Mark Chopper Read Biography: Crimes, Net Worth, Age, Parents, Wife, Books, Children, Movies, Ethnicity, Death

Mark Brandon Read also known as Mark Chopper Read emerges as a notorious Australian criminal, author, and cult figure, infamous for his brutal exploits in Melbourne’s underworld that blended raw violence with unrepentant bravado.

Profile

• Full Name: Mark Brandon Read
• Stage Name: Chopper Read
• Died: October, 9 2013
• Age: 58 years old
• Birthplace: Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Nationality: Australian
• Occupation: Criminal, Author, and Public Speaker
• Height: Unknown
• Parents: Keith Read , Unnamed mother
• Siblings: Unknown
• Spouse: Margaret
• Children: Two sons
• Relationship: Married
• Net Worth: $15,000 USD

Early Life and Education

Mark Chopper Read, He was born on November 17, 1954, in Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Placed in a children’s home for his first five years due to family strains, he endured a nomadic childhood shuttling between foster homes, orphanages, and psychiatric institutions under the care of his ex-army father, Keith Read, and devout Seventh-day Adventist mother.

Career

Mark Chopper Read plunged into Melbourne’s criminal underbelly as a youth, leading the Surrey Road gang in assaults and drug dealer heists in Prahran’s massage parlors during the 1970s.

Convicted repeatedly for armed robbery, kidnapping, arson, and impersonating police, he amassed 23 years in prisons like Pentridge by age 38, claiming involvement in 19 murders—though associates dismissed many as embellishments for notoriety.

A self-inflicted ear removal in 1971, ostensibly to secure a transfer, amplified his fearsome “Chopper” moniker, rooted in a childhood cartoon dog. Paroled in 1991, he pivoted to authorship, dictating Chopper: From the Inside from jail letters to journalist John Silvester, a bestseller chronicling his exploits that launched over a dozen semi-autobiographical books, including How to Shoot Friends and Influence People (1993) and children’s tales like Hooky the Cripple (2002).

Social Media

Mark Chopper does not have a social media accounts.

Personal Life

Mark Chopper Read, 58 years old and of undisclosed height, led a tumultuous private existence scarred by violence and reinvention. Wed to his third wife, Margaret Cassar—a private-school-educated former tax office worker he met via prison correspondence—in a union lasting until his 2013 death, he fathered two sons, Roy (youngest, inheriting his $15,000 estate in trust) and Charlie, while earlier marriages to Mary-Ann Hodge (1995–1997) and an unnamed first wife yielded no further children.

Filmography

Selected Filmography (as Subject/Consultant):

• Chopper (2000) – Himself (consultant; portrayed by Eric Bana)
• Underbelly Files: Chopper (2018) – Himself (miniseries subject)
• Black and Blue (1992) – Cameo (documentary)

Selected Literary Works (Books):

• Chopper: From the Inside (1991) – Autobiography
• Chopper 2: Hits and Memories (1992) – Autobiography
• How to Shoot Friends and Influence People (1993) – Autobiography
• Chopper 3: The Worst Enemy (1994) – Autobiography
• Chopper 4: For the Term of His Unnatural Life (1994) – Autobiography
• Chopper 5: Pulp Faction (1995) – Fiction
• Hooky the Cripple (2002) – Children’s Book

Net Worth

Mark Chopper Read, a notorious criminal, author, and public speaker, left an estimated estate of $15,000 USD. comprising artworks and minimal assets after proceeds-of-crime laws redirected book royalties to The Royal Children’s Hospital.