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Gangster tells of killer regret
From:
May 16, 2006
THE gangster who drew bikie killer Russell Oldham into the criminal underworld
yesterday told of his remorse over the suicide of his old friend and bodyguard.
"I put the first gun in his hand," underworld boss Phillip Player said.
Player told The Daily Telegraph he blamed himself for the events of the past
month - Oldham assassinating Bandidos chief Rodney Monk and then, after three
weeks on the run, shooting himself on Balmoral beach.
Oldham had dropped out of medical school and was working as a doorman around the
clubs of Kings Cross when he met Player, the man who would change his life.
"I feel responsible that he chose the life he did," Player said.
"He was a nice guy who asked if he could work with me and I took him on as a
protege. He hadn't used guns before. He liked the gangster lifestyle because he
wanted so much to belong."
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Player - businessman, nightclub owner, former boxing promoter and criminal
heavyweight - now runs a bar and restaurant in China and won't be at Oldham's
funeral this week.
Oldham's father Michael said his son's service was for immediate family only,
its time and place a secret for privacy and security reasons.
There are fears of retribution from Oldham's former bikie brothers.
Oldham, 39, was a probationary member of the Bandidos bikie gang.
Monk, 31, was vice-president of the Downtown chapter.
Mr Oldham, from Lancashire in the UK, said: "As far as we are concerned, Russell
was a darling, darling boy. People who knew him and loved him know that's the
case.
"The family wants to keep the funeral private. His mother is a mess and we just
want closure."
Player said he was speaking out because Oldham's true friends wanted to put the
record straight - he was no thug.
"He was a very intelligent, lovely bloke who lost his way over the years.
"He had loyalty and honour. If he was violent to people it was because they
lived the same way we do - live by the sword, die by the sword.
"To everyone else he was generous. He had a handout for the down-and-outs and
worried about street kids."
Player and Oldham worked together for three years in the early 1990s running
nightclubs and as boxing promoters.
Oldham often acted as Player's bodyguard and was a doorman when Player opened
Bonnie and Clyde's nightclub in Newtown, at which the staff dressed as gangsters
and many of the patrons were the real thing.
They formed Merrick Player Group Ltd, using Oldham's middle name, with Chinese
underworld figure Duncan Lam as a fellow director.
Player and Oldham parted company when Player moved to Darwin, pursued by
National Crime Authority officers investigating connections to drug dealing and
money laundering.
Oldham was released from jail in 2003 after serving five years for the
manslaughter of two men and returned to the Bandidos, where he had been friends
with Felix Lyle.
Lyle had been deposed as Downtown chapter president by Monk in 2002 and was
thrown out of the club this year for "discrediting" the Bandido's colours.
Police believe a feud within the Bandidos was behind Monk's murder.