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The Dark Prince Of Melbourne: The short flashy life of Squizzy Taylor and the birth of organised crime in Australia
Bad boys, bright lights and sorry the story of our most infamous gangster.
Joseph Leslie 'Squizzy' Taylor was many things to many a kind and caring husband, father and stepfather, a reliable son and brother, a generous and considerate neighbour and patron. He was also a criminal willing to consider any type of crime, provided it supported his lifestyle and his ego.
Squizzy graduated from teenage pickpocket to adult murderer, from organising smash-and-grab raids on jewellers to corrupting juries and suborning witnesses. And he was nothing if not newsworthy, whether appearing at the opening night of a new show at the top end of Bourke Street or climbing the steps en route to an appearance in the Supreme Court.
For more than a decade, Victoria's best detectives were unable to pin any one of a dozen major crimes on him. Yet Squizzy ultimately met his match in street-punk-turned-gunman Snowy Cutmore in a darkened bedroom in a boarding house in Carlton.
In this first detailed biography of arguably Australia's best-known standover man, Ian W. Shaw traces the life of the criminal who set the trend in city gangster life, not only in Melbourne but Australia-wide.
Joseph Leslie 'Squizzy' Taylor was many things to many a kind and caring husband, father and stepfather, a reliable son and brother, a generous and considerate neighbour and patron. He was also a criminal willing to consider any type of crime, provided it supported his lifestyle and his ego.
Squizzy graduated from teenage pickpocket to adult murderer, from organising smash-and-grab raids on jewellers to corrupting juries and suborning witnesses. And he was nothing if not newsworthy, whether appearing at the opening night of a new show at the top end of Bourke Street or climbing the steps en route to an appearance in the Supreme Court.
For more than a decade, Victoria's best detectives were unable to pin any one of a dozen major crimes on him. Yet Squizzy ultimately met his match in street-punk-turned-gunman Snowy Cutmore in a darkened bedroom in a boarding house in Carlton.
In this first detailed biography of arguably Australia's best-known standover man, Ian W. Shaw traces the life of the criminal who set the trend in city gangster life, not only in Melbourne but Australia-wide.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 1, 2025
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