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Who's who in the criminal zoo
For a time the elite Purana Gangland Taskforce had its own office pet - a mature-age yabby found in a Castlemaine dam and kept in a 25-litre glass receptacle previously used to produce amphetamines.
John Silvester is a Walkley-award winning crime writer and columnist. A co-author of the best-selling books that formed the basis of the hit Australian TV series Underbelly, Silvester is also a regular guest on 3AW with his "Sly of the Underworld" segment.
For a time the elite Purana Gangland Taskforce had its own office pet - a mature-age yabby found in a Castlemaine dam and kept in a 25-litre glass receptacle previously used to produce amphetamines.
Just a few weeks ago, a group of not-so-sharp African lads armed with blunt weapons pulled over an Italian fellow in a German car. This proved to be a strategic blunder as the gent, one of Melbourne's biggest Mafia figures, responded not with the keys but with a handgun secreted on his person.
Here the mainstream remains magnificently apathetic despite the best efforts of the dog whistlers. But that could change in a heartbeat when there is a large-scale local terrorist attack.
The trouble was when he wasn't in the mood he was a first class crook. The type of cop who would race into your burning house to save a child then steal your wallet on the way out.
A woman is dead - witnesses gave conflicting stories and now police want answers.
"She had made some wrong decisions and fallen in with the wrong crowd but she wanted to get back on track for mum. It was killing mum . . . it broke her heart."
The obscenity of the Orlando massacre is not the shocking event, but its normality.
The beauty of cold forensic science is it can be used to catch killers and it can be used to clear those wrongly accused.
We are at risk of becoming a nation of overweight, overwrought and overbearing whingers.
There were substantial differences between the two investigations. Pistone was of Sicilian heritage and spoke fluent Italian. Steve worked in Sunshine and occasionally ordered Italian sausage on his takeaway pizza.
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