36. Taking on the Razor War Leaders
As her encounter with the crazed May Smith revealed, Lillian Armfield did not need a weapon to be a badass and shine as Sydney’s best cop. In the 1920s, the city was wracked by The Razor Gang Wars. As the name states, they were gang wars fought largely by razors: in the 1920s, new laws imposed severe penalties for carrying concealed firearms, so criminals switched to razors.
Sydney’s biggest razor gangs were headed by a pair of female crime bosses who loathed each other: Kate Leigh, AKA the Sly-Grog (unlicensed bar) Queen, and Tilly Devine, AKA the Queen of Woolloomooloo. The crime queens fought each other with all available tools, with goons slashing each other in the streets, snitching on rivals to the police, and conducting PR campaigns by bribing journalists to portray them in the best light possible while vilifying their foe. Lillian Armfield took on and wrecked both.