Dirty Dozen: Melbourne Gangland Killings Revised Edition
By Paul Anderson (Hardie-Grant)
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Award-winning crime journalist Paul Anderson, author of the bestselling Dirty Dozen: Shocking Australian True Crime Stories, takes you 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. Anderson traces the complicated web back to the Painters & Dockers Union power struggle that claimed at least forty lives between the 1950s and the early 1980s, and delves into the more recent wave of murders that have seen Melbourne become a virtual criminal killing field.

The execution of self-styled gangster Alphonse Gangitano in January 1998 sparked a deadly chain-reaction that has so far led to the deaths of a further 26 people and shows no sign of relenting. While a special police taskforce codenamed Purana has been set up to investigate a number of the slayings and their common links to the lucrative amphetamine trade, the killings continue, and individual motives arise: revenge, greed, overblown pride... and the influence of crime movies. Some members of the warring factions seem to be taking up arms and embarking on bloody conflict with disturbing similarities to their celluloid anti-heroes.

ISBN 9781740665742
Pub: 2007

Gangland Australia
By James Morton and Susanna Lobez  (Melb Uni Press - Pan Mac)
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"Gangland Australia" is a book about organized crime and the professional criminals who have recklessly cut a swathe through Australia over the last 200 years. It is a book with accounts of murder, robbery, standover, prostitution, drugs, great escapes, revenge, betrayal, corruption, police, lawyers, doctors and politicians.

This is a forensic investigation of criminal gangs in Australia, from convicts and bushrangers right up to the recent gangland slayings in Melbourne.

It is written in a very accessible style, with a narrative flow which reads as part history, part-thriller. The authors have done extensive research and cover a myriad of Australian crime histories including tracing back the beginnings of drug trafficking, ethnic crime waves, police corruption to name a few.

Written by one of Britain's most popular true crime authors, James Morton, and leading Australian legal journalist, Susanna Lobez, this is the latest in Morton's highly successful series, which includes "Gangland", "Gangland: The Early Years", "Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs", and "Gangland: The Lawyers".

ISBN 9780522852738
Pub: 2007

The wheels of justice might turn slowly, but they turn relentlessly. Somehow, somewhere, sometime, Australia's best crime fighters bust the baddest crims in the land. Gotcha tells the inside stories, selected from the unique Underbelly true crime archives.

ISBN 9780975231852

Halfway to Justice: One Man's Fight to Bring His Daughter's Killer to Justice (New Holland)
By Ken Turner
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In Halfway to Justice Ken Turner tells the tragic story of what it was like to endure every parent's worst nightmare. In the early hours of Sunday 6 June 1993, his twenty-two year old daughter, Shirree, was brutally murdered. Halfway to Justice describes Ken's experience during the police investigation into Shirree's murder and his ongoing pursuit of justice after the acquittal of Shirree's alleged killer.

Gripping and heartfelt, this is a story about coping with loss, fighting for justice and reform in the court system, and the emotional trauma experienced by family members when a loved one dies in vicious circumstances. Halfway to Justice is the true story of a father's love for his daughter.

ISBN-10: 1741102499
ISBN-13: 9781741102499
Pub: 2005

The Harry Gordon Story: How I Faked My Own Death
(New Holland)
By Harry Gordon
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Five years later his first wife cracked under the pressure of interrogation and gave away that Australian Harry Gordon had faked his own death. He was living in Auckland as Robert Motzel and married social worker and film extra Kristine Newsome. He was arrested in Sydney Airport in November of 2005.

ISBN - 13   978-1-74110-584-1

Killing Jodie (Penguin)
How Australia's most elusive murderer was brought to justice
By Janet Fife-Yeomans
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When women looked at him, what they saw was a little old man who couldn't possible hurt them . . . By the time he was arrested for the murder of Jodie Larcombe in the late 1980s, Daryl Suckling had escaped conviction more then once for his brutal assault on vulnerable young women. But without Jodie's body, prosecutors struggled to prove a homicide, and once again he was allowed to walk free. Unwilling to give up, two Sydney policemen spent nearly a decade fighting to bring the psychopathic killer to justice. Frustrated by legal obstacles and sheer bad luck, one officer resigned in disgust, but detectives eventually closed on Suckling as he stalked his next victim.

