Gangland Melbourne details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have defined the criminal and gangland scene in Melbourne from the late 1800s to the present day. In this compelling book, Britain’s top true crime author James Morton and barrister and legal broadcaster Susanna Lobez track the rise and fall of Melbourne’s standover men, contract killers, robbers, brothel keepers and drug dealers, and also examine the role the police have played in both helping and hindering the growth of these criminal empires. In particular, Melbourne’s criminal past is explored through its famous villainous families, the Painters’ and Dockers’ union war of the 1970s and the more recent underworld gangland killings.Vivid and explosive, Gangland Melbourne is compulsive reading.

Takes the reader through the chilling criminal slayings that have shocked, and continue to shock Melbourne, linking the players and events that make up Melbourne's underworld crime scene.

Gangland Sydney details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have defined the criminal and gangland scene in Sydney from the mid-1800s to the present day.In this compelling book, Britain’s top true crime author James Morton and barrister and legal broadcaster Susanna Lobez track the rise and fall of Sydney’s standover men, contract killers, robbers, brothel keepers, biker gangs and drug dealers, and also examine the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have helped and hindered the growth of these criminal empires.Vivid and explosive, Gangland Sydney is compulsive reading.

Underbelly meets Molly's Game - the true crime investigation that rewrote the story of Melbourne's infamous gangland war and triggered a royal commission. Melbourne's gangland war was an era dominated by murders, stings, hits, drug busts, corruption and greed - inspiring bestselling books and even a popular TV series, Underbelly. It took the police a decade to curtail the violence and bring down criminal kingpins Carl Williams, Tony Mokbel and their accomplices. When the police finally closed the case file, just how they really won the war, with the help of an unlikely police informer, would become a closely guarded secret and its exposure, the biggest legal scandal of our time. Lawyer X is the scandalous, true story of how a promising defence barrister from a privileged background broke all the rules - becoming both police informer and her client's lover - sharing their secrets and shaping the gangland war that led to sensational arrests and convictions. The story of how Nicola Gobbo became Lawyer X, and why, is a compelling study in desperation and determination. Lawyer X is the definitive story of Melbourne's gangland wars and its most glamorous and compelling central character, based on the ground-breaking work of investigative journalists Anthony Dowsley and Patrick Carlyon, who broke the story for the Herald Sun in 2014, and their five-year struggle to reveal the truth about the identity of Lawyer X.

Gangland Australia details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have made up the criminal and gangland scene in Australia for over two centuries. In this fully updated and bestselling book, Britain's top true crime author James Morton and barrister and legal broadcaster Susanna Lobez track the rise and fall of Australia's talented contract killers, brothel keepers, club owners, robbers, bikers, standover men, conmen and drug dealers, and also examine the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have helped and hindered the growth of criminal empires. Vivid and explosive, Gangland Australia is compulsive reading.

The sensational murder convictions this winter of former NSW detectives Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara for the killing of drug dealer Jamie Gao has meant that previously suppressed material in Bent can at last be read. James Morton and Susanna Lobez have illustrated, in several Gangland books, that Australia almost certainly has out-ganged other countries. Now their spotlight is turned on corruption within the police services and identifying which state wins the bent cop handicap. Morton and Lobez examine the problems that started with the First Fleet and spread through to the present day, looking at the trouble caused by greed, power, drink, sex, money and, most recently, drugs. They compare the experience in Australia with corruption in America, England and Hong Kong, concentrating in particular on organised corruption at the highest levels, including judges, lawyers and politicians, through to the petty criminals who work our streets. Which state has the shadiest cops? The answer will surprise you.

Unlikely crime boss, serial killer, prison snitch, suburban boy turned bad, cult hero – who was the real Carl Williams? When the 'baby-faced killer' met his shocking end in Barwon Prison's maximum-security unit, he left in his wake a trail of brutal murders, an underworld in flames, a police service stinking of corruption, and a broken family. How could a bogan boy from Broadmeadows, underestimated by all as lazy and stupid, have risen to the top of Melbourne's crime scene and created such widespread havoc? Bestselling author Adam Shand takes us into Carl's world: the family poverty that made him hungry for success at any cost, the shifting sands of allegiances within the rival crime factions, and the fear, greed and thirst for revenge that drove him to murder. From Williams' early forays into the drug trade, the gunshot wound to the stomach that sparked a bloody gangland war, through to the car-crash fascination of his relationship with Roberta, Shand shows us the man behind the cocky grin, and examines how and why he came to his grisly end.

Crime journalist Paul Anderson takes the reader through the chilling criminal slayings that have shocked, and continue to shock Melbourne, linking the players and events that make up Melbourne's underworld crime scene.

Dark Tourism, including visitation to places such as murder sites, battlefields and cemeteries is a growing phenomenon, as well as an emergent area of scholarly interest. Despite this interest, the intersecting domains of dark tourism and place identity have been largely overlooked in the academic literature and this book aims to fill this void. The three main themes of Visitor Motivation, Destination Management and Place Interpretation are addressed in this book from both a demand and supply perspective by examining a variety of case studies from around the world. This edited volume takes the dark tourism discussion to another level by reinforcing the critical intersecting domains of dark tourism and place identity and, in particular, highlighting the importance of understanding this connection for visitors and destination managers. Written by leading academics in the area, this stimulating volume of 19 chapters will be valuable reading for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students in a range of discipline areas; researchers and academics interested in dark tourism; and, other interested stakeholders including those in the tourism industry, government bodies and community groups.

Since the arrival of the First Fleet, thousands of prisoners have escaped from prison, police stations, courts, prison vans and hospitals—even dentists’ chairs. They have driven, walked, pedalled, swum or sailed away from custody. Some have killed or been killed in the process; a few have gone overseas or escaped from foreign prisons, and a handful have remained at home, undetected. Gangland: The Great Escapes is filled with tall tales of crims—Ronald Ryan, Jockey Smith, Brenden Abbott, Julie Wright and Annie Davis, and many others—who have been recaptured in minutes and those who have stayed on the run.