Naked City
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
Take a journey into the dark depths of the Australian criminal underworld with Australia’s most formidable crime reporter - John Silvester. https://www.theage.com.au/topic/naked-city-jbi #crime #truecrime #police #news
The Hill Family's Fight For Justice
In this episode of The Missing Campers Trial, Penny and Erin are joined by acclaimed journalist John Silvester with an update on the legal avenues Russell Hill’s family are exploring, revealing for the first time there may be a case for a coronial inquest. You can read the articles written by Sly discussed in this episode with a subscription to The Age.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 14, 2024 • 28:07
John Silvester on the Easey Street murders, and the secret he kept for years
For years, one of Australia’s best known crime reporters, John Silvester, kept a secret.He knew there had been a significant development in a notorious and long unsolved cold case: The Easey Street murders.But he didn’t write anything about it, until a few days ago, when he broke the story that there had been an arrest.It was big news, most of all for the family of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett, school friends from the country who flatted together in Collingwood before their lives were vi
Sep 23, 2024 • 20:57
The Curious Case of Zig Zag Road
Esteemed crime reporter and host of the Naked City podcast John ‘Sly’ Silvester joins The Missing Campers Trial to talk about his interview with Russell Hill’s daughter, and the shooting deaths of Gregory Lynn’s former neighbours. To read Sly's interview, and his coverage of this case. Download The Age app from your app store.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 30, 2024 • 41:01
The Morning Edition: John Silvester on the criminal gangs infiltrating the CFMEU
For more than 45 years, John Silvester has been reporting on Australia’s criminal underworld.Some notable figures, like Mick Gatto, a key player in the gangland wars that were immortalised in the popular TV series, Underbelly, are now implicated in an investigation that has rocked the highest offices in the country. That of alleged corruption in the CFMEU, one of the most powerful unions in the country.Why have so many of our politicians allegedly turned a blind eye to underworld figures running
Jul 23, 2024 • 20:49
Listen to Sly on The Missing Campers Trial Podcast....
Sly joined The Age Crime and Justice Reporter Erin Pearson, and Nine News Reporter Penelope Liersch on their podcast The Missing Campers Trial, to discuss the murder conviction of Gregory Lynn. Search for The Missing Campers Trial in your podcast app to get the latest on the Gregory Lynn matter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 26, 2024 • 33:30
Introducing: Trial by Water
From The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Trial by Water is a new investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005. Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit? Episode 1 will arrive on Saturday, June 1.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 26, 2024 • 4:00
73 seconds to a tragic death
Tyler Cassidy was a troubled kid. Police officers Colin Dods and Richie Blundell were working an afternoon shift in the Northcote divisional van. Their lives would collide on a balmy summer evening in late 2008 at a Northcote skate park. A distraught Cassidy, 15, was in no mood to negotiate with the officers. He refused to drop two knives and kept approaching Dods. He was shot six times, and died at the scene. The police involved lived for years with allegations that it was their fault. Vindicat
Sep 5, 2023 • 25:49
The cyber cop chasing the crypto criminals
Very few people have heard of Detective Sergeant Dion Achtypis - but there may well be no more important investigator in Australia. You won’t see him holding a press conference at a murder scene or commanding a squad of detectives. And he doesn’t use a sledgehammer during raids - he gains access in a much more subtle way. He is part of a three-person team working in the present while exploring the future. Cyber cop Dion Achtypis sits down with John Silvester to discuss Bitcoin, international cri
Aug 29, 2023 • 21:21
Belinda's partner was beyond help. Now, he helps her save strangers
Belinda Bozykowski was never a police officer. But her partner, Laurie Fox, was. On the last day of 2012, Fox took his own life, leaving her with two young sons, a broken heart and a million questions. Belinda is as brave as any Valour Award winner. After her partner's death, she completed her midwifery course, cared for their boys, and dedicated a great part of her life to the mental health of first responders. It is perhaps the only way she could make sense of something so indescribable. Betwe
Aug 22, 2023 • 37:17
Bread, water and the Liquorice Mile: Inside Pentridge Prison
