Naked City
- Analysis
- Crime
The ambush that forever changed how Victoria is policed
A routine factory stakeout shattered the illusion that a uniform was bulletproof. Today, first-responding police are expected to be heroes against heavily armed shooters.
- John Silvester
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- Analysis
- Crime
‘I just kept it to myself. I didn’t want to be known as the son of a murder victim’: From crime victim to crime investigator
Inspector Kane Robinson commands the elite unit handling Melbourne’s ugliest street clashes. His secret weapon? Empathy learned from tragedy.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Analysis
Abseiling police and a Vegas roulette wheel: The colourful world of Melbourne’s illegal casino king
Robert Wootton worked for his dad, Charlie, the legendary “honest crook” who ran illegal gambling dens. John Silvester’s father Fred, the “feared gaming copper”, once hid in the ceiling of one of those casinos. The two sons caught up.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Analysis
Greed and hubris: The inside story of a legal scandal
He was Melbourne legal royalty – a successful barrister and the son and grandson of Supreme Court judges. Norman O’Bryan knew the law. His fall from grace was extraordinary.
- John Silvester
‘He was funny, charismatic and a mastermind behind the Great Bookie Robbery. He was also my brother’
Ian Carroll was a career criminal who used his brother, Greg, as an alibi just 20 minutes after he robbed Melbourne’s biggest bookies.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Analysis
The second chance specialists offering prisoners a way out
After serving a sentence for fraud, a former inmate is providing female prisoners with support inside and hope on the outside.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Analysis
‘You’re gunna get it’: How police stared down a double-murderer and prevented further carnage
A man who shot his neighbours in a dispute over a garden hose then focused on police sergeant Brad Dettman.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Crime
Bar wars, carjackings, home invasions: Why I grieve for my city
Melbourne is my town. I have lived here all my life and will die here. There has not been one street I would not walk – until now.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- For subscribers
$500 to firebomb: How crime gangs are outsourcing Melbourne’s Bar Wars
Offshore, interstate or sitting on a couch a crime boss is crime-tasking – using an encrypted app to set up a job “that is paying well”.
- John Silvester
- Analysis
- Analysis
The mysteries that spark a thousand theories (most of them wrong)
Some cases just excite passion in the public. From fervent defenders of the accused to staunch believers in their guilt – they are often convinced by a good slice of conspiracy.
- John Silvester