Bra Boys tell their story in Wollongong

By Jodie Minus
Updated November 5 2012 - 9:56pm, first published August 14 2009 - 10:50am
Bra Boys Macarie de Souza (left) with Koby and Sunny Abberton. The Abbertons and other Bra Boys members will be in Wollongong today for a book signing.
Bra Boys Macarie de Souza (left) with Koby and Sunny Abberton. The Abbertons and other Bra Boys members will be in Wollongong today for a book signing.

The Bra Boys will take on the Gong today when Sunny and Koby Abberton visit the city to sign copies of their family biography.My Brothers Keeper, The Official Bra Boys Story, by surfing writer Sean Doherty traces the four Abberton brothers' stories from their turbulent upbringing in Maroubra to international fame and infamy.Sunny, 36, Koby, 29, and Bra Boys Jed Campbell and Ahu Taylor will be at Dymocks book shop in Wollongong from midday.Doherty has known the brothers for over a decade and spent two years interviewing them for the first-person door-stopper.The brothers, including Jai, 34, and Dakota, 18, found fame and success through their international pro-surfing careers and found infamy through their association with the Bra Boys gang, based in Maroubra.The Bra Boys were the first gang to associate with a postcode and inspired countless other "postcode wars" throughout the state and in the Illawarra.In 2003, Jai shot dead Maroubra underworld figure Tony Hines but was later acquitted on the grounds of self defence. Koby was given a suspended nine-month jail sentence for perverting the course of justice in the same incident.A documentary film about the gang, Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker Than Water, written and directed by Sunny was released in 2007 and narrated by actor Russell Crowe.The movie was distributed internationally.

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