Prodigious armed robber and expert escaper John Killick escaped custody in three states, once in a helicopter hijacked by his girlfriend. Most of the police and prison officers who chased or caged him over more than 50 years are long gone, while John has written five books. But the brutality of Pentridge has stayed with him. Killick takes host John Silvester inside the giant bluestone walls that hid callous brutality, resulting in angry men being released back into the community. Click on the
Aug 15, 2023 • 27:51
Kaera was shot in cold blood on a city street, and we blamed her
It was early on Monday, June 18, 2007, just as city workers were arriving at their jobs that Hells Angel Christopher Wayne Hudson finally imploded. First he beat and kicked a woman in a strip club before dragging her along King Street. Then he saw his girlfriend, Kaera Douglas, who had just arrived on Hudson's orders to drive him home. He greeted her saying: "Today is the day you're going to die." This is a story of unspeakable family violence, the courage of strangers, and it also shines a li
Aug 8, 2023 • 26:34
Kid Currie: Life and death in the Special Operations Group
As a policeman, Tony “Kid” Currie lived on the edge. In the SOG he shot and killed one suspect and in a second incident left one with life-altering injuries. Some thought he was a loose cannon and were happy when he resigned. Tony and his wife Michelle take us through the shootings and his career in a heartwarming and poignant discussion on living on the cutting edge of law enforcement, life after policing and giving back. For years now, they have invested their money, time and passion to presen
Jul 11, 2023 • 21:37
Blood on the steps of Flinders St: The brave men who chased a police killer
Keith Pickering was just 19 and a young cop when he was on point duty outside Flinders Street Station in January 1974. He heard a vendor yell out and saw a man crouching with a bloodied carving knife. The mentally disturbed man, James Belsey, had just fatally cut the throat of Constable Norm Curson on the steps of the station. Pickering and another young cop Trevor Pollock followed him into the Young and Jacksons Hotel and although unarmed, managed to arrest him and take him to the nearby police
Jul 4, 2023 • 31:29
The double murder-suicide that rocked a small country town
Kevin Knowles was a brute, a thug and a suspected double murderer. Kirkstall was a lovely county town inhabited mainly by young families looking to build a safe and caring community. That is until Knowles moved into town. Travis Cashmore was a quiet hippy type bloke, well regarded by the locals. Driven to breaking point by Knowles, Cashmore took the law into his own hands, killing Knowles, one of his mates, and then took his own life. Col Ryan is a long-time local detective, councillor and may
Jun 27, 2023 • 21:09
A cultish nightmare: David’s 12 years in hell with The Family
From the age of two, David Freeman was hidden with a group of children in a remote country house, described as a school that was actually a prison. The cult, led by the charismatic and seriously loopy Anne Hamilton-Byrne, survived for 20 years. David spent most of his adult life trying to forget - moving to Iceland, marrying, fathering children and working outdoors as a roof contractor until he finally understood he needed to deal with his past. After years of substance abuse and nearly committi
Jun 20, 2023 • 26:26
The judge who committed three deadly sins
Howard Nathan was a Supreme Court judge for 14 years. Many of his peers did not accept him because he was gay, Jewish and left-wing. One judge did not speak to him during his entire time on the bench. In a frank interview, Nathan talks of the hypocrisy of the establishment where gays were hounded, often by men who themselves lived double lives. He reveals that as a teenager he was picked up by a man who became a senior police officer - the very man who later was active in shutting down an invest
Jun 13, 2023 • 25:25
Coming soon: Naked City season 6
Join John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, as he talks to the cops and the crims in the sixth season of crime podcast Naked City. The new season will premiere on Wednesday, June 14, and new episodes will drop each Wednesday. Subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. For the latest news and views from John Silvester (aka Sly of the Underworld), subscribe to The Age https://subscribe.theage.com.au or the Sydney Morning Herald https://subscribe.smh.com
Jun 2, 2023 • 1:41
Trailer: The Confession
The astonishing true story of how Melbourne homicide detectives broke all the rules in their quest to have Katia Pyliotis convicted for brutally murdering a dirty old man with a statue of the Virgin Mary. The Confession is a podcast where the justice system itself is on trial. At the centre of it all, is Katia Pyliotis, accused of bludgeoning a man to death. Four years of Katia’s life is spent behind bars, until the truth emerges because of a stroke of luck. Richard Baker tells the story of a mu
Oct 26, 2022 • 1:42
The twin bandits and the cop who brought them undone
