Alan, 59, confirms that Saffron controlled the vice trade, including illegal gambling and prostitution, in every state except Tasmania and the Northern Territory, and bribed a host of politicians and police officers to ensure he was protected.

At one stage the American "mob" tried to persuade Saffron to operate a casino in Las Vegas on their behalf, but his father declined, he said.

Mr Saffron details his father's "excellent business relationship and long-standing friendship" with both the NSW premier Bob Askin and the police commissioner of the day, Norm Allan, who died in 1977.

Questions were asked about the size of Askin's estate, which was almost $2 million dollars when he died in 1981.

"There have been many accounts of my father's relationship with these two men, but none realised the depth of his association and influence. Both were totally corrupt, and my father's excellent business brain and complete integrity in his dealings with them allowed him to exploit their greed to its fullest," writes Mr Saffron.

Mr Saffron says that he met Premier Askin twice and saw him come to his father's office on at least two occasions. "Norm Allan was a more frequent visitor, and he even came to our house in Vaucluse for Sunday lunch."

Mr Saffron details an all- expenses-paid trip to America that his father organised for the police commissioner and his companion, "a very attractive, considerably younger" female.

In his early years as premier, Askin would meet Saffron - who died in 2006 - at coffee shops, restaurant and bars and would speak to him on the phone. But intermediaries were used when Saffron came to the attention of law enforcement agencies, Mr Saffron claims in the book.

© 2008 The Age

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