1929: Big Jim Devine Walked Free After a Darlinghurst Street Ambush Killed Bernard Dalton
Big Jim Devine was the enforcer behind his wife Tilly's vice empire in Darlinghurst, supplying the muscle and the guns for her gang's war with rival operators. On this day in 1929 he stood alongside gunman Frank Green during a street ambush that left rival Bernard Dalton dying of his wounds, while a second man targeted in the attack, Tom Connell, survived.
Police charged Devine as an accessory to Dalton's murder, but the case against him rested entirely on Connell's account, and Connell named only Green as the man who fired. When a jury returned a verdict of not guilty for Green, Devine was cleared with him, walking free from a killing he had helped set in motion.
