Underworld figure Bruce Galea, once reputed to be the biggest illegal gambler in the country with corrupt connections to the highest echelons of the police force, has died.
Galea refused to give evidence and was jailed for contempt in July 1995. He was only released when the royal commission officially finished.In 1993 he had also been a star turn when the Independent Commission Against Corruption examined links between organised crime and corrupt police. The corruption watchdog heard that he was “the biggest illegal gaming operator in the State”.
Galea was also named in parliament as a close associate of crime boss George Freeman who bought Galea’s Yowie Bay mansion “Dallas” in 1978 for $350,000 - in cash. There had already been raised eyebrows when Allen was appointed to the deputy’s job by then Premier Neville Wran, leapfrogging a cast of more senior officers. Allen once gave an interview in which he dismissed the suggestion that organised crime was running SP betting and Sydney’s illegal casinos.
In 1981 Galea was working as a bookmaker when Allen won $4200 betting on a 20-1 longshot named How Apparent. “I guess we were just born lucky,” said Perce’s wife Beryl on winning the $200,000 Opera House lottery in 1975.