A group of hard-nosed Kings Cross detectives named the 'Darlo Desperates' - who kept ''the Cross as clean as a whistle'' - moonlighted for him as security, regularly checking in on his cars through the dark hours of the night.

With their ruthless reputation, the Darlo Desperates twisted themselves with Kings Cross' underworld, but their passion for the 13-man code broadened their horizons and expanded their friendship circle outside the Golden Mile.

Not equipped with the same pistols or badges that gave power to the Desperates, Politis and Prenter were both inducted as honourary members alongside Channel Nine's Ron Casey.

‘’They associated with me because they loved rugby league,'' Prenter said.

''I was starting to build a bit of a profile as a rugby league journalist through television, commentating on Channel Nine and I think they liked to be seen in my company and it didn’t do me any harm to be seen with them because there was never any trouble.''

Friday lunch was ritual for the blended mix of profiles, dining at the upmarket French restaurant La Rive Gauche that had only one conversation on the menu - football.

Politis loved to flaunt his money, but it was his creative thinking that really caught the attention of the room, particularly Prenter.

''One day at lunch Nick asked me, and I knew he liked rugby league because that was all we ever talked about at the lunch, he wanted to know how he could get involved,'' Prenter said.

Lucky for Politis, the Darlo Desperates weren't the only club his rugby league journalist associate had a membership to.

French was for Fridays, but beers were the daily afternoon cuisine for Prenter, regularly catching up with Easts secretary Ron Jones who only drank ''little beers because he couldn’t be seen to be guzzling beer''.