Take a trip through Sydney’s criminal past

Sydneysiders wanting a taste of the city’s underworld past won’t want to miss the Sin City exhibition.

Featuring an in-depth look at the city’s seedier history, Sin City: crime and corruption in 20th century opens on May 1 at the Justice & Police Museum in Circular Quay.

Curator Tim Girling-Butcher says the exhibition traces the evolution of organised crime from the early part of the 20th century through to the Wood Royal Commission in the 1990s.

“Within that we’re focusing quite closely on some key points such as the late 60s,” he said.

“You had some of the big names of crime like Lenny McPherson and George Freeman come to the fore and take control of pretty much most of Sydney’s underworld activities and [then there’s] the evolution of the drug trade that flowed on.”

Mr Girling-Butcher says there is a wide array of exhibits including confiscated gambling-related objects, a private poker machine built for Jack Rookwood (who was rumoured to have ties to the American Mafia) as well as numerous photographs by Robert McFarland featuring the colourful personalities and venues of Kings Cross in the late 60s and early 70s.

The centrepiece is a documentary featuring views from people involved in crime through the years along with police and journalists.

“We’ve got some brilliant archival footage in there,” Mr Girling-Butcher says.

“And in the back room we have the interactive [exhibit] … based around the Sydney Morning Herald, we’ve got clippings on various people so you can look up Abe Saffron and have a read through the 30-40 articles … in relation to him.”

The exhibition is being launched by former High Court Justice Michael Kirby.

“He’s a remarkable character, we’re very lucky to have him involved in the show,” Mr Girling-Butcher says.

“Right from the outset, as soon as we put the idea forward he came on board with an enormous amount of energy.”

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in Sydney’s criminal history, particularly around the new Underbelly series, but Mr Girling-Butcher says Sin City encompasses a bigger picture.

“It seems to be an area where there’s a lot of current interest being sparked by both Underbelly and just a general resurgence in true crime overall,” he says.

“People have a fascination with individuals who have got the strength or the characteristic to go against the grain … there’s almost a sense of envy that people have so I think they enjoy and are fascinated by those stories for the fact that it is something that they’d never do themselves.

“[But] the underlying message of the exhibition is that organised crime is based on money … and to keep those operations going [there’s] a lot of corruption so it’s a bit of a critique really about how we need to have sensible, smart legislation to keep ourselves free of corruption.

“It’s very important to understand where we’ve been and what’s gone on before to understand where we’re at today.”