Peter Morgan and his twin Doug used their identical looks to fool police while pulling two dozen armed robberies in Victoria. That is until tough country cop Rick Hasty confronted Peter in a Ballarat laneway, who hours earlier had shot Hasty's colleague Ray Koch outside a bank. Peter reckons the shooting was an accident. Hasty wants to set the record straight and he has a surprising ally in Doug. Click on the links to subscribe https://subscribe.theage.com.au or https://subscribe.smh.com.auSee o
Oct 18, 2022 • 24:56
The good people who stare down evil
Policeman Rod Miller came home tired from a late shift but took the time to sign more than 60 thankyou cards to friends and family who congratulated him and his wife Carmel on the birth of their first child. By the time they arrived, he was dead, shot while on duty. Peter Silk didn't believe the first call that his brother Gary had been shot with Rod. Carmel and Peter (who later married) share their remarkable stories with us. They refuse to be defined as victims and are an inspiration. Courage
Oct 12, 2022 • 48:21
The hunt for the police killers begins
When police officers Gary Silk and Rod Miller were fatally shot the crime scene was chaotic as it was believed one of the armed offenders was still there and likely to try and kill more cops. The first responders tried to comfort the mortally wounded Miller and hunt for the gunman on the loose. Some left part of their souls in Cochranes Road that early morning. Click on the links to subscribe https://subscribe.theage.com.au or https://subscribe.smh.com.au You can find support for trauma at: L
Oct 5, 2022 • 44:04
Smoking guns: two police murdered, two suspects, one conviction.
When Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller pulled over a blue Hyundai in Moorabbin in 1998 while on armed robbery stake-out duty they had no inkling they were about to be ambushed. Their murders sparked a two year investigation and the conviction of two men. One Jason Roberts, who always maintained his innocence, was eventually granted a retrial and in 2022 was acquitted. The murders, the investigation and the legal aftermath is one of the most controversial and tragic cases in Aust
Sep 28, 2022 • 24:25
'Meet me at the pub': The murder that stunned Melbourne.
Jill Meagher sent a text to her husband Tom - "Meet me at the pub" but he was asleep and missed the message. By the the time he saw it she had been abducted and murdered as she walked the short distance from the bar to her home. The murder 10 years ago outraged the community to the point thousands took to the streets. It took police six days to catch the killer. Here, in their words, is how they did it. Click on the links to subscribe https://subscribe.theage.com.au or https://subscribe.smh.com
Sep 21, 2022 • 31:20
Mr Clean: The story of an international money launderer
When Bruce Aitken headed to an international airport for one of his hundreds of overseas trips, he would always take his golf bag – a fairly normal piece of luggage for a globe-trotting businessman. For a man who wanted to be a professional baseball player, it was the world of golf that helped place millions of dollars at his feet without him ever having to step onto a course. Click on the links to subscribe https://subscribe.theage.com.au or https://subscribe.smh.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listen
Aug 30, 2022 • 25:48
The secret life of a sheep breeder: The Wettenhall family murders
Darcy Whettenhall was a champion sheep breeder, running the Stanbury stud farm near Geelong. His perfectionism, drive and achievements were famous in the area. But he had a dark side, offering work to young vulnerable men then preying on them for sex. One fateful evening it all came crashing down in the most horrifying way. Click on the links to subscribe https://subscribe.theage.com.au or https://subscribe.smh.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 2, 2022 • 23:49
Rats in the rafters: The travelling tradie con
There's a knock at your front door. A couple of tradies say they've been working on the house next door and they've noticed tiles missing from your roof. Not to worry. For $20, they're happy to climb up and replace them. But upon closer inspection, the hole in the roof is a little worse than first thought, they say. It would cost $970 and there's rain on the horizon. Still later it was worse again: they claim to have found asbestos and it would cost thousands more. This is a scam of internationa
Jul 26, 2022 • 24:34
The inside man who turned on Melbourne's last great armed robbery gang
What he had was information on a notorious armed robbery crew, known as the gym gang, and he was prepared to talk, if the deal was right. He was The Driver, a trusted insider who turned informer on a gang that police still consider one of Melbourne's slickest. His information would form the basis of a police operation, codenamed Tidelands, which became a cat-and-mouse game straight out of a spy novel. Crime reporter John Silvester brings you the final instalment of a special two-part episode o
Jul 19, 2022 • 26:50
'A heist like a Hollywood movie': The hunt for the Gym Gang
Their heists were meticulous, and executed with military-style precision. And as soon as one job was done, they would disappear, sometimes for years. For 40 years, police have been in a cat-and-mouse chase with one of Australia's slickest armed robbery crews - a tight group of Melbourne mates who pulled seven intricately planned jobs over 24 years, starting in the early 1980s. Now, in part one of two episodes of John Silvester's Naked City, their full story can be told. Become a subscriber: Your
Jul 12, 2022 • 29:02
The knockabout judge and the gangland war
Supreme Court judge Paul Coghlan has spent more than 50 years investigating, prosecuting and judging serious crooks on serious crimes. Coghlan, the grandson of a Chinese merchant, innkeeper and opium dealer, became Director of Public Prosecutions during Melbourne's gangland war, brokering plea deals that cracked the underworld's wall of silence. From prosecuting a serial killer to pursuing a dodgy detective in one of Australia's first wire tap cases, Coghlan opens up to veteran crime reporter J
Jul 5, 2022 • 20:17
The Frankston serial killer: The net closes
How police caught Paul Charles Denyer, and the women who came chillingly close to the Frankston serial's orbit. In part two of John Silvester's season opening episode of Naked City, go behind-the-scenes of the investigation with the veteran crime reporter and hear from a suburban detective who, almost by chance, became the first officer Denyer chose to confess to. Another woman also talks about her encounter with Denyer a week before he murdered his final victim, as well as Donna's lucky escape.
Jun 28, 2022 • 30:40
When it rained: Seven weeks to catch a serial killer
In the winter of 1993, a serial killer terrorised Melbourne, stalking and murdering three young women in the bayside suburb of Frankston. John Silvester is back for another season of Naked City, starting with a two-part episode on the investigation into Paul Charles Denyer, and the detectives that netted one of Australia's most notorious killers. And a warning, some listeners may find this content distressing. Become a subscriber: Your support powers our newsrooms and is critical for the sustain
Jun 21, 2022 • 22:28
Coming soon: Naked City season five
The much anticipated fifth season of Naked City arrives on June 22. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 15, 2022 • 2:59
Coming soon - Liar, Liar: Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions
Since late 2020, the case of missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick has captivated the country. A seemingly successful businesswoman from Sydney's eastern suburbs went missing after authorities raided her Dover Heights home amid questions over an unlicensed financial planning business.Sydney Morning Herald investigative journalist Kate McClymont would reveal key details of a massive Ponzi scheme and a $23 million fraud that ripped off investors including her family and friends as Caddick lived the
Apr 4, 2022 • 1:49
From undercover to under lock and key
Cliff Lockwood was just 19 when he left the peace of a tiny town to join the police force. “I know it sounds funny but I just wanted to do good. Nineteen was way too young. You don’t know anything.” On Sunday April 9, 1989 Lockwood and his partner, Senior Detective Dermot Avon arrested car thief and suspected violent criminal Gary Abdullah and took him to his Drummond Street two level flat to search for evidence and an accomplice. According to police Abdullah grabbed and imitat
Aug 25, 2021 • 34:07
Purana: Melbourne's gangland taskforce
For a time gangland figures lived a fast and often lucrative life, but very few made it out alive. After 11 unsolved murders, including Moran brothers Mark and Jason, and their father Lewis, police put together a taskforce to tackle the gangland war. They investigated Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin, Mick Gatto, Carl Williams and Tony Mockbell among others. Purana ended up investigating over 300 people, listening in on more than 100,000 hours of phone conversations, using 39 tracking devices to fol
Aug 17, 2021 • 27:40
A country school kidnapping: An unbelievable tale
The rookie teacher at the tiny country school was startled during morning recess when some of the kids ran into the single weatherboard classroom, yelling: "There's a man outside with a gun."Rob Hunter had been the sole teacher at the Gippsland town of Wooreen for just nine days - his first posting after three years at teachers' college. He was 20 years old. Maree Young was his student, she was just 11 years old. The man with the revolver and wearing a Collingwood beanie as a balaclava was Geelo
Aug 10, 2021 • 36:30
Rent-a-kill: Australia's number one hitman
By early 1985 hitman Chris Flannery was running out of friends. This was hardly surprising, as he’d killed most of them. Flannery had built a fearsome reputation for killing on command but when an attack dog begins to snarl at its master it is time for the big sleep. Flannery’s boss Sydney gangster George Freeman had lost patience with him and was a little frightened of the unpredictable gunman. Flannery had threatened police and had shot one – undercover detective Mick Drury.
Aug 4, 2021 • 35:47
Abe Saffron and Sydney's corrupt cops
Abraham Gilbert Saffron was a successful Sydney businessman who hated his nickname and spent a fortune trying to have it expunged from the record by threatening anyone who used it publicly. The name was Mr Sin and it was well deserved. He built a vice empire on a triangular business model – the three points were bribery, blackmail and arson. He organised sex, often with under-age boys and girls, secretly photographing patrons to use against them. He paid bribes to police - $750 per c
Jul 27, 2021 • 26:33
The man who put three police in a rubbish bin
Robbo' Robertson was a natural undercover cop. A Vietnam veteran with the gift of the gab, he slipped seamlessly into the role of Brian Wilson, an underworld heavy from Sydney. In 1978 Robertson was given a new mission. He was to go deep undercover to infiltrate Australia’s best armed robbery crew, the men behind the 1976 multi-million Great Bookie Robbery. He was to pretend to be a corrupt armoured van driver who would tip the team about a lucrative payroll. But this time police would be
Jul 20, 2021 • 33:28
ANoM: The app that spied on crooks
It was a Friday night when Federal Police contacted their Victorian counterparts with an urgent message. A shooting had been ordered by an overseas bikie boss to be carried at a Melbourne fight night. The planning was so detailed police moved in to seize two stolen cars to be used by the hit team, cloned plates, and guns. Someone is walking around today unaware they are alive because cops unscrambled the encrypted message. What the arresting officers didn’t know is the original tip didn&rs
Jul 13, 2021 • 36:24
Ron Fenton: The cop and the dog that saved him
In 1984 policeman Ron Fenton was nearly given up for dead. Shot in the head and slumped unconscious next to his police car. That is until a cop in an unmarked car took it upon himself to charge do drag Ron to safety. They thought Ron wouldn’t make it to hospital, then that he would not regain consciousness and finally thathe would never return to work. They didn’t know Ron. He battled back and eventually was back on the road. But it came at a cost – he would suffer PTSD and lea
Jul 6, 2021 • 37:13
Coming soon: Naked City season 4
The first episode of series four will drop Wednesday 7 July, with a new episode published every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 29, 2021 • 2:38
The fugitive's fatal mistake: police shooting of Arthur Nelson
Arthur James Nelson was a third rate crook who had convictions for burglary, theft, assault, false pretences and drugs. In July 1988 his path fatally crossed police officers, Lachlan McCulloch and Syd Hadley. We hear the police re-enactment tapes conducted the day after the shooting as McCulloch and Hadley describe blow by blow the one hour chase and reenact the split second moment they shot dead Nelson. Become a subscriber: our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the susta
Apr 13, 2021 • 25:03
Justice Frank Vincent: The secrets of the Supreme Court
He was the best defence lawyer representing murder defendants in around 200 cases. He went on to be a respected Supreme Court Judge presiding over the most difficult homicide trials, including the Walsh Street police killings, the Russell Street bombing that killed police constable Angela Taylor; the Bega double murder trial of Leslie Camilleri, one of two men who tortured and killed NSW schoolgirls Lauren Margaret Barry, and Nichole Emma Collins in Victoria in 1997; and the trial of serial kill
Apr 6, 2021 • 30:32
Bernie 'The Attorney' Balmer, knockabout lawyer
He has represented Mick Gatto and Mark 'Chopper' Reid among other Melbourne gangland characters, but even as a school-kid, lawyer Bernie Balmer had an aversion to bullies. As a year 11 student he had a difference of opinion with a Brother at Assumption College who responded by punching the young Balmer in the face. Bernie, who would go on to be a more than handy heavyweight boxer, dropped the bully. While he was only defending himself, he was forced to leave under threa
Mar 30, 2021 • 27:34
Graeme Alford: The stick-up, the lawyer and the long lunch
Graeme Alford was a smart, cunning, hard-working criminal lawyer with a loyal and regular client base all connected to the feared Painters and Dockers Union. It was a licence to print money. He was also a heavy punter and prodigious drinker - both vices that are not unknown in the legal fraternity. Eventually, facing huge gambling debts, he stole from his trust fund, was jailed and became a full time criminal. It was October 15, 1982, when a half-drunk Alford donned a balaclava, grabbed his shot
Mar 23, 2021 • 26:57
Kill or be killed: The cop and the country bandit
Wayne Sherwell was a country cop on traffic duty on a quiet rural road when he pulled up a speeding motorist who claimed to be a vet. The man behind the wheel was calm and matter-of-fact and there was nothing initially to make the cop suspicious. In fact he was the notorious 'Country Bandit' who made a specialty in robbing regional banks. The confrontation ended with the bandit dead and the policeman recognised as a hero. But for many years Sherwell had to live with the ghost of the
Mar 16, 2021 • 37:08
Jane Thurgood-Dove: The mistaken identity murder
Jane Thurgood-Dove was murdered in front of her three children in the driveway of their Muriel Street, Niddrie in November 1997 - as she stepped from the car and with her kids aged 11, six and three still strapped securely in their seats she was confronted by a pot bellied gunman who chased her around the family’s four-wheel-drive before shooting her in broad daylight. Jane was just 34 then and appeared to be an average mum in an average street married to an average guy. For years police w
Mar 9, 2021 • 27:36
Russell Street bombing: The day that shocked a nation
Sometimes life and death can be decided by something as simple as the toss of a coin. On that day, so many years ago, a young policewoman named Angela Taylor was working in the watch house at Russell Street when she lost the toss over who would do the staff lunch run. She was only a metre away when a car bomb, containing around 60 sticks of gelignite, exploded at 47 seconds past 1pm. She was caught in the fireball, suffered horrendous injuries and died 24 days later.While Melbourne was
Mar 2, 2021 • 41:07
Mark 'Chopper' Read's legacy of violence
Contrary to popular opinion, Mark Brandon “Chopper” Read was no underworld mastermind and his criminal history was littered with blunders. His police record shows that when he broke the law he was usually caught and convicted. But he was a master story-teller and here, in a series of never before heard tapes, we hear from the real Chopper. Recorded in 1999 - late at night in his car with the help of his friend, Jim Beam bourbon - Chopper talks into a tape recorder about crimes he had
Feb 23, 2021 • 45:06
Coming Soon: Naked City season 3
On Wednesday 24 February, in the first episode of the third series, listen to never heard before tapes from Mark 'Chopper' Read to get insight into the myth and the legend. Subscribe to get new episodes published every Wednesday straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 16, 2021 • 2:30
Trailer: Naked City season 3
Join John Silvester from Wednesday 24 February for the third series of Naked City. Subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device every Wednesday. Silvester is Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 9, 2021 • 3:10
The death of a neo-Nazi crime boss
Phillip Grant Wilson was a neo-Nazi and a killer. He recruited a gang and according to one police report, ''This group undertook intense physical fitness training for the purpose of establishing a physical and mental advantage over police, especially the Special Operations Group, against whom they fully expected to come up against at some time in the future.''Detective Sergeant John Morrish of the armed robbery squad was one of the key investigators who worked on Wilson. Morrish was known to hav
Sep 23, 2020 • 34:13
Bonus episode: Portrait of an artist
Mica Pillemer is an accomplished international artist who, for reasons best known to himself, wanted to paint John Silvester for the Archibald Prize. During the sitting he reflects on his family history – from the concentration camps of Europe, the oppression of South African Apartheid to the New York Twin Towers attack. And the sliding door moment that brought him to find love and settle in Melbourne.Contains a sample of Melbourne Football Club theme song "It’s a Gran
Sep 18, 2020 • 26:47
Mad Max meets his maker
A Bulgarian army deserter, Pavel Marinof trained himself for an armed confrontation with police, saying they would 'never take him alive'. Because he was violent and dangerous Australian media dubbed him 'Mad Max'. Marinof always traveled with two pistols and had a favourite gun, a F1 submachine gun. Senior Detective Rod McDonald describes the moment when he and Detective Sergeant John 'Kappa' Kapetanovski finally discovered Marinof after an eight-month long manhunt. The Hume Highway confro
Sep 15, 2020 • 27:13
The Ramchens: Beauty and the Beast
She was a stunning former model and television hostess. He was a successful businessman. They owned two mansions and had three beautiful children. So why did Jacqui Ramchen vanish without a trace? Her husband, Slavik "Vic" Ramchen, a no nonsense, hard drinking, hard-working civil engineer was the prime suspect. Of all the cases veteran homicide detective Charlie Bezzina has investigated the case of Jaqui Ramchen is one of the most frustrating. Jaqui disappeared in 1992 leaving her three children
Sep 8, 2020 • 36:57
Sandy MacRae: 'This is Mildura, not Chicago'
Convicted of four murders, but suspected of many more, Alistair 'Sandy' MacRae could be one Australia's worst serial killers. He was a brothel boss, standover man, organised crime associate and small-time businessman. He lured people to his property near Merbein in country Victoria with the promise of a drug deal, took their money, killed them and buried them on the property. In an interview with police, MacRae blames one of the killings on his girlfriend, saying she wanted to be a gangster, and
Sep 1, 2020 • 22:07
The Snake and The Ladderman
Hugo Rich and a crook known as The Ladderman are at opposite ends of the criminal food chain. Rich was a violent, calculating armed robber and murderer. Ladderman wouldn’t hurt a fly. In this episode you will hear audio tapes from both - Rich's outburst in the County Court where he threatened to kill the prosecutor and did everything in his power to sabotage his trial to a bizarre collection of police interviews with a small time thief. See how police deal with all kinds - from t
Aug 25, 2020 • 29:41
Bertie Wrout: Stories from a gangland lieutenant
He nearly died because his boss liked a cheap beer: Bertie Wrout was right hand to Melbourne crime lord Lewis Moran and saw the gangland wars up close. He was there as Moran family and associates came and went, witnessed the rise of the infamous drug lord Carl Williams and was with Lewis Moran when he was was shot dead at his favourite drinking hole, The Brunswick Club. Thanks for listening. Please take the time to rate & review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. We lo
Aug 18, 2020 • 44:16
Peter Dupas: Stalking a serial killer
Peter Norris Dupas is the worst type of serial killer - a man who stalked women for decades and, police suspect, randomly killed six strangers. Convicted of the murders of Nicole Patterson and Margaret Maher he was the prime suspect in the murder of Mersina Halvagis, stabbed to death in 1997 in the Fawkner Cemetery tending her grandmother’s grave.It would take homicide investigators Jeff Maher and Paul Scarlett 13 years, two trials and a shock witness to get their man.This is the ins
Aug 11, 2020 • 38:28
Inside maximum security: The boxing officer
What happens once the criminals are locked up? In his years as an officer at Port Phillip Prison, Paul O'Sullivan has seen more than most will see in a lifetime. An accomplished boxer, he could hold his own and he had to, because jail is a violent place. He's witnessed murders, bashings, and even had his own throat cut. But he's also made friends, had a laugh and got a better understanding of human nature. Thanks for listening. Please take the time to rate & review us on Apple Podcasts
Aug 4, 2020 • 39:39
The Walsh Street aftermath: Murder and betrayal
Part 2 of 2 - We take you inside the investigation, the witness betrayal and the bloody aftermath of the killing of two young police officers on Walsh Street in South Yarra in 1988. It was a war fought in Melbourne streets that left three suspects dead, two patrol officers murdered and led a respected investigator to take his own life. John Noonan, the joint head of the Ty-Eyre taskforce, recounts the brutal slaying as well as the investigation and prosecution. The taskforce charged Vi
Jul 28, 2020 • 30:57
Revenge on Walsh Street: The two for one pact
Part 1 of 2 Known armed robber Graeme Jensen was shot dead by police as he evaded arrest at Narre Warren. Jensen was part of a group called 'The Flemington Crew' who operated in the 80s and early 90s, when armed robberies were a weekly occurrence. Police wanted him for the murder of a security guard, but Jensen was innocent, and the arrenst went badly wrong. A split second decision left Jensen dead, and his criminal associates vowing for revenge. The murders of two police at Walsh Street th
Jul 21, 2020 • 30:23
Deep undercover: Inside the world of undercover policing
Keith Banks arrived at the Police Academy a clean cut teetotaller. Within a few years he was a dope smoking, binge drinking undercover cop. Fit, idealistic and eager to learn, he sucked in as much knowledge as he could before graduating into a police force rotting from the top. By the time he was 21 the clean-living country kid was a dope-smoking, binge-drinking undercover agent regularly risking his life to infiltrate drug syndicates, all the time knowing his targets could be tipped off by corr
Jul 14, 2020 • 46:30
Coming soon: Naked City season 2
The first episode of series two will drop Wednesday 15 July, with a new episode published every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 10, 2020 • 0:39
The singing detective
As a young cop of Greek heritage Nick Cecil was used to infiltrate ethnic gambling houses and became a key undercover in a task force assigned to smash illegal bookie syndicates in the 1950s. Much later he was sent to find The Great Train Robbery crook Ronald Biggs by putting his wife Charmian under surveillance when Biggs disappeared from his Blackburn home. Cecil tells an amazing story of becoming friends with the Biggs family (their kids played with his kids) and how close he came t
Jun 9, 2020 • 32:58
A needle in a haystack in a giant washing machine
David Key was winched from the police helicopter 400 times on rescue missions. He tells Silvester what happened when he was lowered into 30 metre waves in the fatal 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and how close the helicopter came to crashing through lack of fuel. In 2009 he was lowered into Black Saturday then released from the wire when the helicopter started to lose altitude. Believing he was going to die he and the people he was sent to rescue were guided out by the chopper above. Tha
Jun 2, 2020 • 29:10
Capturing Australia's No.1 fugitive
For more than a decade Russell Cox was Australia’s most wanted criminal. In 1977 he became the only man ever to escape from Sydney’s maximum security Katingal Prison. In 1988 Fox was arrested in a wild shootout at Doncaster Shoppingtown about to commit an armed robbery. Ken Ashworth was one of the arresting officers and he shot at a grazed Cox. Ken was a career detective who hunted armed robbers, he gives unique insight into Cox and links his to a series of crimes, including the Grea
May 26, 2020 • 28:24
Traitors within
In 1984 NSW policeman Mick Drury was shot in his Sydney home. The gunman was hitman Christopher Dale Flannery, the hit was organised by corrupt NSW detective sergeant Roger Rogerson to stop Drury giving evidence against Melbourne drug dealer Alan Williams. Years later Williams confessed to Silvester exactly what happened. When Williams knew he had a terminal disease he planned to kill former Melbourne detective Brian Murphy, missing him by moments at a city restaurant. Luckily Silvester had prev
May 19, 2020 • 35:49
The crook and the copper
Christopher Dean Binse was a prodigious armed robber and expert escape artist. He led a cat and mouse chase with armed robbery squad detective Ken Ashworth. When Ashworth eventually caught him in 1992, Binse expected to be bashed but instead he was treated fairly. Shocked, Binse agreed to a taped off-the-record chat with Ashworth where he explains the high he gets from a stick-up. Listen to Binse tell-all over a few beers, giving unique insight into the ch
May 12, 2020 • 30:19
Inside the Hells Angels
In the 1980’s Hells Angels member Peter John Hill flew to America and was taught to cook speed. Eventually Sergeant Steele Waterman became a key member of the task force assigned to investigate the Angels amphetamine production. We hear from both Waterman and Hill how a jury was nobbled and learn of the US hitman sent to Australia to kill two detectives. As an aside the hitman, James Brandes learnt we do things a little different here. When he was grabbed at Melbourne airport and put in a
May 7, 2020 • 33:18
Getting away with murder
In 1993 elderly grandma Phyllis Hocking was bashed and murdered in her son’s home. The scene was left to look like it was a burglary gone wrong, but homicide investigator Charlie Bezzina wasn’t buying it. He believed the son, Philip Hocking, was most likely the suspect as he was the only beneficiary in the Will. In this episode of Naked City, Bezzina takes Silvester through the case using original audio tapes of the confession from grandson Brent Hocking. In addition, hear the uncut
May 1, 2020 • 33:27
Mick Gatto: The best defence is self defence
Mick Gatto is one of Australia’s most colourful identities. He's survived death plots and was acquitted of the murder of hitman Andrew Veniamin. In the first episode of Naked City, John Silvester returns to his candid 2009 interview with Gatto, who opens up about the Melbourne underworld, Veniamin, Carl Williams, jail and his trial.Thanks for listening. Please take the time to rate & review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. We love to hear your thoughts and it makes i
Apr 28, 2020 • 27:02
Coming soon: Naked City
The first episode of Naked City will drop Wednesday 29 April, with a new episode published every Wednesday. Make sure to subscribe now and get all the episodes straight to your device. John Silvester, Australia’s longest-serving crime reporter, will take you on a journey through his 40 years of dealing with the nation’s most dangerous criminals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 21, 2020 • 0:31
