Known unofficially as "Norman the Foreman", Allan finished his tenure during the Robert Askin years. While he was Police Commissioner illegal casinos in Sydney flourished in full view of both police and the public and yet very view police raids ever took place. The collective annual turn over of these casinos was estimated in 1974 to be $600 million1 (or $3.8 billion in today’s dollars2). This netted the operators an untaxed profit of 16 million ($95 million today) after all costs and alleged bribes had been paid off.
A close associate of Perc Galea claimed that Police Commissioner Allan and his successor Frederick Hanson were paid $100,000 a year each in bribes3.
One of the greatest challenges of his tenure as commisioner was the Arantz scandal. Detective Sergeant Phillip Arantz developed a computer program that gave accurate crime data and showed information previously published by the commissioner was misleading or incorrect. NSW Police refused to acknowledge the new data which lead Arantz to leak it to the press in November 1971. Following this he was forcibly admitted into hospital having been declared mentally ill by a police doctor 4 who later claimed he had been coerced in to doing so by senior police, and in 1972 Arantz was sacked from the force.
Allan at first denied the new figures were accurate but later confirmed their validity in a report tabled to parliament in September 1972.5
Arantz was finally reinstated back into the police force in 1989 after the NSW parliament brought in new reinstatement legislation.
In July 2008 Penguin published the book Gentle Satan: Abe Saffron, My Father by Alan Saffron, the only son of reputed Sydney crime czar Abe Saffron. The book contains allegations about Allan's supposed corrupt relationship with Saffron, claiming that Saffron regularly paid both Allan and Askin bribes of between AU$5,000 and $10,000 per week each, that Allan was a frequent visitor to Saffron's office and home. Also included in the book is the allegation that Saffron paid for an overseas trip for Allan and an unnamed female companion.6 These claims seem hard to substatiate in light of the fact that Mr Allan never held a passport nor left the country. Further the claims of bribery have been made by a 12 year old. Mr Saffrons son was under age at the time of the alleged bribery.7
Notes
^ Professor Alfred W. McCoy – Drug Traffic, 1980, Pg. 202
These claims seem hard to substatiate in light of the fact that Mr Allan did not ever hold a passport. Further, the author of the claims that Mr Allan received bribes and attended regular luncheons with Mr Saffron was aged 12 years at the time, and not residing permanently with his father.
Further reading
Evan Whitton, 'Allan, Norman Thomas William (1909 - 1977)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 28-29.
