CHOPPER RIDES AGAIN

MARK “Chopper’’ Read was addicted to drugs and had to be revived in hospital after a binge hit, according to a podcast released this week.

The two-part podcast, titled “The Real Chopper’’, made by journalist Adam Shand, delves into the “fictional’’ character of Chopper, which Read created to make him more famous than Ned Kelly and keep him out of jail. But it entrapped him in the Chopper character as a thug and standover man.

Read, who became a best selling author on embellished stories about his criminal career and experiences in prison, lost money as quickly as he made it.

His former manager, Andrew Roper, tells how Read went missing one night after performing at a comedy show in North Melbourne before being found unconscious in the street. Roper says Read was addicted to heroin and speed, which was kept under wraps because of the hard man’s public stance against drug dealers.

“This night he said drop me down the road near the hotel in Johnston St [Collingwood],’’ Roper told Shand.

“About 2.30 in the morning I get a call from Margaret [his wife] who was quite worried.’’

The pair drove to a nearby disused hotel where attempts were made for Read to come out.

“The next morning he was basically found passed out in the street,’’ Roper says. “Dead?’’ asks Shand. “Basically. They had to revive him in St Vincent’s.’’

Roper divulges that he worked on a plan for Read to go into rehab and emerge with a charity in his name to help afflicted young people.

But it would end up being ditched because it threatened the “Chopper’’ image.

Read also had struggles with money, filing for bankruptcy after racking up debt and depositing money in “old crims’’ accounts who asked for his help.

The podcast, which can be downloaded from PodcastOne, also looks into Chopper’s final media interview and his dubious confession to four murders.