HOBART, Australia -- A self-confessed underworld hit man who has boasted of being involved in 19 killings said Friday he is writing a moral fable for children about a hunchback who slays his tormenter.
Criminal Mark "Chopper" Read said "Hooky the Cripple" is his "own little pet story" that he has been telling people for years, and has now decided to bring it to a wider audience. He does not yet have a publisher for the book.
The 3,000-word manuscript is a children's story that will also appeal to adults, he said.
"When I'm dead, if I get remembered for anything I hope it will be for Hooky," Read said.
Set in 16th century Italy, "Hooky" is the tale of a hunchback who is abused as a child. He finally cracks and kills his tormenter and then faces a trial against the backdrop of a power struggle between the Spanish Inquisition, the Pope and the Italian king.
Read said he first thought of the plot when he was 19 and has gradually added to it, even naming one of the characters after a fellow prisoner.
He said there is almost no violence in the book, with the killing occupying just three sentences.
"It's not unlike an Aesop's fable," Read said. "It's a story about man's inhumanity to man and it has a moral," he said.
Read was released from prison in 1998 after serving nearly eight years for shooting a former friend. He has spent 22 of his 45 years behind bars.
The convicted criminal has written a number of books documenting his long career of violence including one titled "How to Shoot Friends and Influence People."
In 1991, Read wrote that he'd been involved, either directly or as a planner, in 19 killings inside or outside prison since 1970. However, he has never been convicted of murder.
Last year, Read's life was documented in a critically acclaimed film titled "Chopper." His character was played by an actor in the film.
Read now lives on a farm in Tasmania state with his wife and 21-month-old son.
