Henry Stokes
Henry Stokes was an early 1900’s gangster in Melbourne. He owned a large brick building in the inner suburb of Richmond in which his headquarters for his gambling empire was. He was well known as the two up king (type of gambling game). The police would often raid the building but to prevent this he had a system of electric bells as a warning sign. In 1914 he and Squizzy Taylor formed an alliance, the deal included, a huge profit of money to Taylor out of Stokes’ gambling racquet, and in return stokes would get protection and assurance that if any competition rose up then Squizzy would intimidate the competition and therefore they would back away. Henry Stokes was renowned for the shooting on Little Collins Street in 1921, which saw “Long” Harry Slater lose his life (rival gang). When Squizzy died in 1927 Stokes would turn solo, he continued to use Squizzy’s methods and in the year Taylor had died he was charged with the blowing up a rival two up school and was still a free man. In 1934 however, he plotted to steal 100,000 pounds from the bank, but failed, he spent the next four years in jail. During World War II he turned from two up to baccarat not once were the clubs raided by police, it seemed as though Stokes would live a long and successful life of crime, until he died of a heart attack on 15th June 1945. He left behind 15,000 pounds, a lot less than expected and many people wanted to know the whereabouts of the remaining money, it was never to be found.
