Squizzy Taylor
Squizzy Taylor | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joseph Theodore Leslie Taylor 29 June 1888 |
| Died | 27 October 1927 (aged 39) Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Other names | Leslie Grout, Michael McGee, David Donoghue, The Turk |
| Occupation | Criminal |
| Spouse(s) | Irene Lorna Kelly (m. 1920; div. 1924) Ida Muriel Pender (m. 1924) |
| Children | June Lorraine Taylor Lesley Taylor Patricia Gloria Taylor |
Joseph Theodore Leslie "Squizzy" Taylor (29 June 1888 – 27 October 1927) was an Australian gangster from Melbourne. He appeared repeatedly and sometimes prominently in Melbourne news media because of suspicions, formal accusations and some convictions related to a 1919 gang war, to his absconding from bail and hiding from the police in 1921–22, and to his involvement in a robbery where a bank manager was murdered in 1923.
Taylor enjoyed a fearsome reputation in 1920s Melbourne. A "spiv", described as the Australian equivalent of the 'American bootleggers', his crimes ranged from pickpocketing, assault and shopbreaking to armed robbery and murder. He also derived income from sly-grog selling, two-up schools, illegal bookmaking, extortion, prostitution and, in his later years, is believed by some to have moved into cocaine dealing.