Sydney's politicians could have stopped most organised crime if they wanted to. But they didn't, and for more than a decade the rot went all the way to the top.
THERE were corrupt premiers before Robert Askin, who governed from 1965 to 1975, but on the available evidence he was by far the worst.
Askin was in charge of the state during the boom in strip clubs, brothels, illegal casinos and drugs that accompanied the influx of American soldiers from Vietnam on R&R (1967 to 1971). Drugs were still only a small part of organised crime, according to academic Alfred McCoy, who has estimated the national turnover of illegal activities by the time Askin left office as: SP bookmaking $1420 million; illegal casinos $650 million; poker machine skimming $90 million; narcotics $60 million.