ISBN 9780670029655

Leadbelly
The book behind the Underbelly TV series (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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When the shooting starts in the underworld, war is a short word that covers a lot of ground. It can be a blood feud between criminal families, as savage and irrational as any vendetta. It can be revenge, exacted by enemies with long memories, old grudges and new information. And it can be business - cutting out the competition in the selling of drugs, sex, gambling and guns. This book traces the brutal rise and sudden fall of two generations of Australian gunmen.

Mentioned criminals include: Gary Abdallah, Mario Condello, Alphonse Gangitano, Terrence Hodson, Jed Houghton, Graeme Jensen, Graham Kinniburgh, Norm' Chops' Lee, The Moran family, Victor Perice, Nik Radev, Jockey Smith,  Andrew Veniamin and many more...

ISBN 9780975231807
Pub: August 2004

A Life in Crime (New Holland)
By Michael Kuzilny
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Michael Kuzilny spent ten years as a police officer and then ten years as a criminal defence lawyer in Melbourne. A Life in Crime contains strange and shocking stories of his time as a law enforcer, revealing the glory and shame of the criminal justice system. Corrupt cops, murderers, victims of crime, rich businessman, rock stars and many more characters feature in these fascinating real life stories.

ISBN 9781741105605
Pub: March 2007

The Matriarch: The Kathy Pettingill Story (Pan)
By Adrian Tame
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The story of one of Melbourne's most infamous and feared crime families and its' matriarch Kathleen Pettingill. Members of her family were rapists, murderers and drug dealers who used violence to scare off their competitors. Several were alleged to have been involved in the killings of two young policemen.

Mentioned criminals include Gary Abdallah, Dennis and Peter Allen, Anthony Farrell, Victor Gouroff, Jed Houghton, Peter McEvoy, Graeme Jensen, Victor and Wendy Peirce, Trevor Pettingill, corrupt former NSW detective Roger Rogerson and Lindsay Rountree. Taskforce policemen David Sprague and John Noonan also play a big role in their attempts to have members of Kath Pettingill's brood and their associates charged with the 1988 Walsh Street police shootings of constables Steve Tynan and Damian Eyre. This edition of The Matriarch also covers the 2002 gangland murder of Victor Peirce in Port Melbourne.

ISBN 0 330 36387 5
Reprinted 2002

One Down, One Missing - Inside the hunt for the killers of Silk and Miller (Hardie Grant)
By Detective Senior Constable Joe D'Alo with David Astle
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Join the largest manhunt ever mounted in Victorian police history. On 16 August 1998, Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller were shot dead while on duty. The Victorian policemen had been staking out a restaurant in Moorabbin as part of an operation aiming to snare two serial bandits who’d been targeting fast-food restaurants around the city’s southeast.

With an extra chapter on trial proceedings, this new edition of "One Down, One Missing" presents a vivid in-house account of the Lorimer Taskforce, the elite team assembled to investigate the men’s murders, and the twisted path that led to the killers’ door. A member of that team, Detective Senior Constable Joe D’Alo, has collaborated with writer David Astle to give the reader a rare chance to enter a dramatic chapter of Australian police history, and take you on the full investigative journey that took several years to reach its dramatic conclusion.

Using witness accounts and Intergraph transcripts, the book reveals the hardworking men who cracked the case. Enter the realm of ballistics, forensics and high-pressure police work. See the underworld up close, and follow the taskforce’s tactics and personal sacrifices. Hear the chilling words of the killers and associates on hidden tapes. If you think you know all the facts of the Silk and Miller case, think again.

With an extra chapter on trial proceedings, the new edition of One Down, One Missing presents a vivid account of the Lorimer Taskforce and the twisted rantings of the guilty suspects.

Mentioned criminals include Bendali Michael Debs and Jason Roberts along with Peter Gibb, Thomas Hentschel, Nik Radev and Lee Torney. The taskforce which was successful in seeing that Debs and Roberts were convicted of the killings was headed by Paul Sheridan and involved many other officers including Tim Argall and Simon Illingworth.

ISBN 9781740661416
First Published 2003

Perfect Victim (Penguin)
By Elizabeth Southall Et Al
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One night in March 1999, fifteen-year-old dance student Rachel Elizabeth Barber vanished. No one could have guessed that she had become another girl's 'perfect' victim. Happy. Beautiful. Talented. She had everything her killer could want. Perceived by crime experts everywhere as one of the most bizarre homicides they had encountered, Perfect Victim recounts two stories: Rachel's mother Elizabeth Southall tells of her family's heart-rendering experience - how they lived through unimaginable tragedy, going to extraordinary lengths to prove their daughter wasn't a runaway. Criminal court reporter Megan Norris provides another side of the picture; the analysis, the astonishment of professionals when faced with the killer's weird and unsettling letters, and the police proceedings that led, eventually, to the Rachel Barber case being solved. Confronting and compelling, this is an incredible story about a callous and calculated crime.

