Australian Families of Crime

Mr. Bigs: George Freeman & Lenny McPherson (1x6)

Air date: Jun 15, 2010

George David Freeman was a Sydney organised crime figure and illegal casino operator. He was linked to the Sydney drug trade during the 1970s and '80s, was named in several Royal Commissions into organised crime and had links with American crime figures. Freeman served several prison terms for theft between 1951 and 1968 but was never brought to trial for any of his later alleged crimes, receiving only monetary fines for SP bookmaking in the mid-1980s. He survived a murder attempt in 1979, was married twice, and died in 1990 of asthma. Leonard Arthur ("Lenny", or more commonly, "Lennie") McPherson was one of the most notorious and powerful Australian career criminals of the late 20th century. McPherson is believed to have controlled most of Sydney's organised crime activity for several decades, alongside his contemporary Abe Saffron (who was dubbed "Mr Sin") and associate George Freeman.