38. The Terrible Ten – Australia’s Toughest Cops
The Crutchy Push and other gangs grew so out of control, that the authorities set up a special police task force to deal with them. Known as the “Terrible Ten”, it recruited Australia’s biggest and most violent cops, equipped them with heavy rubber hoses, and sent them to whale the stuffing out of the street toughs. The Terrible Ten won the streets back by beating most gangs into submission.
The exception was the Crutchies, who remained unsubdued until Valentine Keating, their leader, his girlfriend, and his chief lieutenant were imprisoned for a murderous assault on a constable. Their victim was beaten so badly, he was still picking pieces of skull from his fractured head at the time of the trial. Upon his release from prison, Keating opened an unlicensed bar. With his crutch ever by his side, he never needed to call the police to settle a disturbance in his establishment.
