page_title: Murray Riley
section_title: Australian rowing champion
hierarchical_section_title: Murray Riley / Australian rowing champion
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian Olympic Rowing Squad for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics
context_page_description: Murray Stewart Riley is a former Australian Olympic rowing athlete, who, after leaving a career as a police officer, gained notoriety as a criminal. Riley represented Australia at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics in double scull rowing, winning a bronze medal in 1956. He served as a police officer in Sydney from 1943 until 1962, when he resigned after disciplinary charges were leveled against him. After his resignation from the police, Riley embarked on a criminal career that included convictions for drug trafficking and fraud. He was implicated in the Nugan Hand Bank scandal and associated with leading figures in the American Mafia, including Jimmy Fratianno of the Los Angeles crime family and corrupt Teamsters official Michael Rudy Tham.
context_section_description: Riley participated in the double scull (rowing) events at the Empire Games with Merv Wood, who later became NSW police commissioner, in 1950 and 1954, winning gold for Australia. He also competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics and in the 1956 Summer Olympics, winning bronze in 1956. In 1952, he and his partner John Rogers were eliminated in the semi-final repechage of the 1952 Summer Olympics men's double sculls.
caption: Riley (seated 3rd from left) in the 1952 Olympic Rowing Squad
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