When Neville refuses to give Mark money, Mark shoots him in the abdomen. Mark goes to Neville’s house and learns that Neville supplies most of the cocaine to the western suburbs of Melbourne and is very wealthy. He physically abuses both Tanya and her mother. Back at Tanya’s house, Mark finds her on the phone with Neville Bartos ( Vince Colosimo). While out at a club, Mark flies into a jealous rage and fires several shots with a handgun. When Mark is released from prison, he reunites with his old girlfriend Tanya. The board declines, so Mark has his ears cut off so that he can relocate to a mental health wing where he serves the remainder of his sentence. Mark meets with the Prison Board to negotiate a change of prisons for security. It's revealed that Mark is serving a 16 ½ year sentence for the attempted abduction of a judge in order to give Jimmy Loughnan freedom. Mark recovers and is returned to a separate cell from Bluey and Jimmy. Jimmy slashes his own arm so that he can claim self-defense.
Wanting out of the suicide mission, Jimmy shanks Mark. Mark conscripts Bluey Barnes and Jimmy Loughnan to help him lead a siege on the Painters and Dockers. The Painters and Dockers put out a $10,000 contract on Mark. The next day, Mark rushes across the line and stabs Keithy multiple times. Keithy George, another inmate, points to a line in the yard and tells Mark not to cross the line as it marks the Painters and Dockers territory. In 1978 Victoria, Australia, Mark “Chopper” Read is an inmate at Pentridge Prison.