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In May 1983, Cook
disclosed that two SP bookmakers had made him an offer of $1000 to play below
his best.
"I thought
about it for 30 seconds", he said, "and then knocked it back. Human
nature made me consider it but then I went out and played my guts out for Port,
and we won." According to Cook, betting on VFA football was common, with up
to $30 000 wagered around the ground each time Port played key opposition.
In the mid
eighties Cook developed a very close friendship with drug and gun dealer Dennis
Allen, one of the Station's best customers.
At one stage Allen
sent nephew Jason Ryan to stay with him. Cook blames Allen for a drug addiction
which ruined his football career.
Jason had moved in
with Dennis in 1983. He was 13 at the time and had become the subject of a
care and protection order because of Allen's
influence on him. The court sent him to stay with Cook, then obviously a well
respected member of the community.
Jason stole from
Cook's de facto, convicted drug dealer Sallie Ellen Desmond, as well as slashing
her car tyres. Dennis also shot out a light in the Cooks bedroom when
Desmond caught him using their bed to entertain a prostitute.
In The Matriarch, by
Adrian Tame, Cook is referred to by Dennis'
minder, the Enforcer, as 'good with words....but he was a user.'
The night before his
wedding, Cook arrived at Richmond to explain to Dennis and The Enforcer that,
despite their friendship, he couldn't invite them to the ceremony because the
media would be there, and he couldn't afford to be seen associating with them.
"It didn't stop him asking for some speed," recalls The Enforcer.
He wanted two grams
for $100 so I went and got it and gave it to him and said: "this is a
wedding present from me and Dennis." Dennis's eyes popped out of his head,
because we were both flat broke at the time.
But he didn't know what speed it
was. About three months earlier we'd got this stuff and it was mostly Epsom
Salts - we spent the entire night fighting each other for the toilet.
I gave
Fred four grams of this stuff. He told us later it ruined his wedding and
honeymoon.
There was another
time when Dennis OD'd and the intensive care ambulance came. Fred was
there and I gave him $1000 to pay them not to say anything about what had
happened. When he came back in from seeing them off I asked if he'd given them
the money.
He said: "no, I gave them something more valuable, my autograph.
"But he did do the right thing and give us back the $1000. That was Fred
Cook."
On an episode of
the Footy Show on the Nine network in March 2002, Fred Cook appeared as a guest
and, as well as promoting his new book and attempting to convey an anti drugs
message to young footballers, reminisced with panellist and former Geelong
footballer, John 'Sammy' Newman.
The two had been
close friends in the mid-eighties. They were obviously acquainted through
football and also appeared on Channel Seven's Wide World of Sports with Cook
hosting the shows VFA segment for a number of years.
One of the stories they
told was based on the fact that Sam may have saved Cook's life from the hands of
Dennis Allen.
The story went that
Cook had been seen by Allen and other gangsters lunching with a policeman at the
Hotel and they thought he was informing on them.
Shortly later Cook found
himself in an upstairs room alone with Dennis and his posse who were bashing
Fred with a video camera. Newman walked in and interrupted them and Cook lived
to tell the story.
In May 1989, Cook
narrowly escaped a jail term.
He was granted a
suspended 12-month prison term and a four-year bond for trafficking amphetamines
and passing bad cheques to support his drug habit.
On May 18, 1989,
Sally Ellen Desmond was placed on a bond on for trafficking in amphetamines and
obtaining property by deception.
In April 1990,
despite claims he would make a fresh start, the law caught up with Cook again
when another court appearance for theft saw the 12-month term reactivated.
He then served eight
months of this term after appearing in court for theft. Cook dismissed the theft
- of $360 worth of hardware - as a "hiccup" and said he took the goods
to build some gates for a pensioner in return for a cup of tea.
On 17 December
1990, Cook was released and waiting outside the Morwell River Prison Farm was
Sally Ellen.
He walked out of
jail, saying he was going to get married and have more children.
Cook said he was
anxious to return home with Sally Ellen and their son Jarryd, 2. He said they
would marry on March 9 (1991). He also said he would return to the footy scene
with a suburban team and had received three sports-related job offers.
Cook said
he had not felt better in seven years. He revealed his addiction to
"speed" almost killed him and urged his fans and children to treat his
life as a lesson to avoid drugs. "If you get addicted to drugs it's not a
problem - it's a catastrophe," he said outside the prison.
Cook said the
jail stint was his first and last, but said he had been made "an example
of". He said he had fallen victim to his high profile, which had worked
against him when facing the courts.
By April 18,
1991, it had become apparent that Cook had fallen back into the world of drug
trafficking and was arrested.
He was charged with
drug offences after a raid on his Frankston home. Cook,
now 43, was charged with possession, use and trafficking of cannabis, and
possession of amphetamines. He was bailed to appear in Frankston Magistrates'
Court on June 28.
In December 1991
Sally-Anne Desmond breached a $2000 three-year good behaviour bond when police
found her in possession of amphetamines.
On 29 July 1992 Desmond appeared in court and was jailed. The court heard Desmond was
sentenced to nine days' jail and ordered to pay the bond she had breached the
year before.
Judge Hanlon said
Desmond should know better than anyone the effects of drug misuse. "You
have seen what has become of Cook through misuse of these drugs," he said.
On August 23, 1995,
Desmond pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates' Court to three counts of
trafficking in heroin, amphetamines and cannabis and handling stolen goods.
Click
here for Andrew Rule's story on the connections between footballers and the
underworld
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