ISBN 9780143001027

Tough - 101 Australian Gangsters (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Contains a comprehensive listing of Australian criminals with many facts about Australian crime and the people who committed them.

Mentioned criminals include Chuck Bennett, Christopher Dale Flannery, Keith Faure, Alphonse Gangitano, The Kane Family, John Higgs, Graeme Jensen, Graham Kinniburgh, Norm' Chops' Lee, Lenny McPherson, The Moran family, Victor Perice, Kath Pettingill, Chopper Read, Roger Rogerson, Abe Saffran, Jockey Smith, Neddy Smith, Dane Sweetman, Squizzy Taylor Robert Trimbole and many more...

ISBN 9780957912120
Pub: 15/11/2002

Twelve Crimes That Shocked The Nation (New Holland)
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These events - and our reaction to them - reveal more about Australian society than we may care to know.

Some crimes shock an entire nation, and in doing so, define us for all time. In Australia the twelve infamous crimes detailed in this book have become part of our cultural landscape - ‘Gatton’, ‘Pyjama Girl’, ‘Shark-Arm’, ‘Brown-Out’, ‘Thorne Kidnapping’, ‘Backpacker’ and ‘Snowtown’ - each name has become synonymous with our unique criminal heritage. And when normal police methods fail to produce answers, as in the ‘Bogle-Chandler’ Mystery, the ‘Wanda Beach Murders’, the disappearance of the ‘Beaumont Children’ and more recently, the ‘Norfolk Island’ case, the crimes take on almost an urban mythology where fact and fiction become difficult to separate. But more than that, these events - and our reaction to them - reveal more about Australian society than we may care to know.

ISBN: 1741101107

Underbelly 1 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Who killed Jenny Tanner - Cop versus Cop - Red Hot, the sudden death of two bandits - A fallen Star, inside a cocaine ring - The Ghost who won't die - Laughing Grass, the world's biggest dope pusher - Life is cheap, Murder Inc - Breaking Point, death of a country cop - Drug dealing from the inside - Born to be old, motorbike gangs in Australia - How to catch a thief - Life after death - A criminal clan, the granny - How a top cop turned - The tale of Neil Wilson - The Mafia in Australia - Mr Laundry gets washed up - The abduction of Kerry Whelan - Nazi madness.

Underbelly 2 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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More true crime stories of cops and corruption. Both senior journalists in crime reporting, the authors have gathered undercover tape recordings, confessions, criminal's diaries and personal interviews to gain a rare insight into the workings of the underworld.

Mentioned criminals include David Cox, Alphonse Gangitano and his 'Carlton Crew', Hussein Issa, Peter Lawless, Alexander Robert MacDonald, Derek Ernest Percy and Queen St mass murderer Frank Vitkovic. There are also stories on the 1988 Walsh St police shootings and the shootings of policemen Gary Silk and Rod Miller 10 years later, the 'date-rape' drug Rohypnol and Melbourne's 'Hot-Chocolate Rapist', the controversial Merkl killing, the murder of Niddrie housewife Jane Thurgood-Dove, singer and former drug addict Debra Byrne, the mysterious murder of Rocky Iaria, the Granville rail disaster, the death of Moe Toddler Jaidyn Leskie and the disappearance of he Beaumont children. Silvester and Rule also take a look inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

ISBN 9780958607117
Pub: 31/01/2000

Underbelly 4 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Part of a series of true crime stories by two of Australia's top crime writers.

Mentioned criminals include Raymond 'Chuck' Bennett, Colin Dunstan, Peter Dupas,The Kane family, Mark Moran, Tom Scarborough, Laurence Sumner and there are also stories on the Melbourne gangland shootings, Colin Lovitt, QC, the police informant known as E2/92 who assisted police in the arrest and jailing of John Higgs and his band of amphetamine producers, the 1922 Gun Alley tragedy and the Oaks Day murder of Niddrie mother Jane Thurgood-Dove.

