King of the Cross

He rubbed shoulders with captains of industry and heads of government, with celebrities, criminals and ASIO spies. He was suspected of murder, and known as Mr Sin. But, behind the lurid legend, who was the real the real Abe Saffron

- MARK DAPIN

For a dead man, Abraham Gilbert "Abe” Saffron has enjoyed a lot of publicity recently. Although perhaps “enjoyed” is not quite the right word. Since the early 1950s, when it became clear that his Kings Cross entertainment empire was built on sly grog and prostitution, Abe strove to keep out of the media.

He died in September 2006, after a lifetime of quiet, vicious corruption. Until – and, perhaps, beyond - his imprisonment for tax evasion in November 1987, Abe had kept his place at the top of the underworld through his ownership of its sleazy, shameful infrastructure.

At the height of his influence, he bought strip clubs and gambling joints, nightclubs and bordellos, police officers and politicians.

"He was untouchable,” says former gangster Graham “Abo” Henry, 70. “He'd lease out places and the illegal gambling blokes would move in and set up their shops in places he owned, and he'd supply the grog. So, he was getting his quid from everywhere and he used to sling the coppers big time, so they loved him.”

As he aged, the once handsome and flamboyant entrepreneur stepped back from the world he had made - and the lives he had destroyed - and strove to become invisible. His civilised voice denied everything. "Misunderstood Abe” was, he suggested, simply a clever capitalist with the mixed fortune to be ahead of his time. All the black market businesses that he had developed from casinos and brothels to after-hours drinking dens - had become legal by the time he died: if they were legitimate in 1980, how could they have been immoral in 1950?