ISBN 9780977544035
Pub: 29/11/2000

Underbelly 6 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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More true crime stories from around Australia - from a woman who was slowly poisoned by her husband to a glamour socialite model whose husband was suspected of her murder.

Mentioned criminals include Andrew Fraser, Alphonse Gangitano, Chika Honda, thrill killer Andrew Norrie, the Pettingill family, Vic Ramshen, Dennis 'Fatty' Smith and Lorraine Whyte. There are also stories on the Western Australian Mickelburg stitch-up, the death of former detective Billy Gunn, aboriginal activist Geoff Clark and the rape allegations which have dogged him, famed lawyer Frank Galbally and the deaths of stuntman Collin Dragsbaek and gold miner 'Johnny' Setek.

ISBN 9780957912137
Pub: 15/11/2002

Underbelly 7 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Part of a series of true crime stories by two of Australia's top crime writers.

Mentioned criminals include Audrey 'Grandpa Harry' Broughill,  Mark Mallia, Vince Mannella, Matthew Wales King, Jason Moran, Wendy Peirce, Nik Radev, Peter Cecil Reid, Dennis 'Fatty' Smith, Dino Dibra, former drug squad detectives Stephen Paton and Wayne Strawhorn and Bob Vernon. There are also stories about the Melbourne gangland murders, the 1998 Moorabbin shootings of policemen Gary Silk and Rodney Miller and the arrest of their killers Jason Roberts and Bendali Michael Debs and the disappearance of Eloise Worledge in the 1970s.

ISBN 9780957912168
Pub: 2003

Underbelly 9 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Compelling reading for compulsive crime readers and a reference book for both sides of the law.

Mentioned criminals and so-called 'gangland figures' include: Mick Gatto, Billy 'the Texan' Longley, the Pettingill clan, James Ramage, Robin Rishworth, John Myles Sharpe, and Andrew Veniamin. There are also interesting stories on the drug known as 'blue magic' which was used in the harness racing industry, the battle against abalone poaching and the alleged Shepparton wife murderer Peter King.

ISBN 9780975231876
Published: October 2005

Underbelly 10 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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Mentioned criminals and notable identities include: Mario Condello, Jeff Fenech, Mick Gatto, Tony Mokbel, former Olympian Gary Niewand, corrupt former NSW detective Roger Rogerson,  Lee Torney. There are also stories on the death of Moe toddler Jaidyn Leskie, the Melbourne gangland shootings and the murder of Ringwood waitress Elisabeth Membrey.

ISBN 9780977544035
Pub: 1/11/2006

Underbelly 11 (Sly Ink)
By John Silvester and Andrew Rule
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This, the eleventh in the Underbelly series, tells stories of murder, gang brutality, organised crime, prostitution, right through to random acts of madness and downright stupidity from society's underbelly.

ISBN 9780977544059
Pub: 1/11/2007

Who killed Leanne? (Zeus - New Holland)
By Graeme Crowley and Paul Wilson
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The savage murder of 12 year old Leanne Holland in Goodna in September 1991 was one of the most brutal child killings in Australia’s criminal history. Sadly, very few people remember it. Leanne was battered to death, and possibly tortured and sexually assaulted.

There were no witnesses to the crime and police were unable to establish a motive. Flimsy and since discredited forensic evidence plus a hasty police investigation led to Graham Stafford — the boyfriend of Leanne’s older sister — being convicted of the murder.

Despite two appeals, two High Court challenges, and an appeal to the Queensland Governor, Stafford’s conviction has been upheld, and he remains incarcerated in prison. Yet, by being the first person to have gone as far as the High Court twice for the same criminal matter, Stafford created Australian legal history.

Now, ten years of painstaking research by former police officer and private investigator Graeme Crowley and criminologist Paul Wilson reveals that it is highly unlikely that Stafford could have committed the murder. Crowley and Wilson believe their investigation and analysis of this case raises enormous doubt and provides evidence that, properly put before the trial jury, would have presented no alternative to a verdict of ‘not guilty’. And, they go further by providing clues that could lead to the real killer.

Just as in Australia’s famous baby-dingo case in which Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murdering her daughter Azaria, the police investigation into the murder of Leanne Holland shows the danger of obtaining convictions for murder based on inconclusive and questionable forensic science evidence. The case against Graham Stafford failed to establish motive and opportunity, and lacked alternative evidence to support the forensic findings.

ISBN 9210-0547-5
Pub